One with Nature (2020)I sat down to work on the Hel prompt for #mythober and I had every intention o

One with Nature (2020)

I sat down to work on the Hel prompt for #mythober and I had every intention of making her as fierce and downcast, and half blue (or half dead) as the author Snorri claimed she was or is, but here’s the deal, that’s not what happened. (And you can expect that if you try to focus on anything that belongs to Loki, things may go sideways rather quickly. That is the essence of chaos.) I am still hesitant to call this piece “Hel” but that truly was my intention when I started it. Death, in my opinion, is not the end, it is a transformation. It is an exchange from one form of energy to the next, a caterpillar into a butterfly, a tiny acorn into a massive oak tree. When I first intentionally sought out the Norse myths, I understood that the people who once followed, and are still drawn to follow these old gods are a people one or becoming one with nature. Their followers have no big cathedrals, no mega churches, they have no need. The forests, mountains, and the seas; nature is their church, always has been. There were and still are believed to be numerous places the spirits of the dead could end up, just as there are in life. I have interpreted Hel in my mind as a spiritual personification of the energy transformation that comes with death. In my mind, It’s her back that is the “dead“ half although it is very much alive in this piece. Her body is becoming a forest, her hair the rocks and he dress the river bed and snow. Hel is drawing part of you to herself, always to the mound and you can’t look away, you understand or will understand the eventuality of your life. Always moving forward, always transforming. Once on the other side of her you will understand that you can’t go back because you aren’t going that way, just as in life. This is just my interpretation, I’m still learning but have an enormous amount of respect for the followers of Norse paganism trying to piece everything back together. Skol!
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