Soul Lore

The concept of the soul in the Heathen world-view is very different from that of the Christian. To the Christian, the body and the soul are essentially at odds with one another, with the body (part of the “worldliness” that many Christians so vocally disavow) somehow debasing the soul. To them, too, the soul itself is a single, unified entity incapable of division.

In the Heathen mindset, on the other hand, the “soul” (interestingly, there was no single term in Old Norse for such a thing until the Christian term sál was imported) merely compliments the physical body. The non-physical aspects of the individual are broken up into several different components, each of which can be separated from the rest and recombined. Indeed, the art of doing so can be seen as central to the many seiðr practices.

The various portions of the Heathen “soul” are described in the two accounts of the creation of humanity by the Gods found in the Lore:

When they were going along the sea-shore, the sons of Bor found two trees and they picked these up and created men from them. The first gave them spirit (önd) and life (lif); the second, understanding (vit) and power of movement (hræring); the third, form (ásjónu), speech (mál), hearing (heyrn) and sight (sjón). They gave them clothes and names. The man was called Ask [ash tree] and the woman Embla; [Elm?] and from them have sprung the races of men who were given Miðgarð to live in.  

- Gylfaginning

Then from the host
three came,
Great, merciful,
from the God's home:
Ash and Elm
on earth they found,
Faint, feeble,
with no fate assigned them

Breath (önd) they had not,
nor blood (lá) nor senses (höfðu),
Nor language (læti) possessed,
nor life-hue (litu góða):
Odin gave them breath (önd),
Hoenir senses (óð),
Blood (lá) and life hue (litu góða)
Lothur gave. 

- Völuspá 17-18

These two quotes, which both describe the creation of the human race by the Gods, are essential to an understanding of the soul-lore of the ancient Norse. The two accounts are remarkably similar, with Snorri essentially only adding the detail that the Gods found Ask and Embla as trees on the seashore. The specific gifts each God gives to the pair differs somewhat, however, and in these differences the true conception can be seen. It is useful to break down specifically what gifts the three Gods give to Ask and Embla in each account:

Note that, in all cases, Gylfaginning uses different terms, repeated, to express and amplify the same ideas as found in Völuspá. This can be accounted to literary license, especially since at the time of his writing, the nuances of the technical terms of soul-lore found in Völuspá may have been lost in favor of the Christian concept of the soul. The terms found in Völuspá to describe the elements of the soul are, therefore, preferable than the more descriptive (if somewhat less precise) terms found in Gylfaginning.

Where the purely physical nature of the body (that is, the wood of the trees themselves) has derived spontaneously from nature, it is the various spiritual and mental aspects of the human being that are bestowed by the Gods. Although the term is not used explicitly in either account above, the ON term lík conveys the meaning of this physical body.

First comes önd, “spirit”, given by Odin. Gylfaginning adds that this gift is the very life-force itself; the transition from inanimate to animate object. It is through this gift that the nascent human acquires the most basic component necessary to be anything but the most passive participant in history; the Divine spark. Hitherto possessed only by the Gods and Giants Themselves, it is through this spark of spirit, this precious gift of divine nature however rarified and debased, that humanity possesses the potential to act meaningfully on the stage of Midgard. With that potential comes the transition from plant to animal; from the most ultimately passive forms of life to the most vital, for animals breathe, and plants do not.

At this stage, however, potential is all that mankind possesses. Imbued with the Divine spark, brought from passive vegetation to active animal, mankind still must rely on the remaining three gifts of the Gods to realize that potential.

From Hænir comes the gift of óð, “mind”, which Gylfaginning informs us is also linked to movement. This makes perfect sense, as the gift of óð is that of will; it is that which allows the Divine spark in mankind become realized through conscious action. With this great gift the race of men are able to lay down their own örløg, as they are able to undertake decisions from their own mind, their own imaginations, and their own will.

Next, we are told that lá was given to mankind by Lóður. Linguistically equivalent to læ, meaning "craft". Gylfaginning tells us that this craft is associated with the sensory powers; speech, hearing, and sight. This gift of lá is an empowering one, enabling mankind to both experience the world around him through the primary senses; hearing and sight, and impact it through the power of speech (speech itself is regarded as a thing possessing magical properties in the Norse conception; for example the power of the spoken oath, or chanted magical charm, not to mention the more mundane craft of poetry). Lá is a levering gift; its three components embody the powers governing social interaction. Without sight, hearing, and speech, communication is impossible. Note also that speech is the application of intelligence (óð) and breath (önd). As such, lá can be seen as the culmination of the other gifts; the capstone that enables mankind not only to fully live up to the potential embodied by the previous gifts, but to do so in such a way that the whole is far greater than the sum of the parts.

