Winifred Hodge Rose
A reader asked me about the Norse Goddess of healing, Eir, and what I might know about her. I’ll outline what I’ve found in this article, while noting that I have not worked with her to any great extent and thus have little to offer from personal experience, other than my experiences working with Heathen Deities generally. But other modern Heathens I know do work closely with her; I believe—and celebrate—that the connections between her and Heathens today are growing stronger by the year! I also want to mention other healing entities in Heathen lore and practice here, mainly by referring to more detailed articles of mine, and books by others, on this subject.
Eir as a Valkyrie
Here is the entry on Eir from Rudolf Simek’s Dictionary of Northern Mythology. “The name of an Asynia (= an Æsir goddess) who is said here to be the best female doctor. In Fjölsvinnsmál 38 Eir is one of Menglöð’s serving girls, but in the þulur merely the name of a valkyrie. The name means ‘the helper’ (ON eir ‘help, mercy) and is appropriate for a healing goddess, yet the name is missing in the list of Asyniur in the þulur, and therefore the valkyrie’s powers to awaken the dead and their healing powers will have to be taken into account so that Eir as a valkyrie is probably the more original version.” (p. 71-2)
Here Simek, based on other references, is suggesting that Eir was originally a valkyrie and participated in the valkyries’ abilities to somehow transport or transform dead warriors into living Einherjar in Odin’s hall Valhalla. The healing powers of valkyries are illustrated in the Poetic Edda’s Sigrdrifumál, or the Lay of Sigrdrifa. In this poem Sigurd awakens the valkyrie Sigrdrifa from her enchanted sleep, and she then shares wisdom with him. She first prays for ‘healing hands’ for both of them (v. 4), and goes on to give him deep rune-lore, including how to protect against poisons and evil spells (v. 8), and helping-runes for childbirth (note Eir = ‘help, mercy’) in v. 9.
Verse 11 says that “Limb-runes you must know if you want to be a healer and know how to see to wounds; on bark they must be cut and of the tree of the wood, on those whose branches bend east” (Larrington’s translation). Sigrdrifa then goes on to describe how the runes must be cut on many different objects, presumably depending on the purpose of the rune-work, including “in wine and on wort” which I assume refers to healing potions made from wine and herbs infused with rune-power.
After the runes have been carved onto something they are then treated as follows: “ All were shaved off, those which were carved on, and stirred into the sacred mead and sent on wandering ways…” (v. 18). Modern Heathens engaged in runic healing usually follow the practice of carving runes on something edible / safe to consume, then scrape them off and dissolve the scrapings in mead or other drink, to be drunk in an appropriate ceremony or sprinkled over the person, animal, or place that needs healing. I suspect that the reference to carving and sending the runes is related to Hávamál v. 144-5 about carving and sending runes as an indication of how to practice runic magic. InHávamál v. 147 we’re told that Odin knows a second rune, presumably Uruz, “which the sons of men need, those who want to live as physicians.”
It’s clear from The Lay of Sigrdrifa that valkyries—at least some of them, perhaps all—are extremely powerful and knowledgeable beings, and that healing is included among their skills. Thus, the idea that Eir may originally have been a valkyrie before joining the Asynja-Goddesses makes a great deal of sense to me! And there’s no reason, it seems to me, that she would not also continue her work as a valkyrie in situations where healing is required. Based on this poem, it would seem that an important, and maybe primary, mode of healing for valkyrja, and presumably Eir, is the use of runes, combined with healing herbs and potions.
Runic Healing
Rune-work can be used for healing psychological issues as well as physical healing and the promotion of health and longevity, as we learn in the Rigsþula or the List of Rig, in the Poetic Edda. There, Rig-Heimdall’s grandson Konr has become a great rune-master who “knew runes, life-runes and life-span runes, and he knew how to help people…to make sorrows disappear” (v. 43-44, Larrington’s translation).
Runes are used by a woman healer in the Edda poem Oddrun’s Lament, where Borgny was struggling in unsuccessful childbirth, her life endangered, until “strongly Oddrun sang, powerfully Oddrun sang, sharp spells for Borgny” (v. 7). Mostly likely these were rune-galdors. In the Icelandic Egil’s Saga, Egil comes across a girl who is very sick and bedbound, and discovers that an unskilled man had carved runes to make the girl fall in love with him, written on a whalebone and hidden in her bed. He went about it the wrong way and caused her to become ill instead. Egil discovered the whalebone, scraped off the runes and burned them, and wrote new runes which healed her.
There are many more examples of runic healing, but enough for now. I’m pointing out here the connections between Eir’s healing powers, valkyries’ life-giving powers, and use of the runes.
The Wise-Women of Menglöð
Though Simek does not elaborate on this in the passage I quoted above, the mention of Eir in Fjölsvinnsmál offers some further clues. Fjölsvinnsmál is a poem in the Poetic Edda that tells of Svipdag’s efforts to woo the Goddess Mengloð. Her name means “necklace-glad, jewel-glad,” and she’s generally considered to be a morphism of Freya. Freya herself has important connections with healing, as I discuss in some of my articles referenced later on.
