2010-01-01
Last revision 2024-02-15
Hal is the second ice world, the world of death. This world is connected to the umbilical chakra. With this we control our emotional (also called astral) body and we make social contacts. Someone with a strong umbilical chakra can travel to the astral world, retrieve lost souls from the realm of the dead and guide souls of the deceased to the other world.
Hal or Hel is related to: healing, to make whole. It is also related to: to disguise, to hide. A hall is a closed space, where you can relax. A hull is a shell around a seed. In Dutch 'verhullen' means 'to conceal', 'to hide' or 'to cover up'. 'In duisternis hullen' in Dutch means 'conceal something with a cloak of darkness'. In German 'umhüllen' means to 'encase'.
Hal is the world of Lady Halja or Frau Holle, the deity of death. Hal is a subterranean space, filled with mists and ice. The souls of people who have died 'the straw death' dwell here. The straw death indicates dying from hunger, disease or old age. Then you die in the straw. People who die like this are too weak and exhausted to climb up. Then they fall down to Hal, the world of Lady Halja.
In Icelandic texts Lady Halja is usually named Hal or Hel. Her world is also called Hal or Hel. To avoid confusion I use the middle germanic name Halja. And I avoid the word Hel, because this has to many emotional links to the Christian Hel. The world Hal is nothing like any version of the Christian hel.
According to mythology, the Germanic peoples feared 'the straw death'. This means: dying in the straw, dying of hunger, exhaustion, sickness or old age. People wanted to die strong. When one died the straw death, ones hamr (the animal soul) was exhausted and would not be able to climb upwards along the trunk of Yggdrasil. Then one would sink downwards into Niflheimar, the Ice root of Yggdrasil.
To avoid the straw death, the eldest son had the duty to slay a parent or other sibling, when that person would not survive the winter. One could kill the parent with a blow to the head with a club. This would be a killing devoted to Thór. Or one could kill the parent with a spear or sword. That would be a warriors death, devoted to Óðinn or Týr.
When you only know the customs of modern society this might seem cruel. But look at the alternative. Suppose you are an old man or woman. You know, that you will not survive the winter. Do you want to eat the food of your children and grandchildren so that you will have some more miserable days? And look at the terrible treatment of old senile people in 'homes for the elderly'. Is that really better than 'a whack on the head'?
What is better for the soul? Being trapped in a body that stopped function, being kept 'alive' with artificial means while you should have died some time ago? Or leaving the body consciously with little discomfort?
Lady Halja is the deity of death. One half of her face is dead white, the other half blue-black, the color of rotting flesh. She rides a gigantic three-legged death horse: Halhest. The three legs of this horse are called: hunger, disease and old age. As she rides across the earth, three spirits rush ahead of her. These are the ghosts of hunger, disease and old age. (See also 2.6 Percht.)
Lady Halja has built a huge hall for the dead. This hall is called Éljúðnir. There is no good translation for this name. Perhaps it is spelled wrong. It could mean something like 'gigantic hall of ice'. On her table is a plate with the name: Hunger. Next to it is her knife with the name: Sultr. That means starvation. The name of her male slave is Ganglati. That means: goes disinterested. The name of her female slave is called Ganglöt. That means: goes dissuaded. At the entrance of the hall is a high threshold called: Fallandaforað. This means 'fall of the soul into the abyss'. Her bed is called Kör. That means sick bed. Her bed curtains are called: Blíkjandaböl. That means: 'growing pale due to misfortune'.
Loki had three children with Angrboða: Fenrir, Jörmungandr and Hal (Lady Halja).
In the gylfaginning we read:
Loki had more children. Angrboða is a creture in Jötunheimar. With her Loki had three children: Fenrir, Jörmungandr and Hal.
