Amazing Women - Shield-Maidens

Mythology is rich with depictions of female warriors. In Greek mythology we have Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. Her Roman counterpart is Diana. In Norse mythology there is talk of female warriors called Shield-Maidens. 

For centuries these women were assumed to be the product of fantasy until last year.

"New DNA evidence uncovered by researchers at Uppsala University and Stockholm University shows that there were in fact female Viking warriors. The remains of an iconic Swedish Viking Age grave now reveal that war was not an activity exclusive to males – women could be found in the higher ranks at the battlefield." (Ancient Pages.com)

llustration by Evald Hansen based on the original plan of the grave by excavator Hjalmar Stolpe, published in 1889

The  mythical female warriors known as Shieldmaidens may have been the basis for the mythical ‘Valkyries.’ 

Somewhere along the line, I'm assuming after the fall of a prior Matriarchal society, men began to assume power. Shield-maidens were real. In fact, I have recently discovered that my own DNA matches those of the bones sketched in the image above.

I want to honor these women who fought for their cause. They may have fought alone. They may have traveled across expansive oceans without men. Women in the animal kingdom are the hunters, why not humans as well?

Every land acquisition in the history of the world has been due to a power play. The glory of discovery. The honor of naming your claim. Women fought too. Women are warriors. Women have been silenced and gaslit for centuries. 

It's time for us to become the shield-maiden once more if not in physical form but in mental. Take back what was stolen.

I imagine that women were very successful. Women are able to multi-task, give birth, provide food, care for children, care for men, care for family. Women are able to as much as, if not more than, men. So why for years and years and years has this not been the message? I think it's because men are afraid to lose the power they stole away all those years ago.

They're losing.

“It is the Valkyries!” the people of Midgard said. “Always does the wind rise; always do the clouds hurry across the skies when the Valkyries set forth to battle. Somewhere [157]there is war in our fair earth; somewhere heroes are falling on the bloody battlefield.”