What is Hamingja?

What is Hamingja? Temple Illuminatus describes hamingja this way:

At its most basic, this is a person’s luck. More specifically, it is “family luck”, meaning that it is is inherited through the family line. Hamingja affects our wyrd. Rather than luck, which is generally how it is described by most authors, it may be better to think of it as personal spiritual energy, given to each one of us, through inheritance, going back to the original first people created by Odin.

Hamingja is sensitive to one’s actions in this lifetime. Righteous action has a positive effect upon a person’s hamingja, and feeds their energy. One’s hamingja can also be strengthened by daily devotions and other personal rituals. The rituals of the Year Wheel, so common to European pagan practice will also strengthen our personal luck reserves, as will living with the seasons. Energy raising activities such as blots, sumbels, and galdr can turbocharge your Hamingja for a little while – so can initiations. These are the spiritual equivalent of a dose of Red Bull.

As you go through life, be aware of hamingja, because its existence with your wyrd and ond is symbiotic. We will all screw up and do some rotten things from time to time. That is simply life. When we consciously strive to increase our hamingja by living true and by accepting responsibility for our actions, we will find that those trips off the path will occur less and less, as we attract better and better into our lives.