Snorri Sturluson states that Angrboða (bode of anger, bode of grieve) lives in Jötunheimar. I believe that this is an error. Jötunheimar is the land of the fire-giants. Everything there is light and warm. I see Angrboða as a creture of Niflheimar, the realm of ice, cold and mist. She lives in Myrkheimar. She entangled Loki in her spiderweb. Loki had to mate with her. Otherwise she had sucked him dry. Then the spider-woman laid three eggs. From the first hatched the wolf Fenrir. From the second hatched Jörmungandr, the Midgard Serpent. And from the third hatched Hal, the deity of Dead.
en er goðin vissu til at þessi þrjú systkin fœddusk upp í jötunheimum
ok
goðin
rökðu
til
spádóma
at
af
systkinum
ok
þótti
öllum
mikils
ills
af
væni
fyrst
af
móðerni
ok
enn
verra
af
faðerni
then the gods verified that in this three children where raised upupon in Jötunheimar
and gods undoing in doom prophesy conflict by means of siblings
and displeasure everyone much evil from likely foremost from mothers and yet worse from fathers
then sent father of all to goddess towards to take children and to bring them
Then 'the gods' verified that these children were raised in Jötunheimar
and that undermining of the ginn regin was foretold in a doom prophecy as a result of a conflict with these children
and that this would cause great harm
and unluck to endure
and that everyone would face much evil
most likely from mothers side and maybe worse from fathers side.
Then the father of all send (his men) to Angrboða to take the children and to bring them to him.
hel
kastaði
hann
í
niflheim
ok
gaf
henni
vald
yfir
níu
heimum
at
hon
skipti
öllum
vistum
með
þeim
er
til
hennar
váru
sendir
en þat eru sóttdauðir menn ok ellidauðir
hon
á
þar
mikla
bólstaði
ok
eru
garðar
hennar
forkunnar
hávir
ok
grindr
stórar
ganglati
þrællinn
ganlöt
ambátt
fallandaforað
þresköldr
hennar
er
inn
gengr
kör
sæing
blíkjandaböl
ársali
hennar
Hal threw he in Niflheimar and gave her authority over nine worlds
so she shares everyone provide a place to stay with provisions with them who to hers were send
and those are terminal illness humans and dying of old age
she upon that place to make great abode of misfortune and are fences hers remarkably very tall and lattice great
walks slowly servant goes discouraged bondwoman
fall of the soul into the abyss threshold hers who into able to walk on
bed (of sickness) sacrifice bleaching of the soul by misfortune precious hangings of a bed hers
she is blue half and half with color of flesh
therefore is she desolate feeling and rather stern-looking and fearful
He threw Hal in Niflheimar and gave her power over nine worlds.
Hal gives provisions and lodging to all that are send to her. And that are the people that die of sickness or old age (or hungr).
She made in that world a great hall for the ones with misfortune and the walls are extremely high.
Éljúðnir is the name of her hall, hunger the name of her plate and famine the name of her knife. 'Walks slow' is the name of her bodsman and 'goes discouraged' the name of her bondswoman.
The threshold at the entrance of her hall is named 'fall of the soul into the abyss', for those that are still able to walk on.
In her hall is the sacrificial bed with bed curtains named 'bleaching of the soul by misfortune'.
Half of her face is colored blue of rotting flesh, the other half has the pale hue of death. She emanates a feeling of desolation and she is very stern-looking with a terrifying countenance.
For the original text see GYLFAGINNING 34.
This is a peculiar part of the Gylfaginning. The world tree Yggdrasil is supposed to have nine worlds according to voluspa 2 and vafthrudnismal 43. If Lady Halja was given dominion over nine worlds, she was given dominion over the whole universe.
I interpret the old writings differently. Yggdrasil has three roots to Niflheimar (Ice), Jötunheimar (Fire) and Vanaheimar (Sea and water). And the tree has a trunk, which corresponds to Ásaheimar (Wind). Each of these areas has nine worlds. They are linked with Middle Earth or Midgardr, the physical world. Midgardr is 'the garden in the middle', the center of Yggdrasil. From Midgardr three roots go in three directions. And the trunk grows in the fourth direction. (You should visualize this three-dimensional and not two-dimensional.) So the previous paragraph states, that Hel was given dominion over the nine worlds of Niflheimar and not over the entire universe.
