Skadi?

[Brinne]

Hello all,

I'm not sure why (this came about kind of out of nowhere and is rather recent) but I have an interest in the goddess Skadi. I've read about her so I'm aware of her back story, for the most part, so I'm more looking for what personal experiences people have with her, if any. As winter draws closer I was planning on setting up a very small altar to her (probably a photo and a candle; maybe some fruit as an offering) but I first wanted to know what experience people have with her, incase she has a personality that would make my life a little difficult.

Though I've not heard of people's home's spirits interacting with each other too much I think it's a nice precaution to take for to mention that my current house spirits are Amaterasu-omikami (Goddess of the sun and compassion), Inari Okami (Goddess of fertility, foxes, wealth, and a bit of a trickster), and Quan Yin/Kwan Yin/Kannon (Goddess of mercy, health, compassion, love and my patron diety).

Thank you for hearing me out!

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

Hello all,

I'm not sure why (this came about kind of out of nowhere and is rather recent) but I have an interest in the goddess Skadi. I've read about her so I'm aware of her back story, for the most part, so I'm more looking for what personal experiences people have with her, if any. As winter draws closer I was planning on setting up a very small altar to her (probably a photo and a candle; maybe some fruit as an offering) but I first wanted to know what experience people have with her, incase she has a personality that would make my life a little difficult.

Though I've not heard of people's home's spirits interacting with each other too much I think it's a nice precaution to take for to mention that my current house spirits are Amaterasu-omikami (Goddess of the sun and compassion), Inari Okami (Goddess of fertility, foxes, wealth, and a bit of a trickster), and Quan Yin/Kwan Yin/Kannon (Goddess of mercy, health, compassion, love and my patron diety).

Thank you for hearing me out!

Not familiar with Skadi, sorry. On the side of home spirits, however, mine don't seem to mind anything we do, as long as we explain what's going on and what we intend, and continue to share our lives with them. The exception seems to be my wife's ex...they do seem to get riled up whenever he comes around to see their son and granddaughter, who are living with us.

 

[EyeofOdin]

Skadi is a giantess strongly associated with the mountains, winter and skiing. She is obviously at peace with the Aesir, even though her father was the late Thjazi, a jotun who comes in the form of an eagle to kidnap Idun, the goddess of life. Thjazi was killed in her rescue lead by Loki.

She is also one of the few deities to have jotun descent and to have a thrown in Asgard. Her residency is how she's often listed amongst the Aesir despite her heritage. She earned this through her family loss. The Aesir gave Skadi their condolences and offered compensation. Her terms were that she would be able to choose a husband from any of the Aesir and that the gods must make her laugh.

She was blindfolded and had to choose the husband by feeling the feet. Hoping for Baldr, she chose the finest feet felt, but the feet belonged to Njord. He wasn't Baldr, but he was handsome and kind so they both accepted the marriage. Loki then played a crude joke on a goat involving his gentiles which made her laugh.

The marriage didn't last long. She's goddess of mountains while he's god of the coasts, two biomes very different from each other. Skadi insisted on living in Thrymheimr in the mountains while Njord required that his habitat be Noatun. They decided to go back and forth nine days at a time. Naturally, the couple couldn't stand each other's natural environment. They divorced, but in it Skadi kept some real-estate in Asgard, maintaining her Asynja status.

Some time after she had an affair with Loki, which ends up for the worse for her because this is brought up in Loki's crash in Aegir's hall. This is one of the many insults Loki throws at the gods which provoke the gods into killing his sons and binding him with his entrails.

I don't have much experience with Skadi. Off the top of my head, I think of mountain hiking, camping and biking. Offerings could include trail mix, peanuts, jerky or other hiking foods. Associated time of the year would obviously be winter, however she's more likely to be honored in November's Eve (Also called Winter Nights by contemporary heathens or Samhain by the druids and wiccans) with the disir and goddesses associated with the disir, such as Freyja, The Norns and Valkyries.

 

[Brinne]

I don't have much experience with Skadi. Off the top of my head, I think of mountain hiking, camping and biking. Offerings could include trail mix, peanuts, jerky or other hiking foods. Associated time of the year would obviously be winter, however she's more likely to be honored in November's Eve (Also called Winter Nights by contemporary heathens or Samhain by the druids and wiccans) with the disir and goddesses associated with the disir, such as Freyja, The Norns and Valkyries.

Ah thank you! I've also heard she represents justice, just anger, and revenge as well, is that correct?

 

[Sees]

I would also say vision and awareness (and similar attributes) as a great Huntress, some say especially embodying the spirit of freedom and protector or preservationist of forests/environment/wild lands. I have done some visualizations/meditations on her but have never had any separate visions or experiences.

 

[Brinne]

I would also say vision and awareness (and similar attributes) as a great Huntress, some say especially embodying the spirit of freedom and protector or preservationist of forests/environment/wild lands. I have done some visualizations/meditations on her but have never had any separate visions or experiences.

Ah that makes sense. Thank you!

I'm not sure why I've gotten such a fascination with Skadi, Frejya, and Heimdall (and a small interest in Hel too) all of a sudden. Maybe it's the Norman ancestry in me. I'm considering giving the three of them (though realistically probably just Skadi) a small altar on my window sill.

Even though I'm just discovering Norse and Celtic pantheons now it feels as if they were always there. Like even If I don't worship them per say, they'll still all be hanging around.

 

[EyeofOdin]

Ah thank you! I've also heard she represents justice, just anger, and revenge as well, is that correct?

I haven't heard all of that, but there is a forceful, predatory aspect to her being also a jotun goddess of hunting.

 

[Brinne]

So I was out today and saw a lot of skiiing-related imagery which made me think that setting up an altar to Skadi was probably the right decision. I made it in the window sill by my bed, it's pretty simple. I'm not quite sure what the bearded figure is, it's been passed around my family for quite a while and it has skiis so I figured why not?

I'm going to meditate on her and do more work focused on her this weekend and see If I can generate any kind of response. I did kind of get a weird response when I lit the candle though. Immediately the flame diminished to the point where it was just a really dim blue glow that looked like it was about to go out, I gave it a few seconds and then it flared up to normal size for absolutely no reason. My room isn't drafty (I get the lest ventilation) and all the windows were closed.

Anyways thank you for all the help here. Hail Skadi (I suppose )