Gefjon: The Giver
Gefjon, "Giver" is strongly connected with the land and agriculture, she is another handmaid of Frigg.
She is mentioned in the Gylfaginning, the Heimskringla, and in verses of Skaldic poetry by Bragi Boddason the Old.
She is written of as a traveling entertainer, who visits King Gylfi of Sweden. He enjoyed Gefjon’s amusing antics and in return he offered her a gift, a bit of land. She could have as much land as she could plow in one day and one night.
Gefjon fathered four jotun sons and turned them into oxen. With them she plowed an immense chunk of land. She then hauled her prize away through the ocean waves, where it now rests off the coast of Denmark. It is known as Sjaelland (Zealand), the largest of Denmark’s islands and home to the great capital city of Copenhagen.
Gylfi offered her a gift, and though she had exceeded what he thought that gift would be, he honored it. Gifting is sacred. It creates bonds between giver and receiver. In that time of our ancestors, gifts were expected to be exchanged in most transactions for agreements, treaties, marriages, unions of kingdoms, etc. Rescinding of those gifts would not only cause ill will among the people, but would affect the Orlog of the giver. Is it any wonder then that her name is closely tied to that of Gyfu, the Anglo-Saxon name for the rune of gifting and reciprocity?
Gefjon took her lot and made a gift of it to Denmark, to increase its holdings. After receiving her island, it is said that she married the legendary hero, Skjold, son of Odin and the King of Leire. Together they founded the race of the Royal Danes known as the Scyldings. Gefjon’s husband is one and the same with Scyld Scefing in the Beowulf Saga.
She is also linked to fertility of the soil and is a Goddess of farming. She is thought to have been a main deity to the Danes. There are many place names that seem to be connected to her in both Denmark and Sweden. There is a known place of sacrifice to The Goddess in Leire.
The phrase, "Sver ek bid Gefjon" (I swear by Gefjon) seems to have been used to invoke her during marriage vows, most likely due to the ties between the concept of gifting, reciprocity and its importance in the binding of an agreement.
Let us honor Gefjon when gifting is a part of our agreements, as we build those ties to our loved ones and community. Let us honor her when it is time to plant and a need for the fertile soil to be a part of our gifting cycle. As we plant, it yields and we nurture the soil as it returns to us sustenance to nourish our bodies so that we may work our will in this life.
By Gythia Mills