Saturday, February 21, 2015

Avenues of Seidr Study


Most people when they find the word "seidr" and decide to study it buy or seek out what is generally available on the subject. Unfortunately most books and easily found net sources on this topic come from popular neo-pagan/heathen/wiccan writers, their cronies, and copycats.  The seidr seeker following the easy path finds themselves studying instead wiccatru, neo-shamanism, or the pagan festival phenomenon of "oracular seidr". Many writers of seidr are coming from only glancingly heathen perspectives. This is true even of writers who've been heathen for decades as some invested early in neo-magics as seidr and have never changed their tune. For some seidr seekers this is all they are looking for, and so their search will be short. Others though seek a deeper understanding. But where to do that deeper seeking is the question. I've been pondering that question for a very long time.

For the most part the seidr students of modern heathenry have been looking in the wrong places. We've been looking at records written by people going to lengths not to insult their Christian overlords. We've been looking at records of magical practice written by people whose goal was to demonize it in their recording of it. We've been looking for *pre-conversion* "how-to" records of heathen magic when such things really do not exist. Not in the form of step by step instructions with the underlying magical principles laid out they don't. What does exist though is evidence of the culture of the magics that we seek. We find that culture through myth, archeological evidence, remnant folk custom, old law codes, shifts in medicine, hunting practices, and farming practices. To see the cultures of old heathenry at all clearly we must seek to understand how those old heathens would most likely have perceived their realities. For those perceptions would have directly affected how old heathen magics were enacted.

Some avenues of study that can be considered in seeking an understanding of both pre-conversion seidr and pre-conversion heathenry are; 
  • ·         dualism
  • ·         changes in concepts of time and predestination as can be seen in the changes in language
  • ·         changes in moral beliefs
  • ·         an ongoing continuing shift from smaller spirits and gods to bigger ones with a shift away from farm and house spirits to Christian concepts
  • ·         a shift of consciousness from being first a member of something like a family to being a me first individual
  • ·         changes in law codes are an excellent source to uncover old pagan beliefs
  • ·         witchcraft trial transcripts are excellent sources to uncover what could be pried loose from old witches of magic
  • ·         modern Scandinavian trolldom is also an excellent source, but the student really needs these other foundations to be able to dig the post-conversion and foreign elements back out.
  • ·         leechcraft, that is medicine. 
Dualism alone took me about three years to grasp. Someone with a different background may easily have gotten it quicker. Dualism came with the conversions; it is a Judeo-Christian influence and is a dominant pattern in modern Western thinking. It does not matter if one is or is not raised in a Christian household; Judeo-Christian thought is the basis for modern thinking. It permeates everything. From Judeo-Christian thought we can then look at both pop-culture and new-age influences. Both of the latter are based on the former. It is not possible to be raised in the West and avoid these things in one's primary conditioning. So put aside any belief that you've somehow managed to avoid this conditioning and start digging at it instead.

When we look at changes in moral beliefs we can look at things like how the power of women changed with the coming of Christianity. Recent Norse related burial finds have been changing the greater modern perception of women as lesser and establishing them as easily equal in the eyes of these old heathens. We can look at Norse concepts and actions of slavery. We can look at things like weregild, frith, and the yards. We can look at the Hebrides and the stigma there on spaeing. We can look at when and where and how in medieval beliefs older spirits all became the devil. We can look at the deconstruction of the crofter'shelping spirits.

The shift in consciousness that I mention above from family or community-first to me-first is from Christianity's influence. The Christen faith has worked to erode family loyalties as being less important than those to "God and church". 