Snorri calls this being 'Hel', with a strong connection to the Christian hell. I believe this is Christian bias. To me, her name is not Hel but Halja. This is derived from haljō. It means: to cover something. I believe it also has a relation to healing, recovering, becoming whole again.
Grimm describes a fairytale about Frau Holle. This can be interpreted as Lady Halja, the daughter of Angrboða and Loki. When people die by sickness, hunger or old age, they sink to Hal, the world of Lady Halja. There they are covered until they are recovered and made whole again.
I believe that the Haliurunas were the priestesses of Lady Halja. They take care of the death and are able to speak with the death.
The Dutch word 'verhullen' means 'to hide with a cover'. 'Huls' can mean 'cocoon'. It also has a strong connection to 'helen' (to heal) and 'heel maken' (to make whole). Frau Holle is in Dutch Vrouw Holle. 'Een hol' means 'a hole', 'konijnenhol' means 'rabbit hole', 'hol' means 'hollow'. The world of Lady Halja is called Hal. This can be interpreted as a hole in the earth, somewhere to hide and to become whole again.
Snorri Sturluson was educated by Christians and probably a Christian. He calls the daughter of Angrboða and Loki 'Hel' with a Christian bias. This is not how I see Lady Halja.
In the word Éljúðnir Él can refer to ice cold or to old age. Perhaps júðnir is misspelled and Snorri meant jötnir. Then it would translate to giant: a giant hall of ice. But the Jötunn are fire-giants and not ice-giants. We should keep in mind, that Snorri was educated by Christians. We do not know how much he really knew the pagan mythology. In previous centuries there are many examples of authors writing about something without thorough understanding.
In Dutch one often says 'laat maar zitten' (do not bother) or 'laat maar gaan' (let it be, do not do anything about it).
I translate Fall-anda-forað to 'fall of the soul into the abyss'.
I could not find a translation for something like 'janda'. If we interpret it as 'blikna andi böl' the meaning would be something like 'bleaching of the soul by misfortune'.
When something is dead or lifeless, it stops moving. It's heavy, slow, inert. It cannot move itself. When you are severely depressed, you cannot move yourself. Then you are spiritually dead or nearly dead. Death thus indicates immobility, heaviness, inertia, depression.
When something dies, it gets into another condition. It moves from one state to another. And after death comes rebirth. When your ego dies, there is room for spiritual growth. Then something higher is born.
These names refer to an attitude of 'loosing interest in life', 'stop living', 'do not care about anything'. When you get into the grip of these two slaves, 'your soul falls into the abyss' (Fallandaforað). Then your 'soul turns pale by misfortune' (Blíkjandaböl).
When you do not care about your live, you can not take care of yourself. Then your harvest in autumn is small. Your food storage for winter is failing. Quite soon you become hungry and then comes famine.
In tropic countries an attitude of 'let it be' will help you to keep your head cool and survive the heat. In Nordic regions a 'let it be' attitude gets you killed quite soon. You have to have an active life. As soon as winter subsides you have to take care of getting enough food to survive the next winter. Perhaps this is less obvious in modern society with supermarkets and an abundance of food. For the medieval Icelandic people it was a matter of life and death.
In a dimly lit landscape, between enormous icy mountains, lies a horribly menacing pitch-black hall. Heavy and menacing is the huge gate. And high is the threshold over which the dead must climb. It's always freezing cold here. Ghosts of the dead grope for you with icy fingers. The air freezes as soon as you exhale.
In front of the hall stands Halhest, the jet-black three-legged death horse of Lady Halja, the deity of death. Halhest is huge. If you stand up straight and stretch your arms all the way out, you can just get to his belly.
Lady Halja is a huge woman, broad and burly, and grim as death. The right half of her face is dead white and the left half blue-black. At her side she carries a sword that is more than two meters long. In her left hand she holds a huge bronze shield with the rune Hail. She sits on Halhest and looks grim. And however great Halhest may be, Lady Halja is so great and mighty that Halhest obeys her in everything.
