This essay is based on works by Ingrid Fischer and Edred Thorson
The idea that the soul is the essence of a person that survives physical death whereupon it will experience some kind of afterlife comes not even close to the complexity of what we find in the Norse sources. Whenever dealing with Norse Mythology it has first to be understood that neither the Germanic Tribes nor the Scandinavian Peoples living during the Viking Age ever created a unified religious practice. There was no interconnected priesthood, no official “church” and no pope or other kind of figurehead of the religion as a whole. It is actually even misleading to describe it as a religion at all, as it was more of a spiritual framework, which was interpreted differently by different tribes, clans and even individuals.
With that in mind, there are still some basic concepts that can be found within the lore that are connected to the idea of a soul and the afterlife. In the Gild, we focus on nine concepts that can be roughly divided into three groups. The first group is related to physical aspects of the soul, the second one is connected to consciousness and the third group deals with transcendental aspects.
Physical Aspects
This idea is completely foreign to us but we find three concepts that are clearly connected to the soul even though they refer to physical aspects.
Lík
The lík is the physical body. While most bodies were believed to decay after death, this wasn’t a necessity. Several graves have been found where the body of the deceased was weighed down with stones or otherwise treated in a way with the clear intention of keeping it in the grave. There are several stories about draugr, the Norse version of zombies, or revenants, that would return in physical form after their death and torment the local villagers. The same idea can be found in Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II, where Helgi still physically resides in his grave mound after being slain by one of his enemies.
Hamr
While the lík is the substance from which the physical body is made, the hamr is its outer appearance. Shapeshifting is a rather common occurrence in the Norse Myths and what is changed there is not the lík but the hamr. Any damage done to the hamr is transferred to the lík though so there exists an unbreakable bond between the two.
Önd
The Old Norse word is usually translated as breath, so it is the energy that animates the body. Unlike the lík and the hamr it is not and individual thing but something that is shared by all humans and animals. Önd is absent in plants, which is why Ask and Embla were inanimate in the beginning. The fact that Odin gives önd to the two logs (link to Creation Myth) shows that it actually originates from the Gods and it was probably thought that the Wights and the Giants were animated by this force as well.
Consciousness
Hugr
Hugr is the rational aspect of the conscious mind and closely connected to the will. Change can only be willingly induced if there is a rational realization that a certain aspect of our behavior or the Self actually needs changing. Yet hugr goes beyond that as we can see when looking at the many meanings of the word. It seems that the Norse believed that your mood, temper, feelings and desires originated in the conscious mind, which leads to some truly interesting conclusions. The most common meaning of hugr is mind and thought, so this was probably its primary function. Mind and thought then lead to the second function, which encompassed the world of emotions. This means that in the Norse world view people were not helpless victims of their feelings and desires but responsible for them as they created them in their minds through their thoughts.
Minni
The second aspect of consciousness is memory. Minni doesn’t just refer to personal memories but to all the information stored in Urdhr, the well of the Norns. Hugr is the thing that makes us individuals, which is what sets the Gods apart from the Hrimthruses (link to Creation Myth). Only a thinking mind can produce an individual consciousness. Minni is the part of the soul that allows us to stay connected with everything though, despite the realization that we are separate from the Universe as a whole. Memory is to be seen in the widest possible way in this context. Minni doesn’t just refer to our personal memories but to all the memories of existence. In a way we carry all the memories of the complete evolution of our species in our genes and all the memories of the development of consciousness is stored in the collective unconscious. So Odin’s sacrifice at Mimir’s Well doesn’t just grant him access to the memories of his own past but connects him with all aspects and stages of the evolution of life and consciousness.
