Water is also a universal symbol in Animism for a veil separating the realms of the living and the dead. It's a transitory force. Crossing the river is metaphorical for crossing over to the other side.
@spellsbyamara3 жыл бұрын
Your channel is wonderful it's hard to follow the path that we have because of the influences not only in our society but the society our ancestors had to live in I always wanted to know how to break it down to be realistic I always thought there was meaning behind everything that was written down however I was trying too hard to listen to what others said Thank you for being real and not exploiting or misinterpreting and putting words into something you're breaking down processes wonderful especially for a person like me who needs more understanding
@norsemagicandbeliefs81343 жыл бұрын
Absolutely. There are some people who have great theories about these things, but at the end of the day its up to each individual to interpret the myths. The problem is that many so called experts end up coming up with their own theories that completely go against the evidence we do have. As long as we have good knowledge of the sources, your interpretations are just as valuable as anyone else.
@Thekoryosmenstribepodcast2 жыл бұрын
@@norsemagicandbeliefs8134 Hey I have a question brother. I know that real giant bones, and elven or small people bones, have been found in many places. Do you think maybe there is some truth to the whole, "Rock and Ice Giants" thing? I feel like they knew about them at least somewhat. And also the elves. They found bones in caves I think in Ireland, the bones were around 3 feet, and that was considered full grown. So I know it can't be taken literal in every sense. But I do think some of this is real. Like maybe the giantess and giants that are Odins parents, could have some truth to it. Just wanted to get your take on it. Takk fyrir😎🪓
@wulfheort80213 жыл бұрын
Varg Vikerness explained Hel very well in his book Sorcery and Religion in Ancient Scandinavia. Hel means 'hidden' and when people saw the sun setting it hid itself under the ground, but then it came back alive so to speak. So people buried their dead, so that once again they would rise again like the sun. People think that Hel and Valhalla are the opposite of each other, but every dead person goes to Hel, Valhalla is a dead person's tomb, it's in a sense intertwined with Hel. Of course the womb can also be called Valhalla, because there's different layers to the concept. When Baldr/Bældæg is killed and goes to Hel, it represents the power of the sun, the summer, getting killed by winter (in the old days there were 2 seasons, summer and winter) and upon Ragnarok he returns to the world of the living, because during Ragnarok (Yule - new year) the sun is reborn and starts to gain back its power. When it comes down to water being involved with death and Hel, many people lived near the coast and for them the sun set in the sea, so they would want to undergo the same path as the sun, in order to be reborn, so they would make ship-like graves for the dead.
@norsemagicandbeliefs81343 жыл бұрын
Absolutely. Vargs book is one of my favorite. Cant say I agree with everything in there, but for sure 90% or it I agree.
@wulfheort80213 жыл бұрын
@@norsemagicandbeliefs8134 Some things are up for interpretation, which makes it more interesting and it's a healthy thing to do, not agreeing 100% with someone.
@BlurredUniverse3575 ай бұрын
What led me to the gods was my study in science and nature. Whats fascinating is so many near death experiences speak of reincarnation. People who grew up Christian... This is a great great video and I want to thank you for them. As a person awakened and being introduced into my ancestral beliefs, I appreciate this content!
@paganavenger89202 жыл бұрын
Now, I am starting to see why people confuse Hel for Hell. Hel is supposed to be some sort of purgatory kind of like The Land of The Dead from the perspective of La Dia de Muertos.
@thewormwhoisgod98863 жыл бұрын
Loki’s eternal daughter by Angrboða, Hel is queen in her eternal realm, balancing death and life, analogous to the mysteries of the fungi and mycorrhizae that allow “dead” matter to rise again in new forms, or to the lava flows that create new land from inner-Earth rock hitting frigid water; akin to the universal origin story of cosmic collision. As keeper of her namesake liminal place, with the power to guide a soul on their path to resurrection, the half virgin half corpse Hel is a supremely powerful entity born of the mischievous Truth-Teller and the Mistress of the Ironwood, and is generally just extremely Heavy Metal; a raw feminine force of digestion, transmutation and the mystery of Death/Birth.
