Thuleheim - Wanderings of a Wise Woman

Florida Moot, 2007

2007-02-26T09:16:00.000-08:00

The strong and trothfilled folk of Osprey Bay Kindred once againshared their open-handedness and kinship by hosting a memorably moot.

Tim, myself and our fosterling Reggie arrived early, but not before Sara, Gator and Casey. As day turned into night, more folk arrived - Agnar and Robert. Once settled we sat about the community fire, enjoying Agnar's gruit, some good cigars, and each others company. When a few of us decided to bed-down for the night, a caravan of folk pulled in. Raven and Chris, Seth and his fiance, CJ and Chrissy, Everte andRachel, Bryan and my wonderful foster children: Morgan and Lil'Ev, finally, Dem and Tracy.

It wasn't long before tents were up, more gruit drank and good cheer was had by all long into night and early morning. A pleasant surprise was Kassy, representing the Normannii Thiud, and her guest Vivian (both driving cross-country to attend!). Kassy brought her sewing machine and her incredible period dresses, all professional quality and reasonably priced - what talent!

Next morning, Naomi arrived with her wonderful amber (the "AmberLady"). Not only is she a beam of wunjo in our midst, but her quality products are always well-received. Later, the proud warriors of Hildulf Kindred arrived, to much good cheer! And itwasn't long before Becca and Ran - our chefs, real school-trained chefs - had the kitchen up and running. Camping is always great, so eating like your at a restaurant while outside is awesome! Surely,this is the only moot in Vinland where chefs cook the meals!

All total, there were 40+ folk in attendance.

Raven organized the Idrottir (his first-ever), and had a specialsurprise for us all: A true Drott games - where the warriors compete against each other. I was proud to stand witness to the fitness and prowess of our menfolk, prouder still when our fosterling chose to test his skill among these strong men.

Then there was the first-ever Kraft Run: 1.5 miles while carrying a heavy log. Reggie, our fosterling not only represented BogaTyr Kindred but carried my new dirk (all runners carried a weapon) - and won. Hail Reggie, Viga andDemarus for such an exciting race!

Lady Rachel, our moot organizer, kept us all on schedule, so that the weekends two classes came off without a hitch. I presented a classon The Irmensul and the Three Wells: Heathenry's Folksoul, andEverte presented a Barbarian lecture on how the samal can be seen and used as a model of success.

A big highlight for me, and many others, was Hildulf Kindred's Haka - a Mauri war dance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eGCsEQ15L4&mode=related&search=
Because Hildulf's warband practices MMA, them borrowing the Haka is very appropriate, blood-stirring, and profoundly Wod-building. Wow! Cant wait to see it again!

Later, there was a competitive raffle for a tattoo, and though CJ won, there were more than a few ready to wrestle him for it!

High Samal was a true feast, where gold- and ring-givers shared their wealth. A stirring sight was the Drott and Hold Oaths, and Fostering, witnessed by all gathered. The Tivar have surely blessed us with many new folk!

The next morning, as we all prepared to (reluctantly) leave, there was a meeting of the Southlands Chieftains/Foremostmen. An eventmade possible by the good will and common goal of all gathered.

Then, before we all left, Demarus did a Charming of the Plow, with a real plow, pulled by our warriors; this faining being yet another example of how our folkways are alive and well today!

This was indeed a wonderful weekend, spent with good folk, filled with good cheer, and so worthy of good words.

Hail the DOers and the Builders .. for their folk and fame will rightly prosper!
Hail Osprey Bay and Florida Moot!
Hail the Southlands Tribal Alliance!

... Yngona Desmond

Normannii Yule

2007-01-17T06:11:00.000-08:00

Normannii Yule

I was invited by Dan Lord, via Lou Steward, to attend the 10th annual Normannii Thiud Yule celebration.I flew-in on Thursday, January 11, and Lou picked-up me up at the airport. Everte (Cheiftain of Osprey Bay Kindred) was a couple of hours behind, so Lou and I had lunch together. Once Everte arrived, we loaded-up and headed to Lou and Ramona's home.

Later, we three drove out to Vinton Inn to prep the building for the celebration. Almost there, the bus had gotten stuck (with Normannii folk) so we were forced to turn around. Back 'home', Ramona cooked us a great dinner. Later that evening Ramona shared with me her inner sanctum. I was honored to see her beautiful stallr and the work that she does for the Normannii on a spiritual level.

FRIDAY. After breakfast, we headed back to the Vinton to turn on the heat, check the electricity and other things. I stayed to unpack and the guys headed back to bring more items for the long weekend. I meditated in my room to get a feel for the Vinton Inn, then walked into every room. The building is lovely and welcoming. I then decided to walk the property - 18 acres - so lit a cigar, pocketed a few extra, bundled-up and headed out.

Under the earth there are many natural springs; their bubbling presence seemed to propel me in many directions at once. I chose to follow the parallel stone walls - stopping at every moss and fungi, asking it to welcome the Normannii - until I reached a pink boundary marker, then turned right, traversing the ridgeline to stand in the center of a roost of crows / ravens - some several hundred. I sat quietly beneath them, listening to their chatter, then after a time decided to sing to them, about the Normannii, and how beneficial it would be to have them own the land; because they would bring good food and laughter - bright blessings for all land wights - and so protecting the land for future broods. Before I left, left them a cigar at the root of a roosting tree.

I then decided to climb down the dry waterfall; towards the bottom I followed a desire to approach a particular tree. There, the trunk had grown apart, capturing a rock and creating an open space that fell into a 'well', so that the sound of rushing water could be heard, quite clearly, from deep beneath its roots. I sat here for sometime, among the mushrooms and moss, listening to the water's song, and again, singing the praises of the Normannii .. my voice rippling in the 'well' at the root of that tree. Before leaving, I gave a cigar to the earth there.

I then decided to walk the other ridgeline, so headed in that direction. The ground was steeper so I started to create the perfect walking stick in my mind. Shortly thereafter, it arrived - a hardy piece of wood, narrow to hold and taller than myself, firm and without rot. With three 'legs', I easily climbed the steepest ridgeline. At the top I found a house, that didnt feel welcome, so went in the opposite direction, again following the stone walls that criss-cross the property. At several junctures there are singular large stones - which reminded me of the Saami seidhi - so I stopped at each and spoke to the wights there, emptying my pockets of pennies and cigars, asking each to 'make way' for the Normannii. This course eventually opened onto a gravel road (that led back 'down' towards the Vinton); stopping here I glanced across the way and saw an old graveyard, so went to visit.

Buried here were old European families, most from Germany, so I sang to them a vardlokkr I learned from an lovely old German spaewife. There were several veterans there and one woman who bore the name of a goddess - Walburga. I uprighted a few fallen flower arrangements, spoke each ancestral name aloud, and left a few cigars.

Returning to the Vinton I noticed that a few folk had begun to arrive. I went about introducing myself to Gary and Sherrell (sp?) and a few others who were already hard at work in the kitchen. I then returned to my room to quietly meditate on my walk. It wasnt long before the Vinton rang with the sounds of wunjo and laughter. Children and puppies, hugs and good cheer rang off the walls to ripple back with increasing abundance.

Dinner that night was delicious, but what I remember most was the Shepherd's Pie, which is always one of my favorites. Otherwise, looking around the room, at all the happy folk, I had a vision. I clearly saw an older man, tall and thin, standing in the corner, smiling softly. I knew that he was happy to see so many smiling faces, good folk enjoying good food and good drink. I then realized that what I saw was five years later then where I was. I leaned over and related this to Ramona. We agreed that the older man must be Mr. Pavy, the past owner, and that because the Vinton was his dream - to be a welcoming home in the woods - he was happy to see it being enjoyed again by so many.

SATURDAY. A busy day filled with meeting more folk, classes, much mirth and merriment. It was a pleasure to meet Lavrans - someone I have 'known' via the net for some 20 years; and to exchange information with him about the beautiful lyres he creates:
http://marklander.ravenbanner.com/Lyre%20article.html

It was also good to meet Conn, someone Lou had told me about, who is, essentially, the Normannii's equivalent to myself. I had brought him a special gift: a four year old bottle of my Spea Mead. But before that, we had an opportunity to speak indepth on a wide variety of topics particular to ourselves.

I also had the good fortune of meeting Michael, an active-duty Marine instructor who is on my Heathen Hearth list at tribe:
http://tribes.tribe.net/heathen-hearth

Sadly, I cannot recall everyone's name, there were so many folk! But I promise to remember *your* face next we meet!

That night was grand samal. The hall was adorned with banners, the tables arranged, a feast prepared, mead drank, voices raised in praise and cheer - to recall the weal of Heorat itself!

Long into the morning did the harp and fiddle play, and the holy sound of cheer and revel - the winsome life! Passed the Horn from Lady's hand to all folk gathered, Frith-Bringer she is called and radient charm she brings to each. No place better to be than at table, gifted with affectionate assurance - rich with the favors and benefits of past reborn! Joyous then the Ring-Giver, Normannii Lord, whose heedful courtesy and generous gifts bade all to their best.

SUNDAY .. Found all lagging behind, none wishing to depart before the other. The Vinton was scrubbed from top to bottom, so not even a cobweb was left behind. Joanne, Katie, Denise and myself took an offering of hearty bread and beer to the land wights, and our words were greeted with the call of an owl. Before long, the last of us packed-up, the doors locked .. so no doubts do I have that the land will welcome us back!

Live Deliberately!
Yngona Desmond

HH and L&L

2006-12-25T07:43:00.001-08:00

Tim and I have decided to combine the activities of Hodmimir's Holt and Lunch and Lore into one weekend.

As always, L&L will be the *second Sunday of every month*. Hodmimir's Holt will be the *second Saturday of every month*.

For those who are new:
-Lunch and Lore is a five year GHS tradition. Lunch is Euro-traditional potluck meals, and Lore is an interactive lecture.

-Hodmimir Holt is new. Its first-ever class will be January 2007. Held in Heimat Hof, Hodmimir Holt is a magic 'college'. There will be regular classes here on runes, galdr, seidhr, spae, wortcunning, leechcraft and the like.

Hodmimir Holt has been designed as a teaching college, a place of Lore-based learning. As such, each month will be a 'chapter' in the 'first book'. Each class / chapter is open to the public and geared to both the beginner who is seriously interested in an initiatory spiritual path, and the seasoned fjolkyngi.

Therefore, the Holt's first class begins on Saturday, January 13; and Lunch and Lore is Sunday, January 14.

Hodmimir Holt will begin with an introduction to the premise of a Lore-based magic college, then lead into its first class, "World Tree - The Seer's Web".

Lunch and Lore's lecture has yet to be determined.

Hope to see *you* there for this momentous Southlands event: the introduction to *our* own regional teaching college of Lore-based knowledge.

Folkbuild Deliberately!
Yngona

Book Offer

2006-09-08T14:01:00.000-07:00

I just received a personal shipment of my books, 'Völuspá - Seiðr as Wyrd Consciousness', and for those who dont know, it is available for purchase directly from me as a signed copy.

If interested, you can pay $23 via paypal to:
yngona@yahoo.com

I will cover S&H and send a signed copy.

Order Deliberately!
Yngona

Völuspá - Seiðr as Wyrd Consciousness
http://tinyurl.com/h75d6

Vinland's Völva – Daily Mystic Musings
http://vinlands-volva.blogspot.com/

Hildulf Kindred Moot

2006-09-05T11:11:00.000-07:00

Hildulf Kindred Moot

Meine mann and I spent Thursday evening with our daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter, and new grandson. Finding our way home after midnight, we managed a few hours of sleep before we were on the road, heading to Florida for Hildulf Kindred’s first ever moot.

We arrived at Florida Caverns State Park around 3:30pm and were delighted by the seclusion, nature, and pet camping. We were warmly greeted by Skjoldulf and his wife Beverly, Chieftain and Lady of Hildulf Kindred; then went about settling in for the weekend.

Allen arrived at our site, always a hug for this man; we were the first Heathens he met when he attended Lunch and Lore several years ago. I opened a bottle of my ‘special’ mead, one brewer to the other – a Black Cherry Melomel – to share with him.

Other folk soon arrived: Sara, Gator and Casey, then Lisa. Vigulf shared our campsite, initially, but came alone – his wife and boys had a previous event planned.

Everte Farnell arrived, Chieftain of Osprey Bay Kindred – the Successful Barbarian himself – and promptly started setting-up his tent space. It would be later that two of his warband would arrive: Seth and CJ.

Gunnolfr was there – another that I have a growing allegiance with. I admire his efforts in rekindling Germanic warrior skills – in many ways reminding me of my own efforts in seidhr. Gunnolfr introduced me to one of their new folk, Thorulf; a fine and talented Irish man with a ready smile and quick wit.

As twilight fell, Beverly delighted us all with a hot spaghetti dinner, with lots of Parmesan cheese and garlic bread. The perfect meal after a long journey and setting-up camp!

Later that evening, meine mann and I sat at Sara and Gator’s fire, with Casey and Lisa. We exchanged good cigars and passed several bottles of mead (both mine and Sara’s). Allen and his homemade beer joined us, and Lisa opened a bottle of Juniper Metheglin. Thorolf also found his way to our fire and finished out the evening with us.

Saturday morning’s breakfast was hearty: multi-meat burritos, buffet style, build your own! Once again, Beverly showed herself to be the Lady of Hildulf Kindred (certainly capable of feeding a Heathen horde).

More folk arrived - including my Sister Rachel and Niece Morgan - so everyone helped everyone else establish their campsites. It was a relaxing day, perfect for long conversations over tent and fire building, wandering from one fire to the next, enjoying laughter and cold drink, sharing stories and renewing ties.

I brought all our dogs together: Fred, Lilka and Leda, so they would be close enough to mingle and play. Also close enough that they were always close to all of us. They too had their fair share of Beverly’s good cooking, as I gathered up leftovers for them; everyone pitching in scraps here and there so that our beloved pets were certainly spoiled that weekend!

Sunday started with another great breakfast, more mingling at campfires, then Gunnolfr’s lecture on Somafera and Wod building. I particularly enjoyed his class because, easily, 98% of what he related about berserker energy ties-in with seidhr. In the few months of knowing Gunnolfr I have realized him to be a good man and sincere Heathen, dedicated to the berserker and warrior paths. He has applied scholarly research with personal practice to present an ever-expanding picture of Wod and its applications – both historically and now. As a competitive integrated fighter he applies this theories in a way few ever dream of - for the benefit of us, sitting and absorbing the wealth of this experience thus far. All total, his presentation was informative and well received, generating many related topics that excited all attendees.

Later that day, I gave my lecture on Hoher Muot; an outline of ‘High Mindedness’ that I collected and organized from Dr. George Jones’ work, and presented in a cohesive form.This was the hottest day, so most of us wandered to creek side.

The park has a natural cold spring that has a beautiful turquoise color that felt wonderfully cool to the skin. It was a great opportunity to swim, shake the heat off, laugh, play with the kids, and do cannonballs off the dock.

After a true Heathen feast, we prepared for samal. Beneath a shade tent converted to a Hof, we hung our banners, passed the horn, spoke true words, exchanged gifts, and drew closer in our vinskapr and allegiance.

Meine mann and Seth closed that samal – long after the formal rounds were finished – and long after the last die-hards wandered back to their tents .. those two talked until early morning.

Sunday brought another day of good cheer, good food and good drink. More moving from one fire to the next, more cigars and laughter – a better weekend couldn’t have been had anywhere else.

Later that night Gunnolfr organized a Wod building ritual that led into a Wodan’s Blot. CJ led the Wod building and all there felt the powerful rush of frenzy as it encircled and descended, filling us with a power fury. Once we were settled down, folk joined us to honor Wodan. Solemn words spoken, vows made, an effigy burnt - it was a very good evening!

The last day always comes too fast, when the realization sets in, that our time together must end. As we all offered a hand building tents, we all did the same helping our vinr pack for the return trip. Even after we were packed, many of our vehicles parked one behind the other, we lingered still, no one wanting to be the first to leave.

Hildulf Kindred did an excellent job. They showed what a single kindred can accomplish by pulling together; and in doing so, not only fulfilled a Boast made at Florida Moot earlier in the year, but hosted a great moot that will be remembered for many years to come.

Moot Deliberately!
Yngona

11.18-19.05 Sámi-Finland, part 24

2006-07-18T11:33:00.000-07:00

I am NOT a Sámi shaman. I did NOT go to Sámi-Finland to become a Sámi shaman. I journeyed to Sámi-Finland to meet and learn about the Sámi folk. I journeyed to Sámi-Finland just as my ancestors did, to exchange spiritual wisdom. I have NOT embraced Sámi gods, for their ancestors are not my ancestors. I respect the Sámi people and thank them for allowing me to visit, for sharing their life and thoughts, and introducing me to their gods and ancestors.

Part twenty-four:

I woke-up to a wildness transformed into a sea of tents. I got dressed, grabbed my travelogue and pencil, stuffed a piece of bread in my mouth, and out the door I went.

I was immediately offered a cup of warm tea at a comfortable fire. Folk all around were busy doing busy settling-in sort of things. I sipped the tea - tree bark of some sort - and heard singing. I saw a 'shamanika' who was 'blessing' a campsite. I walked over to listen.

She had a birch bark container filled with herbs; there was a symbol painted on the side of this container, so I started to sketch her and the symbol. As I drew a rough outline she walked over and looked at my book and the picture I was creating. She seemed very old, or at least, weather-beaten. She had a kind smile, like a loving grandmother. She said something I didnt understand and pulling a 'cookie' out of her pocket, offered it to me. I took it but gave her a quizzical look (good in every language). She gestured that I should eat it. 'Ah', I thought, another breakfast morsel, so I said, "Thank you!", and popped it into my mouth. It tasted like a brownsugar cookie, crunchy and sweet but with an odd aftertaste. No matter, it was a gift and I was hungry.

