Freyja: The Goddess Who Refused Shame

Freyja wanted the Brísingamen necklace.

Four dwarf brothers had crafted it and it was the most beautiful piece of jewelry ever made. It glowed with its own light, radiant with power and intention. When Freyja saw it, she recognized it as something that belonged with her story.

She offered to buy it. They refused. Not for gold. Not for trade. Not for any price she could offer.

Instead, they named a different kind of exchange: one night with each of them. Four nights. One necklace. And Freyja chose to accept. She spent a night with each dwarf. She claimed the necklace. She wore it openly.

Later tellings of this myth often frame the story as a scandal, proof of Freyja’s excess, her appetite, her supposed lack of restraint. A story meant to caution rather than understand.

But what’s striking is what doesn’t appear in the myth: Freyja does not express regret. She does not hide her choice. She does not perform shame. She wanted the necklace. She understood the terms. She chose with clarity. And the Brísingamen becomes not a mark of disgrace, but a symbol of her power. For Freyja, sovereignty means taking responsibility for one’s choices, not avoiding them, and not allowing others to rewrite them as moral failure.

The Teaching: Conscious Choice and Sovereignty

Shadow Work: Untangling Shame from Responsibility

The Practice: Releasing What Isn’t Yours

The Truth Beneath the Myth

Closing Reflection