Girdle

It was in her girdle that lay the great strength of the heroine Brunhild as did that of Thor in the megin-giardar. Saxo Grammaticus preserves the story that king Hother having met three Nymphs (i. e. Norns) and complained of his lack of success in battle, obtained from them ‘a girdle of victory’

Onians argues that in Norse tradition the girdle is the literal seat of heroic and divine strength, given by fate-figures to confer victory, establishing the girdle as a concentrated vehicle of magical power rather than mere clothing.

Onians, R B, The origins of European thought about the body, the mind,, 1988thesis

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A girdle might be used magically to bind an enemy for Death or to bind oneself with wisdom and long life. In the Old Testament the image is frequent: ‘And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins and faithfulness the girdle of his reins’

Onians establishes the girdle’s dual magical potentiality—binding for death or for life and wisdom—and traces its function as a vehicle of divine virtue through biblical and archaic sources.

Onians, R B, The origins of European thought about the body, the mind,, 1988thesis

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why does the girl-anima-princess need the amazon belt? And why does Hera constellate the fight? This Admete, the princess, was a priestess of Hera. We have yet to work out something on Hera and the amazons.

In Hillman’s depth-psychological circle, the Amazon girdle becomes an open interpretive riddle—why the anima-figure desires the Amazon’s power-object and why Hera, as archetypal established order, must disrupt its retrieval.

Russell, Dick, Life and Ideas of James Hillman, 2023thesis

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In one version of the Zeus-Hera saga, Hera, whose name simply means ‘the mistress’, seduced him with a love charm, a magic girdle… This seduction through the magic girdle which seems so alluring, tends to trap Sagittarius

Greene reads Hera’s magic girdle as an archetypal instrument of erotic entrapment, applying the mythological motif to describe the psychological fate of the freedom-seeking Sagittarian bound by enchantment into commitment.

Liz Greene, The Astrology of Fate, 1984supporting

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girdle of, 154

Burkert’s structural index identifies Aphrodite’s girdle as a discrete cultic and mythological attribute within the systematic account of her worship and power.

Burkert, Walter, Greek Religion: Archaic and Classical, 1977supporting

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her magic girdle described, Ξ 214 ff.; attended by the Graces

The Homeric Dictionary locates Aphrodite’s magic girdle as a formally described Homeric object, anchoring the term within the epic inventory of divine implements of erotic power.

G, Autenrieth, Homeric Dictionarysupporting

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broad girdle around the waist of boxers, like that of the tumbler in the adjoining cut

The Homeric Dictionary records the girdle in its martial and athletic function as a protective and defining wrap around the waist, illustrating the term’s concrete bodily register alongside its magical valences.

G, Autenrieth, Homeric Dictionarysupporting

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a Ταινία was used and was usually put round the waist of the initiate (περὶ γὰρ τὴν κοιλίαν οἱ μεμυημένοι ταινίας ἅπτουσι πορφυρᾶς)

Onians documents the use of a band around the waist of initiates in Samothracian mystery rites, establishing a parallel between girdle-like binding and the conferral of protection during initiation.

Onians, R B, The origins of European thought about the body, the mind,, 1988aside

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