Sigyn is mentioned a mere handful of times in the surviving lore.References to Her may be found in the Voluspa,the Lokasenna, the Gylfa*ginning, and the Skaldskaparmal and Þórsdrápa. What we actually learn from these references isregrettably little:
- Sigynis Loki’s wife.
- Sheis listed amongst the Asynjur, the Goddesses of the Aesir.
- Sheis the mother, by Loki, of Narvi and Vali. When Loki was bound in the cave aspunishment for His role in Baldur’s death, Vali was turned into a wolf. He thenkilled His brother by tearing Him apart. Narvi’s intestines were used as partof the binding securing Loki.
- Sigyn,ostensibly having witnessed all of this, stayed by Loki during His punishment,holding a bowl over His face to catch the poison that dripped from a serpentthe Goddess Skadhi had secured above His head. For this reason, Loki issometimes referred to as the “Burden of Sigyn’s Arms.’
- Sigyn’sname means “victory woman”.
Nothing else survives that may point to the ways in which Hernature and roles were conceived of by pre-Christian Heathens. Nothing survivesof Her worship. This may be viewed as a great loss, or it may be viewed as agreat opportunity for we have the chance to start anew, going directly to thisGoddess to learn how She wants to be honored today.
In my own experience of Sigyn, and that of the handful of Sigyn’speople that I know, She seems to often reveal Herself in one of two ways: eitheras a delightfully child-like young girl or, conversely, as a wife, implacable,resilient, post the ordeal of the cave, burdened by the overwhelming grief ofthe loss of Her children. Either way, Her presence is compelling and immense.She is the only Goddess I have ever encountered who evokes in me a feeling ofprotectiveness. Perhaps this is simply because when Loki first “introduced” meto Her, it was in Her child aspect that She came. I have written about Herbefore, both in Exploring the Northern Traditionand Feeding the Flame, the latterof which is a devotional to Loki and His family. It is not my desire to repeatmyself unduly here. Suffice it to say, that Sigyn is a complex Goddess with agreat deal to teach, and while She may very often choose to reveal Herself inthe ways noted above, one should not think that She is in any way limited tothose two roles. It is up to every devotee to discover Her for themselves, topave the road through devotion by which She can touch their hearts.
Taken from lore, Sigyn has one primary mystery: She endured. Sheconsciously chose to honor the commitments of Her heart and to endure in theface of unprecedented loss, grief, and misery. Loki’s ordeal in the cave,perhaps the defining moment of His mythos, was also Her ordeal in the cave. The difference is that She consciouslychose to endure it. Over the years, I have encountered many discussions invarious online Heathen and Asatru forums in which Sigyn was dismissed as littlemore than the epitome of the abused wife. Moderns all too often seem to readinto Her story passivity, victim-hood, and a regrettable lack of agency. Itruly do not know whether this is because She demonstrated these arguably mostHeathen of virtues in defense of Loki, who is a very controversial figure inthe modern community, because we know nothing else of Her story via the lore,or because She isn’t depicted as bold, brash, or sexually independent (likeFreya). I would hate to think that Her strength, Her loyalty, Her constancy areall too often overlooked perhaps because these things are exercised primarilyin the enclosure of Her domestic sphere.
It seems to me as though Sigyn’s world was defined by love: loveof Her husband, love of Her children, love of Her family as a whole. Given thatLoki’s other wife is Angurboda, the mighty chieftainess of the Ironwood, are wereally to believe that He would choose a doormat as a mate? It makes far moresense to me (and, granted, this comes in part from my personal experience ofSigyn) to wonder at the quiet strength that must have provided a soothing havento this most quixotic and fiery of Gods. It is a mistake to view Her gentlenessas weakness. Because She is never seen external to Her home and family does notmean that She is powerless. What it means is that She created inangard, the sacred enclosure of thehome, for a God who was otherwise rootless. She rooted Him, balanced Him,accepted Him, and above all loved Him. It was Her choice to do this. Hereinlies the conundrum of modernity: when we accept that women have free agency, wemust also acknowledge that sometimes that agency will be exercised consciouslyand freely in ways we might disagree with. I cannot help but speculate onwhether or not Sigyn is so easily dismissed because She was, essentially, thequintessential Hausfrau, and this isa role that in today’s world, is also all too often devalued.
