In Norse Mythology, the worlds that are ‘below’, or underneath the world-tree Yggdrasil, are under the rule of Hel, who resides in Helheimr (- ‘realm of the dead, underworld’). Hel is attested and mentioned in various Old Norse and Icelandic poems, mostly associated with a place that exists underneath the roots of Yggdrasil, where the spirits of dead people reside.

In most traditional hunter-gatherer societies of the North, the world-tree or world pillar is a shared, common myth. The different realms usually consist of 3 different dimensions that a shaman can travel to.

What is the Goddess Hel known for?

Jakob Grimm mentioned that Hel shared many common features with Holda/Perchta, Nerthus and the Hindu Maha Kali (Grimm, 1882). As a female deity, she personified transformative powers that can be found in the Underworld, a place that is very different from the Christian ‘hell’.

What is Hel the goddess of?

The well known British scholar Hilda Ellis Davidson said that Hel can be considered:

‘On the other hand, a goddess of death who represents the horrors of slaughter and decay is something well known elsewhere; the figure of Kali in India is an outstanding example. Like Snorri’s Hel, she is terrifying to in appearance, black or dark in colour, usually naked, adorned with severed heads or arms or the corpses of children, her lips smeared with blood. She haunts the battlefield or cremation ground and squats on corpses. Yet for all this she is “the recipient of ardent devotion from countless devotees who approach her as their mother” (Davidson, 1998, p.178).

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