THE GERMANIC CONCEPT OF BODY, SOUL, AND MIND

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.