In front of her stands a naked person. He calls to her and asks her for liberation. Lady Halja cuts the souls of the dead from their bodies and frees them from all earthly cares.
When people die, relatives are left sad. The mournings of the relatives pull on the deceased and hold them back. Lady Halja cuts the ties with the earth so that one can descend further into the underworld.
If you are bound by all kinds of earthly obligations, you can ask Lady Halja to cut you loose and set you free. That's what the naked person does.
Compared to the Percht (Rune 14), the 2 of shields is passive and the Percht is active. De Percht describes the process of dying and retreating into the earth. The 2 of shields describes being dead or inanimate. Nothing or little happens. To come back to life something has to change.
With Light and Love, Andreas Firewolf
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Hal is the world of Lady Halja or Frau Holle, the deity of death. Hal is a subterranean space, filled with mists and ice. The souls of people who have died 'the straw death' dwell here. The straw death indicates dying from hunger, disease or old age. Then you die in the straw. People who die like this are too weak and exhausted to climb up. Then they fall down to Hal, the world of Lady Halja.
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Andreas Firewolf is a shamanic healer. But he does NOT heal your physical body. For physical diseases you should consult a medical professional.
Andreas Firewolf can cleanse your aura and chakras, remove blockades in your energy system and help you with emotional, mental and spiritual development.
This is a description of a model of the cosmos. A new cosmology. This model has nine three-dimensional layers. Several forces connect these layers through the fourth dimension.
Most people believe, that they can see the physical world, but that is not possible. Our senses perceive an abstraction of the physical word. What we 'see' is a mental image of the world.
A modern vision of man and god.
Anima Mundi is the soul of the world. Individual people can be seen as 'nerve cells of the earth'. Humanity can be seen as 'the nervous system of the earth'. Is the totality of humanity causing a higher consciousness? Is Anima Mundi self-conscious?
According to the Gaia hypothesis, the earth is a living being. Anima Mundi is the world soul, who gives life to the earth.
We can compare individual people with individual nerve cells in the human body. And humanity as the nervous system of Mother Earth.
Questions: Does Anima Mundi have self-awareness? Does humanity collectively form a self-conscious being? Do we as humanity enable the self-awareness of Anima Mundi?
You can solve problems together with others!
Don't be a green frog that lets itself boil because it doesn't dare to jump out of its comfort zone. Jump out of your pan and become a fully human!
Materialism is the attachment to possessions, status or wealth. Spiritual materialism is the attachment to spiritual status, attachment to a particular belief. The idea that you are higher because you have a certain faith, or follow a certain spiritual teaching, is an expression of spiritual materialism.
Spiritual materialism is also the use of spiritual means to achieve selfish earthly goals.
Today (2018) there are many non-physical epidemics. One epidemic of madness and/or idiocy is not over and the next is already on its way.
Non-physical epidemics arise from lack of:
There is nothing wrong with the world
Change yourself
The world is changing
How do you save yourself?
