#hlin

HLíN

Hlín is one of Frigg’s handmaidens, whose name is often associated with protection and consolation, as she is said to shelter those in need. Some scholars believe that Hlin was not a separate deity but rather another name for Frigg herself, highlighting her role as a guardian. Others argue that she may have been a goddess of protection, watching over those who seek refuge. In modern paganism, some associate Hlin with Ran, the sea giantess, though there is no historical evidence for this connection. Regardless of her origins, Hlin remains a symbol of care and safeguarding in Norse tradition.

(Text by Delia Gosforth, Illustration by Ellen Artistic)

I am the artist! Do not post without permission & credit! Thank you! Come visit me over on: instagram.com/ellenartistic or tiktok.

These illustrations all made it into a Norse Goddess Coloring Book!

(Print Copy)

There are also PDF copies available!

"The twelfth is, Hlín, is appointed to guard over people whom Frigg wishes to protect from danger. From her name comes the expression that he who escapes finds hleinir."

Not so long ago, I was telling you I could not find anymore the thesis I had read a few months ago about the Norse goddesses, and that contested Riccardo Ginevra's paper about Sigyn's name, but I did not remember its title... Well I found it on Academia.edu, and EVEN BETTER, I found the academic who wrote it, the amazing and very knowledgeable Ellis B Wylie , aka @loptrcoptr.

Her Master thesis is truly interesting, and give us more information on the Norse goddesses, allowing us to get to know them a little better :3

I decided to redraw my designs for Frigg and her handmaidens again since I haven’t drawn all of them in a minute!

I gave most of them, including Frigg slight redesigns, but I thought drawing them all again would be a fun little thing to do because I feel like these goddesses aren’t talked about enough

Who are the Handmaidens?

In the Prose Edda, twelve Goddesses are listed after Frigga as Ásynjur: Fulla, Gefjon, Hlín, Syn, Eir, Sága, Gná, Vár or Vór, Snotra, Vör, Lofn and Sjöfn. Modern Heathens sometimes refer to Them as Frigga's Handmaidens. (This is a piece of shared gnosis, not an historically attested term.) For many of the Twelve, this is all that survives in the way of attestations.

What is the Project?

Gradually over several years, and more intentionally recently, I have been building a devotional cultus around these Goddesses. As part of that, I've been putting together primers on each of the Twelve on my longform blog -- detailing Their surviving attestations, Old English God-names and epithets for Them, my own personal experiences and upg, a prayer, and devotional icon art -- as well as essays and modern myths exploring other aspects of Them and my cultus to Them.

Although I use Old English names for Them and honour Them in a syncretic heathen practice drawing on influences from across the British and Irish Isles, I hope these may be useful and/or interesting for practitioners working in a Norse, Continental, or other context. Or for anyone worshipping and building cultus to lesser-known and lesser-attested Gods!

I will update this post periodically, but if you like you can subscribe to my longform Wordpress blog for updates when I post.

Primers

Fulla

Geofen (Gefjon)

Hlēowen (Hlin)

Ār (Eir)

Saga

Lofen & Siofen (Lofn & Sjöfn)

Snotor (Snotra)

Wearn, or Syn (Syn)

Wær (Vör)

Gnæ (Gnā)

Āþ (Vár)

Essays and other posts

Introduction to the Project

Essay on abundance, ānanda, and Fulla

Essay on Frīg and Her importance to my cosmology

The Wren and her sister: a myth of Frīg feat. Ār and Gnæ

"Her name is

She, queen of the kings, runnin' so fast, beatin' the wind.

Nothin' in this world can stop the spread of her wings.

She, queen of the kings, broken her cage, threw out the keys

She will be the warrior of the North and Southern Seas." - Alessandra Mele

(( DWC November 2023, Day 6, Expectation/Selfish, CW: none; @daily-writing-challenge ))

The dust of battle had cleared, and for the moment, the forces of Azeroth had taken the field, but the enemy was yet unbeaten. Fyrakk had broken his way into the temple with his own powers, and he and his followers had retreated within.

Lorellai could hear the aspects making plans to pursue, talking about taking a team of their most able champions to aid the pursuit, while the rest remained without to handle any further attempts by the remaining flame druids, primalists, or djaradin to interfere. She saw her parents, as well as her many aunts and uncles, Henii, Dolraan, and Hlin among them, engaging in the conversation as well. That made sense. She and the rest of the team had handled the primalists in the vault, and down in Aberrus, but those had been fairly localized trouble, and happened fast enough to preclude calling for backup. But now Fyrakk and the Firelands were threatening the world tree and the emerald dream, and that surely meant bringing in the big guns, and well, what bigger guns were there than the heroes who'd saved the world time and time again?