(The title is a work in progress)

Musings on the “Mother of Monsters”

I often see Norse practitioners refer to Angrboða as the “Mother of Monsters”, whether they worship/work with her or not. It’s especially present in Þursatru circles.

As I understand it, this title is taken from Hellenic mythology’s Echidna.

In working with Angrboða over the years and devoting myself to her, I’ve found this title does not ring true. People may use whatever they’d like in their practice, but I find it odd to refer to the ruler of the Underworld (Hela), the embodiment of change and growth via destruction (Fenrir), and the embodiment of cosmic cycles (Jörmungandr) to be referred to as monsters or even monstrous.

So, like I said, I had a bit of a chat with Fenrir/ He spent the majority of the time explaining a lot of things, and also giving me his (and the others as well) reasons for why I should central my jotnar focused path around Jarnvidr. 

Honestly, I’m not quite ready to share what he said, nor the reasons he gave for me focusing my Jotnar path around the Iron Wood, mostly because those reasons are very personal, both for my own sake as well as Fenrir’s. 

But yeah, he ended up convincing me in the end that their reasoning, especially where I am concerned, is solid and logical, and I had no honest or strong enough arguments against said reasoning. 

So it looks like I’m going to end adopting some kind of label for my particular take of Jotnar spirituality that has to do with Jarnvidr. I just don’t know how it will look or sound, let alone be spelled. I wonder what would be the correct term for it? Something like Jarntru? Jarnatru? Maybe something like Jarnvidrtru? Though that last wone doesn’t seem right. I mean I have never seen someone use a label for their path like that that also included the part of the word that meant the place they are from. Hmmm I honestly have more knowledge and experience with Gaelic languages than I do Germanic/Norse ones, so I’m kind of at a loss here. 

Járn is a neuter noun that is Old Norse for iron. Viðr is a masculine noun that refers to wood, tree, or forest. So Járnviðr literally translates to Ironwood, Irontree, or Ironforest but Ironwood is the most popular gloss as viðr is usually translated as meaning wood rather than the other two possible meanings.

The significance of Iron in the name is honestly a case of “no one really knows”. There’s theories, sure, but few have any real evidence to back them up. Typical theories are the forest is a fantastical place with leaves or wood made out of iron (Cleasby-Vigfusson.) Another theory translates járn as “dark” and sees it as merely a deep and dense forest.  One theory put forth by Leif Einarsson, in my opinion, actually has some legs to stand upon based on the evidence provided.

Einarsson’s argument consists of tracing and comparing Járnviðr to a number of non-mythical toponyms (place names). In doing so, he illustates that there are a number of nonmythical equivalents to Járnviðr such as the significantly eastern forests of Jarnwith and Isarnho. (Significant as Járnviðr lies to the east in old norse cosmology.) Both can be traced to real world forested areas and have etymological roots that mean iron wood/forest. He also traces a number of other examples where this etymology can be found but I won’t recount his entire argument here for the sake of brevity. After recounting all these examples of Ironwood toponyms, Einarsson explains that many if not all were either historically places of bog iron production or located next to civilizations in such a way as to suggest they had resource potential like this. Thus the iron in their names, and also potentially then in the mythic toponym of Járnviðr, is linked to the presence of bog iron within the forest depths. 

Unfortunately, whether this means Járnviðr is actually named thusly is hard to say but it’s a compelling argument based off of so many real-word equivalent names found throughout Germanic-speaking countries. Of course, it being compelling is one reason it’s worth really examining so that one doesn’t just assume it as fact, but his evidence and thinking seems sound.

Work referenced:

This is the first post in a series concerning my research into Angrboða as a divinity. Since there’s so little about her in the mythic corpus, I have turned to archaeological to inform my studies.

The image stone pictured here is DR 284 of the Hunnestad Monument in Skårby, Sweden. This is a gravesite. This image is universally acknowledged as representing Hyrrokkin, the giantess that pushed Baldr’s funeral ship when not even Thor (the strongest of the Æsir) was able to. In my scholarly research, I have identified as an aspect of Angrboða.

A discord server that I assist in running is doing a small class covering some of the women of the Ironwood, so I figured I'd post here and let people know. "Join us in the Ironwood as we delve into the sources and examine Angrbotha and Hyrrokkin. 30 minute class with 30 minutes of discussion and sharing.

Where: The Ironwood (https://discord.gg/a6p6Dn7MEX).

When: Friday, October 4, 4pm Pacific (7pm Eastern).

• V I Ð Ó L F •

Viðólf : Wood-wolf

Viðólf is an elder. She is a mentor and mother of seeresses. She is only mentioned in the Völuspá hin skamma, described as the progenitor of all völur. Viðólf is a patroness of the sacred mysteries and a source of hidden knowledge. She is a spirit of seiðr. She is a figure similar to Heiðr, the sorceress who traveled Miðgardr sharing her wisdom with women. She stands with her hand outstretched to willing seekers as a wellspring from which ancient magics flow.