Goddess of the Week: Frigga

Image via WikipediaPhoebat needs a goddess that will help her stay strong and not try and rush in and solve other people's problems. I think we're going to have to go with the Norse goddess Frigg. She learned the hard way that, sometimes, you have to let go.

Frigg was married to Odin, leader of the Norse gods. Together, they had a son, Balder. Balder was a great guy--the life of the party. Everybody loved him. Everybody wanted to be him. Naturally, Frigg and Odin were delighted in that way that parents of the popular often are. They sort of saw this as a reflection of their own superiority, and we're always like, "Ah! Balder. He's like us, but better. We did such a good job with him."

One day, Balder woke up screaming. "I'm going to die!" he said.

Frigg was all, "Don't be silly. It was just a dream."

"No," he said. "It was a prophecy."

The next night, Balder woke up screaming again, and this time, Frigg worried that maybe Balder was right. Maybe he really was going to die. Terrified, she decided to fix it. She went to every living being on earth, and she got each one to promise not to hurt Balder.

The other gods thought this was pretty cool. They'd just sit around throwing, like, boulders and lions at him and watching everything bounce off him.

But the trickster god Loki discovered that Frigg had forgotten to ask the mistletoe to spare Balder. So Loki found this one blind god, and he said to him, "Hey! Don't you want to throw random stuff at Balder too! Maybe I can even help you!" The blind god was, like, "Ok," and Loki was, like, "Here! Throw this mistletoe." And the blind god was, like, "You bet."

So, with Loki's arm directing his throw, the blind god threw the mistletoe at Balder and killed him.

Frigg didn't know what to do. She thought she had fixed things. She thought she had protected Balder, but now Balder was dead. She hadn't fixed things at all. But she was still determined to save Balder, so she went to the goddess Hel, who oversaw the underworld, and she was all, "Can't you save Balder? He's so good. Everyone loves him."

Hel said, "Yeah? How about this: You get every living thing to tell me it's sorry Balder died and wants Balder to live again. You do that, and I'll give you back Balder."

Frigg did it. She went to every living thing on earth and begged them to admit that they loved and missed Balder, and they all did. Except for this one total cow of giantess who said, "I hate Balder. Let him die. What did he ever do for me?"

So that was it. No resurrection for Balder. He had to stay in the underworld, and his mother had to admit that there was nothing she could do about it.

Frigg reminds us that, sometimes, we have to let go. We can't fix everything. We can barely fix ourselves, and that's ok.

Channel this goddess: When you find yourself clinging. Let go. Let the universe take care of things for a while. And go do something nice for yourself while you're at it. Maybe watch this. It can help.

Need a goddess? I got goddesses! Post a comment stating your need, and I will see what I can do.