Hella norse goddess of the subconscious

Hella ~ Don’t Ignore her

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Hella is the goddess of the underworld, however, I disagree that she is the goddess of the afterlife. Our Norse ancestors spoke in metaphors and parables. 

Hella is the holy goddess of the subconscious. She is who we meet on the holiest journey, the vision quest. She represents you and me on the subconscious level. She has a hall called misery. It has been misinterpreted as a hall of misery in the afterlife, a hellish existence for sure. But I believe Hella comes from the word Holy. In Norwegian, the word for Holy is Hellig.

I believe our ancestors simply meant; If you are miserable, go to the hall in your mind that causes your misery. Meet your misery face to face during the vision quest. The vision quest is like a battle. Not every part of you can survive it, but your truest self always does. This is why Hella has one side of her face that is corpse (ego death) and the other side that is youthful (Idunn). Your true self is ageless and it never grows old. 

During the Vision Quest, you go deep within yourself. You renew yourself from the inside out.

Hella’s mother is Angurboda (anguish) and Loki (lid). You can learn more about the true meaning of Loki here.

What about the Souls that do not die in Battle?

I disagree that our Norse ancestors believed they would go to Hella if they did not die in battle. They astral projected many times across the veil using altered state of consciousness. They made their peace with death. I believe they meant that if you do not fight for your true self during the Vision quest, you will be in a frozen state emotionally. Many of us live in a frozen state, not quite sure how to respond to the different situations we face. I believe this is what our ancestors warned against. 

I don’t think they feared death. I think they feared not living. 

We haven’t been on a Vision Quest for a long time, and it shows. 

How did our Norse ancestors describe our connection to Divinity?

The mother of the old gods is called Besta. I believe Besta means Bark. Trees are a common metaphor for humans in Norse myths. If humans are trees and divinity is bark then every single human being has heaven with them. This way, we can all connect to this plane of existence. It is connected to our minds.

This is accessible to us during the vision quest. 

How to go on the Vision Quest?

The holy journey into Hella’s halls has been turned upside down. Now it is a place to be avoided by mindless worship, and this false belief has damaged us more than we can every imagine. We can’t continue to avoid ourselves.

Sleeping as hanging ritual

My favourite version of the Vision Quest is during sleep time. Sleeping is the hanging ritual, because you can’t get up and avoid yourself while you are asleep. Your own mind will show you the bottom beliefs you can change.

Lucid dreams or dreams that are not ‘just’ dreams.

Set your intentions before you go to sleep. Ask to see the reason behind a situation you want to change and ask to see the solutions. Your will dream the solutions. I keep a dream journal and analyse my dreams in the morning. We dream in metaphors and parables, the same language style as our ancestors.

Who is Odin?

I have written extensively about Odin being linked to the yogic path of breathless state in this post here.

I used to believe Odin was only a myth, however, this belief is now changed. I read somewhere an interview with a Norwegian scholar calling him the personification of encouragement.

Valhalla is a place of soul healing for those who are on the vision quest. Death in battle speak of the vision quest. Valhalla is a place where the Seeker experience their soul’s connection to Source.

In Valhalla, everything is restored. Animals that are eaten come alive again, and so do those who fight in battle. This is a metaphor for soul retrieval and healing.

Draupnir

Rings are a metaphor for divine union between the Seeker’s soul and Divine Essence. Odin has a ring called Draupnir that divides itself endlessly. It represents all the vision quests we go on. We are always learning and expanding.

Odin never eats. He only drinks mead. Odin is thus a personification of the Vision quest and divine union.