sister of the Fenris Wolf and the Midgard Serpent.
Hella is half black and half white, both alive and dead.
Hella’s domain is so far below Midgard (the Earth)
that it takes Odin’s eight-legged horse Sleipnir nine
days and nights to reach it. It is surrounded on all
sides by the river Gioll and steep walls impassable to
the living. Hel lies on the other side of the treacherous
Echoing Bridge, where souls trying to cross are
challenged by the giantess Modgudh. The foul-
smelling entrance Gnipahelli is guarded by the fierce
dog Garm. However, there is another gate at the East
through which Odin enters to ask for prophecies from
the spirit of the ancient seeress.Heaven, Hell & Purgatory
The Roman Catholic Church teaches that there
are two main possible afterlives. Almost everyone will
spend eternity in either Heaven or Hell. Heaven is a
seven-tiered paradise of eternal joy and bliss, which
comes from being close to God, among the angels.
Hell is a fiery pit of eternal torment and punishment,
ruled by the Devil (Satan or Lucifer) and filled with
demons who were originally rebel angels cast down
ages ago after losing the great “War in Heaven.”
One’s eventual destination is determined by their
salvation status at the instant of their death. New-
borns are believed to be afflicted with “original sin.”
An infant can be redeemed from this state only by the
Church’s rite of baptism. Once a person reaches the
age of accountability, any mortal sin can cause them
to lose their salvation, so that they would be “damned”
and sent to Hell. However, by confessing their sin to a
priest, one’s salvation is restored. The souls of chil-dren who die before reaching the age of accountabil-
ity, as well as other worthy people throughout history
who died without receiving salvation, go to a happy
place called Limbo. There they must wait until the
Final Judgment, when they will be admitted to Heaven.
Saints and those who have attained perfect piety
are taken immediately to Heaven upon death. But most
people go first to Purgatory, where they are system-
atically tortured with fire until they have become suf-
ficiently purified to enter Heaven. People who have
committed a mortal sin that has not been forgiven or
those who have rejected God go straight to Hell where
they will be tortured by demons forever without any
hope of relief or mercy. The Catholic Hell is a vast pit
with nine concentric descending rings, and the damned
are consigned to different levels and punishments ac-
cording to their sins. The capital city of Hell is called
Pandemonium (“place of all demons”).
Other denominations of Christianity present varia-
tions on these visions of the Afterlife, but almost all
include the opposing concepts of Heaven vs. Hell.
Most, however, dispense with Purgatory. Many envi-
sion Heaven as a glorious city, its streets paved with
gold and a mansion for everyone. St. Peter sits before
the Pearly Gates with a great book in which is recorded
all the deeds of applicants, and he assigns them their
places accordingly. They become angels, with wings,
robes, haloes, and harps.Other Afterworlds
According to the Koran, Paradise (“walled gar-
den”) is for devout Moslem men only. It is a splendid
oasis, with gardens, rivers, and trees. Men wear silken
robes and lie about on luxurious couches, with unlim-
ited succulent fruits and wines. Bevies of beautiful,
black-eyed, soul-less houris serve eternally the plea-
sures of the faithful. All other men are consigned to a
Hell modeled after the Christian version. Moslem
women, believed to have no souls, simply die.
In both Buddhism and Hinduism the numerous
realms of the afterlife are stages in the never-ending
cycle of birth, death, and rebirth that the soul must
undergo in its spiritual evolution towards eventually
escaping altogether from the “wheel” of incarnations.
At each death the soul goes to a paradise or hell cor-
responding to the way the person has behaved in
their last life. After a period of reflection, they are rein-
carnated into a new life—either better or worse than
the last one, depending on how they handled it and
the lessons they learned.
The Tibetan Book of the Dead says that after
death each soul goes before Yama, Lord of the Dead,
who holds up a mirror in which the person’s deeds in
life are reflected. Yama’s mirror is the soul’s own memory,
and so Yama’s judgment is actually that of the de-
ceased themselves. Each person pronounces their own
Hell (Le grant kalendrier et compost des Bergiers, 1496) judgement, thus determining their next rebirth.Course Seven: Lore 309
Corrected pages 3rd printing.2.p65 54 6/10/2004, 4:03 PM