#3 Hamr and hugr – and changing skin

Perhaps you are aware that many elementals (elementals are human-like beings with affinities for different elements like air, fire, water and earth) have more than one skin – ‘eigi einhamir’, meaning ‘not of one skin’ in the old language.

Hamr is our body, our skin – and because of my raven nature I can alter my hamr and take the shape of the raven. We call both skins hamr, but on occasion the raven skin is referred to as ‘feðer-hamr’, because of our plumage and wings.

In the old times we referred to our bodies as ‘hamr’ and our minds as ‘hugr’, but understand that ‘hugr’ implies more than what the word ‘mind’ indicates. ‘Hugr’ is our inner self, our personality, our intuition and the vibe we emit.

To change skin – ‘skipta hömum’ – means that you become as two beings. You can do everything that your animal shape can, but your elemental strength is added on top. Some of us are impossibly strong in our animal skin – like those in dragon, bear or wolf skins. My raven skin doesn’t possess impossible strength like that, apart from the fact that we’re very difficult to kill and that we don’t age in our ‘feðer-hamr’. In this shape I get to keep my ‘hugr’, but the rest is raven.

The concept of ‘skipta hömum’ can take a philosophical direction too. In different contexts we might need to take on different roles, learning that we can’t use the same strategies in every situation. This is more of an internal ‘skipta hömum’.

Feathers and lore,
There’s much, much more,

//Ást