Modern Scandinavian trolldom would likely be discounted as a source of study by many. However, several years ago I met Johannes Gårdbäck at FB and joined his "TROLLDOM - The Nordic Folk Magic Tradition" group I found those naysayers to be incredibly wrong. Johannes has spent many, many years collecting stories and methods of trolldom throughout the Northern European countries. These things are what is left of old folk magic in those lands, and they retain much of those roots. Johannes' knowledge is phenomenal and he shares that knowledge incredibly freely. He'll soon have a book out that has been over ten years in the making. (There's a preview addition available now but it only contains the first quarter of the book.) Everything that has survived of seidr is in Scandinavian trolldom. One of the most important concepts is that most people could do the same techniques as the seidr or troll person, but if the issue was serious they'd often go to a professional. Another is that what seidr folk or troll folk do when they manifest their magic is often a reflection of mundane chores. The thing that gave me the light bulb moment about mundane chores as vehicles for seidr concerned a salt grinder and court cases. Trolldom has a method of literally in this reality grinding salt through a hand grinder while spell casting to win court cases. To me this tied in so strongly to a belief of manifestation that I had formed from my studies as to bowl me over. I'm one of those who feel that there are essential keys to heathen magics hidden in the eddas. I think manifestation is one of them. It is shown to us in the tale of Ymir's death and reformation. When the trollkhona actually grinds salt while working to shift probabilities her way she is working the same kind of magic; the transformation of a thing into something else, the doing of which forms an energy push like a cone of power and gives strength to her desire. Many modern seidr interested folk have made this connection with the craft of spinning. In this era of pre-made everything spinning seems so magical, but it was once incredibly common. It is a craft that takes one thing and transforms it to another. The essence of this what to me is a core concept of heathen magic is sitting right there in trolldom, it hasn't gone anywhere.  Trolldom as it exists now is not a religious thing; we'll not find much mention of our old ones there other then to cast on Thor's day. What we can find there though is culture. And it is through culture that we should be seeking to gather concepts that we can relate to seidr.

Once we come to some understanding of a culture, once we've managed to in any measure set aside our modern conditioning, then the magic is right there. We actually do have a vehicle in modern Scandinavian trolldom to find a lot of how-to guidance. But we as heathens need to do the extra work to be able to discern the foreign and post-conversion influences in it. To do that I suggest the other points of study as foundational work.

At the time of this writing I've been studying seidr now for fifteen years. The first six of those I was part of the heathen neo-shamanic movement. In an attempt to come to a better understanding of seidr I set aside my shamanic practice to focus on the one without the influence of the other. After three years of this I had an entirely different understanding. I'd come to recognize the new-age influence in much of the mainstream of heathenry. I'd come to have a lot of sympathy for those who'd tried so hard to point these things out too. And I became certain that the only sure path to seidr is to look at the practice without dragging in all the modern baggage. As I so often say, this avenue of study is not the easiest. But I hope that some of you reading this at least find the concepts brought up herein interesting.
Frith~



Thursday, February 2, 2012

Odin Is

something of mine from a bit ago.


Odin Is

Odin is the AllFather,
Who hung
The nights, all nine.

Enduring his own
Sacrifice.
Delivering sublime
Sweet runic mysteries,
To the world.
From time spent
On that tree.

Odin is the AllFather,
I know
He cares for me.

Secret finder,
Knowledge keeper,
Quester after truth.
The Northern Mysteries
Are His ways.
Need ye further proof?

Hunin and Mugnin,
Keeps He nigh.
As Thought and Memory,
They roam the sky.

Eight legged one,
He rides upon
'Tis Sleipnir
His cherished steed.
On his back
Odin roams,
Achieving
Fierce deeds.

God of death.
And God of War,
Kin,
Beloved ancestor.

Fierce Valkyries
Call warriors home.
Bring their spirits.
Leave their bones.
High them off
To Odin's keep.
Where food and mead
Run knee deep.

Seated tall
In His grand chair.
Odin's eye
Sees everywhere.
Psychopomp, Shaman,
King.
Wisdom searching
Magician.
Ygg's brave rider,
One eyed being,
Journey, journey
Journeying.

Thank we Odin for
The poet's mead.
Humor and rhyme,
On words fair steed.
Wit and Wisdom too.

Odin is the AllFather,
Perhaps He
Cares for you.

Crowfuzz © January 13, 2003

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Drinking the Eye in the Well


“Mimir drinks mead every morning from Valfather’s [Odin’s] pledge.
Poetic Edda, Voluspa 28 - Chisholm translation.

Ya ever wonder just how Mimir goes about doing this? How does a floating head drink an eye? There’s the no hands issue. And while there’s a mouth it kind of goes not much of anywhere without too much of a neck or anything else. Mostly though, how does an eye get drank again and again. And how does it get drank at all and yet stay in the well?

