There are other beings besides gods that are acknowledged or honored in Asatru. Some of these beings receive worship like the gods do, and some do not. Some receive worship by only a small percentage of Asatruars.
The Alfar are elves. The ljossalfar, or light elves, can appear as anything from the tiny fairies of Victorian fairy tales to the tall warriors of Tolkien's mythology. Pixies, nixies, mermaids, and huldufolk are all ljossalfar. The svartalfar (also called dokkalfar), or dark elves, are generally thought of as dwarves, but can also appear as gnomes or other earthy creatures. Beings of ill will can appear as either beautiful but evil ljossalfar, or as twisted earthy creatures, such as goblins. The Alfar live in Alfheim, which is also called Faerie and Summerland. The fairy mound through which people can come to Faerie and elves can come to our world is connected to the burial mound, and Alfar may be a third part of the multipartite soul, that is, elves are the dead.
The Sacred Cow. Audhumla is the primal being, the first living, self-aware creature in the multiverse. She awoke the gods and the giants by licking the ice away from their frozen forms, thus giving life to the potential found in the frozen patterns. Then she suckled them with her milk. The myths tell no more of her, but because they do not say that she died or went anywhere, it is presumed that the Sacred Cow is still out in the space beyond space, in the time beyond time, outside the worlds on the World Tree. The rune of Audhumla is Uruz.
Also called Idises. The Disir are female ancestral spirits. They have a protective role toward the living members of their family, and they can be consulted by magic, meditation, or ritual to ask their advice. As an example, Thorgerdhr Holgabrudhr was the Dis of the family of Earl Hakon Sigurdarson, ruler of Norway. Your Disir are your own female ancestors. Freya's title “Vanadis” probably means Mother of the Vanir.
The dragon in Northern mythology represents the raw power of the natural world. In the old tales, conquering the dragon brings wealth in the form of treasure, eating the heart or drinking the blood of the dragon grants wisdom and magic, and the hero who slays the dragon also takes the sacrificed maiden as his wife. Some writers have speculated that the original dragon tales, from when the Indo-Europeans moved across the steppes of Russia, symbolized a tornado.
Fenris or Fenris-Ulfr is the great wolf, son of Loki and Angrbodha. He was Tyr's foster son until the gods reacted to a prophecy about Ragnarok by attempting to avert it, and Tyr sacrificed his hand to bind Fenris.
The Fylgia, or Fetch, is a personal spirit attached to a human being. Some see it as universally female, some as the opposite gender of the human (as in an anima or animus). Some see the fylgia as representing a protective ancestor. Some have identified the fylgia as identical to the animal totem of a bersarkr. But because bersarkrs can have more than one totem, and no one has more than one fylgia, it is doubtful that the fylgia is the same as the totem. Others have identified the fylgia as a part of the multipartite soul that is passed down along the family line. In modern folk custom, the fylgia is a guardian angel. The idea of the fylgia may have influenced the modern idea of a guardian angel, because in modern times angel icons are almost always represented as female, whereas early Christian depictions of angels usually showed adult males (Seraphim) or male infants (Cherubim), when depicted as humanoid at all. The concept of a personal guardian angel as a beloved dead relative could not have originated with Christianity because Biblical angels are a separate, older, more powerful, divine race, not dead humans as popularly seen in modern times.
The Hel-hound who guards the gates of Hela's hall within the realm of Helheim.
Also called ettins (Jotuns/jotnar) and thurses. There are several types of giants. The original giants were the ancestors of the gods and of the other giants, and include Ymir the first giant, who was Odin's grandfather and who was slain to fashion the world from his body. The frost giants live in Niflheim, land of ice and mist, which is the embodiment of the rune Isa. The fire giants live in Muspelsheim, land of fire, which is the embodiment of the rune Fehu. Various types of giants lives in Jotunheim, meaning home of the jotnar (the plural of Jotun), including fire giants, frost giants, stone giants/mountain giants, storm giants, and so forth. Some jotnar have become gods by going to live in Asgard and eating the apples of Idun. Loki began as a fire giant, and Skadi began as a frost giant. Some of the gods have taken ettinbrides, that is, concubines or wives who were frost or earth giants. For example, Freyr married Gerd, who represents the winter earth, and Odin sired Vali, Vidar, and Thor with three different giantesses. These Jotun brides either remained giantesses or became goddesses, or became some in-between state. At the Ragnarok, the giants will fight against the gods.
