Valkyrie

the Germanic representatives of this feminine stratum of death and doom are the Valkyries, who bring death to heroes… 'is waelgrimme (deadly wrath); and the glosses render the Old English waelcyrge (Valkyrie) with the names of ancient demons of war and death (Erinys, Tisiphone, Alecto, Bellona)'

Neumann, drawing on Ninck's philology, establishes the Valkyrie as the Germanic embodiment of the Great Mother's death-aspect, etymologically linked to corpse-choosing, ravens, and classical daimones of war.

Neumann, Erich, The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype, 1955thesis

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In both there are similar visions of celestial feminine entities bearing and keeping the power and destiny of a man: Fravartis and Walkyries.

Corbin proposes a comparative phenomenology in which Valkyries and Iranian Fravartis are parallel celestial feminine figures who carry and protect the power and destiny of individual men.

Corbin, Henry, The Man of Light in Iranian Sufism, 1971thesis

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The Valkyries are psychopomps and sometimes play the role of the 'celestial wives' or 'spirit wives' of the Siberian shamans

Eliade situates the Valkyries within Odin's shamanic complex, classifying them as psychopomps and analogues to the 'spirit wives' known in Siberian shamanism, while cautioning that not all their motifs are strictly shamanic.

Eliade, Mircea, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, 1951thesis

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Meagan had been a Valkyrie, a goddess in her full armor of fat, fantasizing heavenly journeys with her lovers

Woodman applies the Valkyrie image clinically to a patient whose armored, defensive psychology represents the uninitiated anima prior to incarnation and transformation into full womanhood.

Woodman, Marion, Addiction to Perfection: The Still Unravished Bride: A Psychological Study, 1982supporting

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he forgot the beautiful Valkyrie and married Kriemhild. With this betrayal of his anima, his demise was sealed.

Banzhaf reads the Valkyrie as Siegfried's anima-figure whose betrayal through the drink of forgetfulness symbolizes the hero's fatal disconnection from the unconscious.

Banzhaf, Hajo, Tarot and the Journey of the Hero, 2000supporting

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Kundry, in whom Wagner has fused the chief female roles and characters of the legend… together with something of the Valkyrie, a touch of Goethe's Ewig-Weibliches, and great deal of the Gnostic Sophia

Campbell identifies the Valkyrie as one of several feminine archetypes Wagner synthesized in the figure of Kundry, linking the Norse figure to Gnostic Sophia and the Eternal Feminine.

Campbell, Joseph, Creative Mythology: The Masks of God, Volume IV, 1968supporting

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Not only do the Norns 'spin' and 'bind', they also weave. Their web hangs over every man.

Onians treats the Norns' fate-weaving in Njals Saga as part of a broader comparative analysis of binding and destiny, contextualizing the feminine fate-figures with whom Valkyries are closely associated in Norse tradition.

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

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It was in her girdle that lay the great strength of the heroine Brunhild as did that of Thor in the megin-giardar.

Onians cites Brunhild's girdle of power as evidence of a broader Norse tradition of binding-as-fate, contextualizing the Valkyrie-figure within a mythological complex of feminine power and victory.

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

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