I had a vision. It was really quite lovely. What I saw was a ray of light glance through the water of Mimir’s well and hit the blue of Odin’s iris as His eye lay submerged there. The water reflected the blue, the essence of the eye and radiated that blue back into the water, infusing that area in front of the eye with Wishfather‘s pledge. I saw this brilliant blue and gold water scooped up in a flat sided antique travel glass with flaked gold leaf patterning and chips along one edge, as though it had been often used. Completely UPG and then some, of course. But interesting as it is a twizzler just how Mimir drinks the pledge laid in His well. The idea of infusing water with the essence of something is used with runes, stones, precious metals, and more. It’s a flexible and adaptable theory.

It’s actually been quite some time since this vision was shown to me. But I’m reading ‘The One Eyed God Odin and the (Indo)Germanic Mannerbunde’ and it posits quite early in the first chapter how very odd the eye in the well concept is and wonders how drinking the pledge could be done. This reminded me of what I’d seen of Runefather’s pledge and I was suddenly filled with inspiration to share what I’d seen in meter and rhyme. Hope you like it.

Blue Eye Shine

Allfather’s eye in Uncle’s well.
Brilliant blue - the Old Man’s pledging.
  Drinks the jotun of this ransom,
As dawning Sunna glancing glances.
Rays of brilliance bend through water.
Flashing fire golden glinting.
  To the depths, the hidden depths,
  Seeks reflection deep submerged.
Scooped the vision of His seeing,
Watery the line of sight.
Old god from younger’s pledge is drinking,
Reflected bright by Sunna light.
Ocular insert, wisdom’s seeming.
Seeming, gleaming, glint to know.
Swiftly flying Sunna shining,
Shining rays into below.
Iris blue regarding outward,
In reflection ray doth show.
Well for thinking.
Horn for drinking.
Eye reflecting, shine directing.
Mimir’s water Wisdom’s letting.
Inspiration, memories racing,
Deepest thoughts are chasing chasing.
In the well all things are altered.
Seeing seeming things sublime.
And in the well His eye is gleaming.
Gleaming, seeming, biding time.

© 1/3/2012 Jackie Rae Hannigan aka Crowfuzz

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Ratatosk; Chatterer of Yggdrassil

Rat-Tooth he is called, the squirrel who lives on the World Tree, a holy messenger entrusted to carry the power of words between powerful beings in a mythical place. Many secrets Rat-Tooth has been given, many things he knows and hoards like nuts squirreled away. He runs along, through, up, and down the spine of the very multiverse chattering, scolding, and playing. He plays. All squirrels do. They express joy in every fiber of their beings when playing. I see Ratatosk as a being of joy. Pure joy is the essence of manifestation and here we have a joyous messenger. That is worth considering.

Hail Ratatosk and his kin!

Tina's squirrel pic

I posted this as a comment to an awesome squirrel shot that my friend Tina Harvey had taken and put up at FB.  Eventually a fellow came along and asked me; “why would you hail Ratatosk, a being who is nothing more than a vicious, gossiping crap-stirrer?"

Now that’s an interesting question. It really is. Honestly. As much for the why would I hail (wish health to) His Squirreliness as the question of where did the perception of “vicious, gossiping crap-stirrer” come from?  So I looked to the lore for insight. (Queue drum roll, fanfare and balloons!) I also looked to the concepts and ideals behind the who and what and why of Ratatosk.

What I found in the lore is a messenger who lives upon the great world tree and is compelled to carry words, warnings, taunts, and malicious messages from the eagle at the top of the tree to the dragon below and in some versions back again. All of these beings are giants. In Norse mythology some giants are allies but most are adversaries. We’re not told if Rat-Tooth is either but the position that the World Tree Rodent holds is a very honorable, needed, and trusted one. An interpretation of Ratatosk as aiding the flyting taking place by carrying taunts and the like between the eagle and the wyrm seems reasonable to me. That in itself is not malicious, evil, vicious, nor even gossiping. Battling with words, wit, poetry and the like was well thought of in Old Norse cultures. Unless Ratatosk is altering the messages between the other two giants or carrying untrue stories in lies and ill meanings between them to cause harm then he’s just the post-man. Even the interpretations of envious or malicious words can be taken apart as just part of the flyting the squirrel is carrying back and forth and not a reflection on the rodent himself. I found no mention in the Eddas of Ratatosk gossiping, let alone gossipping viciously. 

