Freyja and Male Beauty

This came up elseweb, but I realized as soon as I wrote it that I should share it here as well:

One of the things that Freyja has people do is stand in front of a mirror, naked, and compliment themselves out loud. The people who are assigned this are generally the people who find that a very difficult prospect.

They’re also almost always female (or at least assigned-female, having a vagina and breasts, etc.)

That’s understandable. We tend to think that, as a Goddess of Beauty, Freyja represents that which IS beautiful, and being a Goddess, She must represent female beauty most of all, no?

But what makes Freyja a Goddess of Beauty is not just that She seems beautiful to us, but far more importantly, that She sees beauty in us.

The story which illustrates this the best, is, I believe, the story of Freyja acquiring Her necklace Brisingamen by spending one night with each of the four Brising brothers, dwarves understood to be ugly, perhaps even deformed. When I run the Freyja Intensive, we go through this story as a guided meditation from the perspective of the youngest brother.

Now, superficial retellings say that She slept with Them because She coveted the necklace so intensely that She would do absolutely anything to have it, even compromise Herself. But I do not believe for one second that She was in any way compromised by sleeping with the four brothers. I believe that what She gave Them was exactly what She intended for Them to have all along and exactly what They needed, though They could not have realized the depth of Their own need before She confronted Them with it.

It’s often implied that no matter how beautiful the necklace was, what Freyja gave for it was far more valuable. With that I may agree, simply because I believe that what Freyja actually gave the brothers is beyond value, but it was not Her honor, chastity, or any other virtue grounded in constrained sexuality that She gave up. No, the service of Freyja’s sexuality is valuable indeed, but what She gave the four brothers reaches beyond sex itself.

I believe what She offered the four brothers was the chance to understand Their own beauty, and Beauty itself on new terms, by seeing Themselves finally through Her eyes.

I believe this is something Freyja offers everyone, but we often overlook that She offers this to men.

I know some of my readers are Freyjasmen. Do any of you have anything you could share with me – with us – regarding Freyja’s gifts to men regarding self awareness, self value, and beauty?

–Ember–