enn
the | yet, still | still better, worse
átti
the eighth, family, race, offspring
loki
Loki
fleiri
more, most
börn
child(ren)
angrboða
Angrboða (bode of anger, bode of grieve)
heitir
named
gýgr
giantess, hag
í
in, within, among, during, in regard to, by means of, through
jötunheimum
Jötunheimar (realm of the fire giants)
við
against, towards, along with, among, by, at, close to, towards, at, with
henni
her
gat
hole, opening | got, begat
þrjú
three
eitt
one, alone
var
was
fenrisúlfr
Fenrisúlfr
annat
second
jörmungandr
Jörmungandr
þat
from, that, it, so
er
who, which, what | am, is
miðgarðsormr
Miðgarðs worm
þriðja
third
hel
Hal
en
but, and, if, when
goðin
gods
vissu
certainty | to know, to verify
til
till, until, to, of, on, too
at
towards, against, to, along, around, at, in | was not | an incited conflict or fight
þessi
this
systkin
brother(s) and sister(s)
fœddusk
to feed | to rear, to bring up | to nourish
upp
up | drink or eat up | to find out | upon
ok
and, as, and yet, but, then, also | yoke
rökðu
undoing of authority | darkening of the regin | undermining the authority of the regin
spádóma
doom prophesy
af
off, from; out of; past, beyond; of; with; denoting parentage, descent, origin; on account of, by reason of; by means of, in regard to;
systkinum
siblings
þessum
this, that
mundi
remember | shall, will
þeim
them
mikit
great, tall | prominent
mein
disease, illness | harm, damage
óhapp
unluck | bad happening
standa
to stand | to last | to endure | to hold on
þótti
thought, mind | displeasure, anger
öllum
all | everyone
mikils
large, much, great
ills
evil, bad | hard, difficult | close, mean, stingy
væni
likely, to be expected | bidding fair, likely to happen | hopeful, promising | fine, beautiful
fyrst
first, foremost
móðerni
mothers, from the mother
verra
worse, worst
faðerni
fathers, from the father
þá
then, at that time, at every moment, there-upon, in that case, when | thawed ground
sendi
sent
allföðr
father of all
guðin
gods, goddess
taka
to take, catch, seize | to take the faith | to reach, touch | to take hold | to catch up, take up | taking, capture, seizing | revenue, tax
börnin
born ones, children, offspring
fœra
to bring, convey, present
sér
himself, herself
kastaði
to throw, to cast | threw
hann
he
niflheim
Niflheimar
gaf
gave
vald
power, authority | to have (get) power over one<, power, dominion | the cause or origin of a thing
yfir
over, above
níu
nine
heimum
home
hon
she
skipti
division, distribution sharing | change, shift | dealings, transactions, disputes, fights
vistum
provide lodging, provide a place to stay with provisions
með
1. with, along with, together with; 2. denoting help, assistance; 3. by means of; 4. through, with, using; 5. including, inclusive of; 6. among, between; 7. denoting inward quality; 8. along; 9. altogether, quite;
hennar
hers, from her
váru
were
sendir
transmitter | to send
eru
are
sóttdauðir
terminal illness
menn
men, humans, persons
ellidauðir
dying of old age
á
on, upon, in
þar
there, at that place
mikla
to make great, increase, magnify | to wonder about | to pride oneself
bólstaði
abode of misfortune
garðar
court, yard, enclosure, world
forkunnar
remarkably, exceedingly | fore knowing
hávir
very high, very tall
grindr
lattice, grid, grille, framework
stórar
big, large, tall, great, stark
éljúðnir
éljúðnir
salr
room, hall
hungr
hunger
diskr
plate, dish
sultr
hunger
knífr
knife, dirk
ganglati
walks slowly
þrællinn
servants, slaves, bonded people
ganlöt
goes discouraged, dejected, down-hearted, dispirited
ambátt
bondwoman, concubine
fallandaforað
fall of the soul into the abyss
þresköldr
threshold, ridge flooded at high water
inn
in, into | the
gengr
able to walk, fit to walk on
kör
bed (of sickness)
sæing
sacrifice, sacrificial beast
blíkjandaböl
bleaching of the soul by misfortune
ársali
precious hangings of a bed
blá
blue
hálf
half
hörundarlit
color of flesh
því
therefore, because, for, why, the
auðkend
desolate feeling, feel desolate
heldr
more, rather, also, on the contrary
gnúpleit
stern-looking, stern appearance
grimmlig
fierce, fearful, grim looking
élkaldr
ice-cold
elli
old age
ellibelgr
the 'slough' of old age
ellidauðr
to die of old age
jötnar
fire giants
ganga
to walk, to go | walking, to be on foot
lata
one becomes slow, slackens
löt
dissuasion
fall
fall | die in battle | carcass of animal | frequent deaths from plague | heavy sea | sin, transgression | downfall, ruin, decay | quantity | case
anda
to breathe, live
önd
breath, life, soul
forað
dangerous place or situation, abyss, pit | ogre, monster
blikna
to grow (turn) pale or pallid
bliknan
growing pale
andi
breath, breathing | current of air | aspiration | soul | spirit, spiritual being
böl
bale, misfortune
