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Aphrodite Apollo Ares Artemis Athena Atlas Coeus Crius Cronus Demeter Dionysus Gaia Hades Hephaestus Hera Hermes Hestia Hyperion Iapetus Mnemosyne Oceanus Phobos Phoebe Poseidon Prometheus Rhea Tethys Themis Uranus Zeus
Bacchus Ceres Diana Juno Jupiter Mars Mercury Minerva Neptune Pluto Venus Vesta Vulcan
Amun Anubis Aten Atum Babi Bastet Bes Geb Hapi hathor heqet Horus Isis Khepri Khnum Khonsu Maat Nephthys Nut Osiris Ptah Ra Seshat Seth Shu Sobek Thoth
Alfheim Baldur Freya Freyr Frigg Heimdallr Helheim Idun Jotunheim Loki Nerthus Njord Odin Thor Tyr
Aengus Arawn Badb Brigid Cailleach Ceridwen Cernunnos Cu Chulainn Dagda Danu Gwydion Herne the Hunter Lugh Medb Morrigan Neit Nuada Taliesin Taranis
Chalchiuhtlicue Coatlicue Huitzilopochtli Mictlantecuhtli Mixcoatl Ometeotl Quetzalcoatl Tezcatlipoca Tlaloc Tonatiuh Xipe Totec Xochiquetzal Xolotl
Amaterasu Ame no Uzume Benzaiten Bishamonten Daikokuten Ebisu Fujin Fukurokuju Inari Izanagi Kagutsuchi Raijin Susanoo Tsukuyomi
Caishen Cangjie Dragon King Eight Immortals Erlang Shen Fuxi Guanyin Hou Yi Huxian Jade Emperor King Yama Leizi Lu-ban Mazu Nezha Nuwa Pangu Shennong Sun Wukong Xiwangmu Yue Lao Zhong Kui
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    Teutonic Wise Women Heid Sibyl Groa Borghild Grimhild Yrsa (Yrse) Skuld Hvit Thorbjörg líilvölva
  4. Heid

Heid

According to the Voluspa (Poetic Edda), Heid (Bright One) was the reincarnation of the healing goddess Gullveig. She was sometimes confused with the Vanir goddess, Freyja.

As Gullveig, she was the Vanir goddess whom the Aesir attacked with their spears and burned her three times in Odin's hall, but each time she was reborn.

The attack upon Gullveig triggered the war between the Aesir and the Vanir.

More about Gullveig and Heid can be found on the Vanir page.

Bright One they called her, whenever she came to house,
the seers with pleasing prophecies, she charmed them with spells;
she made magic whenever she could, with magic she played with minds,
she was always the favourite of the wicked women.

Voluspa

translated by C. Larrington


There were other witches named Heid in Norse myths, but these women were mortals.

In the Saga of Hrolf Kraki, there was a seeress named Heid, who did all of her foretelling on a raised platform for King Frodi of Denmark. She saw that Frodi's nephews, Helgi and Hroar, would avenge their father's murder; it was Frodi who murdered his own brother Halfdan, because Frodi wanted his brother's kingdom.

There was also Heid in Landnamabok and in the Orvar-Odds Saga.

Related Information

Name

Heid – "Bright One".
Gullveig – "Golden Liquor" or "Power of Gold".

Related Articles

See also Gullveig and Heid.

Freyja.

Jimmy Joe Timeless Myths

By Jimmy Joe

Witches:

  • • Teutonic Wise Women
  • • Heid
  • • Sibyl
  • • Groa
  • • Borghild
  • • Grimhild
  • • Yrsa (Yrse)
  • • Skuld
  • • Hvit
  • • Thorbjörg líilvölva
Gullveig and Heid

Gullveig and Heid

Gullveig was a Vanir goddess. Gullveig was probably the goddess of healing. Gullveig was a goddess with a great fondness for gold. Her constant chatter about gold irritated the Aesir gods. Gullveig was assaulted in the hall of Odin . She was tortu...

July 23rd, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Freyja

Freyja

Goddess of love, beauty, fertility, magic, war and death. Freyja was the daughter of Njörd (Njord) and Njörd's nameless sister (possibly Nertheus?). She was the sister of Freyr . Like her brother and father, she was originally a Vanir goddess, but...

July 23rd, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Heimdall

Heimdall

Heimdall was known as the White As ("As" is singular for Aesir). Heimdall was the son of the Nine Waves (nine giantesses, who were sisters; this meant that Heimdall had nine mothers). The Nine Waves were the nine daughters of Aegir . Heimdall was ...

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Hljod

Hljod

A wish-maiden or óskmær and the wife of Volsung . Hljod was a daughter of the giant Hrimnir. Hljod first appeared in the Volsunga Saga, serving Odin as a wish-maiden, one of the many names for a valkyrie. When Rerir , son of Sigi and grandson of O...

August 16th, 2003 • Jimmy Joe
Gerd

Gerd

Gerd was a giantess who became wife of the Vanir Freyr . Gerd was the daughter of the mountain giant Gymir and Aurboda. Gerd may have had an unnamed brother who was killed. Freyr fell in love with Gerd when he sat on Hlidskialf, Odin's throne in t...

August 27th, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Hjordis (Sisibe)

Hjordis (Sisibe)

In the Icelandic legend, Hjördís (Hjordis) was the wife of Sigmund and the mother of the hero Sigurd . Hjördís is known by various names. In the Icelandic works she was Hjördís or Hiordis the daughter of King Eylimi (though in the song of Hyndla ,...

August 16th, 2003 • Jimmy Joe
Helgi Hiorvardsson

Helgi Hiorvardsson

Helgi Hiorvardsson should not be confused with Helgi Hundingsbani, son of Sigmund and Borghild (Helgi Hundingsbani was also known as Helgi Sigmundarson). This Helgi was a son of Hiorvard and Sigrlinn. Helgi was the hero of the 2nd heroic poem of t...

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Hel

Hel

Goddess of the dead. Hel was the daughter of Loki and Angerboda . She was the sister of Jörmungand (Jormungand), the evil Misgard Serpent, and Fenrir the giant wolf. Snorri said that half of her body was black, and the other half was normal skin c...

July 23rd, 1999 • Jimmy Joe
Freya

Freya

Freya: Get to Know the Desirable Goddess of Love and Lust Freya goddess of fertility was one of the foremost Norse goddesses in Norse mythology. She was also the Norse goddess of love , lust, beauty, and sex, and she was greatly desired by many of...

April 2nd, 2002 • Timeless Myths
Svava

Svava

Valkyrie in the Helgarkvida Hiorvardssonar ( Lay of Helgi Hiorvardsson , Poetic Edda). Svava was a daughter of Eylimi. If this Eylimi was the same king as in the Icelandic saga of the Volsungs, then this would make her the sister of Hjordis , who ...

August 16th, 2003 • Jimmy Joe

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