The Ring of Healing and the God of Sorcery

In my "Mera material" (which will soon be the first part of my coming work "The Sacred Forest") the spirit of the shamaness Mera discusses the uses that the ancient Britons had for the various circles of stone that they erected around their land. Britain, Ireland, Orkney, and the Continent of Europe all have many beautiful and powerful alignments and circles of megalithic stone, and the power they contain and transmit to the lonely souls of modern mystics is profound.

This subject is very important to me, and to all Traditional Pagans because if you work in the stream of Ancient Britain you must come to terms with what the ancient stones mean. They stand there, in Albion's landscape, long-standing shadows and ghosts of former times, and they inflame the imagination of practically every person who has a chance to get close to them or experience them.

The old stones have certainly influenced modern Paganism a great deal- even today, and despite the fact that the "Druids" had nothing to do with the actual building of Stonehenge and Avebury and the other megalithic circles, they are ubiquitous symbols of Land-based Paganism, particularly of the Celtic stream.

Now, don't get me wrong- I do not believe that the Druids were "solar priests" of some wave of Indo-European Celt invaders that suddenly shot into Britain and displaced the native Britons, inheriting the monuments of a previous people. No, I believe that the culture we call "Celtic" on the continent and "British" and "Irish" in the Isles was present in those places for a very, very long time.

I think that it slowly, gradually evolved into the form the Romans encountered it in. I don't think it had to "invade" out of its original homelands, where the "proto" form of the culture evolved; I think it slowly spread through trade, contact, travel, and "slow filtration". I'm more convinced by the scholarship I've read that suggest the "gradual Celticizing" of Europe than I am by the "waves of invaders" theories which were popular long ago.

In that sense, the "Druids" can be thought of as products of a slow spiritual evolution and "changing of the guard"- from the primal shaman of the Stone and early Iron Age to the time of the Roman conquest, there was always a "priestly" caste of people, dealing with the powers of the Otherworld and dealing with the sorcerous mysteries of initiation, sacred poetry, memory, relationship to the unseen dimension of the Land, and trance- but who can say at what point the term "Druid" became the term used to refer to them, or at what point they achieved the level of organization that they were reported to have, at least in Gaul and Britain. But the later "Druids" were certainly the "next in line" to be the guardians of the great mystical traditions of the European peoples in their own regions. Some people see the Christian priesthood as the "next in line" after the Druids, but on this point, I must take a serious issue and disagree. More on that later.

If we look at things as I outlined above, it was the shamanic guardians of the native religions of these people in Europe, on the continent and in the Isles, from tribe to tribe, which were there when Stonehenge was raised, as well as all the other megalithic sites. Even if they weren't called "Druids" then, or didn't operate according to the later structure and organization and learning of the Druids, the ancient Druids and the modern ones can claim to be in the same spiritual line of descent from the stone-raisers.

Any group of people that came to live near the stones would have been influenced by their numinal presence, and the great sum of Otherworldly power contained in them. In this way, I don't really mind the stones being used as "symbols" of Land-based modern Paganism; they are as good a symbol as any, and better than most.

Even in the mysteries of "Traditional Witchcraft" (which is the term given by me and others to the latest manifestation of Celtic and Germanic folk-wisdom, degenerate, forgotten animism and paganism, and primal gnosis which arises from the intuitive level on the parts of modern people of a mystical bent and the proper fateful or ancestral ties) the ancienet stones rise over the "inner" landscape, as symbols of the "foretime". The same can be said about Druidry. And the voices of these stones call out for people to come to terms with the mystery they represent. Who built them? What did they do inside these rings of stone? What can they do for us today? What can these ancient monuments tell us about ourselves?

People have wondered for a long time what Stonehenge was used for. There have been many theories, some better than others, of course; but the very best theory in my own never-so-humble-opinion has been put forth by Timothy Darvill, professor of archaeology at Bournemouth University.

There is a short news story here which gives Professor Darvill's theory:

Stonehenge was a site for sore eyes in 2300BC


To make a long story short, Professor Darvill has proposed that Stonehenge was a place of healing, a shrine that ancient people came from very long distances to see, hoping to be healed of various ailments.

The article states:

"For most of the 20th century archaeologists have debated what motivated primitive humans to go to the immense effort of transporting giant stones 240 miles from south Wales to erect Britain's most significant prehistoric monument.

Stonehenge was built in different stages between 3000BC and 1600BC and theories about their meaning and purpose have ranged from the serious to the wacky. The most widely accepted view is that it was to honour their ancestors.

Now Timothy Darvill, professor of archaeology at Bournemouth University, has breathed new life into the controversy with the publication of a book which proposes that the monument was in fact a centre of healing. Prof Darvill also backs the recent view that modern-day druids and hippies who celebrate the summer solstice at the site in the belief that they are continuing an ancient tradition should in fact carry out their rituals in December.

In his book Stonehenge: The Biography of a Landscape, Prof Darvill points to evidence that many of the human remains excavated from burial mounds around Stonehenge, dating from around 2300BC, show signs of the individuals having been unwell prior to their death.

Chemical analysis of their teeth has shown that a good proportion of those buried near the monument were not locals, but in fact came from as far away as Wales, Ireland and the Lake District. A grave uncovered in 2002 three miles from Stonehenge revealed the remains of a man who became known as the Amesbury Archer. He was found to have originated in what is now Switzerland."

The professor doesn't stop there. I have not yet read his book, but I will, very soon. But the news story on his theory quotes the professor giving two further important bits of support for his ideas.

Firstly, he points out that the stones were taken from 240 miles to the west, from the Preseli mountains of Wales. Why? Because there are many sacred springs in Wales that were (and are) believed to have healing properties.

But the second bit of support is by far the best- he points out something that folk-tradition even upholds- that Stonehenge was the temple of a Solar God or a Sun-God. Which God? He points out that in the beliefs of the Greeks, Apollo, the God of Light and Healing, left his home in Greece, at his oracle-shrine in Delphi, to go to Hyperborea, or Britain during the winter. The Hyperboreans were considered Apollo's sacred people; of course, we have no idea what the ancient Britains called the "Apollo-type" God, but we can be certain that he was with them. And I believe that Stonehenge was meant, at one point, to be a temple for him. Perhaps it was raised specifically for him.

The "Apollo-type" God is a common fixture among the Germanic and Celtic peoples. The Romans encountered Gods they called "Apollo" all over Celtia and Britain. If you look at the lore of Apollo, who he was, precisely, among the Northern Peoples is not hard to divine at all- Apollo was a God of Light, the Underworld, and Healing, as well as occult rites and prophecy.

He (Apollo) bestowed trances upon his shamanic priesthood, the Iatromantoi who went into caves and dark places to lie down, like hibernating animals, and journey into the Underworld. They took these journeys to gather healing power and knowledge for others, and sometimes, they helped others to take these journeys, lying in stillness for days sometimes, in caves which were situated near shrines or entrances to the Underworld.

Apollo's links to these shamanic practice are only the tip of the iceberg. Ravens, wolves, and serpents were all sacred to him, totemic emblems of his power. He was an archer, and a hunter. No Greek God had more rustic shrines devoted to them than Apollo. He was called the "enlightener" of mankind. Foremost, to the Greeks, he was a healer.

It's perfectly clear that this God Apollo, who was not originally from Greece, was the same God that the Celts encountered and called Lugh, who was also an archer, also a God of light and lightning, and a God of Druidry, sorcery, healing, and who was totemically represented by Ravens. Lugh was the God who mastered all arts, including the magical and healing arts.

There are, of course, variations in Celtic myths regarding Lugh; his myths in Celtia are not the same as his myths in Greece, but this is not hard to understand; the Greek experience of him was very different from the Celtic experience. They gave him two different names, which is not surprising, as these people spoke different languages. But in both places, he was who he was and he still is who he is.

Lugh is often syncretized with Hermes/Mercury, as well, but only because he was the master of the skills of tradesmen and merchants, and thus, worshipped by them as well. He protected travellers just like Hermes did, and like Hermes, he likely had a "psychopompic" role for the dead. The Romans who encountered Celtic merchants and tradesmen worshipping Lugus or Lugh had little choice but to immediately assume that they were seeing the familiar activity of their God Mercury.

It's an interesting fact that the Romans called the Germanic God Odin or Woden "Mercury" as well. Shall I point out that, like Lugh and Apollo, Odin had Ravens as a sacred beast? Like Apollo, he also had Wolves as a totemic beast. Like Apollo, he was a God of occult rites and shamanic mysteries. Like Lugh, he wielded a spear, which he hurled- a ranged weapon. Lugh and Odin both defeated the forces of Chaos, to establish the dominance of the Gods over the Giants (whom Celtic myths call the Fomorians).

Like Lugh, Odin he was born of one giantish parent and one godly parent (Lugh was the son of a Fomorian princess and a Godly father). Odin is depicted as one-eyed, and he sacrificed one of his eyes to gain wisdom and power. Lugh, when he used deadly magic against his enemies, closed one of his eyes to take on a "one-eyed" visage, which was considered magically powerful. Like Apollo, Odin was also totemically related to the serpent or the snake. Odin was also a guide of souls, a psychopomp, and a God of the Underworld and the Death mysteries.

And like Lugh/Lugus in the Celtic world, Odin came to be worshipped all over the Germanic world. When Romans encountered these two peoples, they encountered the manifold appearances of Odin and Lugus. The Romans were quick to label Odin and Lugh as "Mercury", but a study of the mystical and shamanic myths of Odin and Lugh would reveal that Apollo is the more likely counterpart.