She returned to her singing, lightly tossing herbs with emphasis, and I returned to my drawing of her. On the same page, I wrote down this thought:

-Our relationship is continuely renewed - and so restored - through relations with the spirit world. By returning animal bones to the earth - like Bear's bones, or plant clipings (unused) - by observing seasonal ceremonies and mindful of 'restrictions' or guidelines-sacrifices, we guarantee the continuity of both tribal and Ginnunga-gapic order. This focus will prevent serious, even life-threatening, ruptures in the threads of life.

With my drawing finished and thought now on paper, I closed my eyes to listen to the shamanika sing. As I relaxed against a stone, cool breeze on my face, I saw a flickering of lights inside my eyelids and thought:

-The dead are given yearly offerings. A rite of honor and celebration.

Next I recall .. literally .. I was sitting some place completely different! The shamanika I saw before was no where to be seen. In fact, I was on the otherside of the yard, many lavvus from where I was before! I looked down at my travelogue and for a moment, didnt recognize what it was. Like waking up from a dream, I slowly remembered, "This is mine." I opened the book, turned the page to where I last remember drawing the symbol on the birch bark container, and there, to my confusion, was a picture I dont recall drawing.

It is of a .. noaidi .. outside of a lavvu. There is an owl on the noaidi's shoulder and oddly shaped forms on the other side of the lavvu. The noaide is holding a tapper in one hand and striking a .. mushroom with the other!

It occurs to me, vaguely, that the air around me is like water - warm and smooth water. It occurs to me that for some reason I am in an altered state-of-mind. I stand up, breath deeply, and cant move, so I look down and see that my feet have grown into the earth. I am not in the least startled or otherwise alarmed by this fact. What I do remember about this was wiggling my toes and thinking, "Ah .. this feels nice."

Then, I 'heard' these words, so wrote in my book:

-Women . Bear . Blood!

Then I 'heard' a woman's voice say, "Human ethics are no less than animal ethics, land ethics, or people ethics. Therefore, humans are not owned, nor are animals or land. Seidis . Haltijat . Horgr !"

At this point I decided to walk, so did. I took a few steps then turned and looked back to where, just a moment before, I was firmly rooted. "Huh!", I said, then turned and walked away.

Then I 'heard' a man's voice, and he said, "Write this down!", so I stopped and started writing in my travelogue: "A noaide soul is different! It has been mastered. We are also immune to death!"

Then, I heard Ulrik, but Ulrik wasnt there, and he said, "At night, by a fire, when the stars are bright, you can see the dancing souls of your relatives."

I heard drumming so decided to flow in that direction. Which is what I did: Flowed with the currents of air that coursed all about me and through me.

When I arrived, by flowing, I saw a man drumming. He was a 'treeman'. His feet were in the earth, firmly rooted, and I thought, "I know how that feels!" His arms were raised into branches and his drum swayed like leaves in a gentle breeze. I sat down and listened to him joik. It occured to me that he had a tree spirit, not an animal spirit. It also occured to me that to have only an animal spirit option was not quite right. It occured to me that we can have moss and stone spirit, or plant or water spirit.

As I watched the 'tree noaidi' I noticed that he wore shiney copper 'mirrors'. They shimmered as he moved, swaying like leaves in the tree he was.

I then vaguely recalled that Ulrik called this gathering of noaide a, tömeka, an "assembly".

I heard a voice but this time it came from between the beats of the drum. I could not tell if it was a man's voice or a woman's voice, but I knew for sure that it came between the beats of the drum. It was the 'Voice of Space'. It sounded like water when it trickles over stones, sort of, and it said:

-"The other worlds are where seiðus train and develop skills for Midgard."

Just then someone touched my shoulder. I looked up and Ulla Maija was there. She smiled at me and held out her hand; she said, "Come." I took her hand and stood up. She looked me in the eye and said, "I see you have been blessed." I laughed and said, "What I had was a blessed cookie!", and we both laughed. She wrapped her arm in mine and immdiately the warmth of her body came in contact with my own, like two fires coming together. We walked like two old friends, arm in arm, close to each other, not speaking, just enjoying the company of presence. She lead me to a cup of water that tasted amazingly fresh and 'glacial'. She then lead me to where Johan was sitting, with some other men, and I joined them by the fire.

They were sitting quietly and smoking so I pulled out a cigar. One of the men showed an interest in my cigar so I gave it to him. Then we all sat - six of us - and quietly smoked.

About halfway through my cigar, one of the men started talking. I didnt know what he said but somehow understood what he said. I took notes. Later, Johan confirmed that what I had written down was correct - though it was not spoken in English. This is what I wrote, based on what the man said:

-He was talking about trye or a noaidendirri, a 'vomit maggot'. It is a curse, a noaide curse, and resembles the vomit of an animal. It contains many elements, like an animal's vomit, like bone or feathers, hair or seed, and is often found crawling with bugs-maggots. These are sent to folk to cause them harm. He was explaining how he had done this to a man who cheated him out of money.

I thought: Awareness moves into Consciousness moves into Subconsciousness moves into Wryd Consciousness.

Everyone around the fire agreed that the 'vomit maggot' was an appropriate thing to do by knowingly nodding their heads - then everyone got quiet again. As I finished my cigar, Johan told me about the "three layers" of trance (my word).
-light trance - to speak with spirit guides,
-vision trance - for divination,
-deep trance - to see other realms; the 'soul journey' (my word).

Another man then said, in English with a Russian accent, that, not all noaide go into a trance, but those that do have "relations" with spirits. When he said this, all the old men chuckled and nodded their heads with fond smiles of remembrance. I looked at Johan and he said, "Good relations", then he winked at me through his sentimental smile.

Just then a woman and her daughter brought plates of food for us. I hadnt realized how hungry I was until I smelt that food. It was good to sit outside with the old noaidi, by the fire, eating good food, listening to them talk and laugh amongst themselves. I was in good company.

After eating I picked-up my travelogue and wrote:

-This is by far the greatest challenge I have ever endeavored. The Bear Hunt was unique unto itself. I sang a god. I followed a god's path. I laid a god to sleep. As gripping, as frightening, as REAL as that was .. this 'graduation' .. and this company that I am keeping now, is equally as significant if not as frightening. I am not here to be a Sámi. I am not here to ursurp their culture or identity. Nor do I think my ancestors were. I am walking again where my ancestors walked before me, so can speak rightly when I say: 'I am Fulfilling my own unique purpose along side of, by seperate from, the purpose to my Folk and my Tribe. My Folksoul can do nothing but return what it is - to reflect that which is its higher reflection. This is my Gift Giving. There is no greater purpose but to assist the Folksoul. I am no Sámi, but I am humbled to be here, learning as my ancestors did. I am Heathen and I can only reflect the greater light of my Tivar. I will not fail!'

When I finished writing, Ulla Maija called my name. She asked me to come and meet someone, so I said goodbye to the old men and left the warm fire.

Ulla Maija introduced me to a young woman, a 24 year old Sámi, a student at university who is taking "Sámi Studies" and is an apprentice noaide. Her mother is her teacher; or, one of her teachers. She had a very serious, "strong", "stone" energy about her, which made sense when she explained that she "pulls" her strength from "mountain". The drum she had was so large she could not lift it. I was invited to sit with her so did. As Ulla Maija left, this young woman, Katja - who is a 'law speaker' (my word) - began to explain why the Sámi are so protective about their cultural traditions. Particularly the noaidic ones. Because they have seen how they have been exploited, their traditions both maligned and "dissected" (Katja's word), that they have become both leary of outsiders and adament about their own history, culture, language, etc. She said many academics and students she knew at university where very "politically and socially active for Sámi rights". Then, very passionately, she told me the Sámi:
-Affirm their relationship to Matterakka;

-Live in peace and equity with earth;

-Support other indigenous peoples;

-Affirm their right to self-determination - to own, control and manage Sámi ancestral land and territory, waters and resources;

-Determine Sámi priorities for self-development;

-"We are the original peoples tied to the land by our umbilical cords and the dust of our ancestors";

-Affirm the sole use of their rites and sacred ceremonies;

-Acknowledge that indigenous peoples are central to human and environmental sustainability;

-Affirm their collective intellectual and spiritual property rights;

-That economic globalization is an obstacle to all indigenous peoples by industrialized countries to impose their global agenda on the UN, the World Bank, the International Monitary Fund, the World Trade Organization, and other bodies which deny national constitutions;

-Government must recognize that cultural and traditional property, if used in an unauthorized manner, is a misappropriation of heriditary knowledge and is therefore theft;

-That the Sámi are responsible for defending their lands against exploitation by governments, private organizations, and industries;

-Affirm the pastorial and hunting-gathering role in their culture as their livelihood;

-Affirm the right of every man, woman and child to physical, mental, social and spiritual well-being;

-Affirm the preservation of their language, culture and spiritual beliefs on their land for the purpose of self-determination.

Katja then told me she had memorized these rites because they were her rights and the rights of her people, and so it was her responsibility to speak these "loudly" and "clearly". I asked her if she felt that my presence was encroaching on Sámi rights. She told me, "Leib Olma has blessed you. If you are not to be here, he would have killed you." (Leib Olma is "alder tree man", or 'god of bears'.)

I thanked Katja for telling the 'law' to me. I told her this was a powerful gift for my folk to learn as well. I left to find a quiet spot to think on what she had said and how this information can benefit Heathenry.

I dont know how long I sat there, but Ulrik found me and said that Johan wanted to speak with me.

Johan: "As you know, Ulla Maija, like myself, have decided to speak on your behalf. Another has decided to give you a piece of his soul."

What has been decided is that Johan and Ulla Maija will "step forward" and "speak on" my behalf. They will "voice" my integrity and worth. They will "voice" my honor and skills. For, as they have explained, Vinland no longer has a "voice" to speak to "her" of spirits; that our line of connectedness has been cut. And so it is that they have decided to honor me with a rite of "graduation", a rite of "recognition".

Johan: "You see, we give this to you because we see this in you. I can not make you noaidi, no one can. You are already this - for your own people. I see this and Ulle Maija and the Old One who will gift you. Many here see this. So you can say, we give you nothing. But, we recognize you as Vinland's Völva. That is our gift to you."

For this ceremony one noaidi has stepped forward to "give" me a "piece of" his "soul". It seems that Johan volunteered but another stepped forward. I do not know who this other is, but I do trust Johan and Ulla Maija. And so it is that I find myself looking across a wide expanse that has no bottom, yet must be crossed.

Johan and I sat by the fire for the rest of the evening. He stayed these hours with me, speaking softely to me and telling me things that I needed to know so that I would "die properly".

Late into the evening Johan reveals who will be giving me a piece of their soul. At this news I am literally struck in the heart with an arrow and become afraid. It seems the only person that I met along my journey, who struck me with fear and trepidation upon first meeting him, has stepped forward to Gift me with his soul.

The Mad Shaman.

The thoughts in my head were moving so fast they were bumping into each other, knocking each other over, and getting all jumbled-up inside my head!

"How does that happen?!?", I thought, and, "What does that mean!?!" "How will this change me?? Can this change me?? Of course this will change you!!! Are you going to accept this?!?"

I must have looked terrified, there in the dark, across the fire, for Johan chuckled softly and said kindly, "Dont worry."

Quietly we sat and the frightened questions finally settled down as I calmed myself with deep breaths. The moon rose high in the sky when I wrote in my travelogue:

-I have allowed fear to pass through me. I am here in full faith. Never have my ancestors failed me. Never have my Tivar failed me. Never have my Vættr failed me. Always have the náttúrar strengthened me. Always. There is no fear, only faith. I am here because of my purpose. Beyond choice and choosing, this is my divine heritage renewed. This is my Doom.

I drew a picture of Johan from across the fire - his kind face and bright soul illumined by flame.

Live Deliberately!
Yngona

11.16-17.05 Sámi-Finland, part 23

2006-07-17T07:07:00.000-07:00

I am NOT a Sámi shaman. I did NOT go to Sámi-Finland to become a Sámi shaman. I journeyed to Sámi-Finland to meet and learn about the Sámi folk. I journeyed to Sámi-Finland just as my ancestors did, to exchange spiritual wisdom. I have NOT embraced Sámi gods, for their ancestors are not my ancestors. I respect the Sámi people and thank them for allowing me to visit, for sharing their life and thoughts, and introducing me to their gods and ancestors.

Part twenty-three:

I had a dreamvision. I was walking in a heavy blizzard. I could see nothing but blowing whiteness; yet, I was unafraid because I knew where I was going. After a time I began to climb upwards; it was a great White Ice mountain. As I climbed I knew that a great White Bear climbed with me. I could hear the bear breathing in my lungs. I could feel the bear's muscles in my arms and legs. I could see everything the bear saw, for I had two sets of eyes. When I reached the summit of the White Ice mountain the blizzard cleared. All below me was the blizzard - swirling confusion. All around me was icy clear clarity. I experienced an overwhelming sense of "Wholesomeness" through every fiber of my being. This Wholesomeness rippled across every thread of my existence as I stood atop this vast summit, with bear's blood coursing through my veins. When I awoke, I felt incredible strong and ravenously hungry.

Some thoughts that day, after my dreamvision:

-Ginnunga-gapic order emphasizes relationships and interconnectedness, instead of causality and separation of spiritual roots. This is weltenschauung.

-A gift given does not ensure a counter-gift, but an acknowledgemtn of kinship and co-existence with folk and the world(s). Without such gifts no one could survive. To give gifts is to act responsibly towards all life.

-You do not joik about something or someone, but of. There is no object or subject in joiking.-Gift giving is a 'purchase', something we 'buy' from the Tivar, who know full well how to repay us. A gift for gain.-There is no division in environment, only relations. Cultural diversity and bio-diversity are the same, so need each other to survive.

-I finally get 'it': Joiking is circular thinking, spatial thought, as opposed to linear thinking.
______

That morning Ulrik hitched the sled, taught me how to harness a reindeer, and we sled arond the lake. The curly-toed shoes the Sámi wear are looped onto the sled for stability. He took the sled to see "Mother Spirit", a seidi that is approximately two meters long and 1.5 meters high. It rest on three stones the size of my fist. It has "always" been here.

Seidis are Mothers, and there are three Mothers:
-Primal Mother,
-Wild Mother, and
-Time Mother (Era; my word).

Ulrik: "We joik here, at these places. Joiking is medicine."

Ulrik and I sat overlooking the lake for most the morning. We spoke very little, which was like when he was teaching me to hunt. I have learned a great deal about silence from Ulrik; or at least, silence shared with another soul.

Random Lake Thoughts with Ulrik:

-Living with nature, giving to nature is the foundation of ethical behavior. It is a solid manifestation of worldviews which emphasize the primacy of relationships and balance in all that lives. The wellbeing of this, of All, is contingent. This is why humans need 'medicine'.

-Humans are cutting themselves off from the world, we are increasingly more distant from OUR environment. Those skills and abilities that made our ancestors strong have been lost to memory. Because of this, many no longer enjoy good relations with themselves, their world, or with other cultures, all because so many have lost, "Who We Are". All too many have lost what their place-role is in this world.

-There was an old tree by the Mother Spirit that, when I looked upon it, I saw the tree and a serpent that extended out from the tree, that 'pointed' to a petroglyph of a man who had an erect phallus and his arms were extended upwards, towards the sky.

-Tribal and Ginnunga-gapic order are maintained by giving gifts to seidis - the sacred place of all gifts.-Ulrik: "You can leave your soul at this tree's trunk."

-My earth, my soil-soul, is my body, and no amount of effort can make my soul's seed grow unless it rests on good strong earth. The rich and vibrant soil of my body.

-The Tivar do not manifest through cowards. Some may call their name and imagine them there, but their deeds shine forth through trú character.

-Rup tjatse, "water that makes iron". There is an iron thread that runs throughout our being - perhaps the regin nail or Tyr's Pole Star. This iron thread strums and hums with every beat of our heart. Some have an iron thread that has grown rusty and brittle, with large and small flecks that break off and away. Others have iron threads that glow red-hot and so ever re-forge this most perfect of threads, knowing that it is the main point that connects ALL other threads.

-I have absolved myself to self. Now Rita is more seidi than that which was before.

-Before sledding back to the mainhouse we saw more wolves! Two of them, a male and female. Ulrik and I stood for a long time, side to side, watching them. More then one time, the wolf pair turned, and standing side to side, looked at us.
______

They start to arrive - shamans and their families and friends. Ulla Maija and Hjordis and Stein will all be here. All are coming to celebrate bear.

A lot of folk - entire families and extended families will arrive over the next few days. Ulrik's 'yard' is starting to look like an outdoor festival.

Noaidi are always well received. When visiting a house they are given the best place to sit, a clean reindeer or bear hide to sit upon, the best food and drink (usually liquor), and always paid for services rendered.

Random Thoughts and Things I Observe or Overhear:

-Every season has a gift, every monumental event, every life-changing circumstance. Even not tripping over a root on a woodland path is a gift worthy of gift giving.

-Tobacco is an excellent gift; both those who live in the flesh and those who live through the blood (the ancestors), enjoy this gift. It always ensures the continuence of loving relations.

-A copper ring (not brass) is put on a corpses right arm to protect the body from being re-animated (my word).-

Culture = spiritual nature.

-I drew a picture of Johan's drum tapper (my word). The top looks like the tapper but the bottom part came out looking like the roots of a tree. When I was holding it, to draw it, this is what I 'saw' - roots, tree roots, connectedness, deep digging darkness connection.

-Thor is a "shaman". His "special hammer" can raise the dead and make sacred (bless) objects. His staff and belt and gauntlets are all tools of necessity. Thor is a troll slayer among the Sámi, not a Jötun slayer.