From the Eddas we can glean about Ratatosk the concepts of messenger, tide bearer, and traveler. In the Grimnismol of the Poetic Edda the wordings used to describe Ratatosk’s actions are benign, possibly even favorable. (1) This poem is older than Snorri’s retelling of it in the Gyfaginning section of the Prose Edda. The wordings in the descriptions concerning Ratatosk have been translated into meanings very different than those in the poem. The Grimnismol of the Poetic Edda has Ratatosk bearing simply “words” and in one instance “warnings”. When we look to Snorri’s Prose Edda, compiled after the conversions, what we see used to describe the messages Rat-Tooth carries from wyrm to eagle and back again are the words “envious” and “malicious”. these terms are not applied to the squirrel. (2) Even in the Gylfaginning of Snorri’s Prose Edda as concerns Ratatosk he is portrayed as at worst neutral and at best benign.

My understanding of the Old Norse view, the pre-conversion mindset, is that good and evil were not primary concepts. Rather, the standard of proper behavior weighed between honorable and dishonorable. It seems to me that many modern Heathens who come from Christian backgrounds have not yet left the baggage of thinking in terms of good vs evil at the door. I cannot come up with any other reason for a neutral being like Rat-Tooth to be perceived of as essentially evil. If we stick to the lore the notion of Ratatosk as evil is completely unsustainable.
The Ash Yggdrasil
by Friedrich Wilhelm Heine


In looking at the concepts and ideals behind the who and what and why of Ratatosk we have a few elements or basic principles to think upon. We should consider the place of Ratatosk’s actions. Rat-Tooth lives and runs upon Yggdrassil, the Great World Tree. Yggdrassil is the center of all that is, the very spine of the multiverse, an incredible living anchor of everything. As the holy binding element of all the worlds Yggdrassil holds Midgardh (Earth) in its branches and roots along with the rest of the nine worlds. The Great Tree spreads its limbs over all the worlds, and above Asgardh. Its three great roots draw water from three wells or rivers among the Nine Worlds. (3) 


Of all those jotunar we are told of who live upon the Tree only the squirrel is emphasized as having the range of motion to run the Spine of the Multiverse from end to end. This makes him a traveler and puts him in a very elite list as concerns Northern mythology. Just think of how exciting it would have been as a semi-isolated, if not completely out in BFE crofter, to have a traveler come to your stead! There would be news, hospitality, possibly messages written or spoken and entrusted to be taken up the line. Add to this that there was an extremely high standard of hospitality in the old North. As a fabric of the culture it was very honorable to aid travelers and quite dishonorable not to. A traveling news bearer and message carrier such as The Squirrel upon the Great tree would have been well received and well sent off from even a humble abode.

We should consider the form; a squirrel. Squirrels would have been very present to the tree concerned peoples of the Northern lands. Squirrels store food for the winter and work industriously at doing so. The importance of the ability and action of putting away winter food cannot be stressed enough as concerns the people of the North during the eras around and of the Viking Age. Food was almost always in scarce supply, the ability to plan and store for the winter was a survival necessity. Those able to do so well were highly thought of.


Squirrels scold, or chatter. This can easily be seen as bearing tidings. They race about busily carrying on with a great deal to do, often pausing to chatter before running on. An action easily transferred into bearing messages. Squirrels also, and perhaps most importantly, play. In play they are the very essence of joy.


When we combine the information in the Eddas with consideration of the concepts concerning the Squirrel on the Tree the result is an intriguing image. My thoughts on this depiction are of joy, of play, and of care for the future. It is my long standing opinion that one of the great goals of a heathen living upon Midgardh is to live fully, such as with joy. Another is to be responsible, such as laying away food. For these reasons I have felt comfortable praising His Squirreliness, whom I hold in kind eyes. I was surprised to be questioned as to this and happily present the above well touted and much regarded lore as concerns the World Tree Runner in mine and Rat-Tooth's defense.

Ratatosk he is called, the squirrel who lives on the Great World Tree, a holy messenger entrusted to carry the power of words between powerful beings in a mythical place!


The consideration of this still takes my breath away!



As for hailing Rat-Tooth’s kin on Midgardh, watching them brings me joy.

Hail Ratatosk!
Hail his kin!