It just so happens that the Celtic people were not as "compartmentalized" with their Gods as the Romans. Lugh was able to be a God of Druids and deep mysteries, and a Sovereign God of Kings, but also a God of smiths, tradesmen, warriors, and the like. He was able to be all things to any person, for he was the "Samildanach", the "Master of all Arts". He was a transfunctional God.

Odin's character is less "across the board", but this merely tells us more about the state of Germanic culture and religious interpretation at the time, and less about the deeper reality of Odin. Odin was typically worshipped only by Kings and Sorcerers, but he was still the "Allfather" of the Germanic peoples and their Gods, after a point. What we can see, historically, is that his "sovereign" aspects, as well as his sorcerous aspects were emphasized over any others he may have had. His character as an original God of the Dead, however, is always there, and thus the old saying about "Seeing Odin" at death. This is also another reason why the Romans were in a hurry to call him "Mercury".

There's more than enough evidence to suggest that the Sky God Tyr/Tiwaz was the original "Great God" or dominant God of the primal Germanic pantheon, at least in Continental Germania, just as there is evidence that Thor was also once a "chief" figure in Germanic pantheons in certain places. There's no doubt that a lot of religious evolution took place in Germania and in all the groups of Germanic peoples around Europe. And as I have long said, this tells us about human cultural realities, not the realities of the Gods, of who they are and what they are.

Humans will see the Gods in many ways, and come up with many myths about them. They will evolve names for the Gods, unique myths, and unique ways of worshipping them. But the Gods are the Gods. I do not believe that people invent or create their own Gods. I do not believe that the Gods are dependant on human beings for their own existence. I do not believe that the God of Sorcery and Light and Primal Wisdom that stands behind the cultural masks of Lugh, Odin, and Apollo would cease to exist if the Germanic peoples vanished, or the Celtic peoples, or the Greeks.

I do believe that the Gods are related to us within this system of Fate, within the inter-locked system of forces that we call "this world" and "the many worlds". We affect one another, but the Gods do not depend on human belief to exist.

The main point of practicing Ancestral religion is to honor the wisdom of your ancestors- and that means honoring these Gods as they knew them. It means giving worth to the cultural features and practices of your ancestors, because you believe that these features and practices were good, worthwhile things. It doesn't mean losing your common sense and creating a "Germans only" club or a "Celts only" club and becoming an ethnocentric ass. It doesn't mean ignoring the bigger picture of mythology when it doesn't suit your exclusivist claims.

A few very disagreeable people in modern Paganism, particularly the reconstructed ancestral religions, get angry when someone insinuates that Lugh and Odin may have been the same God, simply experienced in two different ways by two different cultures.

They refuse to see the possibility of a deeper reality, and choose to remain ignorant, selfishly holding on to unrealistic theories about how "Odin" only belongs to the Germanic peoples, (despite the fact that his mythology clearly states that he created the entire world and all the worlds) and that Lugh is the God of an "alien" people, and not at all possibly just the way that an Indo-European cousin people- the Celts- experienced the numina of the same God.

These people aren't in Paganism to honor the ancestors; they are in Paganism to find an identity that they can jealously protect. I find that many of them are people who are very jealous of small, ethnic cultures around the world, especially Native Americans and Jews, and they want so badly to belong to a small, exclusive group. They feel the lack of identity- especially spiritual identity- that so many people in the desacralized modern day feel, and they go for broke.

In most cases, they tend to find Asatru, and then begin abusing the spirit of the Germanic peoples. They butcher the myths and discard common sense, all to make the myths say what they want them to say, and they tend to carry along their own smiling racism to top it all off. They re-write history better than the early church did, and that is nothing short of ironic.

But enough of that. If we can admit to the reality of Odin, Lugus, and Apollo's identity as the Lord of Sorcery and Occultism among many ancient peoples from Europe's Pagan past, we can begin to see a deeper vision of this God's long and lasting relationship with our ancestors. We can see how important he has always been to us, and why he is important now.

In the "Colloquy of the Two Sages", Lugh is given credit for gifting mankind with cultural technologies, including the "Assembly", slingshot balls, and goads for horses. This marks him as the primal "culture teacher", the one who gifted mankind with the knowledge to create items of physical culture, as well as cultural institutions, by which they could make better lives for themselves.

It was Odin as "Rig", (The King-God) who sired the three classes of human society, and taught the Runes or mysteries to humankind. Apollo was called the "enlightener" of mankind, and was likewise there to give gifts of culture to human beings, a Promethean role that demonstrates the mystical connection between shamanic priests and the wisdom, insights and "laws" they brought back from the Underworld or the Otherworld, to make this world a better place.

Mera's material is not silent on the role of the Sorcerer-God. It says:

"There was a "Sorcery God" or a "Shaman God", a "God of Magic" who made shamans powerful and sometimes brought about the Traumas needed to awaken their relationship with their Follower-spirits. He was symbolized by the sun, but he was not a sun god; the sun was his emblem because it represented the power of light conquering darkness and cold, and he was a famous hunter and slayer of monsters and evil spirits. He was represented by snakes, wolves, and ravens, all of which were forms he took to communicate with people, and all of which acted as his messengers at times. He was possessed, like shamans, of an unpredictable and wild side, but he was married to the wind-mother, and was a great healer of body and mind, like she. He knew the secret of the Trance better than any other being." (6)

In footnote 6, I write:

"More clearly than the others, this God seems to be the primal origin of Lugus, Woden or Odin, and Apollo. Insofar as the "cunning" God who taught or initiated human sorcerers and shamans was always also mythologically associated with the gifts of culture and other human technologies, we can see a similar Basque deity here in BASAJAUN or BASAYAUN, the "Lord of the Woods" who hunted evil, protected cattle, and taught humans agriculture, smithing, and other crafts. Smithing, especially, was associated with shamanism and sorcery."


The Sorcerer-God, the "Proto Apollo", the "Proto-Odin" or the "Proto-Lugh", was the presiding deity at Stonehenge. He was a healer; he had to be- sickness and disease were believed to be manifestations of the ravages of wicked spirits and dangerous spiritual miasma in the human being, in the minds of all primal peoples, and certainly in the minds of the ancient Britons. Indeed, even today, the same logic holds true- the dis-ease of the order of the body is caused by harmful intrusions from the outside, viruses and bacteria, which are nothing short of the physical manifestations of giantish or fomorian powers, especially epidemic diseases.

The other source of dis-ease is some part of the body's natural harmonious order breaking down or not working correctly- again, this is what the dangerous, titanic or giantish powers do to the order of our world- from without or within, they degrade it, make it fall apart, work to spread chaos and destruction. The God of Sorcery IS the Healer because he is the God who was cunning enough to overcome these evil powers. The winter and darkness and cold have always been associated with these wicked powers; winter, when the sun moves away and less light and warmth can bathe the world, is the time of the greatest power of dangerous forces.

The light and the sun that rises and restores warmth, life, green to the world, and kinder weather, IS the face of the protective and healing God coming back. It is that same power that dawns within the sick body or mind, the body or mind which is "winter-gripped" and heals it.

His light dawning is the ultimate mytical emblem of not only healing but literally "enlightenment". He didn't just heal the sick bodies or minds of humans; he healed the rift between our isolated, wandering minds and the truth of spirit. He was and is the initiator into the Mysteries, which is the healing of spirit. A body that is healed will die still, one day. A mind that is healed will stay healed for a time or perhaps forever, but the body which is another aspect of that mind must die, still, one day. The awakening of the "internal sun" of spirit puts a person beyond the grip of death and the suffering caused by dark forces forever.

The Truth About Mankind

Revealed religions tell us that humans are dangerously flawed. The concept of "sin" is the double-edged sword of Christianity particularly, for while "sin", or "missing the mark" and falling short of the standard of holiness and righteousness set by "God" is a belief held in common by the monotheistic religions of the modern West, Islam and Judaism at least allow human beings to overcome this "sin" by living according to the words of their respective laws, whether from the Koran or the Torah.

In Christianity, however, no human being is believed to be "good enough", nor can they become "good enough" through their own efforts- only their God's forgiving and sanctifying grace which is made possible through the sacrifice of the "christ" can spare a person from sin.

In other words, until a human being falls onto their knees, accepts that they are irreparably flawed, and begs for mercy and for the "christ" to come into their lives and take control, to spiritually fix things as it were, a person is nothing short of doomed. Without "christ", these people reckon, no person can be noble enough, brave enough, kind enough, or good enough to earn the grace of "god" and the final home of Heaven, no matter what they do.

This is the central tenet of the Kristjan madness. With some variations, it is found all over the Christian world. Any person with their wits about them can see the foolish nonsense for what it is- a means of using fear and falsehood to scare or force people into a religion. These Christians actually deny others the possibility of being truly noble and good unless those people agree with them about "christ" and accept "christ", along with all the other things that come along with "accepting christ", which includes rejecting the worldview of our ancestors, turning your back on the Gods of your people, turning your back on the animistic truth of the world, and most importantly, turning your back on the truth about mankind.

I will tell you what I think the truth about mankind is, and don't be fooled by my words: when I say "mankind", I mean it in the original sense of the word- "mankind" doesn't just refer to males; it refers to all men and women everywhere.

I am a religious man, and I have a religious duty to offer guidance to people who seek it out. In the modern day, this duty extends to being open and public about what I believe, and what my co-religionists believe. Of course, we don't feel the need to go door-to-door on Saturday morning spreading the words of the Gods; a real shame, too, because hammers make fine door-knockers.

But the evangelical home-invasion ministry tactics are simply not part of our way; the Gods call whom they will; Fate gathers those fated to our kindreds and circles, without fail or error. I have no worry on this point.

