God/dess of Healing?

[The Hammer]

I am particularly interested, at this point in time, in finding a Norse deity that is centered on healing. I found a reference to the Goddess Eir on wikipedia (which I don't consider to be very accurate), but I could not find mention of her on the website I have taken to be my, current, accurate source of info.

Does anyone know anything about this Goddess? Is there a particular deity you would call upon for healing (mental, spiritual, or physical)?

 

[Jainarayan]

The Wikipedia info is actually spot on. Bellows and Davidson are the go-to translations of the Poetic Edda. Eir is mentioned a couple of times here and there, but not a whole lot is written about her. Personally, I pray to her. There are some books of prayers written by modern authors who call upon her. Of course, you could pray to whomever is your patron deity for healing if you feel closer to him or her.

 

[The Hammer]

The Wikipedia info is actually spot on. Bellows and Davidson are the go-to translations of the Poetic Edda. Eir is mentioned a couple of times here and there, but not a whole lot is written about her. Personally, I pray to her. There are some books of prayers written by modern authors who call upon her. Of course, you could pray to whomever is your patron deity for healing if you feel closer to him or her.

Oh? Awesome! Glad it's accurate. Woot! Time to build myself a prayer . Need all the help I can get haha.

I don't think my patron really wouldn't do anything for what I need, He is more the type to tell me to suck it up and push on, although that isn't bad advice either.

 

[Empathist]

One of my favorite books is by Merlin Stone called When God Was A Woman. She references several goddesses from the so-called pagan religions.
I have another book called When Women Were Healers.
Nothing in my house is where it should be due to an upcoming remodel, but if I run across either book I'll see what I can find.
Have you had any experience with energy healing?
Good luck!

 

[Riverwolf]

Well, there's the Second Merseburg Charm (or as I so creatively call it, Phol and Wodan), which seems to be some kind of healing spell:

Phol ende uuodan uuorun zi holza.
du uuart demo balderes uolon sin uuoz birenkit.
thu biguol en sinthgunt, sunna era suister;
thu biguol en friia, uolla era suister;
thu biguol en uuodan, so he uuola conda:

sose benrenki,
sose bluotrenki,
sose lidirenki:
ben zi bena,
bluot zi bluoda,
lid zi geliden,
sose gelimida sin

Phol and Wodan were riding to the woods,
and the foot of Balder's foal was sprained
So Sinthgunt, Sunna's sister, conjured it.
and Frija, Volla's sister, conjured it.
and Wodan conjured it, as well he could:

Like bone-sprain,
so blood-sprain,
so joint-sprain:
Bone to bone,
blood to blood,
joints to joints,
so may they be mended.

The ones mentioned who are doing the healing are Sinthgunt (an otherwise unattested Goddess), Frija (Frigga) who is cited as the sister of "Volla", who is thought to be cognate with Fulla (an attested handmaid of Frigga's), and Woden himself. Phol in this case is another name for Balder, and apparently also the masculine form of "Volla".

 

[Ingledsva]

*
Gangleri asked: Which are the goddesses? Har answered: Frigg is the first. She possesses the right lordly dwelling which is called Fensalir. The second is Saga, who dwells in Sokkvabekk, and this is a large dwelling. The third is Eir. She is the best of all physicians.

The Goddess Eir

Viking Answer Lady Webpage - Medical Care in the Viking Age

Heathens, Asatruar - What can you tell me about the goddess Eir?

EDIT - Forgot to add - You should read THE WHITE GODDESS by Robert Graves,

also - The GOLDEN BOUGH by James G. Frazer.

You will learn a lot of information about Gods and Goddesses, meanings of their names,how they were worshiped, plants used - including hallucinogens, meaning of Tree language, Runes, etc. I'd read White Goddess first. Golden Bough is dry-dry-dry and repetitive, but a ton of information.

 

[Sees]

I could pretty much only repeat the others...definitely feel that good, positive results come from working with, honoring, praying to Eir.

I think she was the one who taught me using kale juice for cuts/lacerations...later finding out it was common in ancient Europe. Never seen a cut heal so fast and I've seen tons.

I think of her as Goddess of health and healing, as well as the knowledge and wisdom that helps you heal yourself and others. With goodness and holiness being so interrelated to health and wholeness in Germanic traditions, you could lump them all in for a bigger picture on how to relate to her.