An image of Mother Holle (Hulda) that many are most familiar with is that of an old woman leaning out of a window shaking a goose-feather pillow or mattress, to make snow. However, she isn’t just a goddess of winter and snow. She controls the weather, the winds, but is also associated with water, wells, ponds, the underworld and mountains. Forget about pantheons– she may be older than both Asir and Vanir. Though she does seem to be related to the goddesses Frigga, Freya, and Hel.
Her best known fairy tale, Mother Holle, may on the surface appear to be a tale that simply advocates for hard work. However, in Urglaawe, the tale is viewed as a metaphor for her true nature and realm. (For details of that analysis read “Frau Holle” from the Urglaawe Perspective.) It is she who rules death and the afterlife, and it is by her that all souls come back around to rebirth.
There are many other fairytales that seem to depict a figure like Mother Holle, but never name her as such, or often, at all. In these tales, she asks for help with (usually domestic) tasks, and rewards good work with gifts of gold, and sometimes otherworldly help. I’m mainly thinking of the old woman in the Appalachian story of Whitebear Whittington (or the Ozarks version- The Three Nuts), but there of hints of her in Ashpet and some Mountain Jack tales as well.
As guardian of babies and children, she became the keeper of their stories as well; Mother Goose. The goose is her best known animal association, and though this animal may seem mundane in a way, it is a bird with deeply magical associations, as Arith Härger points out in his video Old Mother Frau Holle.
These stories depict her as a crone goddess, and that is what she has been depicted as throughout the Christian era, but she can actually appear as any age. The Grimm brothers believed the fairy tale of the Goose Girl to be about her, for in the story, she controls the winds and attends geese. In the symbolism of that story, we might contemplate that she is also the imposter, as there is a duality to her nature. She is dark and she is light, just as in her better-known story the characters Gold Marie and Soot Marie could be viewed as outward expressions of that nature. In that light, you might say that she is both the ash-faced girl, and the fairy godmother. The story Snow-White and Rose-Red comes to mind as well, which is a better reflection of the harmony of that dual nature, and a true sisterhood…
In Urglaawe, the goddess Berchta seems to fill that role as a darker expression of Holle. Though scholars believe Berchta to be another name for the same goddess, in Urglaawe, she is Holle’s sister and darker aspect. It is Berchta who rules over the dark part of the year, when Mother Holle is on the Wild Hunt. It is Berchta who holds the keys to past, present, and future and stands at the threshold of the turning of the year. She is seen as a goddess of time and the mind, and one of her lesser known animal associations is the owl. She is closely connected with the birch tree, which is deeply associated with new beginnings. Like Mother Holle, she is caretaker of deceased children, and a couple of her stories that illustrate this are The Blown Out Light and The Jugglet of Tears. When she is not being depicted as a elderly woman with a long iron nose and one big goose foot, she is seen as a young goddess, shining and beautiful in a long white gown and two dark braids.
It is this “shining” feature that the Grimm brothers talk about when they describe the “white ladies” of Germanic myth. It reminds me of a video by Maria Kavilhaug that I watched over a decade ago, in which she describes a near death experience she had as a child lost in the snow. A bright light embodying a comforting female presence came to her in that moment. It is pretty common for people to see a white light in near death experiences. Though I know this has scientific explanations, to me, it speaks to the idea of shining goddesses that guide us through death and through life threatening experiences.
Which brings me to the third and most mysterious entity; Die Weisskeppich Fraa (The White Haired Lady). In Deitsch lore, she is an entity called in for healing in the Braucherei tradition. It isn’t really known if she is representative of a healing aspect of Holle, or perhaps akin to the Norse goddess of healing; Eir. In Urglaawe, she is considered the goddess that embodies Megge (or Mægen)- the spiritual energy that pervades all life, and is used for healing. Urglaawers view certain figures as her avatars, such as Mountain Mary, Gedreier Eckhart, and Hildegard of Bingen. Though in the sense that she permeates all things, I would liken her to Brandon Weston’s notion of the “Flow”- that essence in nature with which Ozark magical practitioners seek to be in harmony. She is pure spiritual essence, and to me, she is that which can only come from Mother Holle.
So when I set about creating my deepest prayers, sometimes I use the Carmina Gadelica and the Metrical Charms for inspiration, but it is with this trinity in mind: Mother Holle, her beloved sister Berchta, and the ever flowing healing spirit of the White-haired Lady.
Ozark Pagan Mamma 