Much of the old lore written about the Norse Goddess Hel first came from Snorri Sturluson. He wrote of Her in darker and more unfavorable terms from my experience with Her, but he was also a Christian and writing the lore for a Christian audience. We could have a whole other discussion on all of that, but it is not what I want to talk about here.
No, I want to talk about the lessons in Her bowl and knife. Not from the angle Snorri wrote of it, but that of which Hel taught me of them. Lessons that have deeply impacted me and stand on my altar as a reminder.
The Dish Called Hunger and Knife Called Famine
Some see the dish as a plate, and some as a bowl. It has always been presented as a bowl to me. In Snorri’s view, the dish and knife represented the hunger and famine in the world. That which created suffering and death, and caused by the Goddess Hel.
This is not the story Hel has told to me. They are symbols of choice. How we choose, what actions we choose – choice and consequence.
The Knife is a representation of our movement or actions. It can be used to for negative means and positive ones. You can choose to use it to cut down others to get ahead – To protect yourself and your means of living – To be a Guardian or an Aggressor. It can be used to hunt and acquire what you need to thrive, or you can use it to indulge, taking more than you need and leaving less for others (creating famine). How are we using the knife? What actions, thought – spoken – and actual action, are we taking, and are we wielding it as a weapon to destroy or to create?
The Bowl is a representation of what we reap, what we harvest, and what we feed ourselves. Like the knife, it can be used for positive and negative means. For me it has deep internal aspects to it. What are we filling our bowl with? Are we feeding ourselves negativity, anger, despair, longing, grief – or are we filling the bowl with compassion, love for the self, creativity, and an abundance mindset? These are just a few broad examples, but it is speaking to what we choose to fill our own bowl with. Seeing the bowl as our body, mind, and life.
Choice and Consequence
It is easier to try and place blame at the feet of another. It is easier to ignore choices we have made that led to certain unfavorable circumstances. Some religions expand upon this way of thinking – blaming it on an entity, Deity, or other supernatural force. Our current society has conditioned people to look for a scapegoat, something beyond ourselves or someone else as being the reason we are suffering or hurt, to avoid taking responsibility for our own choices.
Yes, there are things that will always be beyond us, beyond our control. We live in a world, an ecosystem, with all kinds of other people, energies, and structures that impact us and we can do nothing to avoid that. We can not control the choices they make that impact us, but we can control how we act and move within those situations. We have control over ourselves. We have choice as to how we react and move beyond.
Hel is not to blame for our ills. She can however guide us through them, helping us to see a broader picture, showing us different paths, and walk beside us through it.
Honest Reflections and Responsibility
What Hel challenges us to do with the lessons in the Bowl and Knife is to take an honest look at ourselves. How are we choosing to react? How are we choosing to move in this life? What are we filling our bowl with? What are we using our knife for? This is about us, the things in our control and the choices we make – whether the situation is created by us or an outside force.
Honest reflection can be hard because it requires us to take responsibility for our part, our choices, in those situations and they are not always good. It demands we strip away the excuses and own our part in the outcome. She is half shadow and half light – and so are we.
Even in trauma situations, where someone else has done us harm – how we react and move from that is constructed from our own choices. The walls we build, the defenses we develop, all in the name of survival, but not always for our benefit. Once the event is over, we have to heal and move forward. Part of that is taking a hard look at what we created from that event in ourselves. This is a part of shadow work, and needed to be able to move beyond the pain.
If we do not do these things, then the way we use our knife and what we fill our bowl with will be a reflection of them. Some may be positive, but for many it is the negative that remains. Our bowl represents what we are feeding and nourishing ourselves with, from a metaphorical and literal sense. Our knife represents how we move with others, how we move and act in the world. The choice is always ours, and every choice has consequences which is also ours to own.
Walking with Hel
My experience with the Goddess Hel is very different from the one portrayed in popular lore. Out of all the Keepers I have worked with, She is the kindest, most patient, most compassionate one. This does not mean She is all warm and fuzzy, She is not. Like all Death Deities She demands we do the hard work. She will push you and even break you at times because you need to see the wound for what it is instead of the fantasy you created to ignore it. She doesn’t do any of it out of malice, or for Her own entertainment, She does it for you – so you can see, heal, grow, and move forward. Her lessons are that of the Soul, because the Soul is Her biggest concern.
Again, we all experience Deities differently, based upon what we need for us and the path we are walking. The lessons They give and what They teach us are very personal – because we are not all the same. I can only write from my own experiences and what She has taught me.
Her Bowl and Knife are a mainstay on my altar because they are a stark reminder of the lessons She taught me with them. When I am in crisis or confronted with challenges, they serve to remind me that I can not always control what is happening to me, but I always have the control as to how I react and move through them. They remind me everyday, that what I choose to fill my bowl with – thoughts, emotions, how I speak to myself, what I allow in my energy, and so forth – is my choice. How I use my knife – what I create, how I use my Voice, how I Guard what is important to me, how I create my abundance, and so forth – is my choice.
It is not always easy. I stumble and have moments just like everyone else. I make wrong choices that lead to bad outcomes. I am human. I own them all though and keep trying to do better – not for Her, not for you, but for myself. There is a deep serenity in that.
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