Freya

Let's take another walk down Memory Lane. I was enjoying academic and dorm life at Hollins College in the early 1990s. One fine afternoon I returned to my room and found an envelope under the door with the Freya logo on it, a black hooded form, and I freaked out. As I understand it, Freya is a secret society with the mission of communicating between administration, faculty, and students, and filling in the gaps left by other organizations. They occasionally walk around campus at midnight wearing black hooded robes to protect their anonymity, and carrying candles to symbolize hope. I knew they granted scholarships. When a friend of mine had to rush home when her mother became ill and wasn't expected to live, Freya gave her a scholarship so that she could travel home. Other than that, Freya remained low-key and wasn't something I talked or thought about.

Despite all the great Freya efforts and ideals, there was an air of mystery and definitely of fear around the group. Watching them walk by with their candles at midnight was eery. Everyone would be completely silent. That gives us a good illustration of how one might control others and how certain groups gain power, doesn't it?! Fortunately, Freya uses its power for good rather than evil.

Anyway, so my fingers really did shake as I opened the envelope. As it turned out, I was the recipient of their scholarship that year. I don't remember how much it was, but I was baffled as to what I had done to deserve such an honor. To this day I scratch my head at the strangeness and wonderfulness of it all. Thank you, Freya.

The fun thing was that notices were posted around the campus indicating that I was the scholarship recipient, and people would walk up to me and ask me if that meant that I was a now a member. Freya has been a secret society since 1907 and remains a secret society to this day! If I were a member, I wouldn't be saying so, now would I?