Rhonda Tharp
Active Member
The Celto-Teutonic goddess in her destroyer aspect. Like the Greek Persephone, "Destroyer," she was Queen of the Shades, Mother Death. Her name was the root of Gothic skadus, Old English sceadu, "shadow,shade." She was the Shadow into which all the gods went at doomsday. As Scotia, she was the Dark Goddess like Black Kali, the Caillech - after whom Scotland was named.
Like Kali, Skadi had to be propritiated each year with an outpouring of male blood in primitive sacrificial rites. her annual victim was assimilated to the god Loki, who became a "savior" by giving his blood to Skadi.
Freya was a dark twin of Freya therefore virtually indentical with the underground Goddess Hel. She was once all the Earth, birthgiver and devourer of her children. The entire land mass of Scandinavia was named after her. Originally it was Scadin-auja, the land of Skadi.
A variation of her name, Skuld, was given to the third of the three fates, or Norns, in the role of destroying Crone. She became the patroness of witches whose activities came to be called "skulduggery."
To the Celts, she was Scatha or Scath. Her underground realm of the dead was "the Land of Scath." Like Persephone's underworld within seven loops of the Styx, the Land of Scath was a city of seven walls. It was variously located under the earth, or in heaven or far away over the sea on a western island, the land of "Sky." CuChulainn and other Celtic heroes learned magic skill in martial arts from a visit to Queen Scatha's island of Skye. She kept the hero for a year and a day. When she had taught a man all she knew, she sent him back to earth a fey man, set apart and sacer fated to do great deeds and die a sacrificial death. The legend suggests that the real island of Skye was a cult center of the Goddess, and warriors went there to be initiated into their heroic profession.
Like Kali, Skadi had to be propritiated each year with an outpouring of male blood in primitive sacrificial rites. her annual victim was assimilated to the god Loki, who became a "savior" by giving his blood to Skadi.
Freya was a dark twin of Freya therefore virtually indentical with the underground Goddess Hel. She was once all the Earth, birthgiver and devourer of her children. The entire land mass of Scandinavia was named after her. Originally it was Scadin-auja, the land of Skadi.
A variation of her name, Skuld, was given to the third of the three fates, or Norns, in the role of destroying Crone. She became the patroness of witches whose activities came to be called "skulduggery."
To the Celts, she was Scatha or Scath. Her underground realm of the dead was "the Land of Scath." Like Persephone's underworld within seven loops of the Styx, the Land of Scath was a city of seven walls. It was variously located under the earth, or in heaven or far away over the sea on a western island, the land of "Sky." CuChulainn and other Celtic heroes learned magic skill in martial arts from a visit to Queen Scatha's island of Skye. She kept the hero for a year and a day. When she had taught a man all she knew, she sent him back to earth a fey man, set apart and sacer fated to do great deeds and die a sacrificial death. The legend suggests that the real island of Skye was a cult center of the Goddess, and warriors went there to be initiated into their heroic profession.