-Matterakka and her three daughters are associated with "menstruation, childbirth and protection", but more so with every aspect of the soul. From the soul-gifts (my word) at birth, throughout life and during the life that is known as 'death'. They are akin to the Norns.

-Johan: "Think on these things and you will see they are true."

-Johan: "The bear rite is how we give back and so pay tribute to Bear, who is our relative."

-If you die in a lavvu your body is never taken out the main entrance.

-Every noaide has a personal joik (mantra?). Joiking is like a name - everyone has one. Joik then is like a personal mantra or moniker, in that it identifies who we are. It identifies "you".

-Noaidi pass on thier vuokko to either family members or their apprentices. These 'bird spirits', the flying entities, are kept in a gand-box.

-Once dead, or in contact wiht the 'death spirit', the soul that stays behind can (and often does) change; often becoming hostile.

-Noaides are workers of the ground, body and soul.

-Ulla Maija: "Ours is not a religion but a condition of mind; both of the individual and of the community."

-So many gifts are exchanging hands. Gifts which are not circulated are no longer gifts but accumulations, objects of possession. A gift given to one folk may pass through many hands - the same gift shared by many. Each folk who comes in contact with this gift shares in the energy that the gift has collected. Gifts that are not passed on, that are collected or accumulated, lead to poverty and ruin, for the circle of gift-giving has been closed or shut-off. Wealth must be circulated.
______

I saw Johan. I walked up to him as he was sitting quietly by the fire, alone. I stood respectfully next to him until he said, “You have come to tell me; yes?”

Yngona: "I have decided to free myself. To .. völkergedanke .. to give 'thoughtful thanks to my folk' .. to all my ancestors."

Johan: "Then you have chosen to free your gand. This is good."

I had nothing more to say, so I walked away.
______

Random Notes That Day:

-Healing = as in self-healing; as in lay knowledge; as in a trained physician.

-Noaide = 'shaman' = 'specialist' (above physician).

-Four Elements, Stone, Fire and Water = healing tools.

-Land, Sea and Sky (my words) = pull stone, or fire, or water from to heal.

-Sauna-stones placed in sauna (three, for 'land, sea, sky'). If a stone cracks, that is "where" illness comes from, or how it is cured.

-Bear and Reindeer = healers. Bear fat made into a salve can cure "anything". Bear has great power. Reindeer hoof fat is like bear fat. Reindeer antler soup is good for colds and flu.

-Noaide Herbs = Mountain Ash, Carpathian Birch, European Larch, Arolla Pine, Moutain Saw Thistle, Spruce, Silesian Willow. Johan and Kåre also explained how to "find" these in America.

-Noaide Food = lean meat, mushrooms, garlic, angelica and berries.
______

I was sitting with my back against a tree, enjoying the last rays of Sunna, when Johan walked up: "Let me tell you about Passevare Olmai, Lodde and Guelle", he said, as he sat down. "You must joik these in order", and he began to joik, teaching me the words. After sometime, when he felt confident that I had learned the words and their meanings, he said, "You must never joik Vurnes Lodde", and he explained why.

This was my first Sámi flying lesson.
______

Ulrik's brother, Gard Terje, comes to visit. He walked most the morning to arrive here. I saw him from a distance, his horse following behind him without a tether. I drew a picture of him, then drew a 'petroglyph' of him and his horse.
______

In the twilight, away from the many fires and sound of voices, I walked in silence. It was there, while alone, that I saw a WILD reindeer.

I was walking and thinking about everything that I had experienced during my trip. It seemed that everything was starting to escalate, that the energy within me and around me was spinning faster and faster. Never out of control, just intensifying. I was pondering this and many other things when I heard a noise. I looked but saw nothing. I stood still and looked deeply into the woods, relaxing my eyes, as Ulrik had taught me. I then noticed something - a different sort of outline.

It seemed both in place and out of place at the same time. I relaxed my breath and tried "not to look". When I did this I saw a "reindeer shape". It was like a three-dimensional picture, something that had to be not-seen to be seen. I thought, "Its just light and shadow. Its not a real reindeer", so I started walking towards it. I walked slowly, cautiously, closer and closer - but it never moved. I then laughed outloud, thinking how easily I was being tricked by an optical illusion, but the sound of my laughter caused it to move! My heart skipped a beat as it turned its head to look directly at me! It was a wild reindeer! And with that thought came another: "Goode!" Later that day I drew a picture of Goode, and some reindeer petroglyphs. Ulrik told me it is "good luck" to see Goode.

Live Deliberately!
Yngona

Lunch and Lore - July

2006-07-10T11:54:00.000-07:00

Lunch and Lore, as always, owes its great success to those whoattend. These folk are the backbone of Heathen society - the trueDOers in our midst.

We had a great turn-out! Folk came from Savannah and Macon, Woodstock and Marietta.

Lunch: Our potluck included dishes from Finland and Ireland, as well as fresh summer fruit and homemade cakes.

Lore: We discussed Hôher Muot, or "high mind; exalted disposition". For me, the best part of our Lore is how EVERYONE contributes. Everyone had something to add by-way of personal / first-hand experience. More than study our Lore, we LIVE it!

As co-Chieftains, it was our pleasure to welcome you all as our guests; to share our abundant wealth and weal - especially with those we sincerely care for. *You* are the good folk, the trúfolk, who understand the worth of Heathen ethic and live in accord with Heathen value - may your hearths always prosper!

Host Deliberately!
Yngona and Tim

11.15.05 Sámi-Finland, part 22

2006-07-10T03:33:00.000-07:00

11.12 -14.05 Sámi-Finland, part 21

2006-07-07T10:13:00.000-07:00

Asatru Alliance AlThing 26

2006-06-26T19:35:00.000-07:00

Asatru Alliance AlThing 26!

Thank you Valgard Murray for allowing me to share space in your cabin with your family and George.

Thank you Gjallarhorn Kindred for organizing a Thing from 1800+ miles away!

More to report later, after I read 350+ emails!

Quickly, I made it home safe and whole - and as always, from mooting with trúfolk - stronger for the journey!

Hail the Alliance!
Yngona

AAA 26, part last

2006-06-25T12:59:00.000-07:00

I had heard that rain would become part of my return trip later in the afternoon so I packed up and left early.

The air was cool as I looked back across the cabins and the lake were we had stayed, still able to hear the names of the gods hailed aloud, and that sound echoing across the water to ring around Midgard.

I turned away from that great week spent with so many good folk and focused on my long journey back to GA.

The temperature was in the low 70s and the sky was cloudy. The rain came after Chattanooga and it came heavy and constant for the next two and a half hours. By the time I pulled into my driveway, my hands were tight from the firm grip I held on the wheel in such a driving rain. But safe and sound I found myself home, in the arms of meine mann, and joyed to be there.

I went with who I am and what I represent, and returned with so much more!

Live Deliberately!
Yngonaf

AAA, part four

2006-06-24T07:17:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a big day. The AlÞing was still taking place, the Viking Games were scheduled, as well as many wonderful classes, like "Contemporary Shamanism", and herb class with Amy, and Hjuka's class on "Viking Timekeeping".

One thing I did not include for yesterday's recollection was BogaTyr Sippes acceptance as a Probationary Kindred within the Asatru Alliance. I was proud to stand infront of Valgard Murray the the Delegates of Record, not just to proclaim that BogaTyr was present, but to sit before these fine and dedicated folk and have them ask questions regarding why our sippe sought admittance into the Alliance.

I was told later that our vote was unanimous.

More socializing, more meeting good folk and exchanging new ideas. I love the relation of information on everything from brewing to the Lore, to martial skills and land navigation, to weaving and felting to tunic making, to discussing history and science and how it applies to us as Heathens, and I could go on forever. Open dialogues, eye-to-eye, are the best way to learn and grow, equally as they are opportunities to get your ideas 'out there'.

The auction that night was - as all Heathen auctions go - much fun. Like so, so many others, the items I bought went to others, mostly kids (in my case). All the money benefits the Alliances Land Fund - which is the most noble resourch for our monies that I can imagine.

I love to travel and visit moots across Vinland - especially if there are Trú Folk there. And as I was saying to a friend the other day, "The longer I am a Heathen the more time I spend with other Heathens who are long-time Heathens." For myself, there seems to be a greater degree of integrity and determination among such folk.

The night was long and blended into morning. There is far too much for me to possibly relate via a blog. Like, the picture that John Sergeskötter drew for me. He is a talented artist and he deftly captured my image of Tyr onto paper.

All the excellent meads and homemade beers, the outstanding and nourishing foods, the laughter and comradery, the comfort of sitting with old friends and the excitment of finding new ones, the joy of watching our children grow up with other Heathen kids, the pleasure of spending time with one of the founders of Asatru in Vinland, spending time with others who are writing books - taking Heathenry to the next level, observing the legal mechanization of the AlÞing, meeting folk who before were only an internet entity, an opportunity to brag or show off our prowess in some endeavor among folk who truly appreciate such boasting - all this and so much more.

This is why I travel three to four months out of every year - either in Vinland or in Europe - to moot with quality folk. There was no place else I would rather have been.

Moot Deliberately!
Yngona

AAA 26, part three

2006-06-23T22:28:00.000-07:00

The last couple of mornings I had breakfast with my Brother Mitch, Valgard and George. It was great reconnecting with all of them, of course, but I had forgotten how much fun George is to be around. He has such a wonderful sense of humor that he can cheer even the darkest day.

I mingled a great deal, as I enjoy doing, meeting many different folk. Because folk tend to cluster in groups it is easy to met the bulk of a kindred this way. This is how I met the "Beer Bucket Brigade", otherwise known as Freki and Geri Kindred. All great guys, very military even though, like me, they are no longer active duty. Great humor, very intelligent and very easy to hang around with.

Aside from the bright red bucket of beer and ice they carried everywhere, they smoked good cigars, and built a fire so they could enjoy 'meat on a stick'. They had a huge chunk o' flesh with mushrooms that they kindly offered to anyone who came around. This is where I bumped into Allan T. one afternoon, with the good folk of G&F Kindred, enjoying a juicy appetizer.

It was great seeing so many kids at AlÞing, who all seemed to be enjoying themselves. While watching the kids throw an ax at a target I commented to someone, "Where else are kids encouraged to learn how to use sharp objects other than a Heathen moot?"

That night was the Mead Brewer's Competition ..

... to be continued ..

AAA 26, part two

2006-06-22T22:00:00.000-07:00

I quickly realized that the wonderful lady - with the awesome tattoos! - I was talking to last night, who is also a mother of three boys with another blessed child on the way, was our cook for the week. However, Skogul was far more than a cook - she was Wonder Woman in the kitchen! She worked tirelessly - amidst the heat of the ovens and the clanging of pots, while watching her youngest boy - to prepare the most incredibly tasty meals possible. She is Skogul the Sustainer and Skogul the Seether, and Skogol the Humble, for when she was publicly applauded (several times) - with a standing ovation for recognition of her hard work - she blushed.

Gjallarhorn Kindred - a noble and well-organized group - not only hosted the Alþing, from 1800+ miles away, but their fine folk were ever busy setting up tables and taking down tables, collecting trash, arranging chairs, picking up meal trays after folk had eaten, policing the area, and I am sure, countless other things that I did not see. They were the 'grease' that allowed the great 'wheel' of the Alþing to run as smoothly as it did.

It was Gjallarhorn Kindred who organized and officiated at Tyr's Blot, which started with a procession and ended in a shaded grove outlined with stones. Haakon's voice filled the air with such sincerity and strength that I was genuinely stirred. It was the moving rite that officially marked the beginning of the Alþing.

Lots of folk mooting, not just that day, but for the entire 4.5 days. So many conversations with so many good folk doing so many great things within Heathenry and for the benefit of the Asatru Alliance, I could never recount it all!

I really enjoyed the Alþing. For myself, I have been studying Heathen Law for approximately twelve years – I have found it to be an excellent way to understand my Heathen ancestors. So being a part of the Alþing, and hearing our kindred's name called out, when attendance was called, was a proud moment. The Georgia Heathen Society and the Southlands Tribal Alliance has organized þings, at our statewide and regional level, but on this point I can only side with Valgard Murray when he contends that the Asatru Alliance has the only Alþing in all of Vinland. Indeed, it is.

Alþing Deliberately!
Yngona

AAA 26, part one

2006-06-21T00:00:00.000-07:00

At the last, meine mann was unable to attend. He has earned the right to manage his own branch, which is scheduled to open on July1, so has many things to accomplish before that date.

Henderson County TN: I was in the fast lane, rolling with the trucks at 80mph when the car started to wobble. I knew immediately what it was. I down shifted with my right, hit the blinker with my left, then put on my emergency flashes, thats when the explosion occured. The backend jumped up, both hands on the wheel guided me to the emergency lane, as little chunks of steel belt flew off like mad ravens down I-40.

I sat on the interstate for two hours because, for the first time in eleven years, AAA let me down. Small matter, I had the company of a TN State Trooper for the last hour, who will receive a thank you note.

Behind my original schedule, two new back tires, none the worse for wear, I am on the road again.

"Before walking forward through all doorways, be duty bound to sharp-sightedly look all around; be duty bound to spy about, looking all around. Because he knows not - but the senses / consciousness does - where an opponent sits upon the benches." (Desmond translation)

Entering the air-conditioned hall I immediately looked about for a familiar face and saw plenty.
First my Brother Jason and the ever smiling and lovely Hillary, then Sam and Cat. Grimsteiner then caught my eye - tall and noble; a hug from any of these good folk would rejuvinate me!

I was just in time for the light evening meal: hot and rich pototoe soup with huge chunks of ham, fresh and cool fruit and a green garden salad. I saw my other Brother, Mitch, who handed me a sports drink, 'to rehydrate', and all my kin and kith sat together.

Allan Tunnage and Will Oliver joined us. The former is a long-time friend who - when he became Thule for his kindred - I sent great amounts of Heathen Law material and references to assist him in this new role. The latter is the man who taught me how to throw the light spear, the asagi; he is also an accomplished shaman, warrior and alround good man.

The Main Hall was arranged so that all in attendance could stand and introduce themselves. For myself, the boon of the Internet is that so many names are familiar without ever having met; equally, a basic idea of an individuals personality can be had - or at least, reputation - prior to meeting them eye-to-eye.

Later Valgard Murray offered me sleeping space in his cabin. Already there was George and Valgard's son and daughter in law, so I was with family. That night we sat outside our cabin drinking mead, catching-up, meeting new folk - like Scot and his lovely daughter - and for myself, enjoying the company of fine and trú folk.

Moot Deliberately!
Yngona

AlÞing 26

2006-06-20T15:22:00.000-07:00

I will be leaving for the Asatru Alliance AlÞing 26 first thing in the morning.
http://www.asatru.org/

This year it will be held at Meeman-Shelby State Park in TN:
http://state.tn.us/environment/parks/MeemanShelby/

I will be reconnecting with my BOSH Brothers:
http://sacredhunt.org/

Lots of good folk will be there that I havent seen in a while, and I am sure there will be many new faces as well.

I will have a full accounting when I get back on Monday!

Moot Deliberately!
Yngona

6.6.6

2006-06-06T06:06:00.000-07:00

I have read reports of American Kristinns who are concerned about this date. I have spoken with American Kristinns who are actually apprehensive about what may transpire. Likewise, I have encountered Pagans with the same sense of uncertainty - mostly those who have yet to fully realease their Kristinn indoctrination of guilt and fear. As Vinland's Völva, as the Þula of my generation, I will speak on this matter.

First, this date only occurs in the American Kristinn calendar. In China, it is the year 4703-4. In India, it is the year 5106. And among the Jews, it is the year 5758.

Second, the number six is symbolic of ambivalence and equilibrium. The number six is often rendered as two triangles - of fire and water (ice) - which signify the human soul. Six is also the number of space or direction - north, south, east, west, above, below. Six, six, six is akin to Hermes Mercurius Trismagistus, the "Hermes thrice-greatest", or the Son of God to early Kabbalists, Renaissance scholars, Alchemists and even modern-day Occultists.

Third, 6.6.6 is the Law of Three - which is commonly referred to and more grossly misinterpreted by Wiccans than any other Pagan group. IN TRUTH, the Law of Three is that everything in the world, all manifestations of energy, all kinds of action - internal or external - are manifestations of the three forces which exist in nature. Namely, active, passive and neutral, or first, second and third. However, keep in mind that active and passive do NOT represent a greater or lesser quantity or quality. Try to think outside of the 'box' with me here, try to get past your ordinary conditioning. These three forces work together and at any given time one of them will PREDOMINATE the combination. Meaning, each force which is now active will become passive or neutral in the very next moment - in the twinkling of an eye. When one triad encounters an other triad, when three forces meet together, things happen that will manifest as either active, passive or neutral.

The Law of Three is not obscure. It is around us before birth and after death. The Law of Three is inside of us and outside of us. The first Law of Three is Ginnunga-gap, Fire and Ice. The second Law of Three is Aurgelmir, Thrudgelmir and Bergelmir. The third Law of Three is
Óð, Vili and Ve (NOT Óðinn - read my book!). The triads of our Folksoul is seen in the symbol of three interlocking triangles, as seen here:
http://meadhall.homestead.com/files/goldvalk2.gif
and here:
http://www.btinternet.com/~se16/hgb/3triangles.gif

This is NOT the symbol of Óðinn; this entity came to be identified with this symbol because of what he did, but it did not start as his symbol. The first triangle represents: Ginnunga-gap, Fire and Ice. The second triangle represents: Aurgelmir, Thrudgelmire and Bergelmir. The third triangle - the third of three, the thrice-great - represents: Óð, Vili and Ve - who brought about human life.

