A Note: The views I express are those I hold at the time of writing on the sálættr and the souls themselves is, as a lot of things in esotericism and spiritwork, an ongoing process of discovery, experience, meditation, and revision as needed. The term is a neologism combining the term sál, soul, and ættr which I have seen variously interpreted as tribe, clan, or group. As I have changed over the years in my understanding of the soul, going from a soul matrix understanding to a soul community/tribe/clan idea, I would encourage folks to hold your ideas with strength but adaptability. If you hold your ideas of what is too tight and you resist changes that experience and wisdom can bring. Hold it too loose, and it is hard to make a cogent understanding in the first place. I heavily recommend folks check out Winifred Hodge Rose’s website on Heathen Soul Lore here, and her books on Heathen Soul Lore Volume I and Volume II.

What I have written below is how I understand how each soul takes up a place in the sálættr. What is important to understand and keep in mind as someone explores this way of expressing and understanding what souls are and how the souls function within the sálættr, is that each soul is a unique Being unto itself. Each soul is part of the community of that sálættr. Like any unique Being, there are only so many ways we can conceptualize, understand, and relate with Them. Like any unique Being in community, there may be more or less parts of Them that are relevant to the good functioning of that community, in this case the collective of the sálættr that makes each of us up. It is important to remember that each soul is a whole Being unto itself rather than being a mere shard of the whole. Like a community, some of these Being rely on each other to become, emerge, or sustain Their existence. Some of these reliances on one another mean that when one of the souls die, for instance, the Lykr, other souls or portions of souls that are tied into it will die along with it. 

Líkr

The physical body and its functions.

Önd

The breath and the spiritual energies tied to it. I look at it as being in a similar way to chi, qi, prana, or pneuma. While Rose splits the Önd between Ahma and the Ghost as filled by it, I see these souls as being one in the same. That is, Önd is the breath and the hamr, the skin, that personhood, that the breath fills.

Önd is the energy and circulation of spiritual energy, and has ties to all the souls. It is part of how we engage with our other souls while we live. For instance, someone who works with their önd on a regular basis can engage their óðr in a deeper way because it is done with intent, and the development of skill in doing so.

Litr

Blooming hue, the vitality and well-being of the Lykr. I have also seen this as the vitality and well-being shared between the souls.

Hamr

The hamr is the spiritual double of a person. It could be analogized to the astral body in general occultism. 

Hugr

Thought. The way we think, the paradigms of understanding we have, and the worldview we hold.

Munr

Memory. This is the living memories of the person, and, in my view, those memories that live on after we die.

Móðr

The mood and emotions soul that is and flows between souls.

While you could look at the Moðr as exclusively belonging to the physical body, I also see it tied up with soul parts not tied to the body, namely the Vili, Oðr, Vé, and Sál.

Öðr

Frenzy. The ability of a person to enter into altered states of consciousness, and sacred states.

Sál

Perhaps the most distant, it is an Old Norse word meaning soul and was borrowed into the language. I use this term to mean the organizing soul, one I see that stays behind in one of if not many afterlives. 

Megin

Personal might/power. 

Often tied to honor, this idea of Megin is the power one has and the ability to put one’s power to use. Each person holds Megin, but how they are able to express it, use it, and work with it differs person to person. It can refer to your ability to do something, guided by the Villi, Will. It can refer to the pull you have socially. Power expresses itself in a number of ways, some overt, eg the ability to move weight, and others subtle, eg the ability to move people to emotion. It can also refer to spiritual power employed in magic. A person’s Megin may not go away when a person dies. The effects a given person has or can exert on a community post-mortem can be quite a testament to the ongoing effects, or ongoing work, their Megin is engaged in.

Megin can find expression in almost innumerable ways. A person might invest quite a lot of Megin in a given craft or items, such as Runes, ritual tools, and items that have deep connections with certain Gods, Ancestors, and vaettir. They might also invest a lot of Megin in the running and operations of a community, though this will intersect with Hamingja as well. Megin, then, is also bound up in how we work with our personal might or power and the things it is invested in. Whether this is done in a healthy way is up to how we decide to use this power.

Víli

The will, or the Will, the part of the person’s sálættr that brings power to action.

Vé

The sacred place. In terms of the sálættr, a person’s sense of, sensitivity to, and aptitude in connecting and working with the sacred.

Hamingja

Group luck/power.

Where Megin was power built on one’s own, Hamginja is built in community. It is what we inherit from our forebears, and affects the shape of our Urðr. It is built within the relationships we build well, harmed by the relationships we neglect, and can grow quite strong if we do the work necessary for it to. Each oath kept, each work done that helps the community adds to one’s own and others’ interwoven hamingja.

Fylgjur

The Follower, or Followers.

The Fylgja holds an interesting place in Heathenry. On the one hand most folks equate it to the fetch, and yet, it appears in a number of different ways. As I understand it fylgja, or fylgjur, are part of the soul matrix because, much like our hamingja is built in community, so our spiritual Elders, allies, friends, and acquaintances are made in community.

Kýnfylgjur

My view of the Kinyfylgja/Kinfylgjur is along similar lines to the 

Fylgja/Fylgjur. These are Followers who are connected to our Ancestors, or are Themselves. Ancestors. Kinfylgja/Kinfylgjur are what the word says on the tin: They are spirits, Followers, that are Kin. Relatives. This may refer to Ancestors, to animals or plants especially tied to a person’s family, or to initiated lineage.

Ørlög

One’s personal thread in the tapestry of Creation. That which has come before to get you where you are.

Urðr

The tapestry of Creation.

As with Örlög, this soul part is tied up in the rites of remembrance and care. Whereas Örlög is one’s personal thread in the tapestry, Urðr is the place where that thread is and the way this thread fits into the overall tapestry. Each person affects the tapestry differently over the course of their lives, and acknowledging their place in things, as with Örlög. Unlike Örlög, which is about each person’s thread, Urðr is the way each thread interweaves with each other.