Goddess of the Week

This week's Goddess is the Norse grain Goddess Sif. This is the third time She has come up, having last appeared in October, and before that, as close to an exact year ago as possible, on last February 7th.

Sif was famed for Her beauty and Her long golden hair; She is usually taken to be a Goddess of the grain because of this. By an unnamed first husband She had a son, Ullr, the God of winter and skiing, Who inherited Her beauty; Her second husband was Thor, the thunder God. She was said to be a prophetess.

She is mainly known for the tale in which Loki, the troublemaker of the Gods, sneaked into Her chamber one night as She slept and cut off all Her hair. When She woke She was extremely upset; and it didn't take even Thor very long to figure out Who was behind it. So He set to threatening Loki, Who promised a replacement head of hair; this He got from the dwarves with a bit of conniving. They made it out of actual gold; but when given to Sif it magically grew to Her head just like real hair.

Her story can be seen as an allegory of the golden grain that is cut at its peak of ripeness and beauty.

There is a rumor floating about that She once had an affair with Loki; however as this rumor was also started by the selfsame Loki take it for what that's worth.

So. We have a Goddess associated with autumn or late summer, the harvest-time, showing up the first week of February, just like she did a year ago. I mean fair enough, Her showing up in October; that makes sense as far as harvests go. But now? And a year ago exactly, too?

Well, She is the mother of Winter, after all, Her son being Ullr, Whose name means 'Glory'. But that's up here, in Her north. In the southern hemisphere they have just passed Lughnasadh, the first of the harvest-festivals; perhaps Her presence this week is a reminder that as one part increases another decreases, the whole being held in perfect, living, balance.

So, then, look to the hidden, the corresponding equal and opposite reaction to what is going on with you, the negative space surrounding you, the invisible piece that completes. It is there, or the shadow of it is there; see if you can't get a good look at it, now. It is important to recognizing the wholeness of the situation and yourself, and for feeling supported. What feels like it is missing now? It is there, though not where you might look for it.

Sif is literally the mother of glory. What glorious work is being birthed by you right now? What glorious things surround you that you have perhaps not acknowledged? The sun is getting noticeably stronger now, up here in the north; and sunlight on snow can be dazzlingly bright. The darkness is beginning to lose its grip, though the cold will certainly be around a space longer, at least up here in New England. Still, it is the time of the year when we can first make out the light at the end of the tunnel.

Use your inner sight to see if you can make out these shadowy forms the light is now beginning to shine upon. Peer deep within the winter to see the seeds of spring.

She is canny, and shrouded in white:

The world begins in ice, in cold, in winter. I am winter's mother; how old does that make me then?

I See it all because I am older than it all. I see the unseen, the spark struck off ice to make fire, the living warmth within the animal, the woman hidden within the tree, the family gathered around the fire. All waiting to emerge, to come into being. In time.

But first, winter.

What do you think?