Svipdag is challenged to a long and intense riddle-contest with the guardian of Menglöð’s courts, Fjölsvinnr, who may be Oðinn in disguise, before he is granted entry. During the course of this contest Svipdag asks Fjölsvinnr about the things he can see over the wall: “What that rock is called where I see an unmoving woman, a most-glorious lady?” He’s answered “Healing-Mountain (Lyfjaberg) it is called—for a long time the joy of a poorly and pain-ridden woman; every woman becomes well, even if she’s barren, if she can clamber up it” (v. 35-6, Larrington).
Svipdag then asks who the maidens are, who are gathered around Menglöð (v. 38). One of them is listed as Eir. Svipdag asks “whether they protect those who sacrifice to them if there is need of this?” Fjölsvinnr answers “The wise-women give protection, wherever men sacrifice to them, in an altar-hallowed place; no matter how dire the peril that comes upon men’s sons, they save them from their straits” (v. 39-40, Larrington’s translation). Illnesses and injuries were frequently referred to in terms of ‘peril.’
Earlier in the poem, in verses 19 – 22, reference is made to the healing power of the World-Tree: “Some of its fruits should be thrown into the flames, when suffering women are there; outward will appear what they may inwards conceal…” (v.22). I assume the last part of the verse refers to childbirth. These references to wise-women and the help they give is reminiscent of the Matronae, the Mothers, whose worship was very widespread across Europe during the time of the Roman Empire (see my article Matrons and Disir: The Heathen Tribal Mothers.)
Women Physicians
Hilda Ellis Davidson in her book Roles of the Northern Goddess has some more insights for us. “…it seems that both men and women were called in to treat wounds…. The term læknir (leech, doctor), however, appears to be specifically given to women called upon to treat the wounded after battle or to visit sick and injured people in their homes. Saxo Grammaticus, writing in the last part of the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, has a tale in Book III of Odin disguised as a woman and claiming to be skilled as a doctor in order to gain access to the bedroom of a princess. Perhaps this should be seen as another example of Odin trespassing on the preserves of a goddess.” (p. 162.) (This is the tale of how the God Vali was conceived on Rindr unwillingly; Vali’s task was to take vengeance against Hoðr for his killing of Baldr.)
Davidson continues “Although healing by a goddess – or indeed by a god, either – has left little mark on Norse myths as they have come down to us, there is no doubt that the healing power of goddesses was of enormous importance in daily life in the pre-Christian period” (p. 163).
Further Reading
There are both ancient and modern books of Heathen lore that can help one figure out how to follow Eir’s path of healing, including a great many books on herb-lore and folk practices. One that I recommend is Ben Waggoner’s Norse Magical and Herbal Healing. Another is Cat Heath’s Elves, Witches, and Gods: Spinning Old Heathen Magic in the Modern Day, including her extensive bibliography. Gunivortus Goos’s book Goddess Holle discusses, among many other things, plants and their uses that are connected with the worship of this beneficent German Goddess. G(ustav) Storm’s scholarly book on Anglo-Saxon Magic has a wealth of old spells and customs to offer.
I have written several articles, posted here on my website, that discuss healing aspects of Heathen practice. In An Anglo-Saxon Charm Against a Dwarf, we can see both the harmful aspects of soul-theft by a dwarf, as well as the healing power of the ‘dwarf’s sister,’ whom I see as a powerful dwarven galdor-master who can be called upon by healers today. In The Kindly Gods Go Wandering I discuss a number of old Norwegian spells which call upon Deities to heal humans and domestic animals from harms caused by evil spirits.
In Disir, Hama and Hugr as Healing Partners I take an anecdote from the Icelandic Laxdæla Saga about a man who recovered from being disemboweled, thanks to help from his Dis, and use it to structure a process for using our souls and helping spirits to bring about healing today. In Wigi-Thonar: The Powers of Thor’s Hammer I offer a practice for maintaining holistic health and protection against spiritual harm. There is also a great deal of material in my writings on Heathen soul lore that is relevant for psychological, emotional, mental, and spiritual health and healing.
It seems to me that there are enough clues here to make a good start on following the healing-Goddess Eir and / or other healing Deities and spirits. My suggestion for those who want to follow any of them or learn from them is to perform a self-dedication ceremony of apprenticeship to the one(s) you choose. Then, develop your personal program consisting of both devotions to them, and learning about any and all aspects of healing that you are drawn to, whether ancient runic, magical, and folkloric ones, modern alternative healing practices, or modern conventional medicine and health care. All of this work can be put into practice and dedicated to your chosen holy one. And may all the Goddesses and Gods speed your work!
Book-Hoard
Davidson, Hilda Ellis. Roles of the Northern Goddess. Routledge, 1998.
Egil’s Saga. Transl. Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards. Penguin Books USA, 1976.
Larrington, Carolyne, transl. The Poetic Edda, revised edition. Oxford University Press, 2014.
Saxo Grammaticus. The Danish History. Translated by Oliver Elton, Project Gutenberg, 2004.
Simek, Rudolf. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. D.S. Brewer, 1993.
Storms, G(ustav). Anglo-Saxon Magic. Gordon Press, New York. 1974 (reprint of 1948 publication)
Sturluson, Snorri, transl. Anthony Faulkes. Edda. Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1995.