Understand this: The Law of Three is the law of the manifestation of energy, all energy in the worlds, in human activity, in all actions (thought, word and deed), inside and outside (subjective and objective), it is with us always.

Understand this: There is no 'right' or 'wrong', there is no 'left' or right', there is no 'black' or 'white', without the third that must accompany them. Do not think in absolutes! Where there is right and wrong there is doubt. Where there is a left and right there is curve. Where there is a black and white there is gray.

Think Deliberately!
Yngona

I Know Why

2006-06-01T03:33:00.000-07:00

I have been translating my second book and in the process have become initiated.

I began with five distinct threads. My mind carefully discerned that one would be appropriate of my time, but this single thread would not thrum alone. I had dreamvisions of a dark man – not a new occurrence in my life – who purposefully hide his identity from me while giving me advice. I was encouraged to bring the threads together, to allow them to rest side by side, interlaced and in accord one with the other. And so I did, but still the dark man remained hidden.

Oh I know you –
You who sought Óðr -
Your sort was shown to me clearly
Through AlMother’s eyes.

Othila . Jera . Jera . Tyr
Ur . Sonnewende . Sonnewende . Rita

Now, translating Old Norse into English, translating what is meant to be corporeal, I see you more clearly everyday, because I see myself.

Up the ladder of nine steps, upon the Tree – heart of darkness, triangular wound – you transformed yourself from man to god; and in so doing, made clear that God is dead.

Only in darkness, deeper even than between, am I able to become – from creation to creator.

I know the secret because I have read your words, translated their meaning, from what is clearly written - read in full light - till when the eyes must close and darkness ascend.

There is but one way, the Hel Way. Those who deny this are fools and cowards. Those who claim otherwise are self-deluded and posers of that which they, perhaps have seen but are afraid of being, or have not seen but only heard (and in hearing, ran in fear to tell others of their experience). Mockery!

You hide yourself from me, even as you came to me, dark rogue - Wolf Lord and friend to corpses; but in truth, my eyes had yet to adjust. I know why you went to Sámiland, I know why you sought AlMother, I know why you stood stretched between fires, I know why you marked yourself with a triangular wound, I know why you died, and I know why.

Jörmungandr – earth’s staff – nothing else will cause the turning. It is bring in not pushing out. It is not centrifugal!

Live Deliberately!
Yngona

Troth affiliation

2006-05-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

I have decided to not attend Troth moot and will allow my Troth membership to expire.

This morning I sent out a tv clip about the “God Warrior”, the self-proclaimed title of Marguerite Perrin. Aside from her appearance on Trading Spouses, she can also be found on wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marguerite_Perrin
The Fox Channel website:
http://www.fox.com/tradingspouses/bios/perrin.htm
And her website:http://www.margueriteperrin.com/
In fact, googling her name will result in 870,000 sites.

Considering this show was on the air last year, it is apparently nothing new; but it was new to me, and funny and “interesting”, so I passed it on to several internet lists that I am a member of. On every list the response was humorous. Many had heard of this and where ‘glad’ to see the link again, because it was so funny; and many (again, like myself) had never seen it.

The response I received from the Troth list however was quite different. Here it is:
______

Wayfinder wrote:

This is NOT APPROPRIATE for this group. Nor do we accept attachments. And also, there is NO CHRISTIAN BASHING nor SATANISTIC propaganda allowed. Besides Kristin is a Moderator here and may take offence :oP

Wayfinder
Http://wayfinder.tv/noshitallowed.html
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The last appears to be an attempt at humor by a Troth moderator, something they tend to do. Like, when I was verbally threatened by a moderator on the Troth list for asking a question, specifically: “What are the Troth’s posting guidelines?”. When the moderator threatened me it was accompanied by a smiling emoticon. I specifically asked the moderator to “clarify” if I was being threatened, because - as I explained - 'emoticons are virtually useless among folk who do not know each other', and so can be used to veil a threat. The response back from the moderator was that I should ‘chill out’ and ‘lighten up’. So, when a list member concurred with the moderator by also telling me to ‘chill out’ and ‘get a life’ - to prove my point - I did EXACTLY what the moderator did: Replied with a veiled threat followed by a smiling emoticon. I was immediately moderated.

In that I made no insulting remarks about Kristindomr in particular or even in general, I do not understand how I can be accused of [CHRISTIAN BASHING].

In that I passed on a link that was sent to me from an “internet acquaintance” from a satanic website, I do not understand how I can be accused of promoting a satanic agenda (specifically, [NO .. SATANISTIC propaganda allowed).

In that I spelled “Christian” using the Old Norse spelling: Kristinn, I do not understand how I can be accused of possible insulting another moderator. Early this morning I replied to the Troth list regarding someone who asked about my book.

In that post an individual asked several seiðr questions, requesting answers from not just myself but from ‘anyone who wants to answer on or off list’. One of the questions I replied to dealt with the subject of ergi. My post, my comments, have not yet appeared on the Troth list, so I will assume that I am being moderated for:-talking about ergi, or-generally being moderated.

In that no moderator has written to tell me why my comments regarding seidhr and ergi have not appeared, I cannot say with certainty.

My conclusion is reasonable in that I did receive a email from a moderator explaining why my tv post was not approved; but nothing in that post mentioned being moderated overall (for all other posts).

It was shortly after being moderated this morning that my mind was set on not attending Troth moot. Before this moderation I had been riding the fence. I had such a wonderful time at Troth moot last year – meeting many quality and worthy Heathens - that I was looking forward to attending this year. However, recent events within the Troth have changed my mind. Here is the letter I sent to Chuck Harter this morning on the matter.
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Due to recent events within the Troth Rede, based on conversations on the Troth list, being moderated for doing something a moderator did, and recently (this morning) being accused of Kristinn bashing and spreading satanic propaganda (by Wayfinder), (and possibly being moderated due to my comments regarding ergi - not sure yet), I have decided not to attend Troth moot.

I apologize in advance for any scheduling difficulties this may cause for you. I was looking forward to meeting you again, and several other folk of worth; however, as it stands, I will be allowing my Troth membership to expire.

Affiliate Deliberately!
Yngona
______

I originally joined the Troth on the good word of several Folkish individuals who convinced me that the Troth had Folkish members on the Rede and Folkish members who were interested in promoting a Troth that was “closer to center”. Not make the Troth a Folkish organization, but more balanced between the two: Universalist and Folkish. These individuals asked if I would “consider joining” and “contribute” on an active basis. Because I trust these folk and consider them friend, I decided to join the Troth and attend Troth moot last year.

The “recent events”, as I mention above began - for me - when Stefan Thorsman (ex-Steersman) sent a post to the Troth list regarding “illegal immigration”. I replied in support of his views on this matter (which have been made clear on several forums across the Web). The reply back, from the Associate Steersman, Ben Waggoner, was typed in Spanish – which was a deliberate act to fan an already sensitive issue. I say “deliberate” because the Troth list is an English speaking list and, to my knowledge, an English speaking organization.

A Troth moderator stepped-in and “closed” the topic, explaining that the Troth list was for “religious topics only”. Tina LeBouthillier (a then Associate Steersman, I believe, but certainly a Rede member) replied that the Troth list was for more than “religious” topics and proved this by citing the many topics that had been discussed over the course of the past weeks.

A lengthy conversation ensued over the definitions of ‘Folkish’ and ‘Universalist’ that was further exacerbated when Ben Waggoneer (Ass. Steersman) sent a post implying that the Folkish members were fearful of the “wiccan under the bed”. After this the situation began to settle down again (for me at least, and seemingly for the list), until this morning when I was moderated for both [CHRISTIAN BASHING], sending [SATANISTIC propaganda], and possible offending a moderator for using Old Norse.

For myself, these are not isolated incidents. During my one year membership I have tried to contribute to the Troth in those areas where I feel my skills may best be utilized; namely, within the Troth’s Clergy Program. However, at every turn, Rod Landreth repelled my attempts at membership into this program citing that I was “over-qualified” and by adding, “the Troth has nothing to offer you”. I explained it was not a matter of what the Troth could do for me but what I could do for the Troth, to include my clergy skills (two years of seminary training, among other things), my willingness to contribute to the Clergy Program requirements / outline, and my eagerness to accept this role for the benefit of all members. Over the course of several weeks – via email - Rod Landreth denied any consideration of my experience, education and assistance within the Troth Clergy Program.

Overall, I am a very patient and tolerant individual. I actively participate in many interfaith programs (Pagan-based) promoting / representing Heiðindómr. However, based on the circumstances above I cannot, and so will not, be attending Troth moot, or endorsing the Troth in any capacity other than as a pan-Pagan organization with a thin Heiðinn veneer.

As a Folkish Heiðinn I must support and contribute to those organizations that I feel whole-heartedly promote my ethnic Folkfaith. I do not feel – at the present time – the Troth is doing this. I will continue to support those organizations that seek to enrich and ensure the continuity of Heiðindómr’s rich ethnic Folkfaith – either through financial contribution, membership or verbal endorsement. These organizations are: the Asatru Alliance, the Asatru Folk Assembly, the Odinic Rite and the Allgermanische Heidnische Front.

May the Troth have the Luck it creates!

Endorse Deliberately!
Yngona

Cultural Landscape - an essay

2006-05-10T14:23:00.000-07:00

Religion is persistent – it has survived the Neolithic, urban and industrial revolutions. Granted, differences in practice and belief also exist, but those religions that developed organically –Shamanism and Heathenry, Mesopotamianism and Hinduism, Judaism andHellenism (for example), all have a strong undercurrent that defines them as cultural extensions, which are characterized by a standard form of communication.

This idea is readily acknowledged between anthropologist and sociologist to the degree that, though they recognize a degree of conglomeration, each must be studied in its diversity and autonomy.

Simply put: Humans are defined by culture. Culture is a realized signifying system. Religion is a cultural system.

And while there are universalia between human civilizations, such universal ideas are not inherent to human nature. Cultures do interact and exchanges and conflicts take place and that which we all share is simple: we are born, we eat and drink, we shit and sleep, work and procreate, get sick and die. Other seeming similarities include the nuclear family, a pronounced external male role and internal female role, technology, economic exchange, warfare, language and – assuredly - religion.

There does exist religious phenomena that are easy to identify as common to all humanity, equally as there exist examples that define each us undeniably unique. Ideas and symbols being the most powerful, persuasive and long-lasting examples; couple these with formulated concepts of existence, factuality of beliefs, and the moods and motivations of a culture to protect its identity and you have the ongoing activity of living folk interacting with each other through specific symbols, exchanging signs, and reacting to them while working on their own `reality'.

These things are undeniable.

Because religion regularly resides in the unverifiable, the unclear, and the unevidenced, it has about it methods of experience – in this case Sálcræfting – that aid in the establishment of direct encounter with the supernatural. But beyond the remarkable nature of such activities, more importantly are their acceptance and interpretation by the human culture in which they are found.

For example: Ecstatic phenomena are integrated into religion and confirm existing belief. These manifestations are themselves shaped by cultural training and practice insofar as they become communicable and accessible to others. In fact, they are judged and selected by an existing religion's own categories. In this case: Heiðinn Lore.

Because religion manifests itself through interaction and communication – making it relevant to a particular culture – even the sole practitioner must work with and through existing attitudes, acts, and language certain non-obvious entities with special characteristics and interests that are readily recognized by, distinct from, and specific to a particular folk.

Religion cannot help but appear in special cultural, social and historical settings with elaborate symbolic systems and specific interpretations. It cannot help but exist as action, reaction and emotion activated by an elaborate cultural framework, ritual practice and verbalized teachings. These allow baffling details of experience to fall into place, for reality itself to `have speech', for creation to make sense.

The oldest of religions – Heathenry included – have existed because of established oaths and omens, through language and symbol, function and validation, to remain with us today as fundamental functions of life and environment. And herein will be found the Folksoul, which is the subtle bridge between cultural phenomena and biological preconditions.

Live Deliberately!
Yngona

Nesstor's Blog

2006-04-26T04:50:00.000-07:00

Nesstor has a wonderful blog:
http://nesster.blogspot.com/

Under April 20th, he recently posted this article.
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Some stuff about the Finnish term Hiisi - my translations / summaries/ interpretations of the Finnish web pages:

Before christianity spread among the population the finnsvenerated forest gods. The place of worship was called 'hiisi', orholy grove. In people's minds hiisi was like a temple, a place ofcongregation for sacred feasts and sacrifices to the big forest gods.Hiisi was often situated on a small knoll, a stony hill, or a rockcliff. The place often also had water: a spring, a pond, or a brook.

As a symbol for the life-tree a notable tree or bush grew in thehiisi. Tree, stone and water marked the boundary to the lands on the'other side', because hiisi was also a gate to the past and aconnection to the dead, who it was believed affected luck and well-being.

In the year 1229 Roman Pope Gregorius IX gave the Church ofFinland the right to take hiisis and holy groves into ownership. Theclergy began to destroy the hiisis and holy groves: trees were choppeddown and sacrificial stones were dumped in water. The destructionproceeded for hundreds of years, because the deeply entrenched oldbeliefs were not easy to eradicate. Trees and groves were still beingcut down as late as the end of the 1800's. Even in the 1890's inRantasalmi offerings were found in the branches of old sacrificial trees.

The holy groves still live on in place names: Hiiunniitty (Hiisi'sglade), Hiidenniemi (Hiisi's peninsula), Hiisila (Hiisis house) --these mysterious names lead one to a strange, enticing world. Aschristianity found a foothold trees in the holy groves were cut downand new symbols were erected, such as a church or a cross. Names werechanged: Hiidenkallio (Hiisi's cliff) became Kirkkokallio (Churchcliff). Every now and then a holy place got a cross and new name onlyas a front, in order to avoid destruction. Gradually however thatwhich had been holy changed to evil and feared. Hiisi become a curseword, which meant the devil or hell. New places were named hiisi, nowmeaning the place where demons or giants lived.

I translated the above from :http://www.smy.fi/koulut/polku/nuotiolla/hiisi.html

In the following web site there is speculation on the origin of theword 'hiisi':http://jumalasuomi.tripod.com/sieidde.htm

For example, Arwid Moller in 1756 identified Isis => HiisiElias Lonnrot (the compiler of the Kalevala) in 1858 thoguht that theSami word 'seida, seita' is equivalent to the Finnish 'hiisi' and theancient northern 'seidhr'.

The modern expert is Marrku Koski, who studied the etymology of hiisiin 1967/1970. He traces hiisi/seida/siida to the Sami collectivewinter village -- a sort of a governing pre-county. In the balticstates, hiisi was the center of a town cult. Hiisi originally at thecenter of the polity, now often where the church stands, moved toremote islands or mountains, where the word of christianity did not apply.--

In the earliest Bible translation into a baltic language(Estonian, 1739) there is evidence 'hiisi' and 'astarte' wereassociated terms. "The word 'hiisi' has been translated... from thehebrew ashera, which means both a fertility goddess and her image, apole or tree trunk symbolizing her, or even the place of worship tothis goddess," (Gesenius, 1883) writes M.Koskinen. The biblical"ashera" therefore holds a close identity with the Baltic "hiisi".Traditionally hiisi would have meant either a spirit-being or a placewhere such a being was believed to live. There is no known mention ofimages of Hiisi in Finland, but even without such the connections tothe biblical pagan beliefs, in contention with the jahawa believers,is plentiful. An interesting figure is Vesihiisi (water-hiisi). Theword could be used, in addition to a personified spirit, in connectionwith certain diseases. Does the ghost of Lilith, the one sunk into thedeepest ocean, the she-demon of illnesses and storms, seem to haunt ushere?

The mesopotamian Lilith, "storm-demon", who culminates in thebiblical tradition as Adam's first wife, who also was the serpent ofparadise, was known in lands where the eightpointed star wasassociated with the goddess. In Estonia, an eight-pointed star drawnwith one line was used to call up wind for sailing. One may see such afigure in the construction of a certain windmill at the Tallin outdoormuseum.

Some info on Lilithhttp://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~humm/Topics/Lilith/

To continue about hiisi/seida/seita, here is a direction that leads tomodern wicca and seidhr reconstructions:from http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Seid

Seid (also seiÃ°r, seidhr) was the form of shamanism practised bypre-Christian Norse and other Germanic cultures and continued inmodern times by people who practice the reconstructionist beliefs ofheathenry. It involved the incantation of spells known as galdrar orgalð²¡² (sing. galdr or galð²¼¯span>, Old English: gealdor or galdor)Practitioners of seid were predominantly women (v?, or seiÃ°kona, lit.seid woman). Although there were male practitioners (seiÃ°maÃ°r, lit.seid man) as well, in the Viking Age, seid was considered ergi(shameful) for men, as its manipulative aspects ran counter to themale ideal of forthright, open behaviour. The goddesses of Norsemythology were also practitioners of seid, along with Odin, a fact hewas apparently ashamed of, for the above mentioned reason. InAnglo-Saxon tribes, practitioners of seid were referred to as wicca(m.) or wicce (f.). The Church opposed such activities and wicceevolved, as did the v?s, into the modern witch.

Another noted mythological practitioner of seiÃ°r was the witchGroa, who attempted to assist Thor, and who is summoned from beyondthe grave in the Shamanism is a tradition which has been maintainedall over the world and it is probably of prehistoric origin. It wouldthus be futile to find any particular origins. It is likely acontinuation of the shamanistic practices of the Indo-Europeanreligion. Some scholars, however, (e.g. Thomas DuBois) draw aBalto-Finnic link to seid, citing the depiction of its practitionersas such in the sagas and elsewhere, and link seid to the practices ofthe noajdde, the patrilineal shamans of the Sami people. Note that theword seita (Finnish) or sieidde (Sami) is a human-shaped body formedby a tree, or a large and strangely shaped stone or rock and does notinvolve "magic" or "sorcery."

