Parts of a Person

If you've grown up around monotheistic Levantine religions (basically the Hebrew-based ones) you have probably heard that a person is made up of two or three parts. What you may not have heard is that other religions see a person as being a different number of parts. Asatru is one of those religions.

To the Hebrews, a person has a body and a soul and those two parts are held together by divine breath. When the connection is broken, the body returns to the Earth and the soul meanders off to the afterlife. Later, the Greeks added the idea of a mind, making a person a mind, body, and soul. These two concepts are what many westerners believe today.

If you've heard something different, you may have heard about the ancient Egyptian belief that a person had five parts (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_concept_of_the_soul). This is called the Pluralistic Soul.

Because the number nine figures so prominently in Germano-Norse religion, it comes as no surprise that we see nine parts to a person. Each of these parts has its own intelligence, as appropriate to its function. Each had its own place in life and then, again, in the afterlife.

Each of these parts deserves its own attention, so I will gradually prepare a separate article for each. You can reach the existing ones through the links below.

Like with all things in our religion, other people may have different experiences or interpretations. Try not to get caught up on small differences.