Hello my dear friends, my name is Arith Härger and today I'm going to talk about Hel
once again
on the previous video I have talked about this goddess as a deity related to death and the Underworld
and as usual-
trying to have a more scientific approach with historical and archaeological evidences to support my claims
but on this video I want to give you a more personal approach to this goddess
my own interpretation of who Hel his and her attributes
maybe throughout the video I will make a few references to some archaeological aspects
sometimes it's inevitable
but still, mostly, I will give you my own perspective about this goddess
because, as I have said before, this deity is . . . very important to me
but before I start this video I want to remind you that-
I will obviously talk about death
so if you are sensitive about that subject, and I know there are underaged people in this channel...
who want to learn about Norse mythology
and if you feel uncomfortable about death
or even if you suffer from depression, trust me I know how it's like,
maybe this video is not the thing you need right now, not yet
this channel is not about getting subscriptions, views and likes
this channel is about exchanging knowledge and I don't want people to feel upset by the things I say
so if death is a very uncomfortable subject and awakens deep fears in you
maybe you would prefer to watch another video of mine
with this being said, let's get started
as I've said in the previous video-
Hel or Hela, is the goddess of the Underworld in the Norse cosmology
the goddess of death and the eldest child of Angrboda and Loki
these seem to be the very few aspects people know about her
and in general there is a very shallow comprehension about this goddess
a gap somehow
Hela is usually described as a half rotten or half skeletal form, at one side of her body
and a completely normal figure on the other side
her hair is usually pale and long on the normal fleshy side
although sometimes it is black
in shamanic terms the gods take many forms according to the situation they are bound for
according to the specific spiritual work they decide to perform
howsoever she chooses to appear-
one thing is certain,
she chooses to appear in such horrific forms to remind people about death
to show them the true nature of all things
to remind people that beauty isn't eternal and to force people in accepting the way things are
death being a natural part of life, as another part of nature itself
so people might understand, accept and respect the natural process of all things
it's perfectly normal trying to avoid death
there has always been a deep fear about death
and throughout history, especially with the introduction of Middle-Eastern religions
the fear of death was enhanced and it became a taboo
and from generation to generation people walked further away from this reality
our ancestors lived side by side with death
in prehistoric times people buried their dead in the caves they inhabited, for instance
in pre-christian Scandinavia-
people built burial mounds in their farms and honored their ancestors on top and/or within the burial mounds
but we progressively started to avoid the dead and keep them far away
surely it was more hygienic to make a necropolis, a city for the dead,
and keep them out of the cities in ancient Greece and throughout the Roman Empire, and such
but even so, people spent a lot of time with their deceased relatives
and loads of celebrations were performed in places of death
but Christianity, and other Middle Eastern religions, brought many fears about the afterlife
and the concept of death and the afterlife itself changed a lot
and death became something horrific
the fear of death was introduced in our collective consciousness
and even nowadays it's extremely hard to have a conversation about death
but when we deal with the goddess Hel, we soon realize that death isn't something to be feared
but mind that not fearing death doesn't mean that we should be happy about it and make fun of it
the fear might remain there
but we should learn how to accept it, but most importantly respect it
Hela is indeed a very different kind of deity,
while other gods and goddesses are a symbol of light
and we see in them that light, which brings joy and bliss
Hela is the opposite
a darkness that can absorb the light
maybe this is one of the reasons that made people fear her and often mistake her with an evil being
because she is also associated with the underworld and a very dark gloomy atmosphere hovers around her
but we must not forget that in Norse mythology there isn't such thing as evil gods and good gods
there is however order and chaos
but order doesn't mean it's a good thing, and chaos and evil aspect of nature
order andchaos is the natural order of all things and one cannot exist without the other
I completely understand why death is a taboo
especially in our Western society
we have built a bubble around us where we concentrate what we think it's beautiful
and even our concept of the afterlife is a beautiful place filled with light and green meadows
such a wonderful thing
such an unrealistic thing
if we get out of our bubble,
and step into the wilds,
there is beauty indeed but there is also loads of death all around
but is that necessarily horrible? Hugly?
