Hel is a Norse/Anglo goddess of the underworld. Her
name means “one that hides”. She is said to be half dead/half alive and is
keeper of the souls of the departed by way of sea or battle. Unlike Christian mentality, she cares for
these souls whether they have been goodly saints or evil sinners. Although half of her is monstrous, the other
is beautiful. We see the Harlequin masks
as inspired by her appearance.
The name of Holland, Helsinki and Holstein come from places
named in her honor. As well, when we say, “Go to Hell”, we are not, perhaps,
aware that this phrase came prior to Christianity. The
Vikings were dead afraid of her and the very look of her. The Gaels, Dutch and Germanic people see her
in a kinder empathetic way. Someone has
to be in charge of departed souls, after all.
Part of this fear is that she could always see truth and could burn you
with her stare. The place of her realm
is an icy cold place, not a fire and brimstone one.
Her colors are typically black and white, but I chose
to show her more appealing with elements of air and earth colors. Most of the celebrations for her are more
like our Halloween in theme.
While she is compassionate to the departed souls, she
does represent trauma, difficulties, pain and this is represented by the blood
red rose petals strewn about and the black candles (four), placed on
altars.
Dinners, for this day of celebration, is venison stew
and crusty bread. It is meager fare, but
reminds us that not all things are beautiful and tasty and happy. It is a day of sacrifice for her, that she
will be kind to ones’ soul when one finds themselves there where she gathers
souls to care for them.
Her half and half being is a reminder that we all have
a shadow/dark side. We are cautioned to
maintain balance no matter what life down here on earth offers us. This is very applicable in today’s
world. We can focus on only the negative
or we can balance all the negativity in the world with our compassion and care
of self and others.
You can see some of my belief system coming through in
this portrait. The antler/earth
projection represents that we need to cast off/shed things in life, even if
they were something of pride and beauty to us.
I humanize her, as well, for, surely, there will be compassion and care
for our energy/soul when it seeks its origin.
I work, all the time, on my shadow side. It does not show itself often, but when it
does, it is expressed through anger since it is the easiest emotion to
show. I am also defensive... and really
do not do well with criticism or judgements.
I really work on this one and was called to act on such early this
spring. I am grateful I found a way not
to defend myself against untruths. I
simply let it go. It was one of the
hardest things to do because the other person was so far off base and
absolutely was not my truths... only hers.
And, there is a calm left in a space where guilt would have resided if I
had defended myself. It was a good
lesson, difficult to learn, but so rewarding.
How do you deal with your shadow side? You may run into such today. Be prepared.
©Carol Desjarlais 7.10.20
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