Hel - The Goddess of the Underworld - Figure / Statue, bronzed

In Norse mythology, Hel is the goddess of the dead and ruler of the underworld "Helheim".

Her siblings are the Fenris wolf and the Midgard Serpent "Jörmungandr". They are the children of Loki and the giantess Angrboda.

The upper body of the goddess Hel appears very lively and beautiful, with fair, normal skin; the lower body, however, often appears dark blue to black, half-rotted and decayed.

Like her appearance, her nature is described as half white and half black. Just as her external appearance, her nature is characterized by apparent contradictions, from very just and lovable to relentless and cruel tendencies.

Helheim is one of the worlds of Utgard, located beneath the roots of the world tree "Yggdrasil". Helheim can only be reached via the bridge to the afterlife, Gjallarbru, which crosses the river of death, Gjöll. The bridge is guarded by Modgud and the hellhound Garm.

The residence of the goddess Hel is called Eljudnir (misery), her hall is called Eljudni (plague), the doorstep Fallandaforad (falling danger). The table is named Hungr (hunger) and her knife is Sultr (languishing). Her bed is called Kor (coffin), and the bed curtain Blikjandabol (flashing evil).

Hel's horse is the grey three-legged death horse "Helhesten": It has bluish-black eyes that have an intense, bright luminosity. On her horse, Hel collects the dead and brings them to Nifelheim (Mist World).

Hellesten is the bringer of death: where his gaze falls, someone will soon die.

Hel feeds on dead bodies. She breaks bones and eats the marrow from them. Under the Yggdrasil also lives the snake-like death dragon Nidhöggr. The dead are tormented by him and experience the worst agonies. Nidhöggr (Niðhǫggr / Ger. "the hateful striker") feeds on the flesh of the dead, just like Hel. Criminals such as murderers and thieves, adulterers, perjurers, and also liars are banished to a special part of Helheim - to Náströnd, to experience there as punishment what cold, heat, pain, and hunger mean. Náströnd is the most terrible place imaginable - where the dragon Nidhögg rages on the dead.

The realm of Hel was referred to by Christianity as a place of eternal damnation, "hell".

Hel is by no means to be regarded as a hell creature, but as a just, yet also relentless goddess.

Before Odin gained increasing importance here in the North, our Nordic-Germanic ancestors also worshipped the god of war Tyr and the goddess of the dead Hel in a special way.

Hel has been increasingly "demonized" in recent times - she deserves much more respect, as she once received in "ancient times".

The Indo-European roots of the goddess of death:

The partial equation of the goddesses Hel and Holle stems from "ancient" times. The Indo-European root "kel" means "hell" (underworld / lower world), to conceal, to cover, to protect.

Here we find a connection to Frau Holle (Frigga)! - The Germanic linguistic root "hel" or "hal" therefore includes "to conceal"; also called Helja or Helanan in more recent Nordic / Germanic times. The Proto-Germanic syllable "haljō" means hell / underground world of the dead in a cave (compare also Hel / Cybele (Greek) as well as Holle / Hulle / Hulda)!

As a goddess of death, Hella is also a goddess of rebirth.

It is said that in her underground realm there is a well from which she lifts all unborn children and places them in the mothers' wombs, while all the deceased return to this well to be reborn.

Since her realm is underground, Hella also has power over everything that sprouts from the earth, which is why in this aspect she can also be equated with a fertility goddess, like the Greek Demeter. Hel is the patroness of farmers, fields, and their plants. In her honor, a sheaf of grain was left standing in the field at the end of harvest time (see parallels to the Earth Mother and All-Mother Frigga).

Even after the advent of Christianity in Europe, the belief persisted that all unbaptized children went to the goddess Hella / Hel / Holda / Holle and thus to hell, while baptized children went to heaven with the Christian God.

Further literature on this: "Goddess Holle: In Search of an Ancient Goddess"

Frigga is synonymous with Frau Holle - she is the Earth Mother / All-Mother. Frigga is often depicted with a spinning wheel - she spins the thread of life for humans and gods, which she gives to the three goddesses of fate.

The eldest of these three is Urd (the became / past), the middle-aged Verdandi (the becoming / present), the youngest is Skuld (future / what is to be). - https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nornen

Together they determine fate and the time of death.

The Valkyries or Hel then brought the dead to the corresponding worlds and halls of the dead.

The Hagalaz rune is attributed to the goddess of death Hel, expressing destruction and rebirth.

The Hagalaz or Hagall rune embodies everything, as does the All-Mother Holle (Frigga) or Hel - love and justice, birth, but also the cruelty of destruction and banishment.

The elder (Holunder) is considered a protective tree for house and home. Very good further information and video: https://wiki.yoga-vidya.de/Holunder

Through the elder, there was access to the ancients - ancestors and house spirits.

(see further literature by Wolf-Dieter Storl: "Holunder - Ein Baum mit zwei Gesichtern" (Elder - A Tree with Two Faces), "Pflanzen des Schattenreichs & Totenrituale unserer keltischen Vorfahren" (Plants of the Shadow Realm & Death Rituals of our Celtic Ancestors), as well as the video "Der Holunder in der Mythologie" (The Elder in Mythology)).

A custom was to take the measure for the construction of a coffin with a cut elder branch.

Frau Holle (Perchta), particularly revered in Southern Germany, was defamed as a witch with increasing Christianization.

(further reading: "Mythos Baum" by Doris Laudert)

The elder spirit, particularly popular in Scandinavia, is associated with the fairy tale character "Frau Holle" - who embodies the underworld and death goddess Hel.

(further reading: "Der Geist der Bäume" by Fred Hageneder).

The black elder was sacred to people in ancient times; it was considered a tree or shrub of life and lineage. It was known as the seat of the good house spirit, and dedicated to the goddess Holda / Holle (from hold / huld = to heal).

(further reading: "Heilpflanzen in der Kinderheilkunde - Das Praxis-Lehrbuch" – Haug Verlag).

Whether Frigga, Holle, and Hel were once one and the same deity cannot be definitively answered.

The pantheon of the "Indo-European primal religion" became increasingly tangible over the centuries and was divided into more and more gods, just as Tyr increasingly lost significance as the highest deity. People increasingly turned to Odin.

Similarities, overlaps - depending on regions, tribes, different languages, and modified customs led to different appreciations of the gods, as well as differences in their names and meanings, over the epochs.

Hel - even if she is Loki's daughter - deserves anything but to be "demonized" and "maligned", for she receives not only criminals, adulterers and perjurers, but also the completely dead humans, Aesir and elves in her halls and justly assigns them to their worlds.

We should accept the goddess of death with her apparent contradictions, for ultimately, her decisions and inclinations are characterized by an extraordinary justice, overriding her lovable, yet also relentless and cruel nature.

Hel, Goddess of the Underworld - bronzed figure / sculpture. Made and cast from polyresin (artificial stone).