death isn't beautiful, death isn't poetic and romantic
or even something we should embrace as if it were something to be loved
death is ugly but it exists and it's part of nature and we should accept it and respect it
Hela's rotten corpse reminds us of how ugly and nasty and abominable something becomes when life ceases to exist in matter
but the decomposition of matter is necessary to create life
rotting matter feeds the ground and the maggots and bacteria
and all living things in the earth, it fertilizes the soils
and it will give birth to new life and sustain the existing one
his is what order and chaos is all about, a constant cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth
death isn't the ultimate end, our essence, our energy lives on
and unlike we were made to believe that death is the ultimate end, and then people either go to heaven or hell
we are part of a cycle and death is only a natural part of life
and we continue to be bound to this world and to the life on this planet
and we live on in our descendants and our essence flows
he goddess Hel most likely is linked to necromancy, she's the goddess of the underworld - the realm of the dead
and she has total control over the dead and her powers are deathly powers
she was the one who was viewed as a dark shining entity coming to collect the dead, and embrace them
keep them safe
necromancy was a very important aspect of black magic in Old Norse societies
especially in medieval Iceland when such black arts were still being performed by the keeprs of the old faith
and so Hel was also called upon for such activities
especially in places of crossroads, or near burial mounds
and other places during the night
these places and ambience and even certain activities to worship Hel-
are the exact same places, circumstances and activities people used for necromancy
necromancy wasn't just to raise the dead so they would do one's bidding
there are many sagas and poems about necromancy
and the Voluspa is one of such poems
Odin raises the dead seer, a Völva, and she tells him things that were, things that are,
and things that will become
the dead were called upon for knowledge
the knowledge of the grave, the wisdom of the dead that the living can only attain if they come in contact with the dead
this is a very pre-Christian Scandinavian concept about the afterlife
the dead didn't just go into the other side or some unreachable place
the underworld, the realm of the goddess Hel, was literally beneath our feet
the very earth we step, and the dead were there in the burial mounds
a sort of gateway between the surface, or the world of the living, and the Underworld
the dead were near and their presence remained
sacrifices to the ancestors such as the Disablót and the Álfablót, mostly were performed near the places of the dead
especially the Álfablót
which was a private celebration held in the farmsteads
in the burial mounds
to honor the dead and ask for their help and protection
the dead were still there helping their family members
so necromancy was a very important art in these old pagan societies
the dead have plenty to tell and when they start speaking they will never shut up
so certain black magical actions and activities linked to necromancy-
such as in crossroads, walking backwards, the usage of the number 3, etc
are activities and attributes given to Hel, and are the foundations of necromantic magic in the name of Hel
Hel he is the personification of death,
and with the introduction of Christianity and the Christian Way of Thinking-
people started to focus only on the gods associated with light and beauty and salvation
it would seem that the Norse only worshipped Gods such as Odin and Freyja, and Freyr and Thor
the gods of order and light and goodness
and all the other gods less pleasant to the Christian view, were put aside and placed on the category of evil gods
but I'm sure the pre-christian Norse worshiped Hel as much as they worshipped any other deity
because unlike our society where we make a clear physical and psychological boundary between life and death
pre-christian societies didn't have such boundaries because death to them was a natural part of life
death was a natural part of their world, a living reality
that people respected, understood and were very much in contact with
you already know how much the old gods changed due to Christianity,
and became a shadow of what they truly represented
Odin, for instance, became the Alfather associated with creation and resembling the Christian God
it was a deity that suffered great changes due to Christianity
but it's funny because Odin was also a god of death and his Ravens are a frequent reminder of that
Odin isn't the only deity connected to Ravens,
many other gods from European mythologies are connected to Ravens
and most of these gods are connected to death
there are references of Hel having Ravens or ravens connected to Hel
the Ravens were seen as animals which belonged to the possessors of powers related to death
or having the death-aspect - the aspect certain deities take when their business is death
this is the prehistoric remains of animal spirits
or the Fylgjur in Old Norse
animals linked to the person
not just animals but helping-spirits, Guardian-spirits
so Ravens were the messengers of death
and in a traditional perspective to see Ravens was a bad omen
like when people come across black cats
Ravens announced death and so Hel was accompanied by ravens as well
there is a reason why Odin is also represented as having two black ravens
because he's also a Death-God
the Raven is naturally a symbol of death
a bird who seeks places of death, it feeds on death
