Divine Canines: Geri and Freki

This is the fourth post of a series about divine canines, gods and goddesses who are dogs, spirits in dog form and other magical canines. Years ago I did a few posts about wolf goddesses but found in my research too many male canine gods and beasts, or non-wolf canid goddesses that I couldn't include. So I promised to do something on the wider subject of myth and canid species linked to ancient legends, spirits, deities and folklore.


The fourth post on the subject is of Geri and Freki, the two wolves of Odin. Both in Norse mythology, legend is that the two wolves belong to the All Father god Odin and accompany him during the Wild Hunt. They often eat corpses of dead warriors on battle fields, and eat entire plates of food on the dining table of the gods. Odin allows them to feed as he only drinks wine.

Geri's name means "ravenous one". Freki's name means "greedy one". Both wolves can't stop eating. They attend Odin on hunts for beasts such as elk and bison, and when not hunting, they scavange for food on battle fields. Two messenger ravens belonging to Odin, named Hugin and Munin, locate food for the two hungry wolves. Sometimes the ravens will fly out and lead the way, as the two wolves follow. If they discover food, they each share it. The myths suggest that Geri and Freki don't hunt but rely on Odin and the ravens to find game.

Besides being so greedy, the wolves have a distinctly magical side that's often overlooked. Too much background information and write-ups on the wolves eating non-stop, but little on anything else about their spiritual purpose. First of all the two wolves Geri and Freki played a very important role in human origins! The legend goes that the two wolves nurtured the first humans and acted as both foster parents and teachers. The early humans grew up looking upon the wolves as their leaders, guides and even family mmbers. It helped humans understand how to survive in a harsh world, how to prepare food, cook, search for water underground, understand the seasons and climate, how to make uses of hunted animals for meat, clothing and tools, how to build shelter, how to swim, how to communicate.


The earliest human beings respected wolves and therefore had a special bond, which science is struggling to come to terms with. It's simple, this gives us a clue about the possible first domestication of the wolf. Or did the wolf domesticate itself?


Odin was considered a wolf god, not just because of the two Geri and Freki, but also because he took on wolf form and was leader of the Ulfhednar warriors. In wolf's form he fathered human children who were called the Volsungs that were able to shapeshift into wolves. 

Sisters of the Valkyrie? part IX: Amazons

There are Valkyrie-like goddesses and demi goddesses in other belief systems, who resemble the characteristics of the Northern Valkyries. It makes you wonder if they belong to the same species or come from the same root legend. I've written entries about the subject, starting with individuals and then perhaps go onto research different aspects of the Valkyrie. The ninth entry on the "Sisters of the Valkyrie" is about the Amazons.

Amazons, or others called Oiorpata, are a legendary army consisting entirely of women. It's said that they were from Scythia, which is now the Ukraine. They're also Amazon warriors across ancient Persia, Asia Minor, Crimea, Baltic lands, Black Sea regions, Altai Mountains, Russia, Crete and Anatolia. Whether or not they could be part of a nation or under one ruler is not too difficult to say because amazons warriors appeared throughout Eurasia and found scattered across various places.

In Greek mythology, Amazons live in Themiscyra, a Pontus region, which was once part of ancient Greece and nears South of the Black Sea. Now it's part of Turkey. According to legend the town of Themiscyra was ruled by a beautiful queen named Hippolyta, she wore a magical belt that was made by her father, Ares, the god of war. The belt, or girdle symbolised her power as queen. She encountered Theseus when he arrived to her island after killing the Minotaur. There was much celebration and feasting. He proposed to her during the night's party but she declined marrying him. Later when everyone slept, Theseus and his friend Pirithous planned to kidnap the queen and force marriage. Theseus carried a sleeping Hippolyta to his ship and sailed away to Athens. The amazons woke up and found that their queen was gone so they got their boats ready to set sail. The amazons successfully rescued their queen at midnight on the eve of the wedding and all returned to the island. When Theseus found that his bride-to-be was gone, he gave up on trying to get her back to him.

The demi god Hercules convinced Hippolyta to hand over the belt and it angered the goddess Hera. The amazon queen died and the belt went away with Hercules on the rest of his epic journey. In popular modern literature, created by DC Comics, one of the Amazons appears as a superhero in the 20th Century called Diana Prince or Wonder Woman, daughter of Hippolyta. 

There's archeological discoveries to link Amazons with historic truth. There's amazon graves in Russia, areas of the Don and Volga rivers. The bodies were delicately handles at burial, dressed in combat armour matching the descriptions of the Amazonian women in mythology. There were also amazon graves uncovered in Kazakhstan of women in armour and beside swords, axes, arrow heads, horse harnesses and daggers many of the items made of bronze.

Interestingly the weapons found with the women had shorter narrower handles compared to those weapons discovered at men's grave sites nearby. Bones of domestic animals were buried beside the women indicating that they were not hunter-gatherers. Tattoos worn by male warriors of the region were also upon the dead amazons. So was there a basis of fact to the mythical stories then? Seems there is.

There is so much in comparison to the amazons and the shield maidens of the far north. These were the Northern amazons, women who fought in battle alongside the menfolk. It's believed that the valkyries were really mortal women such as these.