Sunna is the Norse Goddess of the Sun, also known as Sól – though some hold that Sól is the mother and Sunna Her daughter. As Sunna, She is a healer as seen in one of the two Merseburg Incantations (the “horse cure”) written in... the 9th or 10th century CE, which attests that Sunna is the sister of Sinthgunt. In Norse mythology, Sól is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. In both the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda She is described as the sister of the personified moon, Máni, is the daughter of Mundilfæri, and is at times referred to as Álfröðull.
“Sunna -’Mistress of the Sun,’ the ancient Scandinavians used to sing, ‘sits on a bare stone and spins on Her golden distaff for the hour before the sun rises.’ To the people of the north, as to many others, the bright day-bringing star was feminine, the Goddess Sunna – still honored whenever we point to the sun.
Her themes are the sun, blessings, cycles, healing, movement, and travel. Her symbols are gold or yellow colored items, (chariots) and horses. ”Sól (Old Norse ’Sun’) or Sunna (Old High German, and existing as an Old Norse and Icelandic synonym) is the Sun personified in Germanic mythology.” As the northern hemisphere approaches late spring, Sól’s inspiring light and warmth are welcome and notable. “Sól drives the chariot of the Sun across the sky every day pulled by the horses Alsviðr (‘Very Fast’) and Arvakr (‘Early Rising’)", giving Her additional connections with movement and safe travel.
“This date marks the return of the Midnight Sun, a ‘day’ for Norwegians that will actually last for ten weeks, emphasizing Sól’s power. Correspondingly, people’s activity level increases around the clock, as they sleep less to adjust to the change in earth’s cycle. So, when your inner resources lag or you’re out of kilter with natural or biological clocks, turn to Sól for assistance.
Wear gold or yellow items to tune into Her vibrations, and get out in Sól’s sunlight today (if the weather cooperates). It’s very healthy and naturally generates more of Sól’s positive energy for anything you undertake.
Interestingly enough, in Norse mythology, the Sun is female while the Moon is male. When the world was created from the body of the dead giant Ymir by the triad of Odin, Vili and Ve, the Sun, Moon and Stars were made from the gathered sparks that shot forth from Muspellsheim, the Land of Fire.
Her people said that Sunna lived at first on earth; She was such a beautiful child that Her father, Mundilfæri, named Her after the most brilliant star. But such presumption annoyed the gods of Asgard. They took Sunna from earth to Her namesake, where She forever after rode the chariot of day. Pulling Her were divine horses…under their harnesses were bags of wind that cooled them and the earth as they traveled with their mistress through the sky. Likewise Sunna carried the shield Svalin (‘cool’), which protected the earth from too intense contact with Her rays.
Sunna was not really immortal, for like other Scandinavian gods, She was doomed to die at Ragnarök, the end of the universe. She was said to be constantly chased through the sky by the Fenris-wolf Sköll, offspring of a female giant (it is said that sometimes he comes so close that he is able to take a bite out of the Sun, causing an eclipse. On the last day he would catch Her and devour Her. But say the eddas, ‘one beaming daughter the bright Sunna bears before She is swallowed,’ and this new sun daughter would take Her mother’s place in the new sky following the destruction of Sunna’s realm. (When the world is destroyed, a new world shall be born, a world of peace and love, and the Sun’s bright daughter shall outshine Her mother.
The ‘bright bride of heaven’ had, in addition to the familiar powers we grant the sun, a special function in Norse mythology. She was the ‘elf beam’ or ‘deceiver of dwarves’, for those creatures were petrified by Her glance. Stone was important to Her in another way, for Her worshipers carved deep stone circles across the Scandinavian landscape as part of Her sacred rites.
Alternate names: Sól, Sun, Sunna, Sunnu, Gull (“Gold”).
