#mordgud

[audasunda]

Mordgud guards the main gate to Helheim. She is aiding and shepherding dead souls. She is a tall and muscular etin-woman who appears in shining black armor. Her black tower stands at the Gjallarbru bridge. She is honorable and her job is much like Heimdall's.

Source:

The JOTUNBOK: Working withe Giants of the Northern Tradition

by Raven Kaldera

Asphodel Press, 2006

[thorraborinn]

Spelling PSA

I know this will seem pedantic but as someone who understands the language, this error is linguistically meaningful and it zaps me in the brain every time I see it.

Some Norse heathens recognize a divine being mistakenly renamed "Mordgud" which means 'god of murder.' I don't know where that "r" came from because the actual name begins móð- 'fury', and this misspelling makes it morð- 'murder.'

The name is actually:

Móð-gunn-r > Móðguðr

The Old Icelandic Móðguðr (probably 'fury-battle', possibly 'weary-battle') is a little weird in that it has a hidden -nn- in it. The root is Móðgunn- and when you add an -r that -nn- becomes -ð-. I know, it's weird, it's really weird, but compare for example the word maðr 'man' (from *mann-az). This is also normal for valkyrie names like Guðr~Gunnr. If Móðguðr appeared more in Norse mythology, we'd see it written Móðgunnr. And when you drop the final -r, as in other declensions of her name, it's Móðgunn.

So I'd submit "Modgunn" as a more appropriate Anglicization.

[smokeselks]

Mordgud

Lady of Iron.  

Dark skies above the looming bridge.  

She stands tall and proud, she waits, hands folded on the hilt of her sword. 

The Gatekeeper of Helheim, Protector, Guardian.  She keeps the living from the land of the dead, allows those who have passed to travel beyond, to the lands of Hel.  She stands strong as she has done for so long, aeons of wisdom and knowledge in her gaze.  She guards that pathway, she guides the transition from one side to the next, she leads from one place to another.  

Two black dogs sit to attention at her side, faithful companions to her, and to the Lady of the realm beyond.  They, like she, watch.  They are not always there, they roam freely between the two, but when they are with her, they watch, and they wait, steadfast and unfailing.  

The sharp scent of pine and snow of the forest, the tang of iron and the icy bite of a star studded winter night.  She is iron, she is stardust, she is Death’s Lady, ever vigilant, guarding the realm of those who have gone before.  She has greeted ancestors, and will greet descendants yet to come, she will protect, she will guard.  

[from-the-sea-to-the-stars]

Mordgud

[heyoholls]

X: Mordgud / Morgunda

[northern-seidmadr]

TFW you realize that FREYA is maybe more of a psychopomp that ODIN. She picks the slain from battle, and then the Valkyrie (which means they are more psychopomp than Odin too). Ran, too, gets her drowned dead. Odin never actually escorts the dead to Helheim or Valhalla. And then there’s the Gjallarbrug bridge which seems to mean the rest of the dead just journey down there, on their own. Even Mordgud is more like a gatekeeper rather than an escort; unless you consider St Peter in heaven to be a psychopomp then that could work I guess.

[northern-seidmadr]

I honestly can’t trim enough to quote the stuff about shamanism, and about Odin as a shaman. It’s good and sound arguments against historical heathens having anything resembling a shamanic society, as well as Odin’s ordeals not really being shamanism, despite being frequently misunderstood as such. Additionally, an argument *against* Odin-as-psychopomp which is interesting. Mordgud is really someone who is more in that role, if we’re going to be accurate.

Most interesting to me is how Odin’s trials on Yggdrasil are often used to demonstrate his shaman path, but there are quite a few things that don’t line up *at all* with a traditional shaman initiation. It’s important to note how the process was really sacrificing himself to himself, as he was treated in the same way humans were sacrificed, specifically sacrificed to Odin himself.

The section I’m referring to is about 2/3 the way down, under the specific heading “Shamanism.”

Anyway, this is giving me a lot of thoughts and confirming things that didn’t sit right with me before.

[pagan-and-witch-devotionals]

Mordgud Poem

by Sarenth

She stands dressed in black, spear in hand and sword on hip

Her armor silent as Her gaze pours from Heilheim’s Gate

Death’s sentinel stands tall

The weary souls, the old, those who died in life’s embrace

The scientist and swordsmith, the veteran, the peaceful and the passionate

All walk the long and winding road to Gjallarbru

The addict and the shiverer, the starved and sold and stricken

Walk together in Death’s invitation

She watches their steps upon the well-trod road

The Dead pass by with Her assent

Welcomed home into the Hall

No fear, but welcome for every single soul

She shuts the Gate behind Them

Her sacred duty never done

For Hel and the Mighty Dead