The Hamingya is the aura. It is associated with the magic of faring-forth (astral projection) and shape-changing. Thus, although a bersarkr's “skin” (animal totem) is often called a fylgia, it is probably a hamingya, because the psychically gifted can “see” a bersarkr's animal totem while it is manifested, just like they can see an aura.
The House Spirit is a beneficial elf. They like gifts of milk and porridge. Their function (when they are happy) is to bring good luck and see that the normal work of the house goes well. The House Spirit is usually seen as male.
Odin's ravens are Mind and Memory. He sends them out to see the world and they return and tell him about it.
See: Alfar.
The Midgard Serpent is the son of Loki and Angrbodha. He is the snake that encircles the whole world, biting his tail, and is thus a symbol of the boundary of the world and of infinity, two concepts that would otherwise be opposites. He lives in the deep ocean. Prophecy says he will play a role in Ragnarok.
Jotuns are giants. Although thurses are said to come from either Niflheim or Muspelsheim, and Jotuns come from Jotunheim, they are both large, strong beings with various powers associated with elements or the land. Thurses are generally the enemies of the gods and mankind, whereas some jotnar are friendly and some are inimical to life.
Also called landwights, or landvættir. Each field and glen, every tree and river and hill, has its own spirit. In Europe, it was customary to leave gifts of milk in the fields for the landwights, but America is a different land with different land spirits. Many of the land spirits of America prefer to be honored in the Native way. Corn and tobacco are appropriate gifts for them. Asatruars living in places such as Australia should research the local customs for honoring the land spirits. This is not eclecticism, is it simply giving the spirits what they want. In Viking times, sailors took the dragon head off the prow of their ship when landing at home to avoid frightening the land spirits of their own country.
The guardian of the bridge to Hel.
The Norns form a Triple Goddess. Their names are Urdhr (the past, or the Crone), Verdhandi (the present, or the Mother), and Skuld (the future, or the Maiden). Although they are goddesses, they are presented in this chapter because they are outside the order of the gods of Asgard. They are neither Aesir nor Vanir. They weave the web of wyrd (laws of causality), to which all the gods of Asgard are subject. Of all the creatures of the multiverse, only the Norns (and Audhumla, who is not of the multiverse) are not subject to orlog, the law of wyrd. The word Norns is often mistranslated as Fates, which gives people a false view of wyrd as predestination. The closest equivalent to wyrd and orlog is not fate but karma. The Norns can influence a person's future, just as the gods, elves, the person's parents, neighbors, congressmen, and larger societal forces can all influence a person's future, but the Norns do not control destiny. They create the fabric of life from the materials available. A person's actions create those materials. Thus wyrd is a law of cause and effect. The Norns live at the base of the World Tree, watering it from the Well of Wyrd. Thus the Norns live outside the multiverse—that is, outside the Nine Worlds that grow like fruit on the World Tree—and so are naturally not subject to its laws. The rune of the Norns is Perthro.
Sleipnir is Odin's eight-legged horse. He is the son of Loki, who was shape-changed in mare form by a giant stallion. Sleipnir is therefore half god, and may be a demigod, or could perhaps be Aesir.
The Valkyries are the Choosers of the Slain. They take fallen heroes from the battlefield to Valhalla and to Freya's realm. Their winged forms lend them their kenning (nickname) Swan Maidens. Valkyries are always female. Their appearance resembles the modern idea of an angel, like the fylgia does.