Found Goddesses: Maiden Goddesses - Part 3 by Barbara Ardinger, Ph.D.

Gluinhilda

Goddess of the Glue Gun

          Gluinhilda gallops across the ravages of art and craft projects astride her great golden stallion, Triggar, accompanied by her great grey wolf, Burninfingar, and her great-winged vulture, Fixinevermor. Her mission is to rescue the haggard heroes and heras of the decoration wars and carry their shattered souls up to the ever-fertile fields of the Frigenartenfolk, which are perfumed by myrrh and civet and where the air is filled with the sweet sounds of art songs.

          Hear now the legend of Gluinhilda, eldest daughter of the One-Eyed Draftsman, He Who hung upon the Tree of Art for nine days and nine nights so that He might learn to see The Straight And True.

          Gluinhilda was ever the best beloved daughter of the One-Eyed Draftsman, but it happened that one dark and stormy night She came upon a mosaicist whose tesserae were out of control. His pieces simply would not let themselves be arranged. “Sir Mosaicist,” Gluinhilda whispered into his ear, “allow Me to help thee to arrange thy pattern. Use My glue to affix thy pattern.”

          “Humbly I do thank thee,” the artist replied, “but I am bound to the service of the One-Eyed One and forbidden to accept artistic advice from any other. It is He alone Who provides the glue that I require.”

          Now Gluinhilda was a proud and cruel maiden, and, angered at this impertinent reply, She stamped Her heel in the midst of the tesserae and crushed the pieces to powder. When the mosaicist fell upon his face in despair, She picked him up, slung him across the saddle of Her great golden stallion, Triggar, and hauled him up to the fields of the Frigenartenfolk. When the mosaicist awakened, he would speak to no one but only betook himself to a lonely ash, where he gnashed his teeth and called out to his god.

          After the One-Eyed One had listened to His disciple’s complaint, He appeared before His daughter. “Daughter,” the One-Eyed One thundered, “thou hast done wrong in stealing my artist. Thou hast sinned in offering him thy glue What hast thou to say in reply?”

          “I heard the prayer of one in need of better glue,” whispered the goddess, “and I came to succor him.”

          “Thou art indeed My favorite daughter, but still I curse thee with the curse of impermanence,” said the One-Eyed One. “Thou shalt fall into sleep and awaken only when thou art found by an artist who fears no technique.” And He raised a ring of magic fire and music around His daughter to protect Her from second-rate artists and large tenors waving swords.

          And it came to pass that Gluinhilda lay within that ring of magic fire for one hundred years, and during all that time the glue guns were impotent and the people turned to the use of glue sticks and mucilage. As it was eventually foretold (to make a long story shorter), in the hundredth year, came Sigfreedrifta, the hero, and Sigfreedrifta was unafraid of any technique. When he saw the maiden within the ring of magic fire and heard the magic fire music, he awakened Her and asked Her to teach him all Her wisdom.

          She opened Her eyes and found him fair of countenance, and at last She spoke. “When My Great Glue Gun has affixed one thing to another thing, neither thy brute strength nor thy Xacto blade can rend them asunder again. Not all thy charms nor any of thy regret can change what has been Glued. For what I set in place is eternal. Thou canst not change thy mind when thou workst with My tools.”

          And Gluinhilda began to sink down once again into Her lasting sleep and the hero readied himself to set forth once more into the world. “Wait!” She whispered, “Thou art brave. Here is My Sacred Glue Gun. Take it with thee into the world and teach its use to all who are in need.” And She fell back within the ring of magic fire and slept again. Sigfreedrifta bowed in the four directions, holstered the Sacred Glue Gun at his side, and, riding through the world, proclaimed the secret uses of hot glue to all who would listen. His epic words were set down and came to be called the Adhesive Edda, and this is the holy teaching with which we scholars of glue are familiar to this day. And when we have any project or any decoration, we take great care for we still remember the holy words of Gluinhilda and know that what is once affixed cannot be split asunder.

Barbara Ardinger, Ph.D. (www.barbaraardinger.com), is the author of Pagan Every Day: Finding the Extraordinary in Our Ordinary Lives (RedWheel/Weiser, 2006), a unique daybook of daily meditations, stories, and activities. Her earlier books are Finding New Goddesses, Quicksilver Moon, Goddess Meditations, and Practicing the Presence of the Goddess. Her day job is freelance editing for people who don't want to embarrass themselves in print. Barbara lives in southern California. To purchase a signed copy of Finding New Goddesses, just send Barbara an email at bawriting@earthlink.net.