Scandinavian mythology is full of secrets and legends. Her deities are deep, special personalities. Secret meaning is hidden in them. They have common features and significant differences in comparison with the gods of other religions.
One of the most powerful deities of German-Scandinavian mythology is Hel. At her disposal is the last of 9 worlds - the kingdom of the dead. Goddess Hel and her possessions are significantly different from modern views on the other world. It will be instructive and interesting to delve into this legend.
Who is Hel?
In Scandinavian mythology, the image of the deity of the underworld is very unusual. As a result of the union of the deceitful god Loki and the giantess Angoboda ("Carrying Nightmare"), their eldest daughter Hel appeared. The goddess of the kingdom of the dead from childhood showed her abilities. Once she looked like a decaying corpse. It was a sign of her destiny.
Later, she could appear to the world in different guises. Hel may look like a pretty girl with very pale skin and blue eyes. Her height is very large. In another hypostasis, her body is as if divided into two parts. On the one hand, this is a beautiful girl, and on the other, a skeleton with the remains of decaying flesh. It can also be white on one side and black on the other. Sometimes she is portrayed as an old woman.
The rise of mistress Helheim
In addition to Hel, the gods Loki and Angrboda had two more children - the wolf Fenrir and the snake Yormungand. The whole family was called Odin. He gave Hel the right to own the underworld.
Each ruler controls it until his death. After this, the right to reign in the underworld passes to another god. He equips the world of the dead as he sees fit.
Before the goddess Hel was born and took over her possessions, the underworld was called Jormungund. When she became his full ruler, the ninth of the worlds was called Helheim.
The mistress immediately took care of the improvement of the world of the dead. On the rocks, mounds of graves, grass grew. It was cold and dark, but the dead do not need light and heat. Hel guarantees peace and deliverance to his subjects. She gives them refuge.
Goddess character
The Scandinavian goddess Hel is different from other rulers of the underworld. In her domain there is no hellfire, torment and suffering. Such ideas about hell are characteristic of the countries of the Middle East. Here the heat was a terrible punishment. She killed people, crops and domestic animals. In the northern countries, death was associated with cold. Life and death alternate, like winter and summer.
Hel is endowed with an uncompromising character. She knows what leads to happiness and what leads to grief. To people, she demonstrates the inevitability of death. Therefore, her image consists of the appearance of a beautiful virgin on the one hand and the bones of a corpse on the other. Man must understand death in all its undisguised clarity, and must not build illusions.
You should not be afraid of this, because it is natural for people. If Hel ordered a person to fulfill her will, he must do so. Even if you have to make big sacrifices. This is the path to good. The goddess does not enjoy pleasure. It destroys the illusions, “castles in the sand”, which are built for themselves by stupid, narrow-minded people. Only by losing can one find the truth.
The essence of Helheim
Hel is the goddess of death. But her kingdom is not scary. Death removes superfluous, superfluous from the soul. As the bones of dead flesh are exposed, so Hel frees every person. It gives a person a look at himself for who he is. This is not a punishment, but a reassurance.
Helheim is guarded by brothers. One cannot enter her kingdom without permission or invitation. It is also impossible to leave it without the consent of Hel. Even Odin is not able to influence the course of events in the domain of the goddess. He could not get Hel to return his dead brother Balder to him. All souls fall here. According to legend, only the souls of the best warriors fall into the kingdom of Odin.
Helheim is pretty good. Having destroyed all the earthly fetters, the soul regains itself again. This is a period of hidden development. The ancients believed that here is better than in the living world. Hel takes care of the souls of the deceased, like a mother about her children. Therefore, she appears in the image of a woman.
Hel and other goddesses
In the mythology of many peoples, goddesses similar to Hel are found. She herself comes from a more ancient personality. This is the mistress of the hearth and motherhood of Hold. This goddess could also send cold and winter to the earth. One could get into her kingdom by jumping into a well. It is with this separation of personalities that the essence of Hel begins. The goddess of the kingdom of the dead also appears in double guise.
In Greek mythology, Persephone possessed similar features. For six months she is in the other world, and the other six months in the world of the living. In Roman legends, the same qualities were attributed to Proserpine. Our ancestors in the role of Hel saw the goddess Moran.
Chat with Hel
Communicate with the goddess of death should only be an emergency. According to legend, it can help find a way out in difficult circumstances. But asking her advice, one should be prepared to fulfill any of her will.
Offerings are brought to her. Goddess Hel, whose gifts are offered before the conversation, loves dried roses and blood. She does not tolerate those who deny death or engage in necromancy.
A living person cannot enter her kingdom. A special platform is intended for communication with her or with someone from the deceased. Hel's advice is tough, but it leads to the common good. Only once at the very edge, on the brink of death, can a person realize the truth.
If the will of the goddess is not fulfilled, the questioner will be punished. The worst suffering will fall upon him. And the result will be as Hel said. This is not her whim.
What does Hel teach?
In mythology, the goddess Hel performs a number of duties. She protects the dead, and makes the living recognize the inevitability of death. The cycle is continuous. Day will replace night. But the heat will come cold. We must remember this in life.
After death, Hel gives peace to every soul. Only one who is not afraid to step beyond this line, to survive the deepest crisis, can find joy and harmony. Therefore, even the great Odin cannot invade the kingdom of Hel. There is no evil without good, and without death there is no birth. The world cannot be white. It must necessarily have a shadow.
Therefore, Hel, when meeting with the living, gives his skeleton's hand as a sign of favor, and the warm girl’s warm hand gives to the dead.
Goddess Hel is a deep symbol of humanity's relationship to life and death. She does not intimidate with terrible torment on the other side of the world. She exposes the souls of men. Rusha all illusions, forcing to survive the deepest crisis, the goddess reveals to man the truth and a way out of the crisis. After all, only by looking at oneself as he is is a person able to understand his fate, find harmony and freedom.