#gefjon

In Norse mythology there’s a goddess named Gefjon who was said to be a virgin and all people who died virgins would end up in her halls (Odin and Freya shared dead warriors fifty/fifty) but she also had four oxen sons that she got with an unnamed jotun so some sort of procreation must have happened but jotuns are weird so for all we know the dad birthed them after she kissed him on the cheek or something.

Anyway, my complaint with this goddess is that it is said she’s responsible for the creation of the Danish island Zealand where our capital is. She used her supernatural oxen sons to plow the landmass out of Sweden, leaving lake Mälaren behind.

I absolutely refuse to believe that.

Are you telling me this land

Came from this lake

When lake Värnen is right there!?

Look at it! The size and shape fits way better!

Gefjon

Gefjon is a Norse goddess linked to agriculture, ploughing, fertility, and unmarried women. In the myths, she tricked the Swedish king Gylfi, who promised her as much land as she could plough in a day. She transformed her four giant sons into oxen and carved out a massive tract of land, dragging it into the sea, forming the Danish island of Zealand. The void left behind became Lake Vänern in Sweden.

Gefjon is also associated with the legendary Danish king Skjöldr, said to be the son of Odin. They married and she became the ancestral mother of the Skjöldung dynasty. Loki’s taunt in the Lokasenna suggests she once traded intimacy for a necklace, mirroring Freyja’s tale with the dwarves. Some scholars speculate that Gefjon may have connections to Grendel’s mother in Beowulf. Among pagans, it is believed that women who die unmarried become her handmaidens.

(Text by Delia Gosforth, Illustration by Ellen Artistic)

I am the artist! Do not post without permission & credit! Thank you! Come visit me over on: instagram.com/ellenartistic or tiktok.

These illustrations all made it into a Norse Goddess Coloring Book!

(Print Copy)

There are also PDF copies available!

“She is a goddess associated with ploughing, the Danish island of Zealand, the legendary Swedish king Gylfi, the legendary Danish king Skjöldr, foreknowledge, her oxen children, and virginity. The Prose Edda and Heimskringla both report that Gefjon plowed away what is now lake Mälaren, Sweden, and with this land formed the island of Zealand, Denmark. In addition, the Prose Edda describes that not only is Gefjon a virgin herself, but that all who die a virgin become her attendants. Heimskringla records that Gefjon married the legendary Danish king Skjöldr and that the two dwelled in Lejre, Denmark.”

I decided to redraw my designs for Frigg and her handmaidens again since I haven’t drawn all of them in a minute!

I gave most of them, including Frigg slight redesigns, but I thought drawing them all again would be a fun little thing to do because I feel like these goddesses aren’t talked about enough

Who are the Handmaidens?

In the Prose Edda, twelve Goddesses are listed after Frigga as Ásynjur: Fulla, Gefjon, Hlín, Syn, Eir, Sága, Gná, Vár or Vór, Snotra, Vör, Lofn and Sjöfn. Modern Heathens sometimes refer to Them as Frigga's Handmaidens. (This is a piece of shared gnosis, not an historically attested term.) For many of the Twelve, this is all that survives in the way of attestations.

What is the Project?

Gradually over several years, and more intentionally recently, I have been building a devotional cultus around these Goddesses. As part of that, I've been putting together primers on each of the Twelve on my longform blog -- detailing Their surviving attestations, Old English God-names and epithets for Them, my own personal experiences and upg, a prayer, and devotional icon art -- as well as essays and modern myths exploring other aspects of Them and my cultus to Them.

Although I use Old English names for Them and honour Them in a syncretic heathen practice drawing on influences from across the British and Irish Isles, I hope these may be useful and/or interesting for practitioners working in a Norse, Continental, or other context. Or for anyone worshipping and building cultus to lesser-known and lesser-attested Gods!

I will update this post periodically, but if you like you can subscribe to my longform Wordpress blog for updates when I post.

Primers

Fulla

Geofen (Gefjon)

Hlēowen (Hlin)

Ār (Eir)

Saga

Lofen & Siofen (Lofn & Sjöfn)

Snotor (Snotra)

Wearn, or Syn (Syn)

Wær (Vör)

Gnæ (Gnā)

Āþ (Vár)

Essays and other posts

Introduction to the Project

Essay on abundance, ānanda, and Fulla

Essay on Frīg and Her importance to my cosmology

The Wren and her sister: a myth of Frīg feat. Ār and Gnæ