The Anglo-Saxon and Norse Goddess of the Underworld is honored annually on the Day of Hel (July 10th) with prayers, the lighting of black candles, and offerings of rose petals.

About Hel:

Also known as Hella, Hela, this deity is simultaneously half-dead and half-alive. Half of her body (cut vertically) is that of a fair, beautiful woman; the other half is necrotized flesh. She is half living woman, half corpse.

Once upon a time, being sent to Hel may have been inevitable, but it wasn’t perceived as punishment: Hel, daughter of Angerboda and Loki, rules the Norse realm of the dead. She is the keeper of the souls of the departed. Those who die at sea or in battle have other destinations; everyone else goes to Hel, who welcomes them into her home, Helhaim, regardless of whether they were good, bad, sinful, or saintly while alive.

Here’s a ritual for Hela’s Day:

  • Colors: Black and White
  • Elements: Earth and Air
  • Altar: Upon black cloth to the right place four black candles, a skull, bones, a pot of earth, a pile of withered leaves, and a gravestone. Upon white cloth to the left place four white candles, incense, an ivory chalice of mead, a crystal sphere, and a bunch of dried roses. Veil the windows.
  • Offerings: Blood. Pain. Difficulty. Toil. An arduous task that will take all you have to give, and will benefit the generations yet to come.
  • Daily Meal: Meat stew and bread.

Invocation to Hela

Hail to Hel
Queen of Helheim
Wisest of Wights
Keeper of Secrets
Keeper of the hopes for tomorrow
Guardian of Souls
Implacable one of the frozen realm
Half the face of beauty
Half the face of Death.
You who feed the dead
At your meager table
Where everyone gets their fair share,
You who care not
About wealth or status,
About fame or fortune,
Who cares for the peasant
Equally with the ruler,
Teach us that Death is the great leveller
And that we need have no pride
When we reach your halls.
Lady who takes away
Yet holds always promise,
Teach us to praise loss and death
And the passing of all things,
For from this flux
We know your blessings flow.

(Blow out the candles, bow to the altar, and pour out the libation of mead. The roses should be placed outside to rot in the garden.)

Found in: Pagan Book of Hours

2 Responses to Day of Hel

  • Thank you for this! I am curious of the source of the picture…do you know?

  • I have a bit of a issue with the fixed date, locking the days celebration to the modern, Gregorian/xtian calendar, rather than the lunisolar calendar our ancestors used.
    Any idea as to why July the tenth was chosen? Certainly this year, 2023, the date is not linking to a specific known important day in the traditional heathen calendar, lunisolar, or events like a dark or full moon. A kind answer would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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