Eir, Norse Goddess of Healing
Eir is an enigmatic figure within the Norse mythos. She was either a goddess and/or a valkyrie — females that chose who lived and died in battle — and associated with medical skill. Eir might be referenced in three different sources; however, the debate rages on as to if each source is referencing the same person. Some have theorized she is a form of the goddess Frigg — the wife of Odin and associated with wisdom — and others have compared her to the Greek goddess Hygieia, the source of the word “hygiene.”
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
References to her are somewhat contradictory. In one source, Eir is one of many maidens that attend to the lady Menglod. Within the poem, she is said to sit on the “hill of healing.” In a different source (the Prose Edda), Eir is listed as an Aesir — the central Norse gods/goddesses — and is mentioned as a “very good physician.” Although, in a different chapter of the same body of literature, she is listed as a valkyrie and left off a different list of Aesir.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Other than Eir’s loose association with healing, nothing solid is known about her. It is possible she was a valkyrie with the ability to awaken and heal the dead, a goddess of medicine and health, or that our sources really are referencing different women. Hell, some scholars have even posited she was a Norn, one of the female beings that rule the destiny of gods and men. Like most of Norse mythology, the secret of who Eir was is forever sealed in the minds of the dead.
*****My debut sci-fi/mythology novel — The Gods Who Chose Us — is available! https://amzn.to/2Bby3hH *****
If you liked the article, please consider following us on Facebook, Medium, and/or Instagram
