Femininity in Tamrielic Faith Part 4: Nordic Goddesses beyond Shor Son of Shor

So as promised, an essay linking the Nordic Goddesses to the Triple Goddess, or as I am familiar with Her, the Threefold Lady. Once upon a time, I dabbled in Modern Wicca before moving on to a more secular set of metaphysical beliefs. I have read almost all of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s superbly researched fictions about pre-Christian pagan religious orders. Despite my secular leanings, the imagery I absorbed from those religious and literary experiences resonate powerfully through my adulthood, and today I would like to share them with you.

It seems a bit strange to think of the Nordic Goddesses as aspects of the same entity, because I have spent the past three posts dealing with them as discrete spirits. But in the wider context of the Elder Scrolls, is it really that odd? So many other beings are Three-in-One or parts of greater Oversouls, that the concept of the Threefold Lady is actually a perfect fit.

There is something wonderful and sad about thinking of the Nordic Goddesses as phases of the same divine femininity. We will first deal with the wondrous power, and then we will address the sorrowful complexity.

Between them on my Mara post, MK and LN dug up some delightful old notes and MK posted them in the comments section. This would be a great time to revisit that extremely relevant bit of insight. In a nutshell, it describes the spiritual system of the Nords as a kalpic cycle dominated by different Gods at different times, but the Goddesses are constant. In an ever-changing and dangerous world, they look to the Goddess(es) for direction and reassurance.

When the sun burns and betrays them and then sets, leaving the Nords cold, the Moon’s influence is constant, even if it is not visible in the light of the Sun. Its gravitational and spiritual pull guides them in all their doings, and reassures the Nords of the coming of the next cycle.

Where Stuhn/Tsun/Trinimac are interchangeable as one and one and one; the phases of the Lady, the Maiden, Mother and Matriarch/Crone have distinct and irreplaceable roles to play in the lives of the Nords.

Like the Moon, the phases of the Lady are a progression and each has meaning and a unique effect on the environment. They not only represent a monthly cycle of tides and influence, they also a powerful metaphor for a woman’s life and fertility cycles.

A female begins her life as a Maiden, young, impassioned, full of potential. When that potential is realised and peaks, through family and/or work, she becomes a Mother, nurturing and guiding her creations and endeavours. When her efforts become self-sustaining and independent and she enters the last phase, she becomes the Crone, worldly, wise, free from the burdens of her previous phases, and therefore powerful and authoritative in her experience. She guides Maidens and Mothers through their trials, nurturing her own creations and those of others, helping them to survive in a chaotic and ever-changing landscape.

Sounds empowering, does it not? As every woman flows through these phases, we can experience these powers and abilities as a shared experience that still allows us to be our own individual. For example, a woman can experience the power of the Mother without actually bearing children. Her projects and endeavours can be her “children”; maybe she chooses animals as her babies; maybe she has little humans in her life that are not from her body, nieces, nephews, friends of the family; maybe she works in early childcare or is a teacher.

But the limits of each phase of a woman’s potential can be staggering and shake you to the core if you come up against them too strongly. Dibella must deal with being the subordinate and subject to the whims and lusts of those mightier and in greater authority. Mara must learn to accept the help of others and understand her own physical and spiritual limitations. Kyne must live with the fact that she embodies conflict and destruction and that she will never have the power to create and inspire the way her other phases have.

These limits of feminine power bring great sadness. The promise of feminism in the 3rd wave was that women can have it all the same as men, and unfortunately many women are learning that this is not quite true. In our world, when an adolescent female is slut-shamed or assaulted; another told at age 27 that she may not be able to have her own children because her fertility started to decline earlier than expected; or an older woman is disrespected, ignored and marginalised by the family she gave so much to raise, they experience the anger and sadness of Dibella, Mara and Kyne. There is no mercy for the naïve, and the results can be soul-crushing and utterly disheartening. True empowerment is found not in fighting these limits, but in working within them in the hopes of transcending, not defeating them.

Perhaps this is the core of Nordic disdain for the Clever Men, their logic and magic. To them, to try and understand, control and disrupt the natural forces of nature’s cycles is not only arrogant, it risks destroying their delicate balance and therefore everything. This does give an interesting colour to the Great Collapse, the tone in Winterhold, and their attitudes towards the Elves.

More so than any other spirits, the Goddesses bring a lesson in humility and acquiescence to natural forces and order.

It is kind of like CHIM. People who achieve CHIM and understand I AM ALL ARE WE are granted enormous power, but they are limited by Love and can only exercise that power through Love.

With I AM ALL ARE SHE, it is similarly confined but by a cycle of life, death and rebirth. It comprises its own brand of love, tenderness, joy and sorrow.

So ends my series on the Nordic Goddesses and my critique of Shor son of Shor I am going to take a break from this series to work on other projects, but when I resume, I intend on focusing on Femininity as portrayed by the Tribunal and their Anticipations.