Freyja: when love and war meet

When we hear that life is always a battle, they usually mean that you have to fight hard to get things, that you have to beg, to do it the hardest way to get the best results, but if you ever had the chance to work with war related gods and goddesses, you’ll soon realize that battles are not like this, not in the real world. I’ve been a devotee of the goddess Freyja for almost 5 years now, and yes, while she is mostly known as a love and sex goddess, she has domain over several other subjects, including war, magic and even death. And what happens when love and war meet? They become the pure essence of magic, and a huge lesson to carry in every aspect of life.

     As a lot of Freyja’s devotees may have noticed, Freyja is not the kind of goddess that works exclusively in a transactional way. She won’t just take your offerings and do what you asked for, because she works by training you like a soldier so you can achieve what you want by yourself. Why? Because she’s not only fond of your devotion, she’s fond of having you raising up to her level. She’s still a very approachable goddess, don’t get me wrong, but she’s the kind of woman who won’t stop until she gets what she wants, and that’s what she will ask of you. She will give you all the resources you need, she will plan your strategy, she will be there to turn the winds to your favor, but if you won’t raise a finger for yourself, there’s just no point in approaching her. Freyja, out of everyone, knows exactly what life as a battlefield means, and if you won’t even go to battle, there’s nothing else she can do for you, all because she knows how much capable you are, how much strength lies in you and unless you truly need divine intervention, she will trust you with your choices.

    Additionally, Freyja is a goddess that will truly see you. She will see all your potentials, your strengths, your weaknesses and your fatal flaws, and that’s the resources she will use to turn you into her soldier. With me, the greatest lesson she taught me was to be a fighter, and by that I don’t mean she will always push me to be active all the time, but rather she taught me in every small way what a war means. To be a warrior it doesn’t mean that you need to be tough or that you need to fight hard, but rather that you must work smart and be a strategist. It’s about forming close bonds to people (and spirits) who will aid in your journey, knowing who is not working in your best interest and cutting them off, and even what retribution you’ll give to your community because it’s not about living in conditional love, but to forge genuine allies and friends, all because the ancients in Scandinavia knew that working communally is for everyone’s benefit and that one warrior doesn’t win a war. It’s about being focused instead of dispersing your energy in things that are just not worth your time, being aware of the bigger picture and seeing your obstacles clearly so you can take the best route, just like a hawk who sees all with its keen eyes from up above.

     That’s exactly what I mean when I say she will raise you up to her level. She will slowly make you understand your own worth so you can start forming true relationships with people who value you and your company, so you can learn even how to be a good friend and how you can be more confident in achieving things not just by doing it all alone, but because you’ll then learn the true meaning of community, and this is what winning a war looks like. It’s not about being a lone warrior or a fighter, which is how people like to romanticize this idea, it’s all about raising up communally. You can go faster alone, but you will go farther with the right people on your side.