@kyledavisnorroena3 жыл бұрын
Since we are in the midst of this great pandemic, let's talk Leikn. We have previously made the argument that Hel and Urd are the same; which is admittedly a much stronger argument than the identification of Loki's Daughter with Leikn. However, barring any other identification the evidence should be examined. The first piece of evidence lies within the Voluspa (22), which tells us that Heidr "seið hon hug leikin," which seems to be a play on the name. "With Seidr she brought Leikin," which is a bewitchment, and if connected to the name we could compare it to the type shown in Skirnismal 29: Tópi ok ópi, tjösull ok óþoli, vaxi þér tár með trega; sezk þú niðr, en ek mun segja þér sváran súsbreka ok tvennan trega. Rage and longing, fetters and wrath, Tears and torment are thine; Where thou sittest down my doom is on thee Of heavy heart And double dole. From this we examine a passage from Ynglingatal, which tells us that "Hvedrung's (Loki's) Maiden" brought sickness to Halfdan, and indeed we see in Ynglingasaga that this same Halfdan does die from illness. Og til þings Þriðja jöfri Hveðrungs mær úr heimi bauð, þá er Hálfdan, sá er á Holti bjó norna dóms um notið hafði. Hvethrung's maid Invited the ("third") king away from this world to (or "Þriði-Odin's") Thing when Halfdan who dwelt at Holt, had to suffer the Norn's judgement. Then in Olaf Tryggvason's Saga we see this same Leikn as having an "Ugly-Grown Horse," which we can compare to what Gylfaginning says about "Hel" after the two were conflated. Tíðhöggvit lét tiggi, Tryggva sonr, fyr styggvan Leiknar hest á lesti, ljótvaxinn, hræ Saxa; vinhróðigr gaf víða vísi margra Frísa blökku brúnt at drekka blóð kveldriðu stóði. At last, Tryggvi's son placed the often-hewn corpses of Saxons in front of the peevish ugly-grown horse of Leikn; the friend-famous one (i.e. the king) widely gave the brown blood of many Frisians to the black horse-pack of the evening-rider. Here is what Rydberg says about the horse: "Popular traditions have preserved for our times the remembrance of the "ugly-grown" horse, that is, of a three-legged horse, which on its appearance brings sickness, epidemics, and plagues. The Danish popular belief (Thiele, I. 137, 138) knows this monster, and the word Hel-horse has been preserved in the vocabulary of the Danish language. The diseases brought by the Hel-horse are extremely dangerous, but not always fatal. When they are not fatal, the convalescent is regarded as having ransomed his life with that tribute of loss of strength and of torture which the disease caused him, and in a symbolic sense he has then "given death a bushel of oats" (that is, to its horse). According to popular belief in Schleswig (Arnkiel, I. 55; cp. J. Grimm, Deutsche Myth., Vol. II, Ch. 27 ), 9 Hel rides on a three-legged horse during the time of plague and kills people. Thus the ugly-grown horse is not forgotten in traditions from the heathen time." (The idea being that she was confused with Loki's daughter in the Christian era, when this was not the case previously). Now, the strongest point of evidence here lies with the account of Leikn in Skaldskaparmal (5), where it says that Thor "broke Leikn's bones," which we compare to Gylfaginning 34 which states that the Gods cast her down into Niflheim and made her watch over the nine halls of the damned. "She is half blue-black and half flesh-color (by which she is easily recognized), and stooping and fierce." (Hon er blá hálf, en hálf með hörundarlit. Því er hon auðkennd ok heldr gnúpleit ok grimmlig.)
@davidjuby73922 жыл бұрын
Interesting, there is the concept of soul catching, this has taken a number of different forms but the idea was to catch a specific soul at death and directly incarnate it into a specific new developing fetus so that spirit can be immediately reincarnated.
@Dsmwarrior19962 жыл бұрын
Kinda like most native American chiefs back in the day had the least of anyone in the tribe, because if someone was without, they gave that person what they needed, they led by example, if only we could make that a thing these days
@TheJohnnyDemers4 жыл бұрын
I love your channel Man. I was looking for a pre Christian source. Something clear. To follow the old ways. And i want to become a Seidr. Gotta read the eddas tho. But you'll definitely be one of my sources to "study" Seidr (i'm not a Scholar nor an idiot :P )
@norsemagicandbeliefs81344 жыл бұрын
Awesome! I am happy to help in any way I can. Seidr is a huge subject and lots that we dont know and ill probably be making a hundred videos on just that. Happy to answer any questions if you have any!
@TheJohnnyDemers4 жыл бұрын
@@norsemagicandbeliefs8134 thanks Man. Blessed be
@TheJohnnyDemers4 жыл бұрын
@@norsemagicandbeliefs8134 i Do have a question actually. I'm from Québec City, Canada. Do you have any suggestions of books or a specific saga. Or both. I've Found a real witch here. She teach Elder Futhark signification and divination. And also Will follow a class on green magic. But should learn norwegian ? Or old norse? Icelandic ?
@TheJohnnyDemers4 жыл бұрын
@@norsemagicandbeliefs8134 one of my friend, Who is follower of the old ways like me, and knows my path to become a Seidr, suggest norwegian. But what Do you think?
