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Heaven, Hel, Repentance?

By: Hjuka Harugari

Grußen!

>So here I am without a religion.  I have investigated many of the neo-pagan religions but they all seem to.....contrived and structured to fit an indvidual 'cause s/he doesn't like Christians.
>

...one could write a book dealing with the problems and shortcomings of pseudo-religions like neo-Heathenry/paganism, and certainly a driving force behind many such folks seems to be founded in expressing what the individual isn't more-so than what he/she is...a rather poor and flimsy foundation indeed!



>So what is this question I have you might be asking, well here it is.  A person stated that murderers and adulterers went to the bad part of Hel after they died.  I'm curious whether in Heathenry there is room for a 'repentance' of sorts.  See, I am an adulterer, well I was, I've confessed to my wife and we've been able to move on a create a very strong bond and family.  My question is this, "Am I screwed?"  in the eyes of the Aesir am I already condemned?  How do you correct these mistakes in the eyes of the Heathen religion?
>

....as the lore suggests, there's a dark corner set aside for the worthless...
in your deeds in life, at least from a Heathen perspective, you can't look at matters in a minor sin/ mortal sin type of capacity....such absolutes don't exist in our reckoning..with that, we are responsible for our own actions and deeds, and so our own worth in all 'conditions of Being' be they life or death. To say the least, we don't live perfect lives...all of men make mistakes along the long road (or, short depending if you're a half-empty glass kinda person) of life, and often some of them are quite 'big' mistakes...in the end, it is much more a matter of how we dealt with the situations that come up in life, rather than they occurred...that is, in our 'right(s)' and 'wrong(s)' that we make along the way... each situation does present its own unique responses and all, but generally speaking- the manner in which our wrongs will/do affect us depends on how we've acted following the misdeed....'wrongful' actions rob us of luck/goodly magan (energy/power)....and develop an 'obligation of debt' or shild...
in building shild upon shild, we lessen our 'Being', and in a manner of
speaking, 'de-volve' ourselves, and left unchecked, loose our Luck
altogether, becoming something completely wretched and unworthy for anything except the dimmest or darkest of corners...not something common amongst true Heathen, as you could imagine... for Heathen, in recognizing this shild, we would then strive to 'correct' the wrong (so-to-speak), or tend to the obligation itself...pay the debt, if you will (or, if you prefer to look at it this way: make amends)...in doing this, we make a settlement of obligation that repairs that measure of damage, or brings the individual back into a holistic, luck-filled sphere of Being...in Christianity, it is God/Jesus who absolves us of 'sin'...for Heathen, we must take the initiative ourselves, for it is our burden to bear, our debt to pay...
are you screwed? Sounds to me you already made the necessary repairs, took the necessary steps to correct the misdeed...(so, no)...




>Well that was pretty long winded for a relatively short question....oh yeah one more question, "Is Valhalla the Heathen version of Heaven?  Or is there another place the dead go, like the good side of Hel?"
>

...No, Walhalla isn't the Heathen answer to Heaven :) ..but I suppose it could be seen as such for those destined to it ;)
the Natural, Organic 'destination' for the dead is in fact Hellaheim-

as excerpted from my forthcoming work:
Hellaheim is the realm of the dead, the vast Germanic Underworld that lies below Mittigart and Suarzalpâheim. Those who are 'unworthy' of the higher abodes of the Gods will tred upon Hellaweg (Hell-way: the road to Hell-Home) and pass through Hellaturi (Hell-Gate), into the quiet realm to await rebirth (within one's own Sippa) upon Middle-Earth.
Considering the mass of folk who have lived/ will live throughout the ages, it is relatively 'few' who will find their places among the Gods- that the lot of us will walk upon the silent road shouldn't be seen as something 'negative' or demeaning, but rather,  simply the natural course -as part of the natural cycle of Life and Death (Life-Death-Rebirth), of Being, of the All.  Fewer still are doomed to fare upon a darker way, that which leads to the Noturi ('Corpse' Gate) in the Northern expanses.  This is the path for those who will die a second death (oath breakers, purgerers, murderers, and other wretches), and face the torment that awaits in Nessonhof - 'The Court of Serpents'.

Hjuka Harugari