A slightly different form of that paragraph fromhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seid

Shamanism is a tradition which has been maintained widelythroughout the world and it is probably of prehistoric origin. Recentscholarship draws a Balto-Finnic link to seid, citing the depiction ofits practitioners as such in the sagas and elsewhere, and link seid tothe practices of the noajdde, the patrilineal shamans of the Samipeople. However, Indo-European origins are also possible (forreferences see Hall 2004, 121-22). Note that the word seita (Finnish)or sieidde (Sami) is a human-shaped body formed by a tree, or a largeand strangely shaped stone or rock and does not involve "magic" or"sorcery"; there is a good case, however, that these words do deriveultimately from seiÃ°r (Parpola 2004).

I would take issue with the statement that the seita/seidde does notinvolve magic or sorcery, as these places are/were definitely used forsacrifices and gifts to the spirits.

Thus we may see a pre-Christian tradition reaching to great antiquity- the Greek holy groves, the pre-Biblical mythologies of Sumer andMesopotamia, and so on. The achievement of trance and its usage toaccomplish work / gain knowledge links to anthromorphic trees androcks, into magic and spells as well as land-spirits, feritilty clutsand the agriculture / sky round, psychopomp and the veneration ofancestry...

These ancient -and to my eye fundamental to being human - movementsare continuously seeking expression, even through repression (andwithin the repression, as these same movements can be discerned inChristian Church histories)....

So go on, the next time a tree or megalith becons, go to it, touch it,rest beside it, absorb its wisdom. Know that you are in a longlineage, honoring your birth, the Goddess and the Earth, linking tothat which sustains you.
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Again, please visit Nesstor's Blog. Not only has he posted pictures for the above article, but is a wonderful photographer and poet.
http://nesster.blogspot.com

Live Deliberately!
Yngona

11.10-11.05 Sámi-Finland, part 20

2006-04-13T14:35:00.000-07:00

Sámi wedding

2006-03-29T08:26:00.000-08:00

It's a nice day for a white wedding!

Here is a link to the Aftenposten, a Norwegian newspaper who was invited to take pictures during a Sámi wedding.

Be sure to read the captions. Of note, the wedding of this lovely couple brought together two herds of reindeer.

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/bildeserier/article1260501.ece?start=1

I simply love the splash of bright color on snow!

Live Deliberately!
Yngona

11.8-9.05 05 Sámi-Finland, part 19

2006-03-28T17:21:00.000-08:00

11.7-8.05 05 Sámi-Finland, part 17 & 18

2006-03-28T15:51:00.000-08:00

11.7.05 05 Sámi-Finland, part 16

2006-03-28T11:46:00.000-08:00

I am NOT a Sámi shaman. I did NOT go to Sámi-Finland to become a Sámi shaman. I journeyed to Sámi-Finland to meet and learn about the Sámi folk. I journeyed to Sámi-Finland just as my ancestors did, to exchange spiritual wisdom. I have NOT embraced Sámi gods, for their ancestors are not my ancestors. I respect the Sámi people and thank them for allowing me to visit, for sharing their life and thoughts, and showing me their gods and ancestors.

Part sixteen: Sacred Stones and Madness

The sense of quiet extended to the next day. It seemed right.

Thoughts in the morning:
-Sacred shaman spirits come during dreams, taking on many forms to teach would-be shamans. These beings are saivo gadze.

As Ulrik and I walked today, he broke his normal quiet by softly relating his thoughts on the woods. He sees Tapio ‘in’ everything. Not ‘as’ everything because Tapio is the All but separate. He related that the nature – woods, rocks, animals, things seen and unseen – were all connected to our personal well-being. That if the environment was unhealthy then humans were unhealthy. More then this, he implied that environmental upheavals – ozone layer, melting ice sheets, horrible storms, etc – are the result of human sickness.

Ulrik told me that the earth’s air is polluted because human breath is foul. He told me that earth’s water is filled with toxins because human blood is contaminated. He told me that earth’s soil is filthy because human flesh is rotting. He then he fell silent. I didn’t have to ask what he meant because I share these same thoughts.

Around mid-day we came upon a God statue, it was the boundary marker of the territory we were now entering. This seemed like a different goahti seidi then the one we had encountered earlier, the one that marked the location of the hunting lodge. This was a crudely cut face on a withered tree trunk with a piece of flint wedged into its head. Ulrik told me this was Horgalles, the God of Thunder. I asked him if this was Thor, but he said that it was not, that this was a different God.

Not much later we came upon a large seidi that had two petroglyphs carved on it. One was of a reindeer and the other of a human figure who appeared to be holding what looked like a horn. Johan Olaus seemed different somehow. Instead of sitting with us, he stood and looked off towards the way we would be continuing. He seemed somehow – distracted – or filled with thoughts. When I ask Kåre Mikkel if everything was alright, he too stared off into the distance, never speaking. I decided to still my thoughts and listen with intent to see if I could discern this new attitude. I stood very still, slightly off from the group and closed my eyes. I slowed my breath and quieted my heart’s beat. After a moment I heard – or thought I heard – joiking, but it wasn’t a human voice I heard. I heard a sunbeam joik and a blade of grass, and they were joined by a small animal who scurried close to the ground. I felt a memory come over me, like when you try to remember something you know but it seems to elude you. I Knew something but couldn’t recall what I knew. And then the memory was gone. I returned to the fire for lunch.

We walked for longer than usual. I kept expecting us to stop for the night, but Ulrik gave no indication of even looking for a place to camp. And so it was that we had a long walk to arrive at the lavvu (tent) of the ‘Mad Shaman’.

We came to a clearing in the wood and in the midst of it was an old tent, two actually, one larger and one smaller. Both had obviously been in place for some time. This tent seemed to grow from the earth, or at least, many growing things were growing up around this tent. As soon as I saw it, shivers ran up my spine and I physically shook. Ulrik stopped and waited for the others to catch-up with us. When they did, Johan Olaus took the lead, guiding us into the clearing.

When I was a young girl visiting my grandDame I wandered upon a ‘haunted house’. Its wood was gray and pocked and warped so that the building appeared to lean in many directions at once. Its windows were dust covered - what there was of them - and seemed not so much to reflect but to absorb all light. Kudzu vines crept in through every opening – doors and windows and even through wood beams. In fact, these seemed to thread the house in place, or to hold it there frozen in time. I had an erie feeling looking at that abandoned house and experienced a remarkable otherworld experience there. I had the same feeling looking at this lavvu and wondered if the outcome would be the same.

The only sound in this clearing was what we brought with us: footsteps and breath and heavy bags falling to earth. Johan Olaus turned and looked at me, smiling softly, almost sadly, then he said to us all, “Take all metal off, not even the smallest piece must remain.”

I didn’t question but was slightly inconvenienced. I have been stretching my ears and the rings there are difficult to remove, especially with cold hands, but I complied without complaining, just struggling a bit to get them off. My belt came off and the Thor’s Hammer under so many layers of clothes was dug out. (A Hammer gifted to me by Everte and Rachel Farnell, Cheiftains of Osprey Bay Kindred, especially for this journey). The tin n which I kept my cigars, which I used for gifting, was left aside and Johan Olaus told me that if I was to take the cigars in I must remove the plastic and paper wrappers. I had no idea what to expect inside of that lavvu, but figured it wise to do this, and so I started stripping down my Padron’s to nothing but their natural state.

Everyone stripped down all metal, except Kjell Olaus. He simply stood there, watching us, rifle on his back. I didn’t ask why. When all was done, Johan Olaus spoke to us all in Sámi, in English he then told me that we must enter the lavvu one at a time. That we must be quiet and respectful. That after one enters, we must wait for a “sign” before entering. That once inside, do not speak unless spoken to. That we would follow in order: Johan Olaus then Kåre Mikkel, Ulrik Tove then myself, and Par Anders would follow last.

And so it was as we followed Johan Olaus - natually falling into the order he assigned us – as we approached the dark and tattered lavvu. With all the preparation and mystery I couldn’t help but feel excited and frightened about what lay beyond that tent flap. As we walked I forced myself to relax, to take deep and slow breaths, to “Trust” myself and my Altmâg as Bear Woman had told me. And the first of us went in.

It was about two minutes after Johan Olaus that Kåre Mikkel followed. I was watching Ulrik in front of me and saw no tension in his shoulders, so I relaxed a little more. Then he disapeared behind that dark curtain. Facing that tent flap my mind began to race: “When will I know when I should go in?”, “What if I go in too early?” “Shhhsss”, I told my mind as I took a deep breath. “Trust” I said soothingly to myself before I entered.

I was immediately blinded by darkness. I had to stop for a second to get my bearings. There was a central fire burnt down to embers, its light only extending mere inches. I saw a dark shadow at the very ‘back’ of the lavvu and was then able to recognize Johan Olaus and Kåre Mikkel to the ‘shadows’ right. I saw Ulrik on the left (my right) so moved in that direction, sitting next to him. The lavvu was warm, comfortably so. In fact I experienced a wave of calm and relaxation. I was wondering if it was just the warmth when the tent flap opened - letting in just the smallest bit of light – prompting the shadow-figure in the back to yell out. I was so startled I almost jumped to my feet! Ulrik placed a hand on my knee as the voice continued to yell.

Johan Olaus - and I could see him more clearly now in the dim light - turned and said something in Sámi to Par Anders, who was standing in the doorway. Par replied back softly but sounded annoyed. Johan Olaus said somethig else to him and Par stepped backwards and out of the lavvu. The darkness, from just that brief moment of outside light, became overwhelming again. Several minutes passed in silence when the tent flap opened again. Par stood in the doorway, seemingly waiting, when Johan Olaus said something in Sámi and Par then entered and sat next to me.

Then we all sat silently. I took this as an excellent opportunity to ‘slow’ myself down. This was far to much excitement for one day! After a while the shadow figure threw something on the fire that exploded into sparks, illuminating the room just slightly, then released a large puff of bluish smoke. This was my first good look at this – man – in the back of the lavvu.

My eyes could not focus on him. He was green and black and dark blue and sometimes man and sometimes – some beast that I couldn’t identify. It was like a fierce cat-dragon, very dark and foreboding. He wavered in and out of my vision like a dream figure.
I looked at Johan Olaus to clear my vision, and could see him, his outline and shape, even in this dim light. Looking back at the shadow figure I experienced the same fluctuating, shimmering, half-man, half-beast dark image. And then he looked at me looking at him. I couldn’t take my eyes off of his eyes. I immediately felt ‘hunted’, that one of us was prey and the other predator. I Knew, in that moment, that if I diverted my eyes, he would pounce on me. Literally leap across that fire and devour me, and so I didn’t look away.

After a small eternity, he chuckled and threw something else on the fire, turned and began speaking to Johan Olaus in hushed tones. After awhile Johan Olaus asked me if I had a gift to give. I said that I did and pulled out the cigars I had brought. I held them out towards the ‘Mad Shaman’ and Johan Olaus took them. He handed them to this dark man.

As he took the cigars he began to talk to me, I think in Sámi. His voice was deep and gruff and had an unfamiliar lilt to it. I don’t know what he said but he kept looking at me and talking, so I listened carefully with inner ears. As he talked he began to unwrap one of the cigars. I was fascinated by this because I had never seen someone unwrap a cigar. When he had freed three leaves he smeared something on them from a vessal at his side, and continuing to talk, began to roll the leaves up into thin tubes. He had removed all the tobacco so was only rolling the leaves, smearing them occasionally and talking to me very causally. Before I knew it, he had shaped them into a small figure, a little stick-man. He then handed this little stick-man to me, directly, across the fire. I took it and he said something that Johan Olaus translated; he said, “This is a seidi and will keep you safe from violent injury”. I looked at the little figure and thanked him. It was not until later - under the open sky with fresh air to clear my mind - that I wondered, “Do I need protection from ‘violent injury’?”

The ‘Mad Shaman’ then tossed some more – herb – on the fire and taking up a drum began to joik. In that darkness, with smells unfamiliar, heavy smoke, and joiking that seemed to come from the throat of a fierce demon, little wonder I had a vision. I saw a horse - not a regular horse but a spirit horse. It was running in such a way that its body appeared like an arrow – sleek and long - its mane and tail pressed back like fletching. That spirit horse was me. As it ran it changed into a shaman, who was also running, like wind blowing. His legs were spread out, one forward and one back, like in a full split. One hand held a hammer-shaped drum stick, the other a drum. The shaman’s hair was pressed back like the fletching of an arrow.

The joiking and drumming stopped, and like being snatched suddenly from a dream I was sitting in a dark smoky tent. Tears were streaming down my face but I don’t remember crying.

Live Deliberately!
Yngona

11.6.05 Sámi-Finland, part 14 & 15

2006-03-27T09:13:00.000-08:00

11.4-5.05 Sámi-Finland, part 12 & 13

2006-03-22T10:36:00.000-08:00

I am NOT a Sámi shaman. I did NOT go to Sámi-Finland to become a Sámi shaman. I journeyed to Sámi-Finland to meet and learn about the Sámi folk. I journeyed to Sámi-Finland just as my ancestors did, to exchange spiritual wisdom. I have NOT embraced Sámi gods, for their ancestors are not my ancestors. I respect the Sámi people and thank them for allowing me to visit, for sharing their life and thoughts, and showing me their gods and ancestors.

part twelve: Ulrik Changes Everything

Meeting Ulrik Tove changed everything. The delicate balance between expectation and no-expectation that I brought with me was gone. The energy of traveling with Johan Olaus, Kåre Mikkel, and Kjell Olaus – all members of the same shamanic family, with their own familial intimacy, and how it slowly sought to explore and understand the utlander (me) – was gone. Here then was a new paradigm, a new expression that simply changed everything.

Ulrik Tove is a hunter, a waldermann. He honors Tapio, a Forest Spirit and “Hunt God”. As easily as Johan Olaus moved through the ether while joiking with his drum, Ulrik Tove walked ahead of me, not pushing through the air or plodding through snow, but somehow gliding with his surroundings. His sinuous movements, a feral grace, were evident through his heavy winter clothing. Walking behind him I frequently ‘saw’ a shadow form come over him, one larger than his physical form. And in those moments, I knew I walked with – Someone Else.

He kept a quick pace, faster than what I had walked alone, faster than when I was with the Brothers and Son, but I kept up and never complained. Even when he stopped and asked if I wanted him to slow down, I told him ‘no’ and that I was ‘fine’. So it wasn’t long before we were standing before a Goahti Seidi - a carved wooden post in the shape of a ‘forest spirit’.

Such posts face outwards from a goahti or hunting lodge, which are available for anyone who needs them when wandering these isolated forests. I was glad a second time that Ulrik Tove had found me - I don’t know if I would have found this spirit post on my own.

We actually were there before the Brothers and Son, who joined us by mid-afternoon - long after I had collected wood and Ulrik Tove had started a fire. Long after we had dressed-down and prompted-up our feet to relax in this small wooden hut - the Brothers and Son arrived with our last member of the group: Par Anders. Now there were six.

Johan Olaus: “Yngona! I am happy to see you! Ulla Maija would be very angry with me if I were to lose you!”

Per Anders: “It is not good to leave the group!”

Yngona: “Yes, I know, but – Owl Hunter came for me. He led me to Bear Woman.”

Per Anders: “Good Bear did not eat you.”

Johan Olaus: “Wind told me you were whole. I sent my spirit to look for you. Did you see?”

I showed Johan Olaus the picture I drew of the ‘flying bear’, excited he said to Kåre Mikkel, “Look, Yngona has seen my spirit!”

Though Per Anders had a dark-angry energy about him, his continence did not change how I felt about being reunited with the group again. The 10’x10’ hut became suddenly small with six hunters, but once we started eating and talking we all fell into a comfortable rhythm so that no one felt cramped.

Later that night, as we sat and smoked, a shaman named Roald, his wife, and an apprentice joined us. This apprentice was in his thirties and eagerly did everything Roald asked of him. To include cutting down a small tree, sharpening one end to a point, affixing nine branches to it, and firmly planting it in the ground. I quickly realized it resembled a ladder of nine steps. After much talk between the two elder shamans - and much smoking and laughing amongst the rest of us - Roald began to drum around the pole. As I watched him by firelight I saw a current of energy spiral out from the pole along the ground to his feet, and another spiral of energy that formed a woman’s face (quite large) above his head. I closed my eyes to better ‘see’ the joiking and when I did I had a vision of a Great Tree whose branches forked into a River that flowed into the Sky.

Later, I learned that Roald’s drum beater was shaped like a Hammer. He called it “vasara”, so I don’t know if that was a name or its name.

Talking into the night, Johan Olaus and Roald spoke mostly among themselves but Johan Olaus would occasionally share with me what they were saying. One part of the conversation was on the “three souls”, which prompted Johan Olaus to ask me, “Which do you live in?”

Something else I learned from Johan Olaus that night was that copper, not brass, is considered a very sacred metal. Brass is even related to Bear, and shamans "should always wear it" as a ring, bracelet or charm, to remind them of God.

part thirteen: Rabbit for Lunch

Par Anders gave me a sling lesson. He asked me if I had ever used a sling and I explained only briefly when I had written a class on the subject for fellow Heiðinns. As I talked he lazily swirled the sling at his side. He then reached down, still twirling the sling, and picked up a rock. (A feat of coordination I equivocate to rubbing your head and patting your stomach). He said, “Look”, pointing his chin in the direction of the woods as he started swinging the sling faster and over his head. With his other hand he threw the rock into the wood line. Amazingly - for me at least - a rabbit darted out. The sling was whistling in my left ear as I watched the rabbit run at full speed across the snow. I heard a ‘whoosh’ and almost simultaneously saw a small cloud of pink mist as the rabbit lay down - one rock to the head, moving target. I was blown away! Standing with my mouth hanging open, stunned where I stood, Par Anders said, “Lunch.”

