Seidthe : Freya's Witchcraft of Love

Seidth is Freya's magical art. It is, in a sense, radical empathy, merging, sending one's soul out from the place one is to the place on is not in order to behold and love the other, and in that moment of union, something changes, a fermentation process begins that is magical. To experience the other so closely to how they experience themselves touches them on a deep level, facilitating soulful changes. Since the entire universe is alive, anything may be so affected.

Gullveig turns this art of love into something manipulative, 'touching' people coldly just to gather facts or to bring about her desired effects, which leaves emptiness wherever she goes. Properly performed, however, seidth leaves love whereever it goes, and harmonizes that which had come into discord.

But there is no doubt that some of the powers of status quo found even Freya's art threatening, because the power of love overcomes all boundaries, and makes connections even across thresholds ordinarily considered taboo. That is part of its power and its grace. The ancients, especially the hermetics, spoke very highly of the power of Eros. Although not identical to Freya, we ought to listen to what they had to say and see how it applies to Freya. Turning Freya into a stereotyped Aphrodite-parody that is nothing but an empty sex-and-glamour figure is to sell Freya out for our modern vapid celebrities, who need to be tantricized and deepened if they are to really carry anything from our goddess. Freya knows how to be sexy, but it is deep sexiness coming from profound and to some even uncomfortable levels of being alive, rather than the mere surface charms of glamour Gullveig uses to get her ends. Freya's touch is transformative, while Gullveig's leaves one that much more cold. Seidth under Freya's guidance is an ability to reach out and touch the other : the soul-body of the cloud, the mongoose, the cracked and strained earth, the alienated and stubborn lover you just can't understand, the Moslems on the other side of the world who hate you, and to share eyes with them. It is a mind-melding art facilitated through imagination and empathic projection. You harmonize with the other in a deep acceptance, and then when they are in that place of holding and acceptance, you say, "Ok, ok, let's deepen". And deepening into their soulfulness takes them away from a level of fear and defensiveness and allows greater magics from their wyrd to well up and forth. This ability to feel such deep connection even across divisions that are often the bread and butter of politicians can make them suspicious. But Freya will love them, and find their smiling place, too. These are deep arts.