Groa- Norse FigureMortal"Völva"
Also known as: Gróa
Titles & Epithets
Domains
Description
She was singing the whetstone from Thor's skull, her galdr loosening what no god could move, when Thor told her that Aurvandil lived. Joy broke her concentration. The stone stayed lodged in the thunder god's head, and it remains there still.
Mythology & Lore
Healing Thor
After Thor killed the giant Hrungnir, a piece of the giant's whetstone remained stuck in Thor's skull. No one among the Æsir could remove it. The völva Gróa was summoned to sing it free with galdr, and the stone began to shift under her incantations.
But Thor, wanting to reward her, told Gróa that her husband Aurvandil the Bold was alive. He had carried Aurvandil across the frozen Élivágar in a basket on his back. One of Aurvandil's toes had frozen and stuck out from the basket, so Thor broke it off and flung it into the sky, where it became the star called Aurvandils tá. Gróa was so overjoyed that she lost her concentration and could not finish the spell. The whetstone remained in Thor's head. The Skáldskaparmál adds that one should never throw a whetstone across a room, for this causes the stone in Thor's skull to stir.
Grógaldr
In the Eddic poem Grógaldr, Gróa is dead. Her son Svipdag goes to her burial mound and raises her from the grave. He needs her help: he has been sent on a quest to find Menglöð, and the road is dangerous. Gróa gives him nine spells. They will guard him against hostile currents and hostile men. Then she goes back into the earth, and Svipdag walks on alone.