Goddess~A~Day

Icelandic Festival

Voluspa

Themes: Foresight; History; Perspective; Divination; Time

Symbols: Stories or Storybooks

About Voluspa: This Nordic goddess was born before all things, with the knowledge of all time within her. When asked to tell a tale of the gods, she recounted history, including the gods' downfall. To commemorate this, wise women and seers in northern climes are still sometimes called Voluspa.

Voluspa teaches us the value of farsightedness and of remembering our history. We cannot know where we're going if we cannot remember where we're from.

To Do Today: An old festival in Iceland known as the Iselndingadagurinn preserves Voluspa's energy by recounting local heritage and custom in a public forum including theater, singing, writing, and costumes. For our adpatation, I suggest taking out or working on a family tree, or perhaps a personal journal. Read over the chronicles of people from your ethnic background, and honor their lives in some appropriate manner (perhaps by lighting a candle). Voluspa lives in these moments, and at any time that we give ourselves to commemorating the past.

Alternatively, get out some good storybooks and read! Turn off the TV for awhile, and enrich your imagination with the words of bards who keep Voluspa's power alive in this world. Especially read to children, so they can learn of this goddess's wonders.

By Patricia Telesco~From "365 Goddess"