As stubborn as Hel's Bull

Photograph taken June 2011 in Berlin, Germany at Alboinplatz in the Templehof area.

According to local folk tradition, there was a sacrificial stone altar beside the great lake tended by a pagan priest, and the Goddess Hel (who was believed to dwell at the bottom of the lake) would send up black bulls that emerged from the water. These bulls would help the priest clear the land, and work it. The land itself was blessed, and would provide plenty of grain that kept the priest well fed.

But as the priest grew old, he took it as a sign when one day a Christian monk appeared at the lake that his time on Midgard was ending. He asked the holy man to continue to look after the place of sacrifice. But after the Pagan priest had passed from the world of the living the monk refused to honor a Pagan Goddess. Hel was greatly displeased and sent Her bulls foaming up from the water after the monk, and the monk was killed. Since then, it is said in some versions of the local folk tales that instead of waiting for others to sacrifice to Her in an age of Christianity, that the Goddess Herself lures victims to Her holy waters, and takes them as drowned sacrifices.

I am uncertain if this particular folk tale has been translated into English, but through the years, and the pagan grapevine I’ve heard of several other pagans who have in one source or another stumbled across this local folk tale. There appears to be other versions of the folk tradition out there as well, such as an alternate version that describes the Christian monk reconverting back to paganism after being chased by the Goddess’s bull, or a version where instead of this being Hel’s pond it belongs to Frau Holle.

Some scholars and believers think that Hel and Frau Holle may be connected, and possibly the same Goddess. While others think that belief is completely misguided. Even this one account (in German) I found online from the local Berlin Körper Geist Seele Magazine [link] tries to convey the claim they are the same Goddess. Certainly they both have some similarities, such as connections with the dead. But I am always personally a little leery of the scholarship that tries to make a vast amalgam of the various deities. A Berlin tourist site [link] mentions it briefly in English and calls it Hel’s Pond.

Once at the site, my friend and I walked around it. We managed to find a nice little lull on one side of the park where no one else was around where we were able to quietly pour out drinks in offering to the Goddess, and give offerings. We each hailed the Goddess in our own observances. I would say that the offerings were well received because two magpies descended before us on the path, as soon as we finished giving our offerings. The avian duo paused a moment before us on the path, and then flitted away.

For more information, go here: [link]