Valgerður Hjördís Bjarnadóttir

The Saga of Vanadís, Völva and Valkyrja: Images of the Divine from the Memory of an Islandic Woman Valgerður Hjördís Bjarnadóttir

What we call history, is our memory, translated by the cultural, biological, mental, emotional and spiritual tools we possess, into a story or myth, which rings true to us as individuals and society at each moment. The stories and myths that are known as the Norse or Icelandic myths and sagas, are the recorded memory of individuals from many nations, women and men, living in Iceland or Island from the 9th century CE. Most of the scholars who have interpreted these memoirs of the ancestors in the last couple of centuries, have done so from patriarchal, Christian, male, academic, western and logical points of view. This work is a new interpretation, a woman?s translation of these ancient myths, sagas and poems, which puts the Goddess, the female in her divine and human form, in the foreground. The remembered saga is traced back to a culture existing before war and patriarchy and creates a vision for a future built on the principles of the Vanir. Here we have a unique look at the ancient myths and sagas which should create interest for scholars engaged in cultural heritage, etymology, feminism, history, myth and religion, and for dreamers of the nights and the future.