Heid

According to the Voluspa (Poetic Edda), Heid (Bright One) was the reincarnation of the healing goddess Gullveig. She was sometimes confused with the Vanir goddess, Freyja.

As Gullveig, she was the Vanir goddess whom the Aesir attacked with their spears and burned her three times in Odin’s hall, but each time she was reborn.

The attack upon Gullveig triggered the war between the Aesir and the Vanir.

More about Gullveig and Heid can be found on the Vanir page.

Bright One they called her, whenever she came to house,
the seers with pleasing prophecies, she charmed them with spells;
she made magic whenever she could, with magic she played with minds,
she was always the favourite of the wicked women.

Voluspa

translated by C. Larrington

---

There were other witches named Heid in Norse myths, but these women were mortals.

In the Saga of Hrolf Kraki, there was a seeress named Heid, who did all of her foretelling on a raised platform for King Frodi of Denmark. She saw that Frodi’s nephews, Helgi and Hroar, would avenge their father’s murder; it was Frodi who murdered his own brother Halfdan, because Frodi wanted his brother’s kingdom.

There was also Heid in Landnamabok and in the Orvar-Odds Saga.