As a religious man, it is my Wyrd to make it known what I and those like me think about important issues. Even though modern day social issues like abortion, same sex marriage, drugs, and all the like tend to take up most of our media-time and dominate most of our conversations, there are deeper issues that you don't hear covered much anymore.

And it's odd that we don't. The issue of mankind is one of the most important issues we can discuss, and yet, it seldom ever is. Who and what are we, exactly? What does it mean to be "man" or "woman"? Are we simply unstable, rotting mortal flesh accidentally arisen on a backwater planet in some randomly spinning galaxy, as the atheists say? Are we the beloved creations of some God, suffering from the burden of sin, as Christians say? Are we karmically arisen piles of skandhas, stuck deep in delusion about ourselves and about all the things we fool ourselves into thinking are important, as Buddhists say?

Are we accidental? Just flesh? Parts of a great plan? Divine? Children of God? Children of Gods? Are we manifestations of something deeper? Are we parts of a "great mystery"?

I will say what I think.

My ancestors believed that mankind was no accident. In the web of Fate, Mankind had to arise, had to come to be. Odin, the Allfather, didn't create mankind on a lark, randomly, out of some boredom. He did what Fate required of him; He was and is a part of the world coming to be as it must. His great strength is the vehicle of Fate; he shapes and lays the bonds of Fate, for in his Wisdom, he knows what must be done.

As the Eddas tell us, He drew forth genetic material (in the form of two rotting trees) from the primordial earth and ocean- (this earth and ocean being the primal "mother", Nerthus, that was the source of that material) and Odin shaped them into the first men and women. He gave them Godly gifts of beauty and hue, of speech and vitality, and he breathed the deathless spirit on them, making them his kin and the kin of all his Godly family.

You can look at this myth in many ways; I don't feel the need to over-analyze it. Some see a "metaphorical" story of evolution: from the primordial sludge comes forth the seed and material of life that is "shaped" (read: evolves) over time into men and women, and somewhere in or about this mysterious process is Odin, guiding it in his wisdom, implanting the seed of his mystery in the products.

That's not a bad way of seeing it. That way certainly resolves a few of the current scientific myths with our ancestor's primal myths. Personally, I believe that what really happened is less important than what is happening right this moment. We know what our ancestors believed about our origins; we know what modern scientists say; but without a good, sane way of living now, none of that will help us.

My ancestors- or should I say, our ancestors- believed that Mankind was part of the web of life, and Mankind had to arise; Mankind is part of the Fate of this world, of this cosmos, every bit as much as the Gods are, or trees are, or the earth and sky. If you look at the Elder Rune-row, which reveals the 24 essential mysteries of Reality, you will find that MANNAZ or "Man" is one of them.

Mankind is no accident. We are a strand in the Fate of the world. We are a necessary expression of reality; we belong here and had to "become" what we are every bit as much as the Gods did. When one studies the Rune-Row, one sees a most powerful story, told in the careful ordering of the 24 Runes. That story is the story of the creation of the cosmos, the rise of the Gods, the rise of man, and the eventual end of the world, and its regeneration. We have some hints from history about what our ancestors believed regarding each Rune; the Runes were more than just letters. Each one was a symbol, a manifestation in symbol form, of a deep cosmic mystery.

It is said that Odin won the Runes, the Mysteries, from the deep places of Hel, when he died and came back to life, to teach this wisdom to mankind. Odin won the Runes, the mysteries that are concealed in the Beyond, and transmitted them to Mankind in the form of symbols and lore. The Runes are the "seeds" from which the World-Tree grows; the World-Tree means "everything". It represents the Cosmos itself.

As surprising as it man seem, one of those Mysteries is known by us as "Man" or "Mankind". This places human beings in a very lofty-seeming position in the world, and in the cosmos. The implications of this Rune also go beyond our world ("world" here referring to our planet): The cosmic principle of "Man" is part of this universe. Could there be humans in other places, or on distant planets? I certainly believe it is possible. But from the perspective of my spiritual life, Fate has given me one planet to deal with, and it's more than large enough.


Now, let me make those statements about Mankind that I've been promising. I've established that "Mankind" isn't something you can easily isolate and describe, as much as something that is an intrinsic fact about the way reality unfolds and appears. Mankind is a Fated part of the world.

Now I will go further; I will say that Mankind contains within itself a powerful, holy gift. This gift is the Spirit of the Gods. It is the world-animating Spirit, and it is the mystery that unites us to the Gods. It is why we are not mere lumps of wood or algae. This gift is the most kingly gift that we could ever have received, and that gift is part of what makes us "Man".

This gift endows us with not only great and boundless creativity, but with a dignity that cannot be stripped from us. This gift "demands a gift" from us in return, so as pledge our faith and Troth to the Gods in return, and this gift gives us the right to do so; the Gods are our kin; we belong to their Holy Kindred. This gift gives us the impulse to religion and the right to practice it.

I also say that this gift has endowed each and every man and woman with the power to come to Illumination- to do as the Allfather did, and discover the Truth about this Reality that we are parts of. A person who does this becomes truly wise, like the Allfather, and they go beyond the beginning and the end of this world. They go beyond life and death, in the hallowed "Odinic Paradox". Every human being has the capacity and the possibility of finding their way to this great insight and experience. The human person has the intrinsic capability to awaken to great wisdom and to unfold into the divine daylight of the spirit. This reason alone is enough to preserve our lives so long as we can, above and beyond the dignity that is our birthright.

I furthermore say that man and woman, and indeed, all human beings, were meant to live in harmony with each other, and that we are capable of doing so. Humans are not unavoidably stupid and warlike, despite the fact that they often do stupid things and destroy each other's lives. I think that we can and should get along, in the great and true peace and balance that we call "frith". I say that we are created for one another, that something deep inside us feels joy at our relationships and unions.

Lastly, I think that the human body and mind is not frail, weak, or flawed simply because it is prone to disease, deformity, and death. I believe it to be a powerful, vital, and strong vehicle at its very core, a divinely crafted and influenced thing, capable of great courage.


My view of Mankind stands in sharp contrast to the view given to us by revealed religions. But this isn't just my view; it was the view of my ancestors before me. It's the view I believe in, and which I will die believing in. It would be better, I think, to believe this about mankind and run the risk of being wrong, than to be a cynic and a pessimist about mankind while running that same risk.

Is there a risk that I am wrong? I don't think so; I don't think so because I don't buy into the human-hating, self-defeating cow dung that Christianity smeared all over the map of Europe, and every other place they spread. But enough people today have been battered since birth by very pessimistic ideas regarding mankind to make people wonder: what if Ule's right? What if he's wrong? What if I'm right? What if I'm wrong?

I discussed these doubts before, in a previous post. A day comes when you realize that you can't second-guess yourself forever. If you trust your ancestors, and trust the rather obvious truth that wisdom didn't begin with Christianity, then you can rest at ease.

But my statements about mankind are still strong. On what do I rest my statements? I could quote the ancestral lore that we have surviving, but I want to take a different route. I'm going to show you a Rune, and then, I'm going to show you a deeper look at it.

This is the Mannaz Rune, the Rune that symbolizes Mankind:






Not many people have been able to suggest precisely what this Rune-shape is symbolizing in abstract form. Thorsson suggests that it is a glyph showing the marriage between heaven and earth- but I have another idea which you may find interesting.

We know that the Lore tells us that Odin, the Allfather, bestowed the gift of his spirit upon two trees, two trees that he shaped into the first man and woman, Ask and Embla.

Here are two lines representing two trees, or Ask and Embla, the first Man and Woman:






And here is the Rune that represents the concept of "gift-bonding" and gift-giving, up to and including the Gift of Spirit that Odin gave to mankind:






If you put the two together, you get:






I find this to be a fascinating "co-incidence". There is the gift of the Gods, implanted in the center of the Mannaz-Rune, just as it is deep within all of us, and just as it was placed into the first human beings. But as you scry into the Rune of Man, and look deeper in, more Mysteries come to the surface.

You may recall that I said each Human had the potential to awaken to the light of Illumination. The Rune that represents the "day" of Illumination, the "Light" of the Godly "Ruler" (Odin) is called DAGAZ, which means "day". And its form is this:






If you look at the Mannaz Rune, you can see that this hidden potential of Illumination, this hidden light which bursts forth like day, is also implanted, bound into the shape of Mannaz.

I mentioned also that Mankind had the power and the capability to live in harmony, in frith. I meant it, and the Mannaz Rune also reveals it. If you divide Mannaz right down the middle, it yields two WUNJO Runes, and Wunjo represents peace and joy- true harmony, free from pains and sorrows and want.





And see how these two Wunjo Runes look at one another- see how Ask and Embla, Man and Woman, look at one another, both in balance, neither less important than the other, together making the true creature that is Man. Peace is a possibility between us because with the Spirit of the Gods in us, anything is possible. Mankind- both men and women, but humans in general- were meant for one another, and there is joy in our meetings, joy in our unions. This Joy is an essential part of our human experience.

The last thing I said about Mankind was that our earthly vehicle was a good one, a healthy, sturdy one, or at least that it had the power to be, and that it was meant by Fate to be. I think that the success mankind has had surviving in this world shows my point well enough. But this goes further. We are courageous and strong, at our core. Mankind is endowed with the great strength and virility of the old Auroch, the ancient Ox and if you pull away a few lines from the Mannaz Rune, you reveal the Rune-Mystery of URUZ, the courageous, strong Ox:






We are designed to last and to be brave. The Runes show it. The MANNAZ Rune, the Rune of Man, contains the shapes of these Other Runes- and I could, in fact, keep going. But that is enough for today. Be joyful that Fate has woven you into a Man or a Woman. It's a good thing to be, no matter what the half-wise may say.

