Also called Hamingjur (plural), Luck, Heill.
Their story
In the Old Norse world, luck was something you had, could lend and could lose, and it could run in a family. In Víga-Glúms saga, Glúmr dreams of a great woman walking towards his farm, so large her shoulders touched the mountains, and understands it is the hamingja of his dead grandfather come to live with him. Kings were thought to lend their luck to followers.
Best times to give to them
- at the start of a venture
- at family gatherings
- the new year
What they like being given
- a good deed done for the family's name
- keeping a heirloom cared for
- a toast to the family's luck
How to honour them
- Act in ways that would honour your family's good name.
- Keep one heirloom cared for and tell its story.
How they can help you
- building good fortune
- family honour
- taking up a legacy
Symbols
- a huge woman walking ahead
- a family heirloom
The idea overlaps with the fylgja and the dísir in the sources.
Sources
- Víga-Glúms saga
- Simek, Dictionary of Northern Mythology
More Norse spirits
- The Dísir Ancestral mothers and guardian women
- The Álfar The elves, bright and hidden folk
- The Landvættir The spirits of the land
- Jötnar The giants, elder powers of the wild
- The Daughters of Ægir and Rán The nine waves of the sea
- Dvergar The master smiths under stone
- The Sons of Ivaldi The dwarf smiths of Sif's hair and Skíðblaðnir
- Einherjar The chosen dead of Valhalla