Everyday I learn something about these folk, my hosts. This morning it is how they have somehow managed to balance the old world with the new world. For example, every home I have seen is very modern with high-tech appliances, and everyone I have met is comfortable surfing the World Wide Web then stepping out their back door to sling down a rabbit for dinner.

It seems to me that this is what I have been looking for all my life: To live Tribally in a Global world (one I can control, the other I can't). There is a great deal I can learn from the Sámi. My only hope is to bring this wisdom back and share it with my Vinlandic Tribe.

Conversations while roasting rabbit:
-Ulrik Tove explaining that there is nothing more seidi, more ‘sacred’, than integrity;
-Johan Olaus explaining that Gifts are given to the land, at seidis, which makes these Gifts available to All That Lives. That Gift giving at seidis - to seidis - is both recognition and thanksgiving to the Land and multiverse (my word).
-Johan Olaus explained that joiking is an expression of diversity, not of routine and uniformity. (It seems the more I learn about joiking the less I actually understand about joiking!)

Later that morning I was walking with Ulrik Tove. My ‘job’, as a member of the hunting party, is to be his ‘shadow’, to stay at his side at all times and do what he says, and do what he does. This is how I would learn to find Bear. At his side - slightly behind and to his right - we always walked far ahead of the others in the group. We always walked in silence. Even so, he spoke in volumes – when I listened with intent.

For example: One time he stopped so suddenly I almost fell over trying to stop (I wasn’t paying attention!). When I looked over at him he was pointing into the wood line. I looked but didn’t see anything. He never moved his body, but I saw him smile as placed his opposite finger at his shoulder and drew a straight line down his arm to this index finger (obviously indicating that I should look straight past his shoulder to where he was pointing). I slowly leaned to the left - not wanting to move or make a sound - and peered down his shoulder. The woods were dark green with grey shadows inside black shadows. I saw nothing, and the longer I stood there looking into nothing, my calf started to cramp. Meanwhile, Ulrik is like a stature, I couldn’t even hear him breathing!

Then, when my eyes were starting to tear from looking, I saw it – a Bear! It was like a shadow, no, more like a rock, because it wasn’t moving, but it was looking right at us. Suddenly my calf stopped hurting, my heart skipped a beat, and I got chill-bumps down my neck. We had seen bears before but this one was somehow different.

There was absolutely no sound to be heard. Thundering silence. It was as if a vortex or dome had descended upon us, causing all time to stop. The Bear was a shadow in the dark woods. He was The Woods, and He was quite and watching. He was a Guardian shrouded in shadow and for the briefest of moments I wondered if he was real or maybe a mirage. Ulrik then made a noise that caused me to jump straight up in the air: He made a sound like a Bear! Lowering his hand an identical sound came from the shadow Bear in the wood line – an answer back! It WAS a real Bear and he and Ulrik were having a conversation. An un-worded exchange but a conversation strong and pure, and there I was unable to hear it. I felt a double rush of exhilaration and ignorance.

This was a valuable lesson for me: To be more observant, to listen with my ears and senses, to wake-up and Walk Deliberately!

Not long after, when I had plenty of time to stew on the Bear encounter, we came upon a beautiful seidi, which is – among other things – a sacred and holy object that has spirit or spirits residing within. It seems that every time we come to a seidi, we stop, offer a Gift, then rest.

This particular seidi was two meters across and one meter high. It had a petroglyph of a reindeer (Goode Himself) on it. I really liked this petroglyph because it resembled, to me at least, the way I draw, with line and shadow-line. Kjell Olaus said, “This is a living place. It breathes, has eyes and ears and can taste food.”

So we stopped for lunch, enjoying rabbit cooked with wild onions and mushrooms. After eating, I stretched out for a catnap. When I woke-up Johan Olaus was looking at me. He said, “You have many dreams.” Which gave me the impression that he was not just watching me dream but watching my dream. I said, “Yes, I do. I was dreaming of a hunter. A bow hunter.”
Johan Olaus: “Your dreams - are they real?”
Yngona: “How do you mean?”
Johan Olaus: “Do you see them twice? Your dreams - are they real? Does what you dream happen?”
Yngona: “Yes. What I dream I see twice. I see my dreams then I see them when awake, later.”
Johan Olaus: “So it should be.”

He then explained that when we dream there is a “soul bird”, a sielulintu, who protects us. Protects the ‘dreaming soul’.

Along the way we have moved progressively into hill-mountain country, always moving east. Something else I have noticed is that the farther we go the more petroglyphs we find. Or, at least, ‘I find’. My hosts know every stone and pile of stones, every petroglyph and their meanings. I am now convinced that if a branch were to break a mile away, Ulrik Tove would hear it! Or if a stone were to roll off a seidi on the next hill, Johan Olaus would have us go there so he could lovingly replace it.

As we walked I had this thought: “There is a mountain spirit in me.”

After awhile we came upon a small lake, Ulrik Tove led us directly to a pile of stones at shores edge. He explained to me that it was a ‘fish seidi’, so that, if you wanted to catch fish, you must Gift the seidi first to assure a good catch. Something Kåre Mikkel did. Really though, I don’t know why Kåre Mikkel even pretends to need a hook and line, when he really charms the fish right into his hand!

Gifting the seidi is something we do two to three times a day, as we come upon them. A practice that never gets ‘old’ or ‘redundant’. If there is a seidi anywhere near, we stop and ‘recognized-respect’ the spirits residing there. After all, these spirits ‘own’ the land around us, so are to be thanked for letting us be here while assuring our safe passage.

That night as we settled in for the evening, I was told a few things, like:
-‘a shaman must control the madness’; that
-noadi means ‘those who see’ or ‘one who sees’; that
-tyre are baneful spirits, and that paha dakka and perkeleg gadze are ‘dark’ working and baneful shamans; and then Kjell told me
-“Even a snowflake has a soul.”

Then Johan Olaus drew a picture in my travelogue, a drum figure, or one you would see on a drum. He said it was ‘the Gods’ or a symbol for all the Gods – a symbol that I would call “Tivar”.

As I sat in the dark, staring into the fire but not looking at it, I thought about the Bear in the woods and how Ulrik had a conversation with Him. I thought about all the hunting skills I have acquired from my grandSire and uncles - since childhood - and that here, I knew nothing. I thought about hunting the Sacred Boar, both in my dreams and in real-time, with my Brothers at my side.

When I thought about all these things I then thought about my ignorance of all these things, and only then was I able to allow my resistance to being something new fade away.

I encouraged all my acquired and hard-won knowledge to leave my body; not all of it going willingly - some of it had to be ‘shoved’ and ‘pushed’ aside. I had to accept that I knew nothing - absolutely No Thing - about any thing. It was a big learning-experiencing day for me, which is why I mentally balled–up my ego and tossed it into the fire before falling asleep.

Live Deliberately!
Yngona

BUY DIRECT - PAY NO SHIPPING

2006-03-19T09:08:00.000-08:00

Buy 'Völuspá - Seiðr as Wyrd Consciousness' direct from me and pay no shipping and handling!

This is a one time offer.

Quantities are limited.

BONUS! Order now and receive an autographed copy!

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yngona@yahoo.com

Order Deliberately!
Yngona Desmond

11.2.05 Sámi-Finland, part 10 & 11

2006-03-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

11.2.05 Sámi-Finland, part 10 & 11

I am NOT a Sámi shaman. I did NOT go to Sámi-Finland to become a Sámi shaman. I journeyed to Sámi-Finland to meet and learn about the Sámi folk. I journeyed to Sámi-Finland just as my ancestors did, to exchange spiritual wisdom. I have NOT embraced Sámi gods, for their ancestors are not my ancestors. I respect the Sámi people and thank them for allowing me to visit, for sharing their life and thoughts, and showing me their gods and ancestors.

part ten: Trolls by Firelight

After creating a shelter I made a fire. I then ate. Afterwards I inventoried my pack. I have tinder moss (which Kjell Olaus gave me), a lighter and some cigars, waterproof matches and a length of thin rope (about 12’).

I have a small first aid kit, which includes a needle and thread, and an extra chap stick. My food stores include some ‘plate’ mushrooms, dried salmon and berries, and trail-mix (my own mix that I brought from Vinland. I never travel without my trail mix).

I have the coffee bag and salt bottle that Kåre Mikkel loaned me, and the traditional knife I was gifted with when I arrived. I have a mirror and compass, a fish line and two hooks. I have my badger bow, but no snowshoes (I hope I don’t need them).

I have a leather backpack, the clothes I am wearing plus an extra pair of socks, some silk thermals, a shirt and an extra pair of pants.

Every object in my bag I hold for a moment, lingering over it, respecting the treasure that it is. I want my hands to be intimately familiar with these objects as I visualize how I will use every one. These are more valuable than gold or gems, for these are my life-threads.

I carefully arrange each item, pausing for just a moment longer before securing them in my bag. I take a deep breath, stretch my feet towards the fire and light a Padron Maduro.

The rich dark smoke circles my head like an aura, mixing its aroma with that of my fire. There is nothing smoother, more caressing to the taste buds than a Padron Maduro. Which is why, sitting at this campfire, the light of northern constellations overhead, smoking that Padron created a sense of warmth and familiarity that drifted through my being like morning fog on water. I simply couldn’t be more content.

With every puff of smoke I sing a warding song, a runo for my Altmâg and the Vættr. The last of my Padron goes into the fire for Them, both the Sámi Vættr and Those that I carry always in my blood. Too bad the trolls had to spoil the moment.

I could have gone all night without their company but they decided otherwise. Into the twilight at fire’s edge came a large troll. He was big and ugly and breathed like he had ashthma, but kept his distance. Not so his companion. It's always the little ones that cause the most grief. He was about 18” tall and darted forward and back, to my left then right just to taunt me. His eyes were cruel and slanted upwards and if he could, he would kill me.

His big dumb brother kept his distance, using his size to intimidate me. I wasn’t. I’ve encounter big drooling mindless entities like him before. They can drain you of more physical energy then spiritual energy, so I wasn’t too concerned. But this little guy, I’ve met these dangerous entities before. What they lack in stature they make up for in maliciousness, and this one was no different.

Without sound he provoked me all night, keeping me awake, making several attempts to jump on me. This is their stradegy: wear you down by tormenting you like a cat with a mouse. And like the cat, not killing you outright, but enjoying the fear created when you squirm. All the more reason not to. These little buggers feed on fear so I was making him go hungry at my fire.

Annoyingly, this went on all night. Finally, when Freyja’s Girdle was close to the horizon, the trolls left. Empty handed. “Finally”, I thought, I would be able to get some sleep. Just a cat-nap. At this point I had been awake for over 24 hours, and felt every inch of that in my body. No such luck however, for just when I decided to set my internal clock for a 45 minute nap, there came a huge crash in the woods.

I reached for my bow as several scenerios played through my mind. None of which were particularly promising. As the noise increased, crashing closer, I noticed the trees starting to lean, as if a path was being cleared. Having no idea what to expect I jumped out of my sleeping postion by the fire and over a fallen tree about three meters behind where I had been. I took up a defensive position, partially concealed with arrow drawn partially back, the fire between me and whatever it was coming towards me. The trees at woods edge parted, almost bowing down, as the largest bear I have ever seen came out of the woods. Literally, it was the size of a Hummer. A brilliantly white, shiney Hummer. Clearly no ordinary bear. Not only was its enormously impossible size a dead give away, but the large woman sitting on its back made me perfectly sure. Utter amazment doesn’t quite capture how I felt at that moment.

Its one thing to see a giant bear, quite the other to see a Giant woman. Who was simply radiant. She wore white that shimmered into glacier blue and back to sparkling white. She had gold hair, not golden colored, but the rich dark color of gold. Her eyes were black, like the Bears, and they seemed darkly iridescent in the morning light. She had a bluish spiral above her head that spun slowly like mist to merge with the air all about her.

She looked right at me with eyes blacker than black, and smiled. Suddenly my heart slowed down and my breath became calm. It was like going from 100 mph to zero in the blink of an eye.

She didn’t speak but she said, “Do not be afraid. You are here because this is where you need to be.”

After a moment, Her words lingering in the air like a faint echo, I spoke outloud, “I’ve lost my hunting party and I’m not familiar with this place.”

She said, “I am here and so is Bear. Snow and Rabbit are here, Wind and Eagle. Moss and Rock also hear you. Do not be afraid.”

I felt comforted by her words and started to slowly stand. Knowing that ‘Snow’ and ‘Wind’ and ‘Rock’ - all of them - were here with me, watching me, was suddenly very soothing. I stood fully upright, lowered my bow and said, “What should I do then?”

“Trust in your wisdom”, she said, “Be filled with your nature. You are here with purpose. That has not been lost.”

She smiled again and the air around Her and the Bear sparkled like sun on snow, and they were gone. And there I was, standing a few feet from my fire staring into the woods, and though I was lost in the Arctic wilderness I wasn’t afraid any more. The space They had occupied shimmered a few breaths longer, like air in a heatwave, then it became regular air again.

I stepped over the log I had used for cover, rekindled the fire – like Kåre Mikkel would have done - then made some coffee and added some salt. I decided to forget the nap and start walking.

I chewed on some dried salmon and berries thinking about Bear Woman and Her words. “Trust in your wisdom”, she said. So I took out a cigar and hailed my Altmâg, hailed my Tivar and the Vættr, and watched as my Gift to Them was burnt in the last of my morning fire. I then bundled up the extra wood pieces, double checked my compass, extinguished the fire and headed east.

As I was walking the vision of a lady I know back in Vinland – Dorothy - came into my mind. I saw her sick and not quite clear in her head. I sang a song of power for her.

Around mid-morning I came across a family of bears, I think it was two females and a youngster. Not a small cub, a couple of hundred pounds, but not full grown. We gifted each other with mutual respect and a wide passage.

My thoughts all that morning were on Bear Woman and values. Specifically those ethics that have been passed to me by my Altmâg. Of how their strength flows through my veins right now, and because of that, of them - like Bear Woman said, “I am here”. So She is right, I am not alone and I am not lost. She made it clear that I have her company, as well as the company of Rock and Rabbit and so many others. But also, closer than anything else, I have the company of my Altmâg. They are the ones who course through my veins, fortifing my weal, guiding my every breath with “purpose”. I wrote this in my travelogue: “What is worldview but that which is transmitted through blood and breath, through hereditary values.”

And on I walked. Its amazingly quiet in the Arctic wilderness, a sound more deafening now that I walk alone. As I looked around I considered my first thoughts of this place: that it was a desert. Not in the sense of being barren or desolate but of being apparently lifeless. Later, I thought how that was a dangerous thought, that thinking of this place as devoid of life could certainly lead me to loosing mine. Now, this morning, I realize more than ever that this is no forsaken wasteland, but a place overflowing with abundance. And like all such places or circumstances or situations, it is simply a matter of first, realizing it, and second, tapping into it.

And so it was, on November the third, seemingly alone, I found the rhythm of this place. I didn’t just tap into it or put my finger on its pulse, but merged with it seamlessly. I didn’t resist, I didn’t put up any effort, I simply respected it like I would terrain that I was familiar with. And in doing so there came over me a sense of lightness, of ease and calm. For the first time since I have been in this country, I felt like I was part of the country. And that is a very comforting feeling to have. No matter where you are.

It was about this time that I heard the cut of wings through air overhead. I thought, “An eagle” so looked up and saw a flying bear. I wasn’t amazed or alarmed in the least, feeling quite in-place at that moment. Shielding my eyes with my hand, I watched as the bear flew by. A sight which caused me to laugh out loud and say, “Well, you don’t see that everyday!” After all, if I can see trolls and bears as big as Hummers, a flying bear is not too surprising. So I watched the bear fly by, disappearing over the tree tops, and when he was gone I heard, quite clearly, the voice of Kjell Olaus in my head. He said, “When bear lays down, taking our message to God, then none will suffer from illness or poverty.” And then I thought, “Love, Faith, Trú character, aspiration, these things are sacred.”

part eleven: An Early Evening

I walked all day but stopped earlier then usual for the evening. I was exhilarated but tired; after all, I still had not slept. So I settled in for the night. After eating I wrote in my travelogue and drew pictures. One thing I wrote, “Our expression, our Truth, our weal is not solely our own, but the reflection of our ancestry.” Because at that moment, surrounded and embraced by All That Lives - even in this Arctic Circle - it was still only a reflection of my Altmâg. They are the ones who have guided me here and are with me now. Which was part of the reason, aside from exhaustion, that I slept so well that night – I was watched over and protected by my Altmâg, equally as I was watched over by Moss and Rock.

I woke-up early, refreshed and renewed. “Life is Good!” I said aloud as I melted snow for coffee. I was thinking about snaring a rabbit, but then thought that I would have to sit for a while to do that, and I really needed to keep moving. So, I thought, “Ill think about snaring rabbits later”, when suddenly I heard joiking. I immediately sprang to my feet and looked to where I thought I heard it. And I did hear it - but it seemed to be coming from everywhere. I closed my eyes, listening deeply. I slowly turned to where it seemed loudest, opened my eyes and called out, “Hello!”

Silence followed. It’s amazing how loud your breath is in the Arctic wilderness, even when you’re not breathing hard. So no matter how hard I listened it seemed I could only hear my breath. Then – there - I heard it, the soft crunch of walking. I turned in that direction and called out again. A few breaths passed before a man stepped out of the wood line. For a microsecond I considered that this might be a vision. I didn’t recognize him, then immediately thought, “Right, how many folk do you know who live in the Arctic Circle!” He walked towards my fire, never saying a word. He stopped and we stared at each other across the fire. He looked at me, quite matter of fact, and said something in Sámi. I blurted out, “I don’t understand. I don’t speak Sámi.” He gave me a quizzical look and looking down, said something in Sámi again (I think more to himself than to me). I shook my head ‘no’. He then said, “You are the American?” I literally screamed, “YES! I am the American!” He smiled and said, “You are Ulla Maija’s American friend, yes?” I think I was doing a happy-dance when I said, “Yes, yes! I am Ulla Maija’s friend.” And he asked, “Why are you here?”