We are meant to be here; we are not random accidents, but parts of Fate. You are right where you belong; things are just as they should be. We call this the "fitness of things". There is no sin for being what you are; there was no cosmic mistake made, nor any great cosmic disobedience on the part of our ancestors that led mankind to be "sinful" and to suffer. All is just as it should be and there's nothing wrong with being a Man or a Woman at all. It's a very noble estate, when you look at all that we can accomplish, all the bravery we can show, and all the love we can feel.

The Gods want nothing less of us than nobility and bravery, and we are capable of living up to their Godly standards. It is a challenge, but their spirit in us makes it more than possible, and besides, without the challenge, we might consider life to be a bit boring or not worthwhile. We have a path before us, and it is our duty and our privilege to walk it.

A "good" person walks it with trust in the Way of Things, and in the friendship of the Gods, and they do what is right by their fellow man and the duties of religion. They respect the dignity that comes along with life and they make the world a better, safer place for their families and kin, anytime they have the chance. They seek for wisdom most of all, and again- never forget- these things are well within our grasp.

The Oak, the Acorn, and the Death of Death

Death eventually comes for us all. For some, Fate will call us away in violence or sickness. For others, a peaceful passing in the twin depths of sleep and old age. Once, I thought that religious beliefs would be the main comfort for human beings that had to face death, but now, so many years later, I realize that it takes more than just religion. Humans are, in some ways, a bit too demanding, a bit too clever for their own good, as the Allfather in Havamal warns us.
One of the curses of being over-clever is that we have much room for doubt. I believe that doubt has a place- a wise person cannot just believe everything they hear. But doubt is something that has to be utilized properly, or it becomes a great burden; it becomes the slayer of wisdom. There are things about our humanity and our reality that I don't think it is good to doubt; the sacredness of life is one example.

I always doubt the claims of modern religious leaders and politicians, for instance, and I think any intelligent person should. But I don't doubt things that I feel deeply about myself or the love I feel, because I don't think that we should live a life of second-guessing ourselves. I don't think any happiness or peace can be found in that sort of life.

Self-appraisal and re-appraisal of the contents of your opinions from time to time is a fine exercise, and indeed, I consider it to be the work of the essential human being. But re-appraisal of things inside you is not the same thing as doubting yourself or what you believe. The world grows; it changes; Wyrd is dynamic. Life is dynamic, forever changing. That our opinions and attitudes will change in response to that is only common sense. But what can we depend on in a world of changing and shifting Wyrd?

I believe that we can depend on the mysterious reality that is discovered when we discard the word-hoard and go beyond words and categories, to see what is real. I make it a point to keep this sort of exercise up as often as I can. We can depend on what we see, so long as we empty what we see of all our ideas and expectations of it, and let it be what it is. We can depend on the great power of Wyrd which brings all things into being, because the great, sorcerous, limitless, undying and open space in which Wyrd expresses itself IS our deepest reality, and it is not born, and it does not die.

The love we feel, the lives we lead- we can see what we need to see in those things, if we know how to look, because even the everyday life is a sorcerous event, a mystical thing. Learning to see life as a sacred manifestation of Wyrd or Fate is the first step towards finding what we can rely upon in this world. Not second-guessing your own sacred internal visions is another step which I consider important.

Yet, for all that, most of us claim to believe in things, in Gods, in myths, in ideas, but we allow our own doubts and uncertainties- which are sometimes well hidden- to remove much of the power of those things from us. Everyone wonders if they really will see the road to Hel when they die, or see the Allfather, or come back to the Ancestors in Hel's halls or in Folkvang. Everyone who believes in some religion wonders if heavens and hells await, if reincarnation awaits, if the Blessed Isles await, or what have you.

A very small percentage of these people have experienced the reality of these things, and have no doubts. But most people, despite their true activity of belief, do have doubts. And as I said before, doubts in this area of our lives may not be the best thing for us. It may be an example of humans applying doubt and skepticism where it need not be applied.

If we believe in the worldview of Wyrd, then what happens after our death isn't hard to divine: the sort of life you lead now, the passions you feel, the Gods, people and things you love all have direct impact on what comes "next" for you. Death isn't so much a vast interruption of life as much as a transition into a new condition in which many of the same fateful, subtle constituents that create this life-experience still exist. The consciousness certainly still exists after death.

Our mindstreams, our conscious mindstreams (and how they understand our experiences) are what actually create the emotional and perceptual character of our experiences. Change how you understand the world and your emotional experience of it will also change; Fair is foul to some, and foul fair to others. Perception is very much the key.

Some people wonder what leads me to believe that our consciousness or our conscious mindstreams still "exist" after our deaths, to be able to have further experiences. I have several answers to this question, but today, I will be writing to those who want a non-religious answer, an answer not based on myths or stories or trust in the wisdom of the ancestors.

I began this post by talking about how death was the Fate that eventually faced us all. Despite what we may believe religiously about death, doubt infects the minds of most people in our desacralized modern day, so the issue of death is difficult for us all. It is never more difficult than when we have to face the potential loss of close loved ones.

A few days ago, my friend Turanona's grandmother died. We had seen this coming for many months, but it is still hard, coming as it does on the heels of my friend Jason taking his own life. This is a season of death for me, as it is for many, and the fact that the Mother's nights and the twelve Wolf-nights should be the time that began these miseries is only folklorically poetic. This is hard winter, and winter is a time of death. Death, as a reality, has forced itself before my face in a way that it usually doesn't.

All people, if they would be wise, have to look to these events and see the lesson Fate is trying to teach us: death is inevitable. We have to carefully consider, everyday, how we are preparing for our own ends, and how we live, and what we think is important in life. Death is a lesson, not just an experience we will have one day; it's a lifelong teacher. Considering our deaths need not be a morbid thing; I find that it is very life-improving, life-affirming.

A friend of mine from Scandinavia has a mother who is going through a difficult time, and though I am working for her, she has an illness that could be life-threatening. That same friend asked if there was anything she could tell her mother to help her through this difficult time. I think that anyone who has a relative or friend who may be near death or dying should concentrate less on what to tell them, and more on opening themselves up to them and seeing what they want to say.

I think this is very important. Talk to them about the idea that they could possibly take a turn closer to death, or even die. See what they think about that, what they believe about that, and how it makes her feel. Try to discover what their hopes and fears are.

I think people who are in dangerous times want to be listened to,and supported in that way, every bit as much as they may want to be re-assured on other levels. It's re-assuring to have our loved ones around us at times like that, just listening, I think.

As far as what you can tell them, well, I don't know. Without getting too metaphysical or religious with them (as I am wont to do) you can bring up the point that life is a HUGE thing- human life, the life of this world, the life of this universe. It's massive. All of us, all human beings, as well as all other living things, are in the hands of a greater reality, no matter how you want to look at it.

Our lives are in the hands of greater forces; life is just bigger than us. We don't choose our births, our beginnings or our ends. We don't choose sickness or health. We also don't choose who we love. Try to make sure that your loved ones aren't seeing their sickness as some punishment from "on high", or something that they chose; they don't make life; life makes them. Life makes all of us. All we have to do is make the very best of the time that has been given to us.

Now, if your friend is afraid that death will be the end of them, some oblivion for their conscious mind or "self", you have a way to soothe their fears on that. You must apply the somewhat mystical (yet clear) logic of the oak tree and the acorn.

Examine the world; oak trees don't grow from rocks. Fires don't come from water. Winds don't spontaneously emerge from mountains.

In our world, all effects are of the same nature as their causes. Do you understand? A small flame lights a fireplace; the big fire inside (the effect) is the of the same nature as its cause (the small flame).

Oak trees grow from acorns, and acorns are packets of oak tree genetic material. Inside an acorn is the nature of a forest of oaks- and so big oaks (The effects) can grow from acorns being buried in the ground (the causes).

This is an immutable law of reality. And we can examine our human existence from this angle, as well. Consciousness cannot arise from something that is not also consciousness. In the same way that an oak tree comes from a previous oak tree, consciousness comes from a previous moment or event of consciousness. Do
you understand?

In much the same way a fire comes from a previous flame, and cannot come from a stone or a pool of water, our consciousness cannot come from just matter- the brain is not the cause of consciousness. The brain, the matter of the human body, cannot give rise to the continuum of consciousness. Blood cannot give rise to consciousness; bone cannot; marrow cannot; flesh cannot; teeth cannot; brains and hearts cannot. Consciousness arises from previous moments of consciousness within its own continuum; it arises from previous moments of consciousness in its own unique Wyrd-thread, which is always spinning.

Thus, neither your birth nor your development in the womb "caused" your first moments of consciousness; your body during life is not "generating" your consciousness; your death does not end your consciousness.

The body belongs to its own continuum, its own thread of Wyrd; consciousness belongs to another. These two continuums (body and mindstream) merge and become entangled during conception, and they interact during life, with the brain acting as a cooperative condition for the mindstream to help it create the experience of a human life.

If you understand what I have said, then your fear of death should be lessened. Our mindstreams are bound to these bodies by the forces of reality; we might as well call it Fate. Those same mindstreams are un-bound by the same forces of Fate at death. The mindstream, the consciousness, can no more begin with the body than flame can suddenly burst out of water, or an oak tree can suddenly come from a piece of marble. It requires other mind or consciousness to give rise to it. And such a fact immediately destroys the boundaries of life and death as we have been narrowly taught to see them.

The mindstream is a very subtle phenomenon, and it has no real beginning or end, just as the deep void of Ginnungagap has no beginning or end, and just as the great web of Wyrd has no beginning or end. When the mindstream interacts with the body, it experiences a more coarse sort of consciousness. At death, it falls away from that, back into its subtle, free state.

Who we loved and who loved us back means everything in that subtle state, because we are still "there", and still very much alive, even after what we call "death". And in that subtle state, this reality, ever larger than us, moves us on to the next
destination in this mysterious journey. Love never changes, however; it makes bonds that cannot be broken.

Do not give yourself over to doubt about who you love, or your capacity to love. Do not doubt that your mindstream will persist past your death; it will. You will lose so much energy that you need for living by doubting such things. Release yourself from those doubts and concentrate on the life you have now. The wisdom of our ancestors and the Gods will be there for you when you need it most- and their wisdom is about living more than it is dying. This should tell you something: they knew something that we have lost sight of. They knew that death wasn't the end that so many of us fear today.

What we should fear is doubt and despair. In some ways, doubt and despair are the real deaths; look at the lesson of the oak and the acorn, banish doubt, and let the dead tree come to life.

The Blacksmith of the Soul

A person on the path of the Native European Shamanic mysteries can never write enough about the sublime art of the blacksmith. To be a "tamer of fire and the elements" is not just to partake in a craft and technology that has changed the very shape and destiny of entire ages of man; it is a deeply spiritual art, to its ancient core.

The powerful work of drawing forth ores and metals, and putting them to the heat of the crucible, of pouring their molten elemental essence into molds, of hammering them in showers of sparks, and of thrusting them with the hiss of the mighty serpent into the bosom of the waters- we are dealing with a sorcery which comes from the oldest of times and places. We are seeing an image of the raw material of Man, drawn from the bosom of primal nature by the Allfather, and shaped by his creativity into the beauty and power of humankind. The creativity of the blacksmith is a direct sign of the gift of the Allfather in man. It is our capacity for creativity, in many ways, that links us to the Gods directly.

Enough cannot be said about the relationship of the shaman or the mystic to the blacksmith. In more than one tradition of modern Witchcraft, the "Coal Black Smith" figure is a great teacher, even the very image of the highest power. Esoteric traditions from all over the west give the Divine Smith a place in every pantheon, and even the biblical and Masonic traditions accord a special place to Tubal Cain, the first Blacksmith.

It is said that "Shamans and Smiths come from the same cradle". This is not hard to see- to tend the sacred flame of altar and sacrifice was the central role of all ancient European priesthoods, who were themselves guardians of an ancient shamanic line of mystics leading up to the time of formal priesthoods.

In ancient Indo-European Vedic religion, the Brahman priests prayed to Agni, the fire God, first and foremost, as his flame represented the living presence of all the Gods, and it received and consumed sacrificial offerings. Flamens were the priests of ancient Rome, and they too, presided over sacrifices on behalf of the people. The Vestal Virgins of Rome were especially charged with tending the sacred flame at the heart of Rome, a task that had to be done properly and purely, with the Fate of the entire Empire resting on the correct performance of their duties.

The Druidic priestesshood of Brigid in Kildare, Ireland, likewise tended a sacred flame; everywhere in ancient Europe does this motif re-occur. I have recently been turned on to the notion, captured so lovingly by Viktor Rydberg, that Heimdall, the God who guarded the Bifrost and who was the master of the Gjallarhorn, was likely a cognate to the Vedic Agni.

The reason why this is important is because while the old ways of Heathenry treat us to the most radiant and beautiful of Fire Goddesses imaginable- Freya- we must look harder to see true "fire Gods". Loki's connection with uncontrolled flames or disaster-fires is debated; but we cannot deny Freya's connection with flame, nor even old red bearded Thor's, for his lightning spreads purifying fire on the earth, and he was a special patron (so I am told) of Blacksmiths and other humans who used a hammer.

But Heimdall was said to be born of nine or ten maidens- thought by some to be daughters of Aegir, a powerful God of the sea. His daughters could be seen (on one level) as white and beautiful-topped waves on the sea; could a fire God arise from nine or ten waves of the sea? Certainly; in Vedic belief, the fire God Agni did arise from the water, though he is a God. One wouldn't see a regular fire simply arise from water. Heimdall was also called "Gullintanni", which means "gold-toothed"- which is (in my mind) possibly a kenning for "flames". His horse was called "Gold Top" and rams often end up being associated with Heimdall.

Who does Heimdall fight with at the Ragnarok? He faces off with Loki himself- if Loki is (as some believe) the God of the uncontrolled fire that destroys wantonly and wastefully, (or perhaps the unwise human mind that does the same) Heimdall is the controlled fire of the hearth, sacrifice, and the forge that is an agent of creation and craft. Surely they must be foes, to the bitter end!

Rydberg pointed out that the mysterious ten maidens that were the mothers of Heimdall could also have referred to the ten fingers that all human beings have- the ten fingers that work the bore-stick that produces fire. And what does "Heimdall" mean? "World-light", or "World-bright" or "World-radiance"- all fine names for the bright fire that forever lights the world from every hearth and from countless other sources.

We are children of fire; we are all kin to Heimdall, as Voluspa states without hesitation in the first stanzas. I do not believe that the God Rig who sired the three classes of mankind was Heimdall, as it is so often believed. I think that the beginning of Voluspa is only calling human beings kin of Heimdall because as long as we live, the fire of life burns in us. The very same fire that burns in a candle-holder before you, or in a bonfire in front of you, is burning inside your flesh, in the warmth of your body and blood. On the cellular level, fiery, energetic metabolism is consuming the food you ate, and generating much heat.

Freya's Brisingamen gem is a symbol, I believe, of the fire in every human and in every living thing, but in a greater, more mysterious sense; the Brisingamen was won from the four dwarves who are masters of the four cardinal directions of the world. The fiery gem and its golden chain is the golden circle of fire that represents the perfect, living circle of existence itself, of which we are all a part. It is the circle of life; the circle of the seasons and the sun and the moon, and the fiery spirit that unites them all. In this we begin to approach one of the deep mysteries of Seid, but that is another tale for another night.

But Freya's gem represents the awakening of the human spirit, the highest craft of the spiritual Smith. In Freya's bright form, we see the warmest, deepest, and most mystical image of the human soul and its deathless fire, of which our body heat is only the most surface-level manifestation.

This mighty Goddess is to be felt in the heat of our bodies just as Heimdall is, and this answers yet another mystery about Heimdall- why do some passages suggest that he is of the Vanir? Because I believe he is, and the connection is in the fire. I see an image of the human soul in its divine form when I look at the Vana-Dis, Freya; she represents ALL of the Disir, all of the divine female spirits that act as the immortal patronesses of human beings. She represents, in one form, the concept of the "Dis". She is the Frowe, the Frau, the spirit-bride of every mortal soul.

Where Odin or Woden breathed the spirit-breath of awakened mind into human beings, that breath is only part of what makes us human; it is the flame burning in us, the sacred fire, that also makes us human in the best sense of the word. And just as Odin entered into a sexual and initiation-based relationship with Freya, to learn the secrets of Seid, so must the wind of mind and spirit and the fire of intuition work in unison if we would be wise.

So I seek my spirit-woman, the Fylgja-Dis who follows me through my life and death, and I look to her to be my teacher. But she is more than that; as my guide into Hel, into the Underworld, she takes me into the mysteries of Fire, like her mistress Freya. She takes me, like all of the dead of this world, into the Underworld, where the great forges and fires below await. There, with ringing hammers, are the dwarven smiths of the Underworld.

Who are the smiths of our souls? Certainly the Fylgja can take any form it wants; but the fire-master Dwarves of the deep world offer their services, for they are truly the world-shapers in their own rights. And we must look at the soul, at our human bodies, minds, and souls, and consider what the ancient symbols of the Smith represent for us.

All magical and sorcerous arts make demands of us, even if we don't understand them, or if we want to avoid them. That's why so many people are uneasy with them, I think. You can try to deny the sacred dimension inherent in the art of the Smith but you can never escape it. You can deny the sorcerous reality that all human beings and all other beings are an inseparable part of, but you can never escape it. The more people try to see things just as "mundane", the further they are going into denial, and the further they are getting from the wisdom which can alone spare then the terrors of the giantish powers, the fearful tests of Hel, and the pains of this world.

A Blacksmith doesn't just beat hot metal with hammers. He is not just forging iron and metal. He is manifesting an act of sorcery, an act of shaping. And there are deep powers in what you call "yourself" that will hearken to every single ringing resound from the forges of this world and from the forges below. Why? Because human life is a matter of transformation and transmutation.

From the moment you are born, the raw material of your mind and body are dumped into the crucible of this world. And more than anything, this world is burning- a fire lives at the heart of every living thing, and even inside your own heart. In the heat of passion, new life is made, and everywhere are fights, wars, heartbreak, joy, violence, and death, all driven by the fire of life, the fire of lust, the fire of human emotions.

The danger of bright and beautiful Freya is seen here in her dark guise as Gullveig- the "Gold greedy"- 'gold' here meaning not just actual gold, and the lust and greed that causes so much suffering, but also the golden light and color of bright fire. Fire can consume and destroy as fast as it can help to create and shape and nurture; money can feed us and buy us shelter and medicine, but greed for it can (and does) destroy families, friendships, lives, and nations, on a daily basis.

The fire of life will reduce you, eventually, to molten slop. Into what mold will you be poured? What shaped and final product will your will and your deeds and your wisdom be worth, when the forge of life is done with you, and your spirit has aided you all it could?

So here we sit, feeling the pain of life, as we must- for we are exposed to the heat of the life-fires. Sometimes, a fire is a great source of joy and warmth. Life is like that, too, at times. Sometimes it burns and stings and destroys. Life is also like that. Either way, if you sit long enough in the crucible, you are reduced to your basic elemental components, and they flow out, into the hands of the Smith, who can shape them at his will.