@norsemagicandbeliefs81344 жыл бұрын
@@TheJohnnyDemers Sure! Seidr is a very difficult one. Just because we don't know very much about it. We have some mentions of seidr in the eddas-Ynglinga Saga and Lokasenna. Also in alot of the sagas there are mentions of it in detail- Erik the Reds saga and Vatnsdoela saga have the best description. But in none of these actually tell us how to do seidr. There are some modern books of people writing about it like Runic John or Katie Gerard. They have good books but alot of it is reconsrtucted and for sure not 100% accurate. But its worth a read. I would probably recomend galdr instead of seidr. Just because we know alot more about galdr. I filmed a video about seidr already. Im just editing it and i willpost it next week i think
@Monkey-Boy20063 ай бұрын
Hel sounds like Dreaun, it's a Germanic underworld where the Fey Folk dwell, souls go there and wait to be reincarnated. I remember reading this in 2020 so my memory is a bit rusty...
@sarahgilbert80362 жыл бұрын
Like a triage area, where you get used to your dead state and wait to see where you will go - reincarnation or one of the great halls.
@scottmiller1297 Жыл бұрын
Another great video. I love how u separate fact for Hollywood keep on keepin on .and may the fires of the old ways continue to burn bright
@moritznoihuis52382 жыл бұрын
It's just like 'Holla' or 'Frau Holle' here in Hessen, Germany. Do you know the tale by the brothers Grimm? Everything is in there, even the 'limbo' is discribed in the Tale.
@sigvardbjorkman3 жыл бұрын
Strange. Makes me think of the similar word in Swedish to hel which is "Häll" which is a hearth or a place for cooking food or a stone surface etc. We also have the "hällristningar" which is carvings of images into the face of a cliff. Is this just a random similarity or a sort of remnant of some connection here?
@SvensktTroll2 жыл бұрын
Eller bara Hel. Complete.. Helsingborg Helsingfors osv. Hel i G = Complete inside = God
@sarahgilbert80362 жыл бұрын
Og i Norge, Hel i Trøndelag, Helgoland ...
@Tenebris_Sint2 жыл бұрын
Originally, Christian Hell was the same... it was called Sheol and was identical to Hades/Hel. Everyone goes there, even Jesus (not that he likely existed). It wasn't until Dante wrote the Divine Comedy in the 14th century that the modern Christian Hell (fire, river of blood, etc) became the norm. Unfortunately, Christians are clueless that Hell was a combo of Greco-Roman and Norse Pagan Hel/Hades and Jewish Sheol (Peter refers to Hell as Hades in the Bible)... then evolved into HELL invented by a Renaissance poet.
@Magneticlaw2 жыл бұрын
Also worth noting is that Dante, after losing his wife, wrote the Inferno, possibly after having lost his mind due to grief - at least, that's my take on it.
@ludantikasmith28693 жыл бұрын
i believe that the current understanding of hel originate in a communication error between the 2 religions. christians would likely have explained their religion and find commonpoints for understanding. so they explain heaven and the equivalent would be asgard/valhalla and then everyone unfit for heaven is sent to hell. as people not sent to valhal is sent to hel, she and the realm was thought by the christians to be the same as their describtion of hell. this comparison would've been easy to make and later when christianity was dominant there wasn't many who would/could say differently. the word "hell" i find likely also to originate from hel based on the described events.
@askarufus79397 ай бұрын
The northernmost point of Poland is the Hel peninsula
@johnkendrick57453 жыл бұрын
So do modern embalming practice lengthen ones time in hel and hold up the reincarnation process? Just a thought.
@gr33nb3an82 жыл бұрын
Sorry year late here but this comment blew my mind lol good thought to think about and wonder.
@AnnikaLidne Жыл бұрын
The Swedish word for ”holy” or to worship or revere someone/something is helga
@carawhittaker4832 Жыл бұрын
Did the Norse view suicide in a certain way? For example, some old Christian attitudes view suicide as the ultimate sin, but imagine for the Norse it's viewed differently
@TheSpeedracer19822 жыл бұрын
Do you have a video on Yule?
@norsemagicandbeliefs81342 жыл бұрын
Yess quite a few now. They are all in my "Traditions" playlist
@glory36702 жыл бұрын
Our politicians can go in the bog. I don't want to see them again any time soon.
@saintaugustine41043 жыл бұрын
Have any thoughts on Freya Norling?
@norsemagicandbeliefs81343 жыл бұрын
Have not seen much of her. Not my style really but she seems knowledgeable.
@saintaugustine41043 жыл бұрын
@@norsemagicandbeliefs8134 Close as I could find to someone who could put on a show but was disgusted by fluff. And educated. But she certainly has her own style. She’s all about the Sami Shamanism.
@blakesimpson53772 жыл бұрын
Does the burning aspect refer to those who were not burned on ships? I am very new to learning these things and you only referred to people being burned on ships.