Detailed Table of Contents
Heathen Soul Lore Foundations: Ancient and Modern Germanic Pagan Concepts of the Souls
1. Definition and Overview of Heathen Souls
One soul per person, or more?
Defining a soul
A brief summary of each soul
I. The Life-Souls
Ferah
Ahma
Ghost
Hama
Aldr
Saiwalo
II. The Daemon Souls
Hugr
Mod
Sefa
Associated spirits
2. The Awakening of the Souls
3. Born of Trees and Thunder: The Ferah Soul
Connections between trees and life-soul
Table 1: Trees and life-soul words
Table 2: Words derived from *perku
Ferah and the Gods
Table 3: Gods, Earth and Sky powers
The evolutionary perspective
The nature of the Ferah
Ferah, law and priesthood
Ferah and sacrifice
The Ferah at death
Development and psychology of the Ferah
Ferah and magic
Summary
In closing
4. Ond, Ahma, Ghost and Breath: Their Basic Nature
The breath
Table 4: “Breath” words
Enter the Ghost
The meanings of spirit
Table 5: Distribution of Germanic “spirit” meanings
Ghost and mind
Table 6: Spirit and mind meanings
Table 7: Illness or health of Ghost
The impoverishment of the Ghost
Summary of meanings, and modern Heathen usage
In closing
5. Ghost Rider: Athom, Ghost and Wode in Action
Origin and afterlife of Ghost and Ahma
Athom and Ghost
Wode
The otherworldly nature of the Ghost
Summary
In closing
6. The Shape of Being Human: The Hama Soul
The gifts of Lodhurr
1. The gift of La
2. The gift of Laeti
3. The gift of Litr
The gift-giver
The Lich-Hama
Anglo-Saxon Hiw
The Hama in the womb
The Hama as healer
The Hama after death
Examples of Hama words
Summary
7. Aldr and Orlay: Weaving a World
Nourisher and life-span
A Greek soul-cognate: The Aion
The footholds of the Aldr / Aion
Aldr-Wita: Holistic health practice
Aldr and Orlay
Werold: Our world as Aldr’s soul-skin
Godly patrons of Aldr
The afterlife of Aldr
Summary
In closing
8. Dances with Daemons: The Mod soul
Basic meanings
Mod as daemon
Mod as daemon of sickness
The implications of human-Mod co-evolution
The afterlife of the Mod soul
Mod’s potency and the Holy Ones
In closing
9. Hunting the Wild Hugr
Root-complex #1: ‘Shining’
Root-complex #2: ‘Mounds and wights’
The Kaunaz rune
Root-complex #3: ‘The unborn, swelling’
‘Swollen with power and wind’
Root-complex #4 ‘An eldritch cry’
Root-complex #5: ‘Excitation, stirring up the soul’
Root-complex #6: ‘The Watcher; magical force’
Afterlife and the ancestral connection
Origins and evolution of Hugr
The tale of the Hugr
10. Who is Hugr?
Basic meanings
Three domains of Hugr
Hugr and the heart
Hugi ‘wallows’ within the breast
The roots of Hugr
Clarifying the Hugr
Summary
A meditation on the Hugr’s power
11. The Occult Activities of the Hugr
Part 1: The actions of the Hugr in Nordic folk beliefs
Desire, longing, envy, hatred
Hugr as fore-runner, Hugbod, and warder
The wind of the troll-wife
Hugham: The Hugr takes shape
Part 2: Hugr’s involvement in magical and esoteric practices
Rede-giver
Ancestor-work
Spellcraft and runecraft affecting the Hugr
The Double and animal-double
Seidhcraft
A glimmer of Anglo-Saxon magic
Swelling of the Hugr
Summary and closing
12. Sefa: The Soul of Relationship
Shaping our understanding of Sefa
Related words
Possible roots
Some examples of Sefa in the old texts
Sjofn, Sif, and their companions
Vulnerability of Sefa
Modsefa / Modsebo
The Wunjo rune
Summary
13. Hel-Dweller
Hel as the Hidden Land
Faring to the edge of Hel
Hervor’s tale
Common motifs relating to Hel and the dead
Brynhild’s ride to Hel
Baldr’s dreams
Hermod’s journey
Thorstein Cod-biter
Hel-motifs in tales of Hidden Lands
Skirnir’s journey
Svipdag’s quest
Fairy tales
Frau Holle and Walburga
Some overarching themes
14. The Soul and the Sea
Where does ‘saiwalo’ come from?
Weisweiler’s exploration of *saiwalo
Other folklore about souls and water
A dash of salt
Sweet / salt, grasping / giving
Summary
Hail the Holy Ones
15. What Happened to Heathen Saiwalo-soul?
The sawol in Beowulf
The Ferah-Saiwalo dynamic
Ghost versus soul
What’s the big deal?
Impacts of changing ideas about the soul
Summary
Interlude: A Short Essay on the Eormensoul
16. The Alchemy of Hel
Part 1: Alchemy, Ginnungagap, and the coalescence of Hel
Alchemy in this context
Why alchemy?
The mighty gap of potential
The coalescence of Hel
Summary of Part 1
Part 2: Generation, coagulation, Dwimor & Dwimoring
Spontaneous generation
Coalescence and coagulation
The roots of Dwimor
The Dwimor in Midgard
Dwimoring
Part 3: Images; polarity of Saiwalo and Ahma; precipitation
Dwimor-images
The poles of Saiwalo and Ahma
The alchemy of images
Precipitation
Part 4: Hel: An ecological perspective
The impact of Christianity on Hel
Our responsibility during Midgard life
Part 5: Stages of alchemical transformation
The chthonic forces
Differences between Hugrs and Saiwalo-Dwimors
The alchemical processes
Necromancy and arcane knowledge
Part 6: The permeability of Hel
Where do Hugrs come from?
Back-door connections
17. The Arising of the Self
The emergent Self
The Midgard Self
The holographic Self
Summary
18. Closing Thoughts and Topical Summaries
Another look at multiple souls
Origins, nature and destinations of souls
Soul-footholds
Different religions, different perspectives
The meaningfulness of soul lore study
This book includes an extensive Word-Hoard / glossary and a Book-Hoard / bibliography. It is richly illustrated and includes original work by Heathen artist Dale Wood.