Who is the Blacksmith of the soul? One day, you will meet this enigmatic being, whether it be in the deep Underworld, or in your own dreams and visions. You need to realize that the spiritual power that follows each and every human being is the shaper of that person's destiny, and for the sake of wisdom, we must see life's torments and trials as nothing more or less than a great craft that will shape us towards our own destinies, far beyond the boundaries of Middle-Earth.

Of course, there are two ways of approaching this reality which you cannot escape- with full consciousness, or in denial. In consciousness of what is happening to you, you are free to communicate with the spiritual powers that guide it- your Fylgja, the mighty smiths of the Svartalfar or the Dark Alfs or the Dwarves, who are not only real, existing powers, but transforming processes forever at work in your own deep mind. Undergoing life's ordeals with consciousness allows us a chance at freedom that comes very rarely. Being ignorant of what is happening to you only assures that you will miss the fiery glory that is your true birthright.

So make it a point this evening to realize that your life is a crucible for your body, mind, and soul. See all of the stress in your life, the troubles and tests, as the heat of the great fire that is the glory of this world, and the seat of life. Realize finally that you must reach out to the sorcerous powers that guide the destinies of mortal men and women, and appeal to them, ask them to hammer you, forge you, strengthen you, make you strong and wise in their great transformative power. Pray to the Gods and Goddesses of Fire, and make sacrifices for them; they are with us in every warm, burning moment of our lives.

This is the fire-prayer of a Sorcerer, but as I said, and as I always say, there is no human life out there that is not a manifestation of sorcerous powers. You may not consider the path of the Sorcerer to be your path through life, but that doesn't change the fact that you, like everyone else, is a product, a child of great and mystical powers that most of us sadly no longer recognize as such. Being a product of sorcerous powers and Wyrd, you have them as your birthright. They are yours to use, to understand, to communicate with, to enjoy, but only if you open yourself to them in the radical way that they demand. Wisdom demands no less. The path of "opening" begins in your basic belief in these realities, and in your relationship with the Gods and Goddesses- mentioned earlier- who are the guardians of these things.

Death: A Journey for the Living as well as the Dead

"Baldur hath ridden over Gyoll's bridge, and yonder lieth the way he took to the abodes of death."

-The Death of Baldur

Eleven days ago, my friend Jason took his own life. Death almost always has the power to shock us, but this one was quite unexpected, and senseless. It shook the foundations of my life, and the lives of all my friends that I have in common with Jason- it shook me out of one life and sent me spinning into another.

On one hand, life was and is good- I cannot complain about my life, and its many blessings. Wyrd has spun out such wonderful circumstances for me and those closest to me, the greatest of which was the emergence of my beloved daughter from the life-giving powers of this world. All around me, the bounty of my life is evident. There is no want, no lack of food or money or shelter and most importantly, no lack of love. I feel peace with the world because of my faith and I have a great mirror- the mirror of Wyrd and the wisdom of the old times- to look into to give me guidance when I feel that I need it. I couldn't be happier.

And so, when death comes so unexpectedly, as some twists of Wyrd are wont, our faiths are tested, and we seek for the way to proceed. Like the dead, a journey is required of us.

When I heard the news of Jason's death, I was naturally bewildered and disbelieving. Few people can believe such a thing up front; I thought it was a false report or a prank- Jason wasn't past putting people on with such pranks. But the warning in my gut wouldn't go away- deep down, I knew he was dead. And oddly enough, though I have now sat through his visitation, his funeral and burial, it seems that the reality hasn't sunk in to the deepest level; I found myself walking through my home a few days ago wondering if anyone had called Jason to invite him to one of the bonfires we were holding in his honor.

It's always best to get started journeying early, and so we wake up and get ready. My awakening came with the news of Jason's death. I say "awakening" because few things can shock us out of our sleep-like lives like death can. As a Wyrd-worker, I make an effort to work with more vivid, altered states of consciousness, and I make an effort to "see" the hidden details of life that most people miss. But no amount of trance-work can awaken you like the bitter reality of what we call "death", especially when it affects you directly.

It is a common human failing- what Wulf the Seidman from Brian Bates' work "The Way of Wyrd" calls the "fungus" that grows in our minds: we assume that we all have so many years left to live, so much so that a dream-life takes over in our brains. We put off today what we assume we'll be able to do later, even though there may be no "later". Death is our constant companion, and the sorcerer, as well as the warrior, must accept that death may come for us today, any day, at any moment.

It's one thing to say it, but something else to really put your whole mind and body into it. This isn't a clever mind game; this isn't just some line of wisdom you read in a book or see on a screen. This is death, the sometimes violent destruction of our lich or our bodies; it is the end of our dearly loved and familiar routines and activities, a farewell to our friends, and the release of the fetch and the mind into the vast and mysterious reaches beyond this world of animals, growing things, and human beings. It is a forced shove into a distant, unknown shore, and we can lose our wits easily in such a radical change.

I'd like to make this totally clear, to remind myself as much as to remind you- and you can't be reminded of this enough: the time to be alive and truly aware is now. Wyrd only gives us this moment, right now. It may truly seem like it, but there is no future out there somewhere, waiting for us. What you have- what everyone has- is here and now, wherever you are, whatever you are. Do not trust in a hope for some fantasy future that you have dreamed of in your head. Do not assume that your friends and family will be there with you, one day far from now, to discuss with you about the good times you had long ago. Let the future arise as it will; we don't live there. It is impossible to live in a place that doesn't yet exist.

This is where I woke up. I woke up to my responsibility as Seidman to be here and now. I was asleep; I slept too long. Giantish powers, the seductive variety that creep through human lives, had lured me to a half-awake state where I was zoning out. Deadly knots of Wyrd took the life of someone near to me, and the shock of it has reverberated strongly, shaking open my deeper senses. Then off I went to do what I had to do, and to see what I had to see, as Wyrd kept weaving. I would like to share some of that journey with you now.

I met Jason in 1999. He was one of the baristas in the coffee shop I managed back then. I remember him vividly, as a long-haired, bright young man who knew everything about coffee and who had a penchant for Rumi poetry. He introduced me to Rumi, actually. The last thing my physical eyes saw of Jason in this world was the short-haired, wax-statue looking corpse lying in a coffin in a christian church. That was a few days ago. Somewhere in-between my first meeting and my final view of what remained of Jason's body, was the life of a man who was a radical mystic in his own right, a wild lord of the party, a scholar and a writer who finally succumbed to dark forces that drew him into destructive confusion and depression and led him to despair and death.

I foolishly always imagined that years from now, I'd hear about Jason doing this or that, or living in this place or that place, and that he and I would remember those times we were younger men and living back in LA. That future never existed, and Wyrd will never weave it. I failed Jason in a way- a way that I won't fail my friends again, to honor his death: I won't look at someone for the future I may have with them. I will look at people in the now. That is Wyrd-scrying, that is Wyrd-sight. We miss so much because we are gazing, without realizing it, into dark shadows of futures that don't exist and pasts that can no longer be seen in that way.

Death makes all true Heathens step up to the plate and say goodbye in our own way. The first steps on my journey were to plan Jason's funeral rites. I knew that I'd have to sit through the rites that Jason's family would put on for him, but those weren't his real funeral rites. Jason had left the Christianity he was born into long ago, taking up his spiritual home in the path of ecstatic mysticism and philosophical Taoism. His Christian funeral was an alien drone of noise and commotion around his body, and around his soul, that he would not have appreciated.

More than ever, I came to realize that the old saying was true: modern (read: Christian) funerals are for the living, not the dead. My Heathen rites for Jason were all for him, for the welfare of his soul on his journey. I do not begrudge Jason's family their right and need to give him the send-off that their religion called for. But I do know that Jason would have wanted something different. He was going to get it from me, and from his other friends who were more in touch with his eccentric tastes and his non-ordinary spiritual path.

Yes, the Christian rites were for the Christians. They wept, sang, prayed, and at the end, they walked away from the casket sitting on the burial ground, looking back with longing in their eyes. I wanted to yell at them all that Jason wasn't trapped in that box; he wasn't stuck in his grave. There was nothing there for them to look back at; Jason was free; he had become a part of the world in a new way, a broader way, and he was still just as much "here", just as much a part of the world as he ever was. And we are all parts of that world, meaning we are still in an intimate relationship with Jason.

I did learn something important, from being at Jason's visitation ceremony. I saw nearly every person I knew cry. I saw his parents hugging everyone and seeing hundreds of people, including many strangers, crying their eyes out for Jason. I realized that grief was easier for the family to bear if it was shared. Grief is a great weight, as I am now very aware, and when so many people grieve with you, it does seem easier to bear.

The gathering I attended the night of the visitation was awesome. I saw so many friends from "the old days", back when we all lived here in this city together, back when we were closer. I saw people that I missed, and I didn't realize how much I missed them until I saw them again. I drank and drank, and I didn't sleep. When I was dropped off at my home by 5:30 AM, I still didn't want to sleep. Instead, I went down to the woods and the trails that Jason used to love, and I watched the sun come up. Every sound of every bird was purely musical; my eyes certainly were opened in a new way. I promised myself that I'd unload all my thoughts on the first person I came across that morning- and Wyrd saw to it that a kindly old gent from the local neighborhood and his big white dog came walking down the levee.

I introduced myself, and told him what a fine prize he'd just won: to hear my sad story at the crack of dawn. This fine man took it well, like a real champ: we walked his dog together, and talked about life and death. We finally parted, and he told me that death presented everyone with a chance to make something good out of misfortune. He said a subtle, noble truth to me- he said that we all had a chance to change our relationships with one another, to look deeper into things, and to make a good thing out of the bad. It may be simple sounding, but this advice is deeper than the ocean. Every moment is already a new chance for things to change; death is the same, but with a deeper motivation to do so.

