Hela
Death comes to everyone, the one promise in life is
death. In Norse mythology, Hel (Hella, Holda, Hela, h) is a Dark Goddess who presides over a portion of the dead in Helheim,
the Kingdom of the Dead.
Hela's hall is located in Elvidnir and is connected to another Norse
World, Niflheim. It was icy
cold and filled with slush, cold mud and snow. But like its ruler, Helheim had many levels
or sides, and is described differently throughout records.
Hela is referred to as a daughter of God Loki and is usually honored at
Samhain and Yule and on the dark and waning moon. Her appearance is described as
half black skeleton and half white flesh, half dead and half alive. She has great maternal aspects and she
is known to help people in their times of need. Hela also had another side to her and she is
quite capable of becoming vengeful towards anyone who might attempt to
interfere with, or stop, the progression of natural law.
The Poetic
Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources,
features various poems that mention Hela.
It details that Hela rules over vast mansions, her servants in her
underworld realm and as playing a key role in the attempted resurrection of the
God Baldr.
When Loki tricked Hoder into using the shaft of
mistletoe as an arrow hitting Baldur, it killed him at once. Frigg desperately wanted
to have her beloved son returned to her from the land of the dead, so she asked
if there was anyone among the Aesir who would go to Hela for her, find Baldur,
and then give Hela a ransom; so that Baldur would be allowed to return home. It failed and Baldur was remanded to
Helheim until Ragnarok. When someone dies
and enters Hela’s realm, it was almost impossible for anyone on Earth to get
them back. Even the Gods could not evade
death.
When human warriors died in battle, their souls were
split evenly between the Goddess Freya and God Odin. Freya had the privilege of taking the first
half of the souls of those warriors who had been slain in battle, while the
remaining souls of the dead warriors belonged to Odin. But souls of people who had died from sickness
or old age, and for the souls of any other people whose deaths had not occurred
through battle (like Baldur's) were sent to the Goddess Hela.
Her realm is below the World Tree and is separated
from the world of the living by a rapid river that the dead have to pass. The Prose Eddas say that the
entryway to Hela's realm was guarded by the hellhound named Garm. Once through the gates, she judged
them and decided whether their spirit was good or bad and to what
degree. Then, after Hela had made had
her assessment, she gave each soul it's just reward. Depending upon how they had been judged, the
souls of the dead were settled into one of the nine levels of Helheim, which
ranged from what might be seen as a form of paradise,
all the way down to the dark horrors of Nastrand and Nidhogg. Nastrand was the house or level for criminals. Nidhogg was a dragon that devoured the
corpses of evil-doers, meaning no Ragnarok or visiting love ones.
Hela and her army of the dead do play a role at the
start Ragnarok. She is not mentioned
once the battle commences and it is unknown whether
she plays a role after Ragnarok.
She
is often a misunderstood Goddess as many Goddesses of the Underworld are. Hela was not some form of death deity, who
had specifically been created to rule over the Land of the Dead, nor did she
gain her decaying appearance when she became the ruler of that realm. She had simply been born with the bones on the
left side of her body exposed. It had
not been created purposely, nor had it been done out of contempt, or as a means
of punishment. It simply happened. When Odin brought Hela to Asgard, its
inhabitants found themselves extremely uncomfortable because of her appearance.
They were weak when they should have
been strong, and they were extremely insensitive to Hela’s feelings; so much
so, that they made her feel alone and ostracized.
It was for that reason that Odin gave her Helheim,
to be her own and for her to rule over. By
Odin giving her Helheim, Hela finally found a place where she could feel
comfortable, just being herself; a place where no one would see her as anything
other then what she truly was. As
thanks, she gives Odin a gift of two ravens, Hugin and Munin.
Hela is a Goddess who was given a home and a duty to
do, and she did her job exceptionally well. She took her responsibility, that of judging
people’s souls, quite seriously and then, after she had judged them, she
granted them the type of existence within her realm that she felt they
deserved; which might have been anything from a heaven-like Otherworld, all the
way down to the horrors of a Christian type of Hell. Hela is a Goddess who should be respected and
admired, rather than feared. Unless, of
course, you have done something unworthy, which might give you reason to fear
her. But that’s not really Hela's
problem, is it? It is yours.
Hel is a fictional
character, the Asgardian Goddess of death in the Marvel Comics universe, based
on the Norse Goddess, Hela. The ruler of Hel and Nifleheim, the character has
been a frequent foe of Thor. Hel is also
one of the incarnated Goddesses in the New Zealand TV comedy/drama "The
Almighty Johnsons". The part of Eva
Gundersen / Hel is played by Brooke Williams.
Haglaz or Hagalaz is the name of the h-rune ᚺ, meaning hail,
precipitation, transformation. The Elder
Futhark letter has two variants, single-barred ᚺ and double-barred ᚻ. The double-barred variant
is found in continental inscriptions while Scandinavian inscriptions have
exclusively the single-barred variant. The
Hagalaz rune, above all others, represents the concept of balance; yin/yang,
male/female, positive/negative, black/white.
Challenges are occurring in your life, but these are to be embraced
rather than feared. A hailstorm, for example, may seem daunting and scary at
first, but if you catch a hailstone you will realize that it is only water and
is not to be feared.
Hela, great Goddess,
daughter of Loki,
She who guards the spirits of the dead,
Our friend [Name] has come to you now.
As [Name] kneels before you, Hela,
Know how much she was loved in this life,
And how many she loved in return
Before she crossed over.
She was an honorable soul,
A soaring spirit,
A brave warrior.
Watch over her, Hela, as she crosses the bridge,
From this life to the next.
And welcome her with glory,
That she may live on forever in our hearts
And memories.
She who guards the spirits of the dead,
Our friend [Name] has come to you now.
As [Name] kneels before you, Hela,
Know how much she was loved in this life,
And how many she loved in return
Before she crossed over.
She was an honorable soul,
A soaring spirit,
A brave warrior.
Watch over her, Hela, as she crosses the bridge,
From this life to the next.
And welcome her with glory,
That she may live on forever in our hearts
And memories.
.jpg)
