Author of Steamy Romance & Goddess Facilitator: Books, Divine Library & Services
Skadi
I love to explore the Divine Feminine and write about Goddesses. For a list of those, click on the link: Goddesses. In order to become more balanced within ourselves and, through that, to bring greater balance and harmony to the world around us, we must find greater balance between the masculine and feminine energies within ourselves that each one of us possesses, regardless of physical gender or any other ways of self-identification.
The Queen of Ice
Skadi is a Norse Goddess and giant who is also mentioned in the classical poetic Edda in which Odin describes her as “the shining bride of the gods.” She is also mentioned in the Prose Edda, both of which were written around the 13th century, drawing on earlier sources of mythology. She is associated with bowhunting, skiing, winter, and mountains and is also responsible for changing the snake that dripped poisonous venom on the bound God Loki as punishment for his crimes.
Linguists have traced her name back to various roots in different languages, all meaning shadow. Her domain is that of the mountains where she enjoys skiing and snowshoeing. In mythology, Skadi is the daughter of the giant Thiazi, whose name means ice, and lived in Heimskringla. When he was killed by the gods, she sought retribution and the gods allowed her t choose a husband from among them from only the legs and feet.
She chose the gloomy Sea God Njörd, thinking it was the fair God Balder. The marriage was an unhappy one, as she didn’t like living by the sea and Njörd equally hated the mountains and they agreed to dissolve the marriage. In some tales, Skadi later married the God Odin and bore him many sons, one of which was the father of the Norwegian line of kings. She also appears in two of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy-tales, “The Snow Queen” and “The Ice Princess.”
The giants, whose Norse name means “devourers,” are predominantly forces of darkness, cold, and death, characteristics which Skadi embodies. However, as she was worshipped widely, she seems to have some kinder attributes as well, relating to winter and survival during the cold months of the year, or when travelling through her domain in the mountains where the snow never melts. The frost giants represented the various aspects of the Norse winters, the eternal night, cold, ice and so forth.
Skadi is also closely associated with dark magic, the new moon, and hunting wolves and bears and being happy when hearing the howling of the wolves, as opposed to the screeching of seagulls in her first husband’s domain. Wolf is one of her familiar animals that are associated with her, the others being the Arctic Fox and Raven.
Dignity & Fairness
Skadi is a force to be reckoned with and, despite her fair looks, a dark Goddess, meaning, she rules the shadow parts of the psyche, that which is hidden in darkness, the baser instincts and “negative” emotions, such as anger, thirst for revenge and traumas we’ve neatly stacked away in the depths of our subconsciousness. She is stormy and unpredictable, relentless in her pursuit of what she perceives as justice. She will stop at nothing to achieve her objectives. But she has passion and integrity, and the determination to live life in all its fullness, regardless of the harshness of her circumstances, or of the feelings of others about her.
When we encounter dark, difficult times, Skadi encourages us to embrace our wild, untamed spirit. We must focus, as she did, on carving out a life for ourselves of our own choosing. When she went to seek revenge for the death of her father, she didn’t hold a grudge but gave up her need for destruction in favour of the prospect of love. When she didn’t get on with her husband, however, she didn’t just succumb to a loveless, unhappy marriage, but took care of her own needs and amicably separated from her husband, again without bearing him any ill will.
In my romance novel Sealed Brothers, Haylee, the female MC, is caught in a relationship with Austin, a US Navy Seal whose life she saved during a bomb blast. After the physical attraction between the two makes way for deeper acquaintance between the two, they have to face the fact that their relationship needs to change in order for both to be happy. At first, both are hurt, but then love wins the day.
Love & Integrity
Skadi teaches us to resolve issues in our lives that are less than light with love and integrity. She teaches us to stand up for our own needs and passions, seeking justice, but not only for ourselves but in a manner that is beneficial to all of those concerned. When we approach a dark matter in our own lives with love, we can come to a positive solution for all concerned when we meet the situation with love and care for all involved.
Blind destruction is not Skadi’s way. Rather, we are called to bring those dark forces within us to the light for healing and transmutation into something constructive and beneficial. Her strength and power can be used for good or bad. We are called upon to make the right choices and use our incredible powers to choose wisely and fairly for ourselves and all others concerned.
Watch this video clip on Skadi the Queen of Ice here: