The concept of the three souls is something that can be found from the ancient belief systems from all people who have spoken erratic languages.
An idea that outside our physical body people had two other souls.
First soul for the ancient Finns was body soul,
Ruumissielu,
Also known as löyly.
Löyly was all the functions of the body.
The heartbeat and breathing.
It was believed that person was born into their body soul from the first moment when they catch their breath to the day they died and took their last breath.
Similar words to löyly can be found from different Finno-Ugric languages.
In Hungarian löyly is lelek,
Which means both spirit and soul.
In Estonian löyly is leil and it means life and spirit.
In Northern Sami word liil means spirit,
Steam,
Soul and breathing.
And in Komi language word lol means soul and life.
The body soul was attached to the person's body and when the body soul left then the person would die.
In modern Finnish language löyly refers to the steam that rises when you throw water into the sauna,
To the stove.
Second soul was itse,
The self.
Itse is more closer to the concept of psyche and it was also known as vapaa-sielu,
The free soul.
It was the persona,
The identity of the person.
There was many ways itse could attach itself to the body.
It was believed that itse would become part of the person when child was accepted as part of the family.
This usually happened during the naming ritual.
Concept of itse was tightly connected to the family and the community.
For example,
Among the Sami,
A child who had a name also had the right to own reindeers.
People often named their children after their ancestors and passed away relatives.
There was believed that ancestor's itse,
The self,
Would reincarnate itself in the child.
Unlike löyly which was always connected to the body,
Itse could leave the body and come back.
For example,
During nights when person was sleeping,
Their itse might go out and return the next morning.
This is why it was forbidden to suddenly wake up a sleeping person.
Their soul might not have returned just yet.
If itse would not travel in the dream world,
In other realms person who lost their itse got very ill.
Only person who could bring their soul back was the shaman.
Shamans were the only ones whose itse could travel in the underworld so that the person could control it in the trance state.
The third soul was called Haltia.
Each person was believed to have their own Haltia,
An invisible guardian spirit who would look after the person.
Some people were believed to have extremely strong Haltia,
Especially if they were successful in their lives.
Person who was not so successful were believed to have very poor and weak Haltia.
And Haltia would be more similar to the concept of a guardian angel.
Haltia could also abandon the person if they thought they were not worth of them.
Suonto in Finnish means nature and it also refers to the nature of the person.
Aggressive person might had a short tempered Haltia when a kinder person had a very good willed Haltia.
These were some of the stories about the three souls in Finnish folklore.
Thank you for listening.