Finally, we come to what might be termed the “extra gift” of Lóður; litu góða, “goodly appearance”. It is, first and foremost, the determiner of one’s outward appearance, which is completely distinct from one’s inner essence (that being the combination of the soul-elements gifted by the Gods). Indeed, we are told that one’s litu can even be given to another person for at least a short amount of time:

You shall all swear
oaths together,
Gunnar, and Hogni,
and you, leader, the third,
for you shall change appearances
when you are on the way,
Gunnar and you;
Gripir lies not!

- Grípisspá 40

But the litu is more than mere outward appearance, to be donned and doffed like a cloak (for which the technical term is hamr, “guise”). Rather, it is the outward appearance that reacts to the presence and status of the litu. The litu should be thought of more as the idealized self-image, which is reflected in the hamr and expressed through the mundane material of the lík. When one blushes, for example, or turns suddenly pale, it is merely the lík reflecting the emotional response of the litu. This is a reciprocal arrangement, as well; the care with which the lík is treated after death will have an influence on how the litu is accoutremented in the afterlife.

However, the litu’s real gift lies in the fact that we ourselves share the form of the very Gods Themselves. Not only are we Their kin in the sense that They sired many lines of mortal heroes, but we are also linked to Them by our physical form. The Heathen Gods are not mere abstract thought-forms, nor are they psychological archetypes. They are real beings, possessed of physical existences with definite shape and form. It is certainly true that, being Gods and possessed of magical knowledge and devices, they are often able to change their guise to suit their needs. This, however, represents only the alteration of the hamr; the inner body remains intact despite the superficial alteration of the outer form.

The results of this understanding of the soul are manifold. It can be seen that in the Heathen conception, there are six elements that make up a person:

The first two of these elements, base existence and outward appearance, are the inevitable result of the natural processes of the universe. On a philosophical level, it can be said that everything that exists, exists, and everything that exists, has some sort of appearance. The remaining four are the elements that we would collectively call the “soul”, although in truth there is no necessity for them to remain together. Indeed, different states of existence are dependent on different combinations of these elements.

For example, while a normal, healthy, living person would be possessed of all six elements listed above, someone who had died, but whose body continued to live in its mound (a draugr) would have lík, hamr, and lá, but the önd, óð, and litu would be departed; gone to the journey of the afterlife. It would be, of course, entirely possible for the elements to be reunited after death once again, as when Helgi Hundingsbane returned from Valhalla to comfort the grieving Sigrun:

Sigrun's bondsmaid went in the evening by Helgi's howe and saw, that Helgi rode to the howe with many men. The bondsmaid said,

'What sort of deception
is that which I seem to see,
or else the doom of the gods?
dead men ride
who their horses
with points spur:
or is to the warriors
a faring home given?'

Helgi said,

'That is no deception
which you seem to see,
nor the rending of ages
although we appear,
although we our horses
with points spur
nor is to the warriors
a faring-home given.'

- Helgakviða Hundingsbana II 41-42

It is also known that individuals can be reborn, usually within the line of their descendents:

That was believed in ancient times, that men were born again, but that is now called an old wives' tale. It is said of Helgi and Sigrun that they were born again. He hight then Helgi Haddings'-Prince, and she Kára the daughter of Halfdan, as is spoken in "The Song of Kára", and she was a valkyrie. 

- Helgakviða Hundingsbana II, prose epilogue

But which part of the “soul” is it that is reborn? Since the lík and hamr are physical, they are hardly candidates for reincarnation. The önd is not a likely candidate, as its departure would then leave the other soul-parts lifeless and inanimate in the afterlife. The óð would not make sense, as it is not the intellectual aspects of the ancestor that are said to be embodied in the descendent, but rather some intangible, and yet obvious, something. That something is, it seems, the litu; that inner body that radiates the mood of the individual so strongly that it is indeed reflected in the outer form, and which bears with it the very form of the Gods Themselves as its mark.

Thus do we see the vast realm of difference between the Christian and Heathen concepts of the Soul. The Heathen “soul” is actually more akin to a “soul-complex” where various different parts—each the separate gift of the Gods—combine in various ways to give mankind the powers and attributes we hold today. By applying these various soul-parts in different ways, we are able to discern various states of being, whether caused by conscious magical effect or the natural process of death. Too, we see how some of these elements are further integrated and dis-integrated after death. Truly, the Heathen soul is a wondrous and many-faceted thing, precious in its complexity and robust in its versatility, a great gift from the Gods that begs the question “how do we repay such a gift?”.

© 2006 JJB. Used with permission.

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