In that moment my mind spun like a whirlpool. In that one question I heard Johan Olaus’ voice. This was the exact same question he had asked me, sitting by the fire a few nights ago, as he joiked my spirit to this place. This man, who I did not know, asked me the same question in the same tone. So slowly, with mindful deliberation, I calmly replied, “I have been separated from Johan Olaus and his brother Kåre Mikkel.” (I did not want to say “lost” because Bear Woman told me I wasn’t.) The man standing across from me, warming his hands at my fire said, “Then they will be good to know I found your fire.” And I laughed and said, “I am good to know that YOU found my fire!”

As we talked, he introduced himself as Ulrik Tove. He was one of the two men who we were supposed to meet-up with. I offered him coffee and we talked a bit. He then finished his coffee, helped me extinguish the fire, and since he knew exactly where he was and where he was going, I followed him. It was good to hear the footfall of a fellow traveler.

Live Deliberately!
Yngona

11.2.05 Sámi-Finland, part 8 & 9

2006-03-03T07:16:00.000-08:00

10.31-11.1.05 Sámi-Finland, part 5, 6 & 7

2006-03-02T07:51:00.000-08:00

10.28-30.05 Sámi-Finland, part 3 & 4

2006-03-01T14:02:00.000-08:00

10.26-27.05 Sámi-Finland, part 1 and 2

2006-03-01T01:06:00.000-08:00

2.27.06 Southlands: Florida Moot

2006-02-27T21:44:00.000-08:00

I spent the weekend at Florida Moot and had a fabulous time. Good folk, great food, engaging workshops.

Osprey Bay Kindred hosted this moot and throughout, stand as a fine example of not just what a moot should be like, but how a kindred can pull together seemlessly to create a remarkable sense of 'family' for all gathered.

Everte Farnell is an outstanding example of a Dróttin: a fine and strong man. Equally, his Lady Rachel is the perfect Hall Hostess and Mead Maiden. Always smiling, her sincerity and caring heart shine through her every gesture.

Demarus, an Osprey Bay Elder and Troth Steersman, is a Master of Kitchenry. He ever assured that all gathered had ample food and hot meals three times a day.

Everte presented a lecture on his Successful Barbarian book
http://successfulbarbarian.com/
Laying out the keys that have rocketed him to wealth and weal.

And I was given the opportunity to present my new book
/Völuspá - Seiðr as Wyrd Consciousness/ through a lecture on Soulcrafting.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1419618415/ref=sr_11_1/103-4854274-3241432?%5Fencoding=UTF8

Sadly, there were those in the Southlands who could not attend, and so were sorely missed. For myself, I mentioned Garrick Cartwright often and raised a Horn to his Galdr wisdom.

I really enjoyed meeting Hildulf Kindred. I have heard of them for many years and know one or two of their folk, but have never attended a moot with them.

They are a well-organized, tightly-knit group of folk that sets the bar for kindred fealty. Not only do they wholly support each others endeavors - in an honest manner - but are actively working to promote the Folksoul in many ways. From Beverly's lovely and imaginative art
work, to Räven's interests in Soulcrafting, to the impeccable Warrior Spirit behind Wode Building. I was heartily impressed with their caliber.

Finally, I was proud to witness the formation of a warband: the Warriors of the Kindred Folk of the Odinist Fellowship pledged their strong arms to the Dróttin of Osprey Bay Kindred. Speaking Wyrd words, being gifted with strong swords, it was a wealful and
empowering moment for all who stood gathered.

Hail the Southlands!

Live Deliberately!
Yngona

2006-02-11T15:34:00.000-08:00

Vinland's V�lva

2.9.06 Seiðr enchancing herbs

2006-02-10T14:37:00.000-08:00

During the seven weeks I spent living among the Sámi in the Arctic Circle, I was shown and then taught something that their shamans do on a daily basis.

Something they do to ‘enhance’ their spiritual power, to ‘strengthen’ their connection to the ancestors.

Specifically, they drink a tea made from specific plants that grow in that area; a mixture of herbs that assist their soul-link.

I was gifted with a large amount of this herb and taught how to identify their counterparts in the United States. Since returning, I have been drinking it daily, as per my teachers instructions.

I have already collected a great deal of academic research into the combination of these particular herbs from a chemical perspective. Equally as I have been exploring their mystical attributes.

So far, I have had very positive results, noticing an appreciable change in my ability to perform Seiðr. Likewise, I have noted areas of expansion within my physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual make-up. In that I am still collecting information on these herbs, creating a research paper, so to speak, I will not go into detail regarding what these plants are.

So, mark this blog - Thuleheim - as a favorite for further updates!

Live Deliberately!
Yngona

2.9.06 A New Perspective

2006-02-10T14:24:00.000-08:00

I ask my regular readers to forgive my absence. As many of you now I spent seven weeks living in the Arctic wilderness with a Sámi shaman family, then one week in Dark Therapy in Dr. Holger Kalweit’s intensive program. Since my return I have been experiencing a massive shift in conscious awareness, a re-alignment of who I am and of many things I had come to believe as personal truth.

Aside from the phenomnal growth process, I have finished my book:
Völuspá - Seiðr as Wyrd Consciousness.

Currently, it as being printed for sale. I will make an announcement here, as well as the yahoo lists I frequent, when it is ready for purchase.

Here are some fundamental thoughts on my time with the Sámi.

The Sámi are a tribal folk living in a techno-world. They all had very nice homes, with the most modern and often stainless steel appliances. They all had 4-wheel drive vehicles and computers and rifles and snowmobiles. Finland, as a country, has the highest organic food standards in the world. These folk pride themselves on not just eating healthy but *being* healthy.

Regardless of the cold, they spend large amounts of time outside. They have fireplaces built on the *outside* of their homes; like an indoor one - with the mantel and hearth - just outside. Here, folk congregate in the darkest night, the sound of nature all around them, faces warmed by fire, good cheer and kinship shared. They live like I imagine our ancestors would be living: enjoying the fruits of modern living but maintaining the Folksoul.

For instance, things like Æthel-nobility and Zuht-good bearing, Treue-loyalty and Êre-external Honor, must be earned. They opened their homes to me with great Milte-generosity and Gotes hulde-grace. It was my responsibility to earn their Ehrfurcht-respect. And I did this through Fortitude and Tapferheit-courage. I proved to them, through my deeds and endurance that I was there in all sincerity, filled with the Güte-goodness of my ancestry. Not to usurp their ancestry, but to re-introduce my proud heritage to theirs, to reweave the threads of kinship. (This tribe was, after all, friends with our ancestral tribes).

I lived totally outdoors for nine days, trekking through Arctic wilderness, sleeping in snow banks, living with cold unknown to me, never complaining or lagging behind, ever ready to lend a hand. In short, I demonstrated who my ancestors where. Through my Stetigkeit-constancy and steadiness of demeanor, I proved to these folk - a modern tribal folk, the Sámi - that I was Seelenstärke-soul strong. And in so doing, received not just their Selig-blessing, but also that of my ancestors and Gods.

I was treated in accord to their Thau-ancient custom, and was found Wirde-worthy of estimation and honor. I earned the right to be called Vriunde-friend and relative; and was welcomed back, anytime, because there now exists between us a Vridu, an inviolable kin-bond of harmony and alliance.

Before I left for Finland I was living as close to, as real as, I could to the ideal of my ancestors. Being there, in Sámiland, has changed my worldview regarding 'tribe' and 'tribalism'. It is now a concept that I fully embrace because I have seen it at the root of our re-connection with the Folksoul.

Live Deliberately!Yngona

10.20.05 Eagle Dream

2005-10-20T05:22:00.000-07:00

I woke up last night because the racoons were loudly running and chasing each other on the rooftop. I looked out the window to see only darkness and shadow. I went back to bed.

This is the dream:

I heard a noise and again rose from bed. This was a screeching sound, very loud and right outside the window. I looked out the window to see a huge eagle glide slowly by. I followed that direction (to my left) and moved through the wall. Outside now, I was standing on a mountain - a rich green and fertile peak.

The eagle was huge, its wingspan was easily thirty feet across. As it flew in front of me I was able to stay with it; not 'walking' just behind it.

The eagle turned its head, looking over its left wing. Our eyes met. The eagle then flew outwards into a fine mist that lay around the mountain, into the 'nothingness'.

I followed, flying behind the eagle.

Together we flew off the mountain and into the mist. As we flew, the mist parted. Where at first there was mist - vision unclear, grey nothingness - where we flew the mist cleared in front of us. The eagles wings moving the mist away, clearing the path before us. By following the eagle, all things became clear.

I then woke up.

Dream Deliberately!..
Yngona

10.9.05 Peijainen

2005-10-09T14:52:00.000-07:00

In Finland, Peijainen is the ritual burial of a bear that has been communally brought down and has died. A bear was never "hunted"; it was merely brought down. A single man could claim to have hunted and killed a bear, but in a community effort, the bear simply died.

The ceremony was always a much more elaborate affair than the most influential member of the community would have merited.

In eastern Finland it would have copious mourners and wailers, and the people would address the bear as a relative or as the son of a god. Its flesh was not eaten — that would have been cannibalism — or, if it was, an elaborate show was made to symbolically render the meat into that of another animal, e.g venison.

The bear's head was usually mounted on the top of a young tree, or on a pike. Carrion-eaters would then eat it, leaving only the skull, which would then become an object of veneration. A courtyard would also be cleared around the skull.

Sometimes the ceremony was held as a sacred marriage rather than a burial. In such cases the bear was either propped up inside a frame, or strapped to a cross, and the chosen bride would with all due ceremony marry the bear.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peijainen

10.9.25 Inuit - Code of Silence

2005-10-09T14:34:00.000-07:00

This is an article and weblink:

Qitsualik: Inuit shamanism and the code of silence

Posted: June 23, 2005
by: Rachel Qitsualik

Since the time when explorers first began to poke around the Arctic, and especially into Inuit culture, they have consistently exhibiteda fascination with shamanism. Even today, shamanism-relatedquestions are those most frequently posed. Today, especially,urbanites crave simpler spiritual answers than many organizedreligions are willing to provide. They often look to thecosmological systems of peoples closer to the earth, seekingsomething exotic, harmonizing, elitist - perhaps even a ''genuine''source of magical power.

Unfortunately for such seekers, shamanism is the one topic Inuittraditionally do not talk about. The tendency of Inuit to avoid thesubject has been a source of frustration to ethnologists since the1920s. Some literature on the practices of angakkuit (shamans) hasbeen collected, but it is far from complete, and most ethnologistsare quick to bemoan the difficulty in getting any information atall. Still, the reticence of Inuit to discuss it has only served tomake it more alluring. But why are Inuit so quiet about practicesthat, supposedly, served as the basis for their very cosmology andreligion? After all, Christians are not shy to talk about Biblical miracles.

Firstly, the modern mistake has been in assuming that shamanism wasreligious at all. In truth, it was a jealously guarded ability, asupernatural specialization that only suitably talented individualscould learn. The way Inuit viewed their relationship tothe ''hidden'' world remained independent of such practices, so thatshamanism did not dictate Inuit cosmology, but only drew inspirationfrom it. Angakkuit (plural of angakoq, or shaman) have mistakenlybeen portrayed as priests. But they were more like tradesmen,specializing in the secret and dangerous powers of the world.

In ancient Inuit thinking, will is the wellspring of action, themeans by which all things occur. The combination of intent andexpression could warp reality to make it reflect the mind of anindividual. That which was concrete, or corporeal, was mostdifficult to influence, while that which was ethereal (such asspirit) was more fluid and could be influenced with an errantthought or word. For this reason, an Inuk was very careful not tospeak of angakkuit practices - and thus of the unseen powers dealtwith by angakkuit - lest idle chatter attract such forces and bringtheir possibly malign influence to bear.

These days, Inuit elders are becoming less reticent to discussshamanism. Perhaps they feel increasingly alarmed as they see theirtraditions eroding before their eyes, inspiring a sort ofdesperation, a hitherto nonexistent willingness to break the code ofsilence. It is better, some elders seem to feel, to talk about asecret tradition rather than lose it altogether.

This is a good idea, since it is always better to see a traditionthrough the eyes of those who remember it best rather than giving ittime to become misrepresented. Since shamanism possesses a certainallure for the facile and power-hungry, there are an ever-increasingnumber of people popping up with home - brewed versions of shamanism - always a misrepresented mishmash of Inuit cosmology, American Indiantraditions, Judeo-Christian thought and the usualsmattering of New Age ideas.

Such re-invention of shamanism is, frankly, dangerous. The practices of angakkuit comprise a vital aspect of Inuit folklore, and many ofus don't realize the importance of folklore until we actually loseit. Folklore is like the air - such a pervasive influence in ourlives that we fail to notice it until it is gone. Just as a humanneeds air, so does a culture need folklore, which acts as aninvisible social glue. Not only does any culture tend todisintegrate when deprived of its folkloric traditions, but adrastic shift in folkloric perspective can spawn very real culturalcatastrophes.

Between the 15th - 17th centuries, Europe was consumed by witchhysteria. And while much of the persecution of ''witches'' wasfinancially motivated (so that church and state could seize theaccused's assets), it was enabled by perverse interpretations oflocal folklore. Folklore, re-invented, became an excuse to kill. Midwives, who had practiced herbalism since time immemorial, weresuddenly accused of concocting ''witch's brews.'' Community folkdances suddenly were interpreted as ''Black Sabbaths.'' An ancientluck symbol inscribed on a door was surely a mark of the devil.

In October of 1999, Indonesian police arrested 22 villagers who hadslain ''shamans'' suspected of killing by magic.

In sub-Saharan Africa, ''witch-hunting'' occurs in seasonal cycles.Villagers faced with dissolution of their Native cultures areconvinced by wandering ''witch-hunters'' to seek signs of witches, after which they grab whoever is least popular in the village,execute them brutally and pay the witch-hunter.

Such horrors illustrate the sort of extreme behaviors sometimesoccurring in societies that have broken with their folklore, thathave re-invented their traditions in a negative way. And while oursseems like a society too stable for such catastrophes, the loss - or worse, misrepresentation - of proper tradition is still a threat. This is because the rapid erosion of folklore invites itsreinvention: it invites unscrupulous individuals to pervert olderbeliefs in order to serve their own agendas. How many times hasfolklore been reinterpreted, even by missionaries in the North, toserve the ends of theocrats? How many times has it been re-invented to serve as a weapon of assimilation?

With this in mind, the coming forth of elders to discuss actualshamanism becomes all the more vital to the health of Inuit culture. While oftentimes distasteful, the presence of angakkuit wasindisputably one of the strongest influences upon pre-colonial Inuitculture. It is by comprehending what Inuit ancestors thought andfelt that they are lent the sort of remembrance and virtualimmortality they deserve. T hus does the culture have a firm baseupon which to stand.

For Inuit can no longer count upon their isolation in the North todefine them as a culture. It is only through living generationsacting as custodians of past knowledge - speaking the unspeakable - that Inuit culture can remain as strong as it remembers being.

Pijariiqpunga. (That is all I have to say.)

Rachel Attituq Qitsualik was born into a traditional Igloolik Inuitlifestyle. She has worked in Inuit sociopolitical issues for thelast 25 years, and witnessed the full transition of her culture intothe modern world. She is a columnist for Indian Country

Today.http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096411127

10.9.05 Ethics and Aboriginal Knowledge

2005-10-09T14:28:00.000-07:00

This is an article and weblink:

Nunavut Edition Headline News
May 27, 1998

Arctic social science researchers debate ethics

Should some aboriginal knowledge be kept secret? That's just one difficult ethical issue facing Arctic social scientists who met last week in Copenhagen.

JANE GEORGE - Nunatsiaq News

COPENHAGEN - For Sami anthropologist Marit Myrvall ethical issues surrounding research are never easy to resolve.

"But I now think that we have to debate these challenges and not leave them to the individual," said Myrvall.

Myrvall, who heads the Sami Institute in Guovvdageaidnu, Norway did her own field research in India with Tibetan refugees. There, she was able to evaluate her research methods from the other side, as a stranger working in a foreign culture.

This experience is helping her now as she begins research within her own Sami community on new Sami shamanism.

"As a researcher I represent the scientific tradition of knowledge and my professional tools are not much different from other researchers," she said.

"When researchers belonging to the indigenous community begin to produce knowledge about their own culture and traditions, knowing that certain kind of knowledge is not supposed to be of access to all, how do we do research on that? Where do we draw the line? Or do we?"

New guidelines
A recent international gathering of social scientists, many of whom are Sami, Greenlandic or from Russian and Alaskan native communities, unanimously adopted a set of principles and guidelines for circumpolar research.

The new principles of the International Association of Arctic Social Scientists include some self-evident and basic philosophical principles.

These include respect for people and information, and maintaining the equality of power and the practice of freedom with equality.

"Adherence to these principles provides the foundation and the threshold from which the inherent sense of beauty, grace and harmony, wholeness of the land, animals and people may emerge," reads the organization's statement.

A set of 10 working guidelines were also adopted. These talk about such issues as the importance of obtaining informed consent, and maintaining constant consultation and communication with any people involved in research.

Practicing standards
Myrvall said that every researcher will have the responsibility to act according to these principles. But this doesn't mean they shouldn't act primarily on their on their own sense of what's right.