Frith,
Jackie 

(1)
This is either strophe 32 or 33 depending on the translator’s placement of it in the Grimnisol (Grimnir’s Sayings, The Lay of Grimnir) Section of the Poetic Edda.


Bellows’ translation http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/ ;
Ratatosk is the squirrel who there shall run
On the ash-tree Yggdrasil;
From above the words of the eagle he bears,
And tells them to Nithhogg beneath

Larrington’s;

Ratatosk is the squirrel’s name who has to run
upon the ash of Yggdrasill;
the eagle’s word he must bring from above
and tell to Nidhogg below.

Hollander’s;

Ratatosk the squirrel is hight                      which runneth ay
about the ash Yggdrasill:
the warning words                          of the watchful eagle
he bears to Nithogg beneath.

Chisholm’s;

Ratatosk the squirrel is called
who runs on the Yggdrasill ash.
He bares the words of the Eagle above
and tells them to Nithogg beneath.

(2)
In the Gylfaginning of Snorri Sturlson’s Prose Edda High/ Hárr speaks of Ratatosk;

Brodeur translation http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/ ;

XVI. Then said Gangleri: "What more mighty wonders are to be told of the Ash?" Hárr replied: "Much is to be told of it. An eagle sits in the limbs of the Ash, and he has understanding of many a thing; and between his eyes sits the hawk that is called Vedrfölnir. The squirrel called Ratatöskr runs up and down the length of the Ash, bearing envious words between the eagle and Nídhöggr; and four harts run in the limbs of the Ash and bite the leaves.

Faulkes translation;

Then spoke Gangleri: "What other particularly notable things are there to tell about the Ash?"
High said: "There is a great deal to tell of it. There is an eagle sits in the branches of the Ash, and it has knowledge of many things, and between its eyes sits a hawk called Vedrfolnir. A squirrel called Ratatosk runs up and down through the Ash and carries malicious messages between the eagle and Nidhogg. Four stags run in the branches of the Ash and feed on the foliage.

(3)
Prose Edda, Brodeur translation
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/pre04.htm

XV. Then said Gangleri: "Where is the chief abode or holy place of the gods?" Hárr answered: 'That is at the Ash of Yggdrasill; there the gods must give judgment everyday." Then Gangleri asked: "What is to be said concerning that place?" Then said Jafnhárr: "The Ash is greatest of all trees and best: its limbs spread out over all the world and stand above heaven. Three roots of the tree uphold it and stand exceeding broad: one is among the Æsir; another among the Rime-Giants, in that place where aforetime was the Yawning Void; the third stands over Niflheim, and under that root is Hvergelmir, and Nídhöggr gnaws the root from below. But under that root which turns toward the Rime-Giants is Mímir's Well, wherein wisdom and understanding are stored; and he is called Mímir, who keeps the well. He is full of ancient lore, since he drinks of the well from the Gjallar-Horn. Thither came Allfather and craved one drink of the well; but he got it not until he had laid his eye in pledge. So says Völuspá:

All know I, Odin, | where the eye thou hiddest,
In the wide-renowned | well of Mímir;
Mímir drinks mead | every morning
From Valfather's wage. | Wit ye yet, or what?
The third root of the Ash stands in heaven; and under that root is the well which is very holy, that is called the Well of Urdr; there the gods hold their tribunal.

[snip]

XVI. Then said Gangleri: "What more mighty wonders are to be told of the Ash?" Hárr replied: "Much is to be told of it. An eagle sits in the limbs of the Ash, and he has understanding of many a thing; and between his eyes sits the hawk that is called Vedrfölnir. The squirrel called Ratatöskr runs up and down the length of the Ash, bearing envious words between the eagle and Nídhöggr; and four harts run in the limbs of the Ash and bite the leaves. They are called thus: Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr, Durathrór. Moreover, so many serpents are in Hvergelmir with Nídhöggr, that no tongue can tell them, as is here said:

Ash Yggdrasill | suffers anguish,
    More than men know of:
The stag bites above; | on the side it rotteth,
    And Nídhöggr gnaws from below.

And it is further said:

More serpents lie | under Yggdrasill's stock
    Than every unwise ape can think:
Góinn and Móinn | (they're Grafvitnir's sons),
    Grábakr and Grafvölludr;
Ófnir and Sváfnir | I think shall aye
    Tear the trunk's twigs.