Frigga in my Needle
by Mist
I don’t know what started the drive to do something, but I
suppose sitting for hours at a laptop writing, editing and such, does wear on a
person, and I have to admit I had a bit of a slump in my creative writing
skills, as I am sure many an author has experienced. I was haunted by the dreaded
blank pages, and needed to walk away for a bit. I also think having a matron
goddess, although seemingly easier than male gods for some people, is in fact harder.
Having a goddess of domestic arts finds forced to find peace with domestic life,
to try the domestic arts and activities that our ancient mothers would have also done
while by the fire, or for trade and sale. Frigga was surprising to me, because I
had previously dedicated myself to Odin, and was a woman with the mind of a
warrior. Although most women can identify with Odin’s charm - he does have a
way with the ladies - he is certainly not of a domestic nature. I spent many
years like him, wandering, not finding a place for myself, and definitely not
someone to set up a little house with a white picket fence.
So I decided to try needlework. Okay, that was ambitious for someone who could not cut straight if my life depended on it, and really could not do an even stitch in a straight line. But for some reason, I don’t know why, I just decided. To heck with it, I am going to attempt the impossible! I will embroider.
My first start was to find a website that would give me a bit of help; luckily there are a lot of those, and thank the gods for YouTube. That place is amazing for video tutorials and you can benefit a lot from the expert-level videos that tell you how to do everything. So with a will of iron and a resolve to learn this skill, I began. I have to say that at first I was not sure what would happen, but as I began I found that each stitch was flowing. Each time the needle hit the fabric, pulled and went through, I began to feel at peace, relaxed, and on occasion I went somewhere else. I realized pretty quickly, that I was tuning into Frigga, because I felt her around me. I felt the calm caress of a mother’s hand, and I heard the slow creak of the spinning wheel and the low melody of her hum several times. In fact, my family found it quite irritating when I began a project, because I seemed to tune everything out, and found myself engrossed in the fabric.
I found a great appreciation for my patron there, as if I was
feeling the fibres of the fabric, and the fine fibres of the thread twisting
and turning in my hand, as if spinning wool. It was amazing; I felt connected
and found myself having a very close and personally connection to Frigga. But
another amazing thing happened; each piece I did caused a different effect. Not
only did I get better at them, but each piece seemed to help me connect to a
different god, as if I could feel them with me as I stitched.
I discovered that a great way to resolve any issues with gods or to determine where connections need to be mended was through craft. For me there is no better way to get things settled than to sit down and craft something specifically for a god, and have everything from stitch one to last stitch go wrong. It was aggravating at some points, but once I focused harder on that god, it got easier. I can see that being applied to things outside crafting, but still what a way to find out you have things to work on than a completely nice plan turning out well wrong!
I found that Frigga was indeed the easiest to connect to, likely because of her connection to fiber arts. I could only think of one piece to show here, although I have done others, as I found not only a knack but a love for it. This cloth was done for my dear friends in Germany who have done so much for me, and I really wanted to show them my gratitude, and this was one way for me to do it. This was only my fourth attempt at embroidery, and much more complex than my early pieces, but I was very proud of it, and still think it is the best one, by far, although the Odin cloth is a close second.
To me it was the culmination of the spirituality I had been seeking. I found it through stitching. It may not be the same for everyone, but for me it was the most pivotal point in this whole journey, I felt the presence of Frigga in every stage, felt the gods guiding my hands, and for me it was spiritual. It truly was a moving moment in my life, which I why I continue to craft things for the gods and for my community, because it is my gift to them from hands guided by my own desires and their influence, which struck me with a profound sense of peace and enlightenment. Perhaps that sounds cheesy, but that is what it was, a profound gift and one that I treasure greatly.