Also called Angrboda, Angerboda, Bearer of Sorrow.
Their story
Angrboða is a giantess of Jötunheimr who bore Loki three children: Fenrir the wolf, Jörmungandr the serpent and Hel. The gods foresaw great harm from them and took them, throwing the serpent into the sea, sending Hel below and binding the wolf. Hyndluljóð names her as the mother of the wolf.
Best times to give to them
- when grieving separation from children
- in deep woodland
What they like being given
- a candle for parents separated from their children
- respectful quiet in woodland
How to honour them
- Reflect on the grief of a mother whose children were taken and cast away.
- In modern practice some honour her as a seeress of the Iron Wood; that link is interpretive.
How they can help you
- grief for lost children
- understanding outsiders
- fierce love
Symbols
- the Iron Wood
- wolves
- a serpent and a wolf and a girl half-dark
She is mentioned only briefly; her identification with the giantess of the Iron Wood in Völuspá or the seeress of Baldrs draumar is scholarly and modern speculation.
Sources
- Prose Edda, Gylfaginning 34
- Poetic Edda, Hyndluljóð 40