Freya's Values
by Ember Cooke
From Freyja I
get several things, some of which I already had, some of which I had to work
towards, some of which I'm still working towards.
Love is a gift.
It goes out from me and it does not return. Trying to keep it in, or worse, to take it back is harmful and wrong. Expecting to control love is foolish. Strings attached to love are illusions. However, that also means that love does not itself create obligations, nor am I off the hook for using my best judgment at all times simply because I find myself loving or in love.
Beauty is in everything.
As a limited mortal, I can not be expected to perceive the beauty in everything, but striving for that is good for me. I must begin with myself, accepting that I AM beautiful, whether or not other limited mortals recognize and report this to me. I am still working on some lessons in Beauty, including the question as to whether being perceived as Beautiful by others is a threat to me, or objectifying, and if it is, is that a tool for me to use, a doom I should try to avoid, an injustice I should fight, an inevitability I should accept, or what?
Death has value.
Everything that lives kills, and I don't even mean indirectly. If you think otherwise you are fooling yourself. Death has value that is not simply the sacrifice of the value of the life that was lost. Death is not something to shy away from - it's something to take responsibility for. Start with what you eat. Whatever you eat you should be at least *willing*, and skill-wise *able* to take from birth to food on your table, whether or not you actually DO. (If you are not yet so, you'd best be working on that.) If you can't abide being directly responsible for the death of animals, you have no business using any part of animals that requires their death. If you do not use any part of a thing, Freyja will not ask you to take responsibility for that thing.
Boundaries matter.
Make sure you know what yours are, and make sure that you draw them neither too close nor too far from where you actually need them to be. Freyja has often shown me where I have presumed two different boundaries were the same by sitting carefully between them thus illustrating the gap. Freyja more than any of the gods I have interacted with seems to truly respect the boundaries of the mediums She works with. When I have asked, She has indicated that this is because She is Herself a medium and a priestess and a witch, and as such understands and respects the position we are putting ourselves in as mediums, priests, and witches, relative to powers far greater than ourselves. As She would not wish to be overrun by the Powers She honors in Her own work, She does not choose to overrun us in ours. But if we don't know what our boundaries ARE, how can She honor them?
Exchange is fair.
Freyja paid the dwarves what They asked and deserved for Brisingamen, and accepted Brisingamen as Her due in return. That is the model - what service I may render IS worth what others offer me in return. She does not demand (yet) that I charge for my services, but She does not let me turn down payment if it is offered to me, no matter how embarassed I may be by the offer. In the long run, She would prefer I find my way to set up such exchanges up front, but I'm not quite ready for that.
Artwork by Thorskegga Thorn.