Also called Gerd, Gerda, Gymisdóttir.
Their story
Freyr sat in Odin's seat Hliðskjálf and saw a giantess walking in her father Gymir's yard; when she lifted her arms, sea and sky shone. He fell sick with longing and sent his servant Skírnir to woo her. Gerðr refused gold apples and a ring, and gave way only when Skírnir threatened her with a terrible curse. She agreed to meet Freyr in nine nights in the grove Barri.
Best times to give to them
- late winter into spring
- when tending an enclosed garden
- at a betrothal
What they like being given
- apples
- barley or seeds sown in a pot
- a handful of earth blessed and returned
How to honour them
- Tend a walled or fenced patch of garden in her honour.
- Reflect on choices made freely, and on consent in love.
How they can help you
- patience in love
- gardens and growth
- dignity under pressure
Symbols
- shining arms
- a walled garden
- eleven golden apples
- the grove Barri
Some scholars read the tale as a sacred marriage of god and earth; the poem itself is frank about coercion.
Sources
- Poetic Edda, Skírnismál
- Prose Edda, Gylfaginning 37
- Snorri Sturluson, Ynglinga saga 10
More Norse goddesses
- Frigg Queen of Asgard, keeper of the hearth
- Sif The golden-haired, wife of Thor
- Freyja The Lady, mistress of seiðr and love
- Iðunn Keeper of the apples of youth
- Hel Keeper of the realm of the dead
- Eir The best of physicians
- Sága Keeper of stories, who drinks with Odin
- Gefjon The giving one, ploughwoman of Zealand