Learnings: The Old Norse Idea of Self

According to the Norse, the hugr and the hamr made up two parts of the Self.
The hugr was an individual's personality and conscious mental processes. It combined their personhood, thoughts, wishes, and desires. The hugr was a person's deep inner self, the essential nature of their being.
The hamr, in contrast, was an individual's external self. The hamr was a person's appearance and shape: their physical form as perceived by others through the senses.
To act with authenticity, one tried to express one's hugr, or inner self, in one's hamr, their outer self.
Another entity attached to a human being was the : their individual guardian spirts, or angel. Legend said that this totemic spirt could take on the appearance of an animal.
Put together, these parts of the self formed a link between each mortal and the magical web of the Cosmos. In a way, this link could have been represented by Odin's messengers, the ravens Huginn (thought) and Muninn (memory), for they too were spiritual agents of liaison between the world of humans and the world of the gods.
Engraved in this stone is Odin, flanked by his feathered companions.
Category:Discovery Tour: Viking Age