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Chapter 5. The Underworld 130
connections needed to be “groomed” and cared for, because if they were not, what
is commonly called “disease” could set in and cause generalized weakness to varying
degrees or even death. Elf-shot, traditionally, was a source of weakness/ disease or
a leaking-out of individual luck through holes in the hamr, whereas soul-loss or a
complete disconnection from the source of power was a cause of death.
The hamingja and fylgja are interesting figures in the Underworld tradition. Because
the Scandinavian traditions of soul-craft and the Underworld have continued
to live in folk-tradition and have continued to evolve, some elements have tended to
change meaning or cause overlaps in distinction creating some technical problems
for the modern 20 th century researcher. In this age of science, the average person
tends to like things to fit exactly into paradigms. Plants, for example, fit neatly into
complex classification systems, and as new plants are discovered, they are found a
place in the botanical family tree; the plant, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to mind
because it simply exists regardless of a scientist’s ability or inability to pigeon-hole
it. Problems come up when one is confronted with a group of things which refuse
to be neatly classified and such is the case with beings such as the hamingja and
fylgja. One is perhaps better off defining the roles the beings play in the life of an
individual as opposed to attempting to classify the beings themselves.
The overall function of the hamingja appears to be as an individual’s primary
connection to the source of power flowing through the Underworld. Whether the
connection is to Hvergelmir, the source of the Waters of Life, no one can truly say.
However, there does exist a description of its tie to ancestral lineage. Additionally,
in a similar fashion, the luck of a family is usually passed down from generation to
generation as in Viga-Glaums-saga wherein Vigfuss, Glum’s maternal grandfather,
passed on his hamingja to Glum after dying. In this case, the name of the being
“hamingja” is some confused with “fylgja” in the term kynfylgja or fylgjakona. 26 In
general, the hamingja takes the form of a woman, often helmeted, and appears large
but has no resemblance to any member of the family. Whether accompanying the
individual or the family, the being functions as the embodiment of the connection
to the source of luck, power, health, or prosperity pouring forth from the Land of
the Ancestors.
The distinction between individual or family luck becomes even more blurry
because of little personalized “twists” put on it for the benefit of the individual. In
folklore, the motif of the fairy-godmother or of a group of three fairy-godmothers is
26
Kynfylgja, ON = ”kyn” (family) + ”fylgja” (guardian). fylgjakona, ON = ”fylgja” (guardian
spirit) + ”kona” (woman). Generally, these terms are considered to be synonymous.
The spirit was described in Viga Glaum-saga as a very large woman who was the embodiment of
the family power/ luck.