The Lady Sigyn

 

 

Hail Sigyn
Victor over the unbearable
Goddess of Compassion
She of boundless courage and strength
Lady of unconditional trust and love
In your example we see the path to our own victories
In your compassion we see the wisdom to care for ourselves
In your strength we know we can be strong
In your honor I continue to endure

If the stories of Sigyn in the lore tell us anything, they tell us she endures the unbearable.  She comes to her husband’s aid by holding a bowl over his head to stop poison from coming down and causing him pain.  A lot of people believe this to be the work of a victim, a battered woman who was forced to do things in honor of her husband.  This could not be further from the truth.  One thing an abuser does is takes the power of decision away from the abused person.  This allows the abuser to have control over the abused.  The lore says Sigyn chose to stay with Loki.  That is a clear sign to me that she was not abused.

I have read how many bloggers have attempted to hold a bowl with outstretched arms for a period of time.  During the attempt, they almost immediately realize how hard this task truly is.  Even the strongest of people would soon start to weaken both mentally and physically.  Add the mental anguish she had to have dealt with and you can see how this truly was an unbearable task.  Yet Sigyn continued to help her husband as much as she possibly could.  She knew his faults and crimes, and she continued to support him. That takes courage, strength and shows how much unconditional love and compassion she has.

These traits were all things I understood from the Lore.  However, to feel them from her is another thing entirely.

Unfortunately I have Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue and Myofascial Pain Syndrome.  However, in spite of this triple whammy I do my best to not let these conditions stop me from living.  I work full time, am a runner, a yogi, and I study two martial arts.  I am not able to run as fast or train as hard as I once used to, but I still do what I can.  I believe my pushing through these obstacles is why I felt attracted to Sigyn in the first place.  So I created an altar for her.  Since then I will feel her presence occasionally, especially if I get to a place where I either I am pushing too hard, or not enough.

One example of this was in a recent yoga class.  My teacher was pushing me to try moving from a downward dog position to a forward lunge position by just moving one leg forward to rest between my hands.  This is an extremely tough move to do, and I could tell my body wanted nothing to do with it.  I was having a heck of a time.  After the fifth try I opened my mouth to tell the teacher that I just cannot do it and that we should move on.  But before I could get any words out, I heard a very strong female voice in my head.

“NO!” She shouted.  “Keep trying!”

The message was so startling that I decided to heed it and keep moving.

After another two tries, my teacher moved us on to another set of poses just as challenging.  I did my best to keep up.  Finally, while we were in our final savasana of the night, I realized it was Sigyn that had called to me. Feeling very grateful for her push, I said a prayer of thanks.

Sigyn is a lady of strength, courage and grace.  She isn’t beaten down, although she has endured many things.  She has let those things change her, as they have to, but yet she is not a victim.  She accepts and endures.  She doesn’t do it by wailing, although I have images in my mind’s eye of her quietly in tears as she starts her task of holding the bowl.  She lets herself feel the hurt, and by doing so the situation changes her.  Then she does what she needs to do, and moves on. She is powerful in that she knows her own strength and her own worth.  She does not need to lean on others, although she chooses to accept aid when given unconditionally, or when she wishes it.

By calling on Sigyn you learn to realize how much strength you truly have within yourself.  She shows someone that even though a situation feels unbearable there is always a path forward as long as you keep fighting.  She asks you to trust yourself and your instincts about something, accept the scars that you must bear, learn and become stronger through what you endure.

Sigyn knows this work is not easy.  She understands there are times when we must be weak to be strong, and because of this she also shows us non-judgement and compassion.  Sigyn also reminds us to show the same to others.  This is one of the hardest things to do in this world, but it must be done, especially in the trying times that we find ourselves in now.  Judgement of others is what causes a significant amount of strife in this world.  If only others would be compassionate enough to seek to understand before they are understood, perhaps we wouldn’t have so much fighting between people.

Sigyn also speaks to taking care of yourself in these trials.  She needs to empty the bowl, even though she knows that by doing so Loki will feel pain from the poison.  She drops her hands to take the filled bowl out of the cave to empty it.  She does not put herself in harm’s way of the poison in Loki’s place.  Neither does she try to pour the poison out in the cave as she knows sooner or later it may splash onto her and cause her pain, which will stop her from her task.  She does what is best for her.  By doing this she is also helping Loki by being as strong as she can.  Her example shows us that we need time for ourselves to help us stay strong.  That allows us to push through our own trials.

By pushing forward in my own trials, I honor Sigyn.  I am grateful to understand her trial further, and am very thankful to her for coming to me.  By doing so, she helps remind me of how much strength I truly have, and that even though the road through my health problems is pretty rough, I can still do what needs to be done.  She truly is a strong and powerful Goddess.

 

Image By Harry George Theaker, illustrator, Public Domain