Something About Saga
Her name in Old Norse, sedja, means “to speak,” and is related to the word saga—the stories that preserve for us so much of Heathen history and lore. Grimnismal tells us She owns one of the great halls of Asgard, Sokkvabekkr, or “sunken benches,” which lies beneath cool waves, and that there she and Odin drink together every day from golden cups, joyfully. In the early days of human social development, Her presence was probably first felt on quiet evenings when tales were committed to memory and told around the cooking fires. She speaks softly—so softly that sometimes one must strain to hear—yet with calm authority. She is the storyteller who preserves and keeps alive all the tales of past tragedies and glories, the seeress who can call up the ghosts of the past that they may speak to us of the future. These myriad voices swirl together in Her golden cup, and She and Odin drink deep together of the tales they tell, the wisdom they reveal.
Saga’s might can be sensed in the rushing roar of the ocean’s surf, which can easily seem to become the voice of a Goddess whispering long-forgotten secrets—secrets which the sea, being unimaginably ancient, would have stored and remembered. Those most influenced by and beholden to Her gifts are librarians, scholars, historians, and storytellers; I find Her power to be very compatible with Odin’s in my work as a writer. She has the ability to dredge up long-forgotten tales and lore from the depths of human consciousness and bring them to light again, and can be a great aid to all writers, but especially to those who endeavor to write about the mysteries of the past.
Yet there is more to Saga than this; She is also a seeress, something about Her which is often overlooked. The fact that She is connected with the sea (as Her palace is said to lie “beneath cool waves” emphasizes the fluid, flowing nature of Wyrd as well as the non-linear character of time in the Germanic mind; time cannot be strictly divided into past, present, and future, because the ripples that spread outward from each deed we commit affect not only the future, but also the past. Saga is not the only Goddess who can see into Wyrd, but I have found Her to be the one most likely to share what She knows. Like Odin Himself, She is a teacher in this respect—yet She has a flair for the dramatic as well, and loves to hold Her audience spellbound as She draws them ever more deeply into Her tales. It is no wonder Odin never tires of Her company.
Saga is often thought of as being either an aspect of Frigga or one of Her Handmaidens, but in my experience She is neither. The fact that She is willing to speak of what She knows argues against Her being identical with Frigga, who in both lore and most people’s experiences is more reluctant to share what She knows. Also, I believe Snorri categorized a number of independent, perhaps regionally worshipped Goddesses as Handmaidens of Frigga in order to make Frigga correspond more neatly to the image of a great Queen of the Gods in the classical model of Hera (at the same time as he cast Odin as a more Zeus-like figure). In my experience of Her, Saga is most definitely Her own Goddess, not necessarily unfriendly to Frigga but certainly not Her servant.
This, however, begs the question: if She is neither Frigga nor one of Her handmaidens, who is She? And why does She have the hall of Sokkvabekkr seemingly for Her very own?
Quite simply, I believe Saga is Gunnlod, and that Odin gifted Her with the hall of Sokkvabekkr—and also with a new name, in keeping with Germanic tradition. The assumption that He callously abandoned Gunnlod after obtaining the Mead of Poetry, never to return to Her or be reunited with Her despite having married Her—as the Havamal strongly suggests He did, and as I have been told by Them both—has never sat well with me. I am aware that this is what is believed by those who follow the letter of the existing lore (never mind that a huge portion of that lore has probably not survived, and thus will never be known to us except through direct revelation by our Gods), but I reject the idea. It is not consistent with Odin’s character as I personally know Him, nor with what He and others (including Gunnlod Herself) have told me. It is true that there is no mention of Gunnlod in the lore after the Mead story, but at the same time there is also nothing to explain the presence of Saga, Odin’s fascination with Her, or why a supposed Handmaiden of Frigga would have a hall of Her very own. Yet it is quite plausible that, as Odin’s Etin-bride, Gunnlod would be given Her own hall by Her husband. I have heard people who work closely with the Handmaidens comment that they consider Saga to be the current guardian, for Odin, of the Mead of Poetry. What more fitting guardian could there be for the Mead than the Lady who originally watched over it, especially as She is now wed to Odin and thus one of the Aesir? Also, it seems only fitting that the mother of Bragi, God of poetry and Skald of Asgard, would Herself be a Storyteller Extraordinaire, keeper of the memories and tales of the past and opener of the Door to the future.
- Gunnlod-Hjarta
(c) 2006
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