Oh goddess of the welcoming embrace, may you reach out your gentle arms for those who died in the massacre. Oh sweet goddess, cradle the dead to your bosom. Help them find their way to peace. If they belong in your hall, let them have a soft place to be therein. If they belong elsewhere, help them on their way to where best suits them. Oh Death, whom we in Asatru call Hela, be kind to them.

Shrodinger’s Goddess

Is both alive and dead.

See her in art

Split down the middle

Because no one knows

What awaits in Hel

Until we open

The box of death.

I conducted a ritual to Hela, also called Hel, to welcome those who died in the recent mass murder into her realm, which is called Hel or Helheim. Hel is not a bad place in heathen tradition, it is just the realm of the dead.

The altar in this picture is in my front yard. It is a public memorial, and is accessible from the public sidewalk.

Image: an altar used in a ritual to Hela. The altar contains a Nevada state flag, a hand embroidered image of Hela, a glass drinking horn, and cut branches of evergreen and flowers.