I read somewhere–I can’t recall where–that someone prayed to Ægir (pronounced eye-year), a sea god-giant, for good travels. The logic was that the Norse people traveled almost everywhere by water and said a prayer to Æegir before they left, so by extension he prayed to Ægir whenever he went traveling–by boat, car or plane. This logic worked as well as any to me, so I invoked Ægir before heading for Norway. My main request was that we could see the Northern Lights, and I promised him a candle if we saw it.
He now has a candle. I’m looking for a second. The Northern Lights were supposed to have mild activity while we were in Tromsø, with a high chance of not being able to see them at all due to cloud cover. Undaunted, TheScott and I drove north for about an hour to a point overlooking the sea…and got an hour long display of awesome. What started with a silver band grew into a green band. It faded and then came back in shimmering green curtains and pulses that danced over the water. After we thought it was over and headed back into town, it started again with spirals and more curtains over the mountains as we drove by them. I even saw a spinning ring, which we were told by the locals was a rare sight. We got a couple pictures, though they don’t show how incredible it was. I feel lucky and blessed to have had such an awesome experience.
So I’m writing about Ægir as a thank you.
Ægir is likely a jotun (an elemental creature usually at odds with the Æsir), though he aligns himself with the gods of Asgard and generally seems to have a good-nature in the Lore. He’s the best ale-brewer of the gods (there’s a brewery named after him in Norway) and is always hosting parties. The Lokasenna, one of the more popular stories from the Lore in which Loki spends dinner trading insults with the gods, happens in Ægir’s hall.
Ægir is married to Ran, a more forbidding figure as she has a habit of netting sailors and dragging them under the waves to live in her halls beneath the sea.
They have nine daughters, each one named for a description of waves: Himinglæva (transparency–literally “heaven vision,†i.e. you can see the heavens through water) , Dúfa (pitching wave or hidden one), Blódughadda (bloody hair), Hefring (heaving wave), Udr/Unn (frothing wave), Hrönn (sucking wave), Bylgja (breaker), Dröfn/Bara (foam-fleck/big wave), and Kólga (cold wave). Like their mother, most references to them are more about their ability to destroy or at least to cause difficulty.
The lords of the sea are vastly wealthy, as they own all the treasure that goes down in sunken ships. In fact, in Viking times, gold was nicknamed “Ægir’s fire†or “fire of the sea†because, according to the Skaldskaparmal, “Ægir had bright gold brought in onto the floor of the hall, and the gold gave forth light and illumined the hall like fire: and it was used there for lights at his banquet, even as in Valhall swords were used in place of fire.†Sailors would occasionally throw gold into the water before sailing in an attempt to curry favor. (They’d also occasionally throw captured enemies into the water for the same reason. Ah…the bad old days of human sacrifice.)
This contradiction of affable host and bloodthirsty sea-god makes Ægir an interesting figure, but also captures the dynamic of seafaring travel in the Viking era–both deeply dangerous and profitable. Now that I’ve done a bit more research on him, I’m not sure if Ægir is a perfect fit for a god of travel that’s not through the water, but it seemed to have worked out well for TheScott and I anyway!
Do you have a figure you pray to when traveling? Who and why?
Featured Image: Ögir und Ran by F. W. Heine
3 comments
Jeanne Anne Decosta says:
Dec 9, 2013
how come you think Ægir is likely Jötnar ??
Jax says:
Dec 9, 2013
Hi Jeanne! Thanks for asking. 🙂
It’s actually quite common to recognize Ægir as a jotunn. For example, Ãsatrúarfélagið, the first Icelandic Heathen group to form back in the ’70s that helped found Asatru as we know it today, recognizes Ægir as one. Not saying that this necessarily makes them right in all things, but this is not some whack fringe group, this is one of our mother organizations. http://asatru.is/troll-jotnar-hrimthursar-dvergar (You have to translate it, but you can see what I’m talking about.)
Why people think this…
First, Ægir’s the son of Fornjot, a jotunn, and brother to Logi and Kari–both jotnar, one of fire and one of wind. So it makes sense that he’s a jotunn, too. (“Fornjot had three sons; one was named Hler, whom we call Ægir, the second Logi, the third Kari…”–Fundinn Noregr, trans George W. Dasent)
Second, as the sea god he’s tied to nature’s chaotic forces–a jotnar trait. For comparison, Njord is also a sea god, but there are (to my knowledge) no kennings about being devoured by Njord’s jaws. That’s Ægir’s job, because as a jotunn he’s related to the danger of nature, whereas Njord, a member of the Vanir, is not.
There are several jotnar that the gods get along with, including Gerd (Freyr’s wife), Skadhi (Njord’s ex-wife), Jord (Thor’s mother) and, of course, Loki–who’s more debatable as “getting along.” But being a jotunn doesn’t automatically put someone in opposition to the Æsir.
I have noticed online that a percent of the Heathen community is very opposed to anything resembling worship of a jotunn, but personally, I think it’s more important to look at actions rather than…species?…when judging someone. If a jotunn gets along with the gods and works toward the prosperity of man (or at least doesn’t directly oppose it), I don’t understand why being a jotunn should be held against him/her. The gods accept jotnar among them, so shouldn’t we do the same?
Anyway, here are some other website discussing the matter:
* http://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/giants/aegir-and-ran/
* http://theasatrucommunity.org/the-gods-the-series/the-jotnar-the-gods-3/
* http://www.viking-mythology.com/jotuns.html
You can find others if you do a search online. As I said, while our Lore is so fragmented it’s hard to pin down much of anything as sure, it’s a commonly accepted idea that Ægir is indeed a jotunn.
Jeanne Anne Decosta says:
Apr 23, 2014
Thanks JAX! i’m sorry i didnt see your thotful reply til now .. not sure how i missed it but i did
i was under the impression that Rán & Ægir & the wave girls are neither Jötnar Æsir Vanir or any other species(?) or race(?) attested in the Elder Lore … but rather something Older ..
& i guess i never associated the quasi-historical genealogies from Flateyjarbók & elsewhere w/ the primordial Gods & Goddesses .. but it IS very interesting about Fornjótr & his 3 children .. thank you for bringing this to my attention! 🙂 but do you really think that Ægir Fornjótrson is THE Ægir from the Lokasenna ?? & even if he is the parents of Óðinn were Jötnar too yet everyone considers the Alföðr to be Æsir … so how does that work? that you don’t have to be what your parents were? .. & if Óðinn doesn’t have to be what his parents were then why should Ægir necessarily have to be what Fornjótr was? IF he’s the same as Ægir Fornjótrson ?? .. then another issue is the etymology of the name Fornjótr .. does Forn-jótr mean “Forn the Jötunn” or does it For-njótr mean “For the owner of ..” ?? in which case Fornjótr may not have been Jötnar at all
i find all this interesting & wish to explore it .. i’m not dogmatic about it at all .. maybe it’s true that Ægir is Jötnar but i don’t believe he is .. & it isn’t that i have anything against the Jötnar per se .. i personally venerate Gerðr & Skaði who are Jötnar as you point out .. anyway .. thanks for the discussion !!