In
Germanic thought, your being is divided into several different parts which work
differently, but must all function harmoniously if you are to do well on any
level. As Germanic shamanic workings call for the working of these several
sides of the shaman’s being, it is necessary to know the form and function of
each. Preferred terminology varies greatly with practitioners; Old Norse,
archaic English, and modern English will be used as seems fitting.
LICH
(body)
The
Germanic shaman is expected to be strong of body as well as mind and soul. The
body is the earthly vehicle for your magical force, and it must be capable of
carrying, sustaining, and feeding that power as mightily as possible. Physical
control is important; you will do well to take up the study of martial arts along
with shamanism, if possible. Fasting is useful only as an aid to meditation and
vision; active magic requires your fullest energies. Hence it is good to eat
two to four hours before a ritual, so that you may be receiving the strength of
your food, but not suffer any loss of sensitivity (food does tend to close down
or dull psychic activity). It is also healthy to eat something with a lot of
protein when you have completed your working. Vegetarianism is wholly outside
of any Northern tradition; while a meatless diet that contains a full ration of
protein and other nutrients will not be harmful to Germanic workings, it will
certainly not aid your spiritual growth in any special way as it would in most
Eastern traditions. Alcohol should be drunk in religious and inspirational
rituals, but not before or during works of active magic where the vitki’s
control needs to be at its fullest. With the possible exception of the highly
poisonous fly agaric, there is no clear tradition of using mind-altering
substances in Germanic mysticism. There are hints in the Eddic writings concerning
the use of various parts of the yew tree (taxus baccata), but all parts of this
tree are exceedingly poisonous. I personally know of one modern rune-worker who
almost killed himself by inhaling smoke from burning yew berries. DO NOT
experiment with these plants. Hair and beard, as the signs and embodiments of
your life-force, play a great role in Germanic thought and mysticism. These
should be grown as long as your circumstances permit and carefully tended.
Before rituals, you should brush till the hair literally crackles and sparks
with electricity, concentrating on the might of the hamingja-force (life
energy/mana) you are bringing forth to readiness, Hair, blood, and bodily
warmth are all the earthly embodiments and the vehicles of the hamingja-force.
SOUL
The
term soul is used in this text to include all the non-physical aspects of the
magician: hamingja, hide, fetch, valkyrja, and mind are all parts of the soul.
SPIRIT
The
term spirit is used descriptively here to distinguish that which functions on
the earthly realm from that which functions in the hidden realms: “vision of
the spirit” as the capability to see the non-physical, for instance.
HAMINGJA
The
hamingja will be somewhat discussed under Ritual. It is your personal reserve
of power, roughly analogous to the general concept of mana. In later sources,
the hamingja is sometimes confused with the fylgja (fetch). It is certainly the
source of the fylgja’s power, so the strength of that spirit is always relative
to the strength of your hamingja, though the exact degree of relation may vary
with a number of factors. The hamingja power can certainly be separated from
the fetch, or that part of the soul can be given extra might. The hamingja is
characterized as fiery energy.
HAMR
(hide, shape)
The
hamr is the subtle body underlying your earthly body, which normally has the
same shape as the physical form, though it can be changed. It maybe compared to
the astral body of traditional Western workings. It is the shape in which the
soul-complex fares forth from the lich.
FYLGJA
(fetch)
The
fylgja is the animal-form showing the soul’s inner nature and the person’s
condition. It can be seen by those gifted with spirit-sight; to the unmagical,
it only appears just before one’s death. It is usually a guardian, whose might
works-both in magickal and in physical struggles, the outcome of which often depends
on the strength of the fylgja-form and the hamingja which empowers it. The
fetch is often confused with the disir or the valkyrja, and the fact that some
fylgjur appear as women rather than animals adds to this confusion. For the
same reason, the hamingja is also confused with these, especially with the kinfylgja
who holds the reservoir of a family’s ancestral hamingja and wisdom. The disir,
however, are independent wights, while the valkryja, unlike the fylgja, cannot
be commanded or seen by spirit-sight at any given time. The knowledge told you
by the fetch should not, unless it is a message from another being, be taken as
any sort of higher wisdom; its judgment is that of an animal, which may sense
antipathy or danger and can perceive information that is not normally available
to the vitki. It should be treated only as a guide in a limited sense, like a
seeingeye- dog rather than a teacher.
VALKYRJA
The
valkryja is the highest aspect and the guardian and guide of the soul. She is
the source of spiritual wisdom and the intermediary between Asgardhr and the
individual. She acts at all times like an independent being, and it requires a
great deal of spiritual effort to reach a state of conscious communication with
her. Her nature is highly complex.
MIND
The
term mind is used in this book to describe the awareness and cognitive ability
which encompasses hugr, “thought,” and minni, “memory” (embodied by Odhinn’s
ravens Hnginn and Muninn). The hugr is consciousness and analytical reason; the
minni, the storehouse of all forms of memory, including that of the
semi-independent parts of the soul, ancestral memory, and the Jungian
collective unconscious. This memory is eidetic and endless, and one of the
greatest goals of the Germanic shaman is to bring forth the wisdom that lies
hidden in its darkness - to learn from “Mimir’s Head.” Until the hugr has been trained
to receive knowledge through the sight and hearing of the spirit, messages from
the hidden wights about one will reach it only through the minni, often
surfacing as “feelings” or seemingly irrational choices. Although one’s thought
and memory seldom communicate fully, they are never separated from each other.
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