The winter that tests and the woman who keeps her own ground
Warning
She laughs once and sets the terms before she does
Resonance
Those who live alone in hard country those who hunt those who keep a grievance
Symbols
BowSkisMountainSnowWolf
Mythology Summary
Skadi comes armed to Asgard to avenge her father, the giant Thjazi, and accepts compensation instead: she may choose a husband by looking only at feet, and picks Njord, mistaking him for Baldr (Skaldskaparmal 56). The marriage fails over place - nine nights in her father's Thrymheimr against nine at his Noatun - and she goes back to the mountains to hunt on skis with a bow (Gylfaginning 23). She is the one who fastens the venomous serpent over the bound Loki (Gylfaginning 51; the prose close of Lokasenna).
Modern Practice
Skadi is worked with at first snow and on the mountain: skiers and hunters leave a cold drink or a pinch of salt at the high point, and solitary winter practice is hers. Modern heathens keep her as a patron of independence and of the grievance that is held rather than dropped.