By the time the funeral and burial was over, I felt spiritually and emotionally drained- totally thin and wasted inside. A strange species of depression set in, but Thorgrimm and I still went out to the water's rim and did the first Blot for Jason's journey. That night, the water was beautiful, and the night was silent and vast. The temperature was perfect. I sang the Hagalaz-songs, opening the Helgrind, and made our single flame.

Thorgrimm used our hammer to do the Hammer-rite and I prayed to He who should be invoked to guide the dead safely through the dangers of the Hel-way: the Allfather. We lifted a horn of ale, of Jason's favorite ale, and it was made powerful by the Allfather. We drank some of it. We poured the rest into a wooden bowl, and sprinkled ourselves with it using a hlauteinn of holly-evergreen. We gave it to the ground, we prayed and spoke to Jason.

Allfather is the world-creating spirit who guides all souls down the Hel-way, to their rest. Or should I say, he once did; does he still? I believe so, but we must never forget that humans have a duty to maintain a reciprocal relationship with the Gods, and today, so few people consciously do so. When humans largely forget the Gods, it's not that the Gods forget us, but that we close our minds to their presence and to what they wish for us. The Allfather's holy kindred reach for us; how many reach back? How many of us would go down the Hel-way with the Allfather, when he appeared for us at death? Would we think of him as a figment of our dying imaginations, or would we fear him as some evil spirit, as the Christians call him?

When a person dies, I believe that the next Nine Nights that follow is especially sacred to their journey. After a few days of unconsciousness, I believe that their minds, re-clad in a subtle body, arises into a new, subtle consciousness, and is then faced by its own death-vision, and enters into the experience of the Hel-way, the transitional experience that falls between this world and whatever other world the dead may find their way to, in accordance with their own Wyrd. All of the dead must first go to the deeps of Hel, the Underworld, before they either find their way to a resting place in the deep, or move on to another world.

There's so much we don't know about the experience of the dead, and indeed, much can't be known. The death experience is highly individualistic. One thing is certain- for the Heathen faithful, to die is to "see Odin"- to meet the guide of souls, if we can or will recieve him.

In the time of the Nine Nights, at least three Blots should be done; the first for Allfather to guide the journeyer, the second for the ancestors and guardian spirit of the journeyer to help him or her, and the last for Urd, the Fate-weaver, She who is queen over the dead in Hel. All are done for a single purpose: to see that the dead be helped. To see that they be given the power to maintain their wits through the dark visions and spiritual dangers of the journey. Ill-wights and trollish powers can assault the person who wanders down the Hel-way, especially if they go unawares or without preparation. The greatest danger of the death-journey is that we will lose our wits, succumb to full unconsciousness, and be drawn into the deepest dark of Hel's halls, losing our will and motivation and the fire of our spirits.

It takes a strong, vibrant person in this life to master death, but it is not impossible. And most people need help. That's why we have the Fetch-guardians sent to us by Allfather, and the Allfather himself; this is why we have our spiritual friends and the ancestral powers that watch over us. Even in death, we get by with help from our friends, our kin, and our Gods.

But most of all, we must entreat mighty Urd, the Fate-weaver, whose noose falls on all of us when our time for death, our own doom, has come.

So Thorgrimm and I invoked first the Allfather, and rightly so, for the Allfather also lost his son. He knows what the family and friends of Jason are going through. He lost his son to the dark of Hel, but more importantly, the Allfather knows what awaits, what lies beyond; he knows the great completion of all things. He whispered this secret into his son's ear on his funeral pyre. The rite was powerful; by this time, we knew that Jason wasn't so far down the Hel-way that he couldn't hear us. I know that he could still experience so much, perhaps clearly, perhaps indistinctly. But our rites for him were effective because calling his name has the power to attract his now-released mindstream to experience our rite for him.

We prayed to the Allfather to guide Jason; Allfather is the God to whom all the wise seek to commune with at occassions of death, because He is not just all-wise, but he is a shape-shifter; he is a Turnskin; he can appear in whatever form he wants. In his great wisdom, we asked that he would appear to Jason in whatever form Jason needed to see to trust him, to follow him, to learn from him. Wisdom can spare us all from death in a very real sense of the word, and when we are on the Hel-way, Wisdom can spare us from the terrors that follow death. We asked the Allfather, who knows precisely what form to appear in for Jason, to go and help Jason. No wight could be wiser than Allfather; his wisdom is the wisdom that we all need, alive or dead.

Is praying to the Gods enough? Can it stem the tide of grief, close the doors of the suffering death inevitably brings to the living and the dead? As Heathens, we have no choice but to trust in the old wisdom. There is no room for second-guessing ourselves or our ancestors. Our ancestors are clear on this, perfectly clear: death is not the end of life, but a transition into new conscious experiences.

But how do we prepare for death? Surely we can't trust that the Gods will rush in to rescue us from death, and trust in funeral rites and the goodwill of those we leave behind. No, we need to concentrate on two things before we die: Wisdom and Right Living.

Wisdom is too great a topic to discuss here and now; in some way, I discuss it at length in nearly every post I make to this blog. Here, I need to focus on right living. Wisdom comes to most as a consequence of right living, anyway. Right living means living a noble life, following the standards of nobility set down in the holy lores of our ancestors.

I do not believe that these standards are human-serving standards that were invented by human beings for human purposes. I believe that they were taught to our ancestors by the Gods, as standards of living that reflect a greater reality, not only a human one, but a godly one. When you live a life of brave and self-sacrificing support for the community of consciousness and life, when you live a life of generosity and hospitality, and when you life a life where you don't compromise with your love and loyalty for the Gods and family and kindred, you are not just being a good human; you are being a Godly human. You are channeling and invoking the Gods, the divine power of Raidho, the mystery of right order for the Cosmos. You are unfolding the Rune or Mystery of Mannaz in its greatest form: the human being who manifests the spirit of the Gods, which is within us all.

That is how you prepare for death. A person who lives rightly invokes the Gods and the protection of the Rune of Right Order for the Cosmos, so much so that even death cannot fully dim that order. Your wits remain about you even before the darkest assaults of the giantish powers. The Gods are with you. To live a life of true god-like nobility is to bridge heaven and earth, Asgard and Midgard. And that affects this life as well as the next.

Jason died and entered into the light of spirit- the Spirit that Allfather breathed into all people. I've often chuckled at the pervasive connections we hear of with death and "seeing the light", the typical experience that so many "near death experience" people report. That light is no light from heaven; it's the light of what we are. It's the light of the spirit of the Gods that dwells in us. When we die, we experience it clearly again, without the dullness of our senses to dim it out for us. Did jason recognize it for what it was? I don't know. I hope that the Allfather appeared in Jason's death-vision and revealed that truth to him.

I hope he helped Jason to keep his wits and shared his wisdom. I hope that Jason has found rest, and indeed, in my heart, I know that Jason's journey will end in good places. Jason died right as the Twelve Nights of Yule came upon us; no time of year is more powerful, for the living or the dead. I know that this made Jason's transition easier and better. It may have added more dangers, but so many offerings and rites have now been done for him that I know the Gods protected him, along with his ancestral powers.

I'd like to share one more thing that I saw at the burial. I saw Jason's grandparents walking away from the casket, and I saw one of his grandmothers stop and turn and point to the casket, as though she wanted to be helped back to it. She appeared to need help walking. She pointed to the flowers on top of the casket, and from my angle, I could see the young man helping her reach up and take a red and a white flower off of the top, and hand them to her. This grandmotherly lady seemed very weak, but her eyes were huge and round, like my baby daughter's. She wanted flowers to remember her grandson by; she looked at the flowers like they were the most precious things in the world.

At this moment, a great understanding rushed over me; Jason had a duty that I believe he failed in. Many of us fail it in many ways, but his death's greatest failure was this: he had a duty to his family. I don't get along so well with my family at all times, but I've made it a point to realize that we have to accept our families for who they are, and try to be patient and understanding with them. This doesn't mean that we must let our families walk all over us, but that we have to recognize them for who and what they are, and try to be patient if we can. Jason had a strained relationship with his parents; everyone knew that. But he, as an open-minded, intelligent son had a duty to be open-minded and bear, within reason, what shortcomings his parents may have had in their understanding of him.

We all have that duty, if we truly want to call ourselves "open-minded". The open-minded have to take up the slack of those who are rigid and unwilling to see from a broader perspective. We have to accept our families and live our lives, being there for them if we can. To choose death now, as Jason did, only placed a terrible burden on his grandparents, as well as everyone else, and I won't ever forget that poor grandmother I saw go back for those flowers.

Let me be clear on something: I believe that my friend was killed by giantish powers, by powers of confusion and destructive behavior that overpowered his better senses. His mind was made unstable and dangerous, and he took his own life, though I do not believe that he was making sane judgments at the moment he did what he did. These are dangers that we must all struggle against, every day of our lives.

Do not let up your guard for even a moment; the best and the brightest of any generation can fall victim to these powers, because they are giantish- the urge to oblivion, the destructive forces that lead people to abuse themselves, their own minds and bodies, and the minds and bodies of others; the beastly, selfish urges that lead to the pit of loss of control and loss of consciousness, which lead us away from our humanity in the best sense of the word.

Believe in the Gods. Accept that the light of the Godly Spirit is in you and put your trust in it. Trust them, and trust the best that is in you. Do not let the messengers of Giants or Trollish forces into your life; they do not come to set up a camp and then leave the next day- they come as conquerers. They seek the same destruction now, in the cosmos of each human mind and body, that they will finally bring to the worlds at Ragnarok.

