Some notes on Sjofn
I thought that since there is so little written about Sjofn I would go ahead and share some of my UPGs about her.
Other than the extremely spotty mentions of her in the Eddas as "she who turns the mind to love," the only thing I've really read about Sjofn is a few pages in Alice Karlsdottir's book Magic of the Norse Goddesses. The book basically depicts her trance experiences with Frigga and the 12 handmaidens.
Let me make it very clear that I do not agree with the handmaidens idea. At all, really. For one thing, it seems to be to be a modern invention, and despite it's being written about with almost every mention of any of those twelve goddesses, it is almost never cited. I can't figure out where this idea came from, unless it was invented by Alice Karlsdottir. But the lore doesn't say that they are handmaidens. It just lists all the Asynjur, of which those twelve goddesses are a part. And Freyja is right in the middle of the so-called handmaidens.
Aside from it not being in the lore, I also don't think the idea feels right, really. Some of the handmaidens (Sjofn, Lofn, and Var at the very least) feel to me more like Freyja than Frigg. I think the handmaidens thing allows people to let the goddesses be less important than the gods in heathenry (aside from the goddesses more prevalent in myth). It's easier to say that all twelve of these goddesses are "aspects" of Frigg that way. And it discourages really getting to know any of them. Unless, of course, you are getting to know "The Handmaidens" as a group. The only real exception to this in my experience is Eir.
Anyway, I think the goddesses are all just that. Separate goddesses. Some of them seem to be closer than others, but it is to be expected that closer relationships will form between some more than others.
Other than the handmaidens thing, there is something in Alice Karlsdottir's book that I like about her depiction of Sjofn. She extrapolates from "she who turns the mind to love" to call Sjofn the Peacemaker--the idea being that she turns the mind to love during a dispute of some kind, bringing peace back to the situation. I like this a lot, and it really resonates with me.
I think that Sjofn not only turns the mind to love with new couples in a sort of Cupid-esque fashion (though without the arrows, I should think), she turns the mind to love whenever there is a need for it. Or to peace. In that way, she is the protectress of the heart. She protects the heart from breaking unneccessarily. She helps relationships to withstand the test of time by keeping them in love with one another when disagreements, changes, and other issues threaten to break it apart. In that one way she is more like Frigg than Freyja--she is practical, and the love she inspires is enduring and calm rather than passionate and firey.
There is another side to her, though. I associate this part of her with masks. In protecting the heart from breaking, there is danger of doing too much protecting, of trying so hard to keep the heart safe that we put on a front and hide what's really there. We put on a mask of what we believe the other person wants, or even just a mask of calmness. The mask of calmness is safer. A mask hiding a true self is really likely to be damaging. Hiding emotions at least has the potential to be productive. There's something in there of Sjofn helping to fulfill cultural expectations, but I haven't fully explored that bit of her yet, and have only seen a glimpse of it.
Sjofn likes dragonflies. She also likes clean rooms. Seriously. That's the one thing she's requested of me, and when I do it badly, she gets mad. Also tea, apparently.
Other than the extremely spotty mentions of her in the Eddas as "she who turns the mind to love," the only thing I've really read about Sjofn is a few pages in Alice Karlsdottir's book Magic of the Norse Goddesses. The book basically depicts her trance experiences with Frigga and the 12 handmaidens.
Let me make it very clear that I do not agree with the handmaidens idea. At all, really. For one thing, it seems to be to be a modern invention, and despite it's being written about with almost every mention of any of those twelve goddesses, it is almost never cited. I can't figure out where this idea came from, unless it was invented by Alice Karlsdottir. But the lore doesn't say that they are handmaidens. It just lists all the Asynjur, of which those twelve goddesses are a part. And Freyja is right in the middle of the so-called handmaidens.
Aside from it not being in the lore, I also don't think the idea feels right, really. Some of the handmaidens (Sjofn, Lofn, and Var at the very least) feel to me more like Freyja than Frigg. I think the handmaidens thing allows people to let the goddesses be less important than the gods in heathenry (aside from the goddesses more prevalent in myth). It's easier to say that all twelve of these goddesses are "aspects" of Frigg that way. And it discourages really getting to know any of them. Unless, of course, you are getting to know "The Handmaidens" as a group. The only real exception to this in my experience is Eir.
Anyway, I think the goddesses are all just that. Separate goddesses. Some of them seem to be closer than others, but it is to be expected that closer relationships will form between some more than others.
Other than the handmaidens thing, there is something in Alice Karlsdottir's book that I like about her depiction of Sjofn. She extrapolates from "she who turns the mind to love" to call Sjofn the Peacemaker--the idea being that she turns the mind to love during a dispute of some kind, bringing peace back to the situation. I like this a lot, and it really resonates with me.
I think that Sjofn not only turns the mind to love with new couples in a sort of Cupid-esque fashion (though without the arrows, I should think), she turns the mind to love whenever there is a need for it. Or to peace. In that way, she is the protectress of the heart. She protects the heart from breaking unneccessarily. She helps relationships to withstand the test of time by keeping them in love with one another when disagreements, changes, and other issues threaten to break it apart. In that one way she is more like Frigg than Freyja--she is practical, and the love she inspires is enduring and calm rather than passionate and firey.
There is another side to her, though. I associate this part of her with masks. In protecting the heart from breaking, there is danger of doing too much protecting, of trying so hard to keep the heart safe that we put on a front and hide what's really there. We put on a mask of what we believe the other person wants, or even just a mask of calmness. The mask of calmness is safer. A mask hiding a true self is really likely to be damaging. Hiding emotions at least has the potential to be productive. There's something in there of Sjofn helping to fulfill cultural expectations, but I haven't fully explored that bit of her yet, and have only seen a glimpse of it.
Sjofn likes dragonflies. She also likes clean rooms. Seriously. That's the one thing she's requested of me, and when I do it badly, she gets mad. Also tea, apparently.