and it's the flying reminder of death
Swift and precise, very independent and the smartest of all birds
Ravens are often scavengers, feeding on carrion
scouting for cadavers, so naturally they became a metaphor for death,
in a sense of coming to take the dead, collect the dead
in many old religions, especially during the Bronze Age and Iron Age,
the dead were given to birds, especially warriors, and bit by bit carrion birds would take the dead into the otherside
flying away into the land of the dead
many ancient societies had headdresses and masks of birds used in such deathly ceremonies
since I've already mentioned Odin I think this would also be interesting to point out
the goddess Hel was also seen as an entity spreading sickness and death upon the nine worlds,
through Yggdrasil
she was represented riding a three-legged horse - Heldrasil, Hel's steed
this is a reference to the world-tree itself being represented as having tree roots and nurturing the nine worlds
the skeletal roots of the underworld are Hel's dominion
so maybe Yggdrasil is actually Hel's vehicle to bring death to everyone
but obviously Yggdrasil is associated with Odin, the name itself refers to one of Odin's names-
Ygg, so it's Ygg's steed
but Odin was also a death God
now, we have two possible sceneries
1 - Odin was a death deity but when he became associated with creation and other affairs
his "job" as a death God passed to Hel
and while he rides Yggdrasil, she rides its roots
(2) or, Hel was the Scandinavian goddess of death before the cult of Odin was introduced in Scandinavia
and since many Scandinavian local deities were syncretized into the cult of Odin,
and that's how Odin gained more than 100 names,
those who worshiped Hel as a goddess of death started to worship Odin because he became the main God,
and death was also his business
I think the latter is more plausible
it wasn't only with Christianity that people abandoned their old gods for the new one
Scandinavians also abandoned their old gods for the cult of Odin
and in fact there are references to a Scandinavian death-goddess living underground
inside a mountain
older than the introduction of the cult of Odin itself
with this video I wanted to show you that Hel wasn't and isn't a minor deity
she must have been one of the most worshipped deities in pre-christian Scandinavia
especially in pre-Viking Scandinavia
neo-pagans have the tendency to focus solely on the Aesir
and a few of the Vanir gods
but let's not forget the other gods, the gods of chaos
chaos isn't evil, chaos is within natural order of things
it exists and it's part of our lives and the cycle of nature
only worshipping a group of gods and put the others aside is denying a huge portion of a spirituality
is denying a great part of reality
if we understand all the gods, see them as part of nature and the cycle of life-
we can better understand our place in this world and embrace life without having a gap in our consciousness
surely death is inconvenient, ugly, horrible,
but it's a natural part of life and we should learn how to understand it and respect it
just imagine the goddess Hel comes to you, the personification of death
and she reaches out to you with her rotting or skeletal hand for you to take it and kiss it
will you deny it? Or will you take it?
the choice is yours, obviously
but sooner or later you will have to take that hand and kiss it
and better be prepared for it, it's inevitable
and there is much to learn from death than we realize
death is not the end but it's a natural part of life, a path we all must take
in order to evolve and continue our quest for wisdom
after your time in this world, after everything you have learned
there is one final step to take
throughout your life you have learned so many useful things and how to control your fears
but there is one final challenge
when death comes all your fears are gone, you conquer the ultimate fear,
and from that moment on everything that held you in fear, in a psychological paralysis
and prevented you from truly being free, it will be gone
and your entire being will be opened for new experiences
and to accept, embrace, absorb knowledge
In this life we are never truly alone,
and most of the things we do we will either have a family member supporting us
or a friend, even a pet to comfort us
but as someone once told me, and she was right,
in death we are alone
no one can die for us, no one can go into the other side with us
this is the only thing we really have to completely do it alone
It doesn't matter if in your death-bed you will be surrounded by loved ones
the journey is yours and yours alone
to have the courage to take that further step into the unknown
to be truly ready for anything
That moment of loneliness is what will set you free,
it's what makes you an independent individual
after that you will be able to do anything because death is not truly the end of it all
alright friends I wanted to give you this perspective on the goddess Hel
because sometimes we need to hear other people's perspectives on a certain subject
otherwise we would never have thought about that matter in that specific way
it helps us to grow and also to ponder about those subjects
and have a different worldview
of course some perspectives are total rubbish
but still... it's good to exchange knowledge and different worldviews
give different perspectives
anyway, I hope you have enjoyed this video, thank you so much for watching
see you on the next one and don't forget to be attentive
always . . .
listen . . .
tack för idag! (Thank you for today!)
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