Paul Devereux – Shamanism and the Mystery lines

Freya is closely associated with Frigg in Norse myth, and the two are generally considered to be the same mythological character, with Frigg emphasising the maternal principle and Freya fertility. 
Freya …. was the teacher of seidhr, a form of trance divination.  ….This was women's magic and the seidhkona would travel around farmsteads and hamlets predicting the future.... In the course of divination, the seidhkona would go into trance and have an out-of-body experience.  It was therefore clearly shamanic. 
The practitioners of seidhr also wore animal costumes, with gloves made of catskin; Freya's carriage is said to have been pulled by cats and she has been depicted in the cloak of a seidhkona flying on the back of  a large striped cat. 
It is thus clear where the idea of the witch's cat familiar came from.  Grey also owned a magic feather garment that enabled her to fly.  She it was who taught Odin to fly, which he was able to do after donning a garment of falcon feathers.  Again we have the hint that the secrets of magical flight -  of ecstatic trance -  were passed on to men by women long ago