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Chapter 5. The Underworld 135
would not have only seemed foreign to the ancient Northern Europeans, but would
have been considered foolish or insane. Anyone believing such was leaving himself
open to attack, illness, and possibly even death. The idea that the Underworld is
a fun, cute, and exciting place is becoming relatively pervasive in the latter half
of the 20 th century, however, so anyone proffering the idea that there might be
danger involved in the tradition will not only be viewed by the “authorities” as
being slightly weird, but will also be lambasted by the newest generation of “psychic
flower-children.”
The Northern European Underworld is part of a worldview, a Germanic worldview
to be precise, and in this worldview otherworldly beings, as with many in
the Land of the Living, are potentially dangerous. Destruction and creation are
side-by-side processes. The ancient Germanic peoples did not survive by hiding
themselves in a quaint fairy-tale fantasy but by plowing their fields, butchering
their animals, and fighting and killing off invading forces when necessary. Their
worldview provided them with information regarding choices in the course of action.
They lived their lives in the physical world as they interpreted it; they did not live
a pretend life within the constructs of their imaginations.
Another area of “wishful thinking” which is imposed by the New Age upon the
Germanic worldview is that of reincarnation. The debate can (and really has) gone
on endlessly about whether or not the ancient Germanic people believed in some
concept which involved the transmigration of souls. This, for the most part, is an
importation of the whole East-West connection thing (discussed in Chap. 2). It is a
nice philosophy which involves the learning of life’s lessons over a cycle of lifetimes
and will not really be dealt with here. It should be mentioned, though, that in some
rare cases in sagaic and eddaic literature, an individual (or at least part of him) was
reborn to carry out a specific task usually related to revenge or leadership. The two
cases usually dredged up for “proof” of the belief of reincarnation are those of Helgi
Hundingsbane 33 (from the Sigurd cycle) and of St. Ólaf 34 . Without belaboring the
point, Helgi had an act of revenge which needed to be carried out, and St. Ólaf
denied being reincarnated. The fact that the individual asking St. Ólaf about the
possibility of reincarnation most probably relates to the idea that if a soul is not
completely laid to rest, it will wander. Reincarnation, as it is commonly understood
today, most likely did not have a place in the early Germanic worldview. The passing
on of familial luck/ power through the hamingja, and unrestful souls, however, did.
These ideas are presented above and in Chap. 2.
On the other hand, the ancient Underworld tradition is applicable in the 20 th
century and forms the basis of one of the most profound forms of transformation
33 Hollander, Lee The Poetic Edda (University of Texas Press; Austin, TX) 1964, p. 179.
34 For a discussion of this see Ellis-Davidson’s Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe, p. 122.