Several years ago, a Christian friend, a priest, observing theless than pleasant dynamic that so often characterizes Heathen community discussionsand debate turned to me and asked, apologetically, “Where is love in yourfaith? Where is compassion?” At the time, I merely responded that it is in thelessons the Gods teach us directly, not the lore, unless it be hidden withinthe dictates on hospitality. As I myself have grown in my faith (hopefully) andas I have grown closer to Sigyn (definitely), I’ve discovered the answer to myfriend’s question: Sigyn. Sigyn embodies and teaches everything we could everhope to learn about love, compassion and many other virtues as well. Where islove in our religion? It rests with Sigyn. Where is compassion? In Her heart.Perhaps by casting Her and by extension Her family out of our devotions, we’returning a blind eye to those things as well.
Sigyn’s story is also one of victory: victory over wrenchingcirc*mstances, over pain, loss, despair, and anguish. She chooses to endure andby doing so, She triumphs. As Fuensanta Arismendi, an ardent Sigyn’s woman oncesaid: Sigyn’s strength is in Her heart. Her heart is invincible.
Despite the fact that there is a dearth of information in thelore on Sigyn, She has a small collection of sacred by names, or heiti. Known heiti for Her, taken both from lore and modern practice include:
- Wife of Loki
- Incantation-Fetter (Þórsdrápa) [1]
- Lady of the Staying Power
- Lady of Unyielding Gentleness
- Lady of the Unconquerable Heart
- Mother of Narvi and Vali
- North Star
- Victory Woman
Every time I hear the kenning for Loki “Burden of Sigyn’sarms,” it brings to mind Michelangelo’s pietá, not the one in Romebut the one in the Uffizi in Florencewhich shows Mary, Joseph, and the Magdalene holding a Christ made doubly heavyby the burden of a dead body and by the burden of grief. Here Michelangelocaught something essential about the nature of grief: it has a terrible weight.Shakespeare said in King John, where he has a queen sit down on the floor nextto the throne having lost a son, “…for my grief is so great that none but thehuge firm earth can bear it.” That to me, is Sigyn. She bears the unbearable.There’s no glamour in Her ordeal.
With ordeals like Odin’s, it’s nine days and then it’sover. It’s the plucking of an eye and then it’s over. I mean no disrespect, butSigyn didn’t know when or even if Her ordeal would ever be over. Not to mentionno mother ever gets over the ordeal of losing a child, something Odin alsounderstood. But there is no glamour: youdo what’s right, and you do it again and again and again, and that’s veryunpopular. There’s no glamour, no sweeping gestures, and no one to sing yourpraises. The heart is a terrible thing.
-FuensantaArismendi
Finally, as both aGoddess and a woman, Sigyn has immense dignity. This is something that israrely touched upon even by those who honor Her regularly: She has an enormousamount of dignity. She never complains. She never explains. She never blames.She never shows off or emphasizes the pain and difficulty of what She does. Shenever seeks attention. She just does what needs to be done and allows Her deedsto speak for themselves. There is something remarkably noble in Her attitude.She simply does not stoop to complain. There’s tremendous dignity in that.
Of all the Nine Worlds, Helheim was unjustly the richerbecause it held Her son. -Fuensanta Arismendi
footnote
[1]This is a particularlyfascinating by-name in what it implies: that She has the ability to bind andward off magical incantations. Among possible interpretations, this could beseen in Her act of warding Loki from the magical binding and torture inflictedon Him by the Aesir, or it could be a reference to Her ability to make sacredthe holy inangard of the home. As Loki’s devotee Mordant Carnival noted,
Thenthere's that tantalizing kenning for Sigyn: "galdrs hapt" or "Incantation-fetter" (according toFaulkes' translation of the Þórsdrápa,where we find the Loki-kenning "farmrarma galdrs hapts." Some havesuggested that "galdrs hapts"refers to Gullveig, but since Loki is nowhere else kenned as Gullveig's loverSigyn is the more rational choice).
Whyis She being referred to as Incantation-Fetter? This, to me, implies some storythat hasn't come down to us, perhaps one in which Sigyn displays the ability tothwart magical charms. (I can't help thinking of the Runatál section of Hávamál,which makes reference to charms both for binding one's enemies and for freeingoneself from fetters.)
As a side note, the name Narvi crops up elsewhere inlore. It's given as the name of a Jotun, the father of Nótt (Night). It isunclear whether They’re the same individual; perhaps there were two Narvis? Ifthey were, though, that would make Sigyn the grandmother of Night, a verypotent role.”
