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Skadi, She-Who-Causes-Harm.
SK*ÐE
Alternate meanings: Scathing-One, Dark-One.
[to Whom the seventeenth day of December, day I35, is dedicated]

Geography/Culture: Norse.
Linguistic Note: from Indo-European root sketh-, to injure; Old Norse skadha, to harm. Related English words: Scandinavia (Scandin-auja); scathe, scathing, scatheless, unscathed; perhaps also scatter, in the sense of divide. It is tempting to see skate and skid, perhaps even, scar, as also related, but the etymologists disagree. Some say Her name is cognate with Greek scotos, Gothic skadus, with a meaning of darkness.
Description: White-robed Giantess Goddess of mountains, winter, blizzards, avalanches, ice and the hunt; Ancient Mother of the North; She Who stirs the snowflakes of heaven so they swarm like bees; She Who is Fleet and agile; Goddess on skis; Snow-shoe Goddess; She Who almost never laughs; Eponymous Foundress and Matron of Scandinavia; She Who has Her bower in snowy Thrymheim, House-of-clamor, (the sixth hall of the Norse deities); Snow Queen; She Who prefers to live in Her own home.
To Whom Sacred: wolf; venomous snake (it was She Who fastened a poisonous snake above the bound Loki which dropped venom in his face); bow and crystal arrows; snow-shoes; {the thurs rune}; {the hagall, hail, rune, which is the ninth letter of the Futhark -- rune writing system}; the eyes of Thjatsi (which after his death were cast into the sky and transformed into stars to appease Her); the number 9; {the element scandium (Sc. 21)}.
Festival: One lasting nine days, during which a sacred marriage took place, has been postulated.
Male Associates: Consort: Njordr, {Earth}. Vanir God of the wind and the sea (probably originally of fertility). Stepson: Frey, Lord. God of fertility and prosperity. Consort (after Njordr): Uller, She may also have consorted with Odin.

Titles/Variants, etc:
• One of the Asynjur, Goddesses, Who are linked with Frigg, Bearer.
• Stepmother of Freya, {since Njord is the Father of Freya's brother Frey}.
• Perhaps She is akin to Garbh-Og, Womb----, below.
• Njord's name, (variant Njorth), corresponds exactly to Nerthus, Earth-Mother, who is linked with Ertha, Earth.
• Skadi, She-Who-Causes-Harm, may be related to Celtic Scáthach, The-Shadowy-One, warrior Goddess; Teacher of heroes; She Who is wise in weaponry.
• Perhaps related to Scota, Dark-One, Who is linked with Califia, Old-woman.
• Variant Skade.
• Variant Skathi.

Geography/Culture: Celtic Irish.
Linguistic Note: {Phonetic rendering very uncertain}. It seems possible there might be an etymological connection with the Sanskrit word garbha which seems to mean, womb, as in garbh-grha the inner sanctuary of a temple enshrining the main deity and in garbhadhana, a purificatory rite performed after menstruation to ensure conception and the perfect development of the embryo.
Description: Triple mountain Goddess; ancient and ageless Giantess; She Whose car is drawn by Elks; She Whose diet is venison milk and eagles' breasts; She Who hunts the mountain deer with a pack of seventy hounds; She Who names Her hounds with the names of birds; She Who gathers stones to heap up a triple cairn for Herself; She Who sets up Her Chair in a womb of the hills at the season of heather bloom and there, annually, expires.
To Whom Sacred: Heather; elk; deer; eagle; hound; triple cairn; the Beth Luis Nion letter U for Ura, heather.
Festival: mid-year solstice.

Titles/Variants, etc:
• Her gathering of stones suggests a kinship with Cailleach-Bheur, Hag-of-Winter, Who is linked with Califia, Old-woman.