Freya (Old Norse Freyja, "Lady") is the goddess of fertility and intimacy. She was also goddess of love, sex, war, prophecies, and attraction, and correspondingly became one of the most popular goddesses. In the sense that passion is a hot, consuming emotion, she is also associated with fire. She is the patroness of a type of magic called "seithr," in which the sorceress enters a trance in order to answer questions about the future (some myths say she taught this art of witchcraft to the Aesir).
As the goddess of fertility, Freya also looks after women in labor. She has the power to kindle passion in any being, to control fires anywhere on Midgard, to see the future, to bless any woman with a child, and to alleviate pain and injury. Freya weeps tears of gold when her husband, Odur, goes on his journeys. Freya is the daughter of Njord and the twin sister of Frey.
This Goddess belongs to group of Gods and Goddesses known as the Vanir who were associated with nature, wild places and animals and unseen realms. This Nordic Goddess was also leader of the Valkyries.
Freya's clerics revere her role as a warrior deity. They actively practice the arts of war, including the arcane arts. Many of the clergy are sorcerers or wizards in addition to being priests.
Freya's temples are lavishly decorated with the gold that is her gift to the world. The doors face the setting sun, since Odur returns to his wife at sunset. The temples contain heavily secured display areas where sumptuous jewelry rests as offerings to Freya. They also contain armories, arcane libraries, training areas, and arcane laboratories.
Visitors to Freya's temples receive greetings from enthusiastic members of the community or the clergy. The warm welcome quickly dissipates without an offering of jewelry or an honest expression of the passion prized by their deity. Offerings of magical knowledge, items, or songs are accepted as warmly as jewelry.
Freya's cults tend to be exuberant and passionate. Whatever they do, they do with full enthusiasm. Racially and culturally one of the most diverse Asgardian cults, they find beauty in magic and vice versa. Physical appearance is irrelevant to those seeking initiation. Instead, they must demonstrate the kind of ardor promoted by the cult.
She appears most frequently to her worshipers as a beautiful human woman dressed in robes and a cloak of winter wolf fur, though she occasionally appears as a huntress in leather armor with a sword and bow, or as a warrior in shining mail with glowing sword. She can take the form of a falcon (or any other bird) at will, as well as the form of a huge winter wolf.
She possesses the Necklace of the Brisings, sometimes called Brisingamen, a fantastically beautiful and priceless piece of jewelry crafted by the dwarves. She rides to battle in a chariot pulled by twin lions. Half those slain in battle, and all women so slain, come to Freya's hall Sessrumnir.
Freyja is part of the Vanir family of the gods who handle all things fertility-related, including harvests (her brother Freyr); wind, sea, and wealth (her father Njord). Her mother appears to have been giant-daughter and wife of Njord, Skadi.
