So I’ve seen people doing these 30 days of devotion things for about as long as I’ve been on wordpress. I’ve always thought they would be cool, but given that I have either been on hiatus or have set scheduled days, I haven’t ever been able to really just take a month off to do really do it. But Lady Imbrium has been doing one for Aphrodite and so I’m ripping off the list she has as she puts it up (since she had it from the internet, but couldn’t give me a link to go get it myself, lol). 🙂 I’ll be doing this in conjunction with my Religio Romana blog for Bellona, but on different days. For now, this is going to take the place of HelaSvart Story Monday, at least while I build up a buffer of stories if I chose to do it again. So let’s get to it.

1) A basic introduction of the deity

Hel (also known as Hela) is the Norse Goddess of the Dead, as well as sickness and guardian of young maidens. She rules over Helheim, one of the Nine Realms of Norse and Germanic mythology/cosmology. The daughter of Loki, who is the blood brother of Odin, she has three brothers: Jormangandr the World Serpent, Fenrir/Fenris the wolf, and Slepnir the Eight Legged Horse which Odin rides across the nine worlds.

Some of the lore states that upon seeing her appearance of half living and half dead, that Odin threw her into Helheim to become its ruler. Some say he gave it to her as a gift, seeing that though she looked as monstrous as her brothers, she was in fact not. Regardless of how it happened, Hela came to rule the Underworld, where not even Odin questions her rule.

She is not cruel, but nor is she so kind that she allows those in her charge to leave. The Laws of death are absolute and to break them risks all of life. So she takes the living and makes them die, so that others might live. She is the force that allows humans to grow strong, to be reborn with each generation, by taking the weak and the old.

Hail unto Hel, Goddess of Death