The Seiðr-Walker’s Norse Soul Map

Hamr – shape, form, appearance
The word hamr literally means “skin” or “shape” in Old Norse.
It describes the outer form a being wears—whether physical, magical, or perceived. In Ynglinga Saga, Odin is said to travel in hamför, sending his hamr out while his body lay still. Egil’s Saga and Njáls Saga also use hamr to describe transformations, magical disguise, and altered states. It is deeply tied to shapeshifting, dream-walking, and the changeable mask of trance.

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Hugr – thought, emotion, will
Hugr is the mind in motion. It appears throughout the lore to describe a person’s mood, intention, or energetic projection. In Grettis Saga, one’s hugr is said to affect others, even at a distance. It also shows up in curses and runes: “May your hugr be unsettled.”

This is the soul-part that moves before the body does.

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Fylgja – the follower spirit
The fylgja appears in many sagas, including Laxdæla and Njáls Saga. It often shows up in dreams as an animal or woman, foretelling fate or death. Sometimes a person’s fylgja is inherited, passed down through a family line. And often, it appears at moments of great fate-shift or approaching death. It is the spirit that walks beside you, or just ahead.

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Hamingja – luck, fortune, legacy
In Vatnsdæla Saga, a chieftain lends his hamingja to a relative before battle. This isn’t metaphor. It’s treated as a real spiritual force something that can be earned, inherited, given, or withdrawn. Your hamingja is your earned luck. It carries your legacy. And when strong, it protects more than just you.

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Minni – memory
While not listed directly as a soul-part, minni is everywhere in the culture. In poetry and ritual, it holds the thread of identity. The mead of poetry brings minni. Toasts are raised “til minnis” in memory, linking the living to the dead, and the present to what was worth remembering. Minni is not just recollection. It is sacred remembering.

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What We Think
These next parts are not labeled in the old texts as formal soul-parts. But they live within the culture, the language, and the lived practice. We reconstruct them with care, using comparative traditions and spiritual logic.

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Sjálfr – the deep self
Sjálfr simply means “self” in Old Norse. It appears in many places, but is never named a soul-part. Still, nearly every animist and Indo-European system includes a still-point beneath all the other parts. This is that center. The “I” that does not move, even as everything else changes.

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Lík – the body
The word lík means “body” or “corpse.” The Norse did not see the body as a prison. It was a presence. A truth. A vessel that carried honor, memory, and might. We include lík in this model to reclaim the body’s sacred role not as a container, but as a soul-bearing form.

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Megin – personal might
Megin is your inner force. Your strength that rises. In the Eddas, even the gods are described by their megin, especially Thor and Óðinn.

It is not just muscle. It’s the surge of power you feel when something must be done and you know it must be you.

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Vé – sacred space
Traditionally, vé is a sacred site, a holy enclosure. It appears in placenames like Odinsvé, or in temple-ground descriptions.

But in Seiðr, vé is not just outside you. It is something you carry. It opens when you chant, when you bless, when you cross into the sacred.

Some don’t consider it a soul-part. But many of us feel it clearly, deeply as the inner hall where the work begins.

 

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If this stirred something in you, don’t stop here. Each part of the soul has its own story, its own thread to follow.
Click the links above to explore them one by one. I’ll be here, walking with you.

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