Be present, here and now, with your friends. Watch out for them. Be aware of the things they say and do, and look below the surface. Tell your friends how much you appreciate them, and how open and willing you are to speak to them, about anything they want to talk about. If you are a friend or kin to someone, be a friend, be kin. The "place" where we meet one another, and celebrate our friendship or kinship is in communication. That's how souls interact. So do it, and together, our chances are better of navigating the stormy seas of dangerous Wyrd that life will cast us into.

My journey is not yet over. Jason's death simply helped me to shake awake on my journey, and Gods willing, I'll stay more awake, until the end. Whether or not there is a true "ending" is another story altogether. Jason was a good man. He is still a good man, gone to his Fate in another valley, another hall, another world. I miss him, and I still celebrate our friendship. Perhaps he will live again, or perhaps Wyrd will see that he only rises again into the renewed world that is to come. Either way, wherever Jason is, that will certainly be a good place to be.

The Trollkyrka

As a student of folklore, I am always on the lookout for the genuine remains of Heathenry in the body of folklore from many European nations. Despite the great regional variations in the nature of folklore, nearly every nation's own folk-wisdom and stories contain deep and penetrating insights into the pre-Christian impulses and even practices of former times.

With great pleasure, I stumbled across a fine poem discussing the Trollkyrka, a hallowed place for the ancient Gods in the wilds of Sweden. I enjoyed what I found so much that I felt the need to share.

The Trollkyrka (Troll-Church or Troll's Church) is a rock formation in the heart of the Tiveden Forest of Sweden. This forest is 'famous for its scenery and throughout history notorious for its wilderness and dangers; historically a hiding place for outlaws'. Wikipedia says "the name (Tiveden) is very old and disputed. -Ved is cognate to English Wood and the first part of its name, Ti-, either means "god" or refers to the god Tyr. Tiveden separates Närke from Västergötland, and was formerly a frontier between the Geats and the Swedes. The national park area has never been inhabited, but there are several ancient remains of human activities such as worshipping grounds and sacrificial sites.'

The Tiveden Park site mentions more about the fact of many Pagan holy sites being present in the forest. It says 'There are several caves, the best known being Stenkälla, an old sacrificial site from pagan times. There is little animal life in Tiveden, but there is a large capercaillie population. The flora is also poor, since the biotope is stony pine forest.'

Along with the Stenkalla, the Trollkyrka stands out. It is a high butte of stone, that is reached by a long, meandering path. The local folklore surrounding it is a rich source for modern Pagans and Heathens of the Northern Tradition. The Trollkyrka, itself an ancient Horgr or sacrificial ground/site, is called so for the fact that Christianity associated the Heathen Gods with "trolls"- and by "trolls" they meant malicious spirits.

I have written extensively on Trolls in my book Helsongs, as well as on the subject of Trullskapir, the magical art of manipulating and influencing potentially dangerous spiritual powers towards ends directed by the sorcerer. As I point out in that work, the term "troll" is a very complex term, and its original meaning is far from clear. It does refer to any manner of natural powers and spiritual powers, which run the range from friendly to dangerous, depending on what segment of folklore you are reading. Even in Heathen times, it's likely that the term "troll" didn't always mean something desirably natural or good- it has been suggested that it may have always held a dangerous connotation.

Naturally, "troll" took on a far more sinister meaning with the advent of Christianity in the Northlands- an actual formal renunciation of Paganism was required of Christians baptised in Scandanavia which denounced "Odin, Thor, Tyr, and all the other Trolls worshipped by (the) people." The Trollkyrka, being a former Pagan holy site, and apparently one that was used as such up until very recent times, would be remembered in Christian folklore as the home (or church!) of Trolls.

Trollkyrka was believed to be a dangerous place for Christians to go, and for a very surprising reason: the Wikipedia article on Trollkyrka says:

"According to (the folklorist) Lidman, old people used to say: "No Christian can go there. The mountains of the troll church belong to the heathen trolls. If a Christian ventures there, he will come to grief."

In fact, local tradition relates that the mountain was used not long ago for heathen rites and that anyone who was not initiated and saw it risked either to be buried in a bog in the forest or sworn into the brotherhood. These precautions clearly indicate that the rites took place as late as the period 1604-1735, which was a time when there was a penalty of death on practising such rituals."

The folklorist Carlshult was doing research on the folk-traditions surrounding another nearby monument of the Tiveden forest, the Skaga Stave Church. A few words about this stave church are in order- according to history, the Church-body in Sweden in the 1800's decided to demolish this beautiful stave church, which was built originally in the 12th century by Skaga, the daughter of a Viking with the rather intimidating name of "Ramunder the Evil".

In a frightening twist of Fate, the Black Death (a plague widely believed in the North to be the work of angry Heathen Gods, venting their frustration on the people parting from the Old Ways) devastated the area of Tiveden, leaving it uninhabited, and the existence of the church was actually forgotten as it stood lost for a century or two before a party of bear hunters just stumbled across it.

In the 1800's, as I said before, the church leaders decided to demolish the church, and one of the reasons given was to "punish" the local people for the persistence of heathen beliefs and practices in the area. Somehow, the Church always manages to get re-built, however, and was rebuilt very recently, following its original design.

While researching these topics, Carlshult came across a poem of great power, at least from the perspective of those interested in the persistence of ritual and mystical practices from Heathen times to now. The poem, which documents a ritual observance of a Heathen holy season at the Trollkyrka, goes as so:


"The procession creeps on a meandering path
Preferably unseen to the Troll hills.
A mass shall be held for three days,
This will be the beginning of the holiday.

The frock is long, so it reaches down to the ground,
The socks are sharply pointed,
The hood is pulled down so that the holes for the eyes fit.
Everybody looks alike except for the height,
The prelate counts their number.

The password is given in a low voice,
The prelate blows three times in a horn.
The fire is kindled with nine kinds of wood,
That is the old custom.
A sacrifice is offered to the spirits,
Everyone is sprinkled with the blood.
The best part is gifted to spirits,
What remains is to be consumed by the men.

In the midnight hour
When stars glitter,
The prelate asks for silence
And this is obeyed by all the men.
They fall down onto the ground,
The prelate looks grimly at the heavens.
And incantations and summons echo in the dells
The prelate is summoning spirits.

Everyone received an answer to their question,
No one heard from another man what the answer was."


A bit of analysis is in order, though the poem speaks admirably well for itself. The "Holiday" (Holy-day) is unknown, though I like to think that this poem records a general ritual used for any season of Heathen importance. What is striking is that a procession takes place to the Horg or the Hallowed Area at the Trollkyrka (processions into and out of holy places are a common fixture in many pre-Christian religions, and even today, Catholic masses begin with the procession of priests and their attendants up to the Altar) and the attendees are dressed in a striking manner.

They apparently have long, sharply pointed socks, long frocks, and hoods with eye-holes in them. Surely some of this was for the sake of remaining anonymous if they were seen, and for a good fright factor in the same event, but there may be more to it- they would appear quite ghoulish in the right light (or should I say lack of light, or perhaps torch or moonlight) and this kind of costume could have represented a hiding of the human identity and an assuming of a visage intended to convince spirits that they belonged to the spirit-world. The notion of dressing like spirits or putting on masks and disguises at "between times" or holy seasons and rituals is not unheard of in the shamanisms of primal societies, and a yearly distant show of this same practice at Halloween is well known to us all.

Of all the parts of the ritual outlined in this poem, however, I'd be willing to bet that this part- the odd dress- is the most "modern" addition. It's hard to imagine the common people of Heathen times really dressing in this manner at every ritual sacrifice, and indeed, such a thing would have been mentioned. However, as we shall see, there is more happening here than just a ritual sacrifice. The last part of this ritual-program seems to be a genuine working of Seid or Trance-sorcery in which Spirits are summoned and questions are asked of them by the gathering. The odd dress on the parts of the participants makes a bit more sense in that light; these are not merely "the Heathen laypeople", but people performing Seid.

The next parts of the poem are pure poetry- the "prelate", or the rite-master, gives a password and blows a horn three times- very powerful, indeed! The nature of the password is not known, but it's easy to guess what was happening there; he was formally calling to the Gods or the local Spirits by their names or by-names. His horn blasts summon their attention or perhaps their full presence; no doubt one blast is sent to the heavens, the other to the corners of this world, and the last to the land of the dead below.

The sacred fire of their rite and their sacrifice is composed of "nine woods"- nine, the number again and again mentioned in all Heathen lore, is without a doubt the most sacred concept, then and now. The poem ends this portion by saying "this was the old custom". How old? I can assure you that the practices this poem is outlining are as old as the hills.

A straightforward Heathen Blot is described next, a blessing, a sacrifice and sprinkling with blood. The portions of the sacrifice are shared by men and the spirits- this portion of the poem is a marvelous and direct proof that Blots were being done at a very late date, and at sites holy to Heathenry since very ancient times.

The final and most powerful part to me is the "Seid" rite that is detailed- "in the midnight hour", the participants are sent to the ground in silence while the rite-master sings chants or invocations, and each person "received an answer to their question", though "no one heard from another man what the answer was."

In other words, Spirits told each person their answer. We can recall the Sagas here, where the Volva in Greenland receives her answers, on behalf of the questioning public, directly from spirits that she sings to summon as well.


All in all, this gem of folklore is something that every modern Heathen should pay attention to, and more than one modern Traditional Witch should look to it as well, as a pattern for genuine modern day revivalist rites. I believe that there is power in this pattern, and I well know the power of it, as it is a pattern that I have used for many years now in my own practice.