"First, you have to act and the standard will grow out of it. Like when you smile and then you feel better," she said.

She offered the example of a researcher working on Sami rock burials who carefully reburied any objects she found and did not divulge their location.

Yet even if researchers appeared to support a stronger ethical approach to research practices, the debate around the role of traditional knowledge and its role in research is far from over.
The statement adopted by IASSA also said that "efforts should be made to incorporate local and traditional knowledge and experience" into research.

Exploiting knowledge?
But even if many researchers are, in fact, increasingly studying traditional knowledge and incorporating it into their work, many raised the possible misundestanding or exploiting of this knowledge.

Nunavut Arctic College student Susan Enuaraq wasn't sure she like the idea of freely sharing traditional knowledge.

"For a person like me who's seen people capitalizing on Inuit knowledge and culture, it's very hurtful," she told the IASSA gathering.

But other researchers said that traditional knowledge is no different >from any other kind of knowledge.

"Every piece of knowledge is about sharing," said Russian anthropologist Igor Krupnik. "It's not created to be shut up and locked. The Yupik elders say that 'when you're stingy with your sharing your knowledge, it rots your mouth.'"

Krupnik said that he's tired of having scientific knowledge and researchers being portrayed as dangerous.

He said science and scientists have compatible ethical standards and even their own kind of "elders" who help prevent the flow of incorrect or destructive information.

IASSA intends to continue discussion around these issues before the organization meets again in 2001 at the Groupe d'etudes inuit and circumpolaires at Laval University in Quebec City.

http://www.nunatsiaq.com/archives/nunavut980531/nvt80529_08.html

10.6.05 Rune Reading

2005-10-07T09:33:00.000-07:00

I did a rune reading last night on my upcoming journey. The question was: "What can I expect from my six-week intensive of Sami-Finnish shamanism and dark therapy?"

A little background: I do a nine rune layout - three rows of three, one atop the other.

The center rune is "Self, Now" or where /you/ are right now, at the moment of the reading.

Below this is the "Conscious Question". This should match the actual question, if not, either /your/ not asking the right Q at this time, or - when reading for someone else - they are not being totallyhonest.

Above the "Self, Now" rune is the "Unconscious Question". Sometimes, what we ask is expressed differently when it is vocalized or brought to manifestation. If the "Conscious Question" and the "Unconscious Question" match, then the overall reading is accurate.

To the left of the "Conscious Question" is "Past", then going upwards is "Present" and "Future". Note that "Present" is next to (on the left of) "Self, Now".

To the right of the "Conscious Question" is "Positive", then going upwards is "Negative" and "Outcome". Note that the "Negative" is next to (on the right of) "Self, Now".

So, from top to bottom and from left to right, the layout is:

"Future / Unconscious Question / Outcome"

"Present / Self, Now / Negative"

"Past / Conscious Question / Positive"

The runes I had last night are:

Self, Now: Tiw - courage and honor; spiritual warrior; death and sacrifice.

Conscious Question: Thurisaz - protection; surety of effectiveness.

Unconscious Question: Eihwaz - bow hunting; daring; action and endurance; evolution.

Past: Kenaz - seeking knowledge, gaining knowledge and application of knowledge; kin and tribe; sacral role and hereditary knowledge; intuition.

Present: Ehwaz - intuition and fertility; good luck; soul hunt; healing.

Future: Sowulo - life and vitality; growth; higher will and intent.

Positive: Mannaz - tribal ancestry; benefit of tribe.

Negative: Ice - resistance to change; control of evolution; concentration of will; (needs Thurisaz and Sowulo to effect change).

Outcome: Raido - taking charge and taking initiative; right council and right action; leadership and nobility; nobility earned by merit; integrity.

All total, this is a very positive rune reading, indicating I am on the right course.

Live Deliberately!
Yngona

9.18.05 Luck in Abundance!

2005-09-18T09:03:00.000-07:00

for the last three years i have been in correspondence with a Saami shaman in northern Norway. Ulla-Maija lives with her family and has been taught, since childhood, in the noaidic traditions from her father, who, in turn, learned from his father. i have been invited to visit and train with this generous family. they have planned my visit to coincide with the local bear hunting season, so that i may participate in this, as part of my education in Saami shamanism.

needless to say, i am overjoyed at these opportunities. (overall, women are not allowed to participate in the sacred Bear Hunt; as a noaide in training, however, i amconsidered 'genderless' and so have permission.)

sadly, the time of my visit conflicts with the BOSH hunt, or TheBrotherhood of the Sacred Hunt.
http://www.sacredhunt.org/

this situation has created a great deal of inner turmoil and soul-searching. it has been my intent (for the last two years) to hunt with my Worthy Brothers this November. i have spent countless hours in physical, mental, and spiritual preparation for this sacred endeavor; as a BOSH Brother does.

my Luck is more than strong, but abundant. currently, i stand well blessed with two once-in-a-lifetime opportunities: to continue the exploration of an impeccable spiritual bond and impeachable Oath with my Worthy Brothers in an historic event; and to follow in the soul-steps of my ancestors by seeking the inner spiritual pathways of soulcraft from the Saami noaide.

both of these deeds are offered because i have followed a course of integrity and honor in all my doings, ever dedicating myself anew to the preservation of the Folksoul; causing my life to be filled with abundance.

i have been greatly blessed to participate, be blooded, and foundWorthy on two BOSH hunts, events that have forever woven the threads of my life with fine and noble hunters, equally with that of the Tyrgeist. on both these hunts i participated first as a seiðkona, second as a hunter, for the former is both the inner and outer reflection of that which i am. innately, i am a soul-crafter who has dedicated my entirety to the preservation and fortification of the Folksoul.

this is my Wyrd, one i have Oathed to die for - if need be - and in every circumstance it has been a privilege to heed the council of those who guide me along this course.

in that the trip to Norway includes two sacred activities: bear hunting & shamanic training, i can not help but see the dual favorability of this journey. even though it saddens me to hunt with men i do not know - have not grown familiar or confident with - from my perspective, i can not deny that this opportunity has been offered to me at this particular time, for an exact reason, as yet unclear. and so, with both sadness and elation, i will be leaving for Norway in mid-October, returning late November or early December, and so will not be able to participate in the BOSH hunt, other then through blood and spirit.

my BOSH Brothers are in full-support of this decision, equally as they are disappointed that i will not be joining them; which is why they have encouraged me to continue to observe the fasts and rites that have become BOSH tradition. sacred blots that i have drawn spiritual strength from in the past & continue to at this time.

so indeed, i have Luck in abundance!

journey deliberately!..
yngona

9.15.05 Boar and Bear Dreams

2005-09-15T06:09:00.000-07:00

This is a dream.

This is the second dream with both boars and bears.

I was in the deep woods. The forest was thick and old. I lived here alone and was caretaker of all here. I lovingly cared for all animals, all plants, streams of water and gusts of wind. There was not a leav to fall from a tree that I was not aware of. There was not one animal to die that I was not aware of. These woods were not my woods, but I was part of the woods.

I was pregnant and my belly swelled daily. It never crossed my mind that I was alone, that I had no companion. Being pregnant was a very natural thing to be.

One day, quite large, I decided to look inside my vagina to see what was there. I was able to gently pull back blood enriched and plump layers of vagina to expose two piglets; and each had a large bright yellow and black striped bee - the size of my fist - inside of it.

This made me happy, knowing that I would give birth to two fine piglets with large and noble souls.

Soon after this, I gave birth to these two piglets. At birth they were already knee-height or 18” at the shoulder. Even so, they had dark richly colored stripes and smelt of dark earth. They followed me everywhere as I walked through the woods. I fed them the best berries and fattest acorns and richest milk from my body.

And then I woke-up.

Next, I was in a yoga class and the instructor asks me to teach the class for her. As I began the first pose, guiding the class through vinyasa breathing, or breathing coordinated with movement, the instructor became angry and said she would teach the class (she didnt teach vinyasa).

I finished the class and afterwards the instructor served an organic meal. As the meal was preparing, I walked around the study. The instructor was selling everything from mechanical tools to gardening supplies to yoga aides. A fellow student told me the instructor was not interested in yoga so much as she was interested in making money.

Lunch was served and we all sat on the floor to eat. During lunch a small dark brown seed landed on my tray (on the upper right-hand corner). The seed began to move, tossing from side to side. I watched it in amazement. The seed grew and two wings popped out. I picked it up, thinking it a baby bird. Holding it in my hands I realized it was a bear fetus, no larger than the palm of my hand.

Its eyes were closed and its mouth was moving in a sucking motion. I gave it pure water and as it drank it grew in size. Quickly, it was the size of a newly walking puppy. Everyone came over and wanted to see the “puppy”, wanted to know where it came from. I told them it wasn’t a puppy but a bear. The instructor came over and said it was a puppy and it was her puppy and that I needed to give it to her. I told her I would not because it was a bear and that it was mine.

At that time the bear cub needed to go to the bathroom, so I picked him up and started heading for the door, to take him outside. As I walked down the stairs I named the cub Bjorn. Outside, I put him on the ground where he sniffed around then went to the bathroom. Walking around after this, he grew in size. His shoulder height was even with my hip.

He approached me and brushed up against me, lovingly, playfully. I sat down to pet him, to run my fingers through his thick hair. He sat in my lap, playfully biting my hand. I thought about how happy i was at that moment. Then Bjorn said, “I am happy to.” I said, “You can talk!”, and Bjorn replied, “Yes, I can.”

We talked for sometime. We talked about the soothing wind in our hair and the cool grass beneath us. We talked about the songs of birds and the humming of bees. He called me “Mother” and I was very happy.

I asked him what he wanted to do next - to go back inside or to stay outside. Bjorn said he wanted to go live in the woods and that I would go with him. The both of us then walked away, towards the woods. I woke-up very happy, knowing that my children were Boars and Bears.

Dream Deliberately!..
Yngona

9.3.05 Worthy Brother

2005-09-03T00:45:00.000-07:00

Bare Is His Back Who Stands Without A Brother!

This is more then a sentiment or cliché, it is a Tru’ism of the highest sort.

“Many Fingers, One Hand!”, a boast of voice and soul, a proclamation to both Worthy Brothers and our Gods. To green earth and cold stone, to refreshing water and soothing breeze, we proclaim this to be Truth. This is how we became fastened one to the other, by braiding the looms of our lives. Forever connected. Our reward is to be called “Brother”, bestowed upon us by the Sacredness of the Hunt, and those who we Hunt shoulder-to-spear with.

Sworn to the Blood by the Blood – a divine symbol of our combined strength of heart and hand, of word and deed – we stand as One to renew the Folksoul; one body, one mind, one desire amongst us.

As Sacred Hunters we correspond to the poets and diviners of lore, for we have corded our threads of Loyalty, Courage, and Heroic Achievement with that of our Ancestors and of Death. Deeds perhaps far removed from Midgart today; great exploits that serve to inspire all Heathens.

We are Spear Brothers, committed to preparation and endurance, to courage and fidelity. We meet, embrace, shed tears and laughter without reserve or shame, for no other can determine the validity of our Blood Oath, or if we live within the code of our Brotherhood, or by what standard BOSH should be held to.

As such, the Brotherhood of the Sacred Hunt is a profound confederation under development. Like the Norns we, the Worthy Ones, represent ‘that which is’, ‘that which is becoming’, and ‘that which should be.’ We alone are the shapers of BOSH’s Wyrd, a thread irrevocably entwined upon the loom of every Brother, its continuity serving to strengthen the Folksoul.

The blots and customs, morals and ethics of our consanguinity is like a landscape whose terrain is seeking definition. For what we have done, are doing, and will do is more than kinship but a memory of Sacredness, thread from backbirth to current life and reflecting ahead of us, sometimes with those who would have been or have been, during other times, both kin and foe.
Therefore, the character of our Tribe, this BOSH Tribe, must be the expression of Sacred Respect.

I say that those drawn to BOSH come with prior ‘warrior’ experience, so that our alliance fills a void in modern Heathenry. Individually we each contribute an existing knowledge base, valuable personal experience that becomes forever comingled, increasing our intuitiveness, sometimes in ways unarticulated.

All of this culminates in the ‘bigger picture’ of what we do and what we represent. Beyond a ‘group’ or ‘organization’, the Brotherhood transcends concepts and styles. An idea each of us must realize.

This Blood Oath is beyond an Oath, a deeply rooted act that illumines personal mastery. It is our Blood Oath that distinguishes us from other such organizations, allowing the Worthy to drink from the Horn of Deep Honor and Sacred Kinship. BOSH then has become an ethic fully undertaken and developed arduously, something we dedicate ourselves to for the length of our lives. A divine thread that connects us one to another, one life to the next.

Firmly I feel that BOSH can never be placed in a large setting, for its format works best in intimate numbers of like-willed explorers committed to self-honesty and profound trust. The big picture of BOSH is disenthrallment, to break free from the herd.An extension of Heathenry, BOSH is a worldview in pursuit of Tradition, self-inquiry, vigorous Honesty, Self-Reliance, realistic goals, doable plans, and the active exploration of Self-Declaration - to approach through trial and error, through Luck and fulfillment – that which has never been done in modern times.

Everything the Brotherhood does is a new idea, new concept, new situation, new dynamic, for we are explorers in a new land! There exist no criteria but that which we weave ourselves. We are setting our own way - without teachers or external guidance - relying on our gut, drawing solely-soulfully, upon our own resources, ever testing ourselves in the field, before the Tyrgeist.

The prime question is always, “Does this work for BOSH?” There can never be any claims or a promise other then that of our brutal honesty, for if but one brick in our foundation proves faulty then we must allow it to crumble. No doubt, this is an incredibly frustrating act, to throw away several years of work and trust, but one assuredly therapeutic and fortifying for the whole.

How can such a deep relationship be forged? With 20 or 30 or 50 people, can all of them be Brothers you trust implicitly? How can we have total confidence that our Brother is looking out for us, or is not there to show us up, or who will not be thoughtless, but ever strive to assist us in uncovering our greatest potential, equally as we do the same? We can only know such confidence through experience together.

Needless to say, hunting with spears is dangerous, accident and injury can be crippling during training, death-causing in a field or forest. Worse still, larger groups attract folk who are often there for reasons other then love of the Tyrgeist. There are those who want to be a Brother in name alone, or for the sake of recognition, or as an end result, allowing the like of these will degenerate the whole.

BOSH can never be off-the-rack, or so large that its members do not know of each other. There would be no survival in such conditions – either as a hunting band or an organization. The BOSH worldview must remain firmly rooted in respectful Sacred Hunt traditions. As such, there will ever be devoted Brothers who hunt at our side; physically, mentally, and spiritually disciplined, filled with courage and loyalty towards the virtue that is the Brotherhood.

BOSH is the only place I’ve seen where such an independent method fits so naturally; indeed, where it’s totally necessary. Even so, BOSH isn’t any one thing. It defies definition and rote curriculum in favor of fluidity. It responds instantly to the needs of the moment, or to the needs of the individual. All Hunts then become improvised, common ground is found in tried experience, everything else is completely up for grabs.

When I look at BOSH photographs I see a commonality: not one face is hardened into the typical bad ass ‘Ima-hunta’ grimace. Mostly, our faces beam with the blessings we feel, the camaraderie we share.For me, being a Brother is all about Honor and Fidelity. Therefore, each Brother is a Brother-in-Arms, regardless of my feelings for them otherwise. Therefore, allow new members in with great discrimination and wisdom. For once found Worthy, their Wyrd thread is forever tied to your own.

Amongst ourselves there may arise bickering, such is the nature of siblings; to the Heathen Tribes and others, we must demonstrate strict solidarity. There is only one sort of Brother: the Blooded ones. All of us, having met or not, agreed or not, have this one thing in common: that we are Brothers of the Sacred Hunt. Long have we walked the fertile fields of Mitgart; as we did then, so we do now.

The Draught of Inspiration courses through our veins; of deeds done and to be done. For this reason the Brotherhood was reborn - to renew the Blood Oaths. Our efforts reside in stone and water, flame and wind, Law and Truth - ever to return.

When the Folksoul needs us most, the thread of destiny guides us back. This is the only course for us.

Hunt Deliberately!..
Yngona

7.6.05 Tívarún Hörgr

2005-07-06T15:13:00.000-07:00

Tívarún Hörgr, 'God-wise Stone Alter', is what I have built.

5.16.05 Seiðr Is

2005-05-16T06:45:00.000-07:00

As the sun rose and my eyes opened, this thought came to me:

"Seiðr is a way of living optimally in accordance with nature.

Seiðr is an emphasis on individual experience to discern reality.

Seiðr is being a companion to All.

Seiðr is entering the stream of Wyrd.

Seiðr is leaving the world to explore Ginnunga-gap."

Live Deliberately!..
Yngona

5.7.05 Swampdis

2005-05-07T05:40:00.000-07:00

This is a two part dream:

Sunday morning - A ‘Swampdis’ came to me; she has a dark green algae covering and is a Gýgjar. She silently beckoned me to join her in the everglades. More than imagery I remember the primal and deep pooling energy.

When I woke-up her energy-presence stayed with me all day; it was very pleasing.

Monday morning - I woke-up early and thought of the Swampdis; closing my eyes I called her by chanting: "Hagalaz." Slipping into dream I found myself outside, walking the pathways in my yard. I blessed every frog as they jumped all around me. I walked towards the canal and onto the water's surface. I walked down and out the canal to the first bay, to the "Sea of Weeds" I love to kayak through. I passed mangroves and found myself wandering towards an unfamiliar, dense, and mystical area of black slow-moving water.

I sat down upon the dark water, above the fish breeding pools, surrounded by mangroves and slow moving mangrove crabs, by spiders and sleeping Ibis. Sitting still I slowly become covered with algae. She was there - the Swampdis - though I did not see