Óðr
Óðr is the third component that is needed in order to generate true consciousness. While animals have a consciousness that is mainly based on hugr and minni, man has access to óðr, a third component. The Old Norse meaning of óðr is mind and wit, but is also related to song and poetry. If used as an adjective it translates as mad, frantic and furious. Animals obviously have thoughts and they also have memory but humans have access to another function within their consciousness and that is a state of ecstatic inspiration. This is the part of our soul that shows itself in a eureka moment, when all the parts of a problem we have been mulling over in our head for a while suddenly come together. It is this state of mind that we try to reach through the practice of ritual within the Gild and reaching it lets us truly connect with Odin. If we can reach this state of mind on our own, then there is no need to worship Odin as for as long as we are filled with óðr, we are just like him.
Transcendent Aspects
Sál
The sál is the aspect of the soul that comes closest to our western understanding of the soul. It is thought to be a subtle body where some of an individual’s characteristics and experiences are stored. While a person is still alive its deeds are recorded in this part of the Self and it also contains all the aspects which have not yet manifested or not been allowed to manifest. It is closely related to Jung’s concept of the “Shadow”.
While it is never explicitly stated, the sources seem to suggest that in the days of old the Germanic Peoples believed in some form of reincarnation. If they actually did, the sál was probably the aspect of the Self that was thought to be reincarnated.
Hamingja
While hamingja is usually translated as “luck”, it is a concept that differs significantly from our modern understanding of the concept. In a “modern” sense luck is closely tied to chance but this is not true for the traditional Norse concept of hamingja. Luck in the traditional sense consisted of two components. On the one hand you inherited the hamingja of your parents, on the other hand you could change your hamingja by your actions throughout your life. The way to change your hamingja was through living an honorable life, get on good terms with the Wights and Gods, show bravery in the face of difficulties and by gathering fame and glory to your name. So the life your parents and your earlier Ancestors had lived, would directly influence, what kind of hamingja you were born with. From there on out it was up to you if you improved your hamingja or not. So far, the concept bears very close resemblance to the Indian karma. It differed in one important aspect though and that was its ability to be transferred. Hamingja could be transferred from one person to another but it could also be transferred to magical objects and weapons.
Fylgja
The fylgja is a very curious thing. It is a part of the soul that moves on after the death of an individual but not to another realm. It stays on the earth and attaches itself to a new person, usually one that belongs to the same family as its previous host. The fylgja has a close connection to the horse, which in turn is a symbol for travel, not just in the physical sense but also in a spiritual sense. The best example for this is Odin’s steed Sleipnir that allows him to travel Yggdrasil at will. The fylgja can take different forms. It can appear as a geometrical shape, a person or, most often, as an animal. To find one’s fylgja is an important step in the quest for Self-transformation for the one’s that walk the Norse path.
Conclusion
So as announced, the Norse idea of the soul turned out to be a very complex concept. Some of its aspects like the lík and the hamr usually stopped to exist after death. The önd, even though clearly a physical aspect of the soul, would leave the individual upon it leaving Midgard but would keep on existing in all humans and animals still alive.
Consciousness was not seen as something “created” by the brain but as an essential aspect of someone’s soul. In a way it was the part of the soul that was the source of a person’s individuality as it contained its thoughts and memories. While there was individual consciousness there was also an understanding that all things experienced by the many lifeforms that populated Midgard was stored somewhere. These experiences could be accessed by giving sacrifice at Mimir’s Well. The price was high though as Odin had to pay with one of his eyes in order to be allowed to have a drink. If hugr and minni in unison then odhr could be the result of this, an inspired state which lies at the heart of every significant insight and every worthy piece of poetry or music ever written.
The transcendental aspects are very hard to define. The sál was thought to survive after death and probably was the part of the soul that went on to Hel from where it might have been reincarnated after a period of rest. The hamingja would stay around and might bring good fortune to the individual’s estate, family or clan, depending on how strong it was. It could also be transferred willingly to another person or an object before its owner passed on. The fylgja was a rather independent aspect of the soul that was probably tied to a family or a clan. It usually attached itself to the “worthiest” member of the family and would find a new host after the individual’s death. In some cases that transfer could even occur during a person’s lifetime if a more fitting individual distinguished itself. It is very important that what was written here is not the last word on how the Germanic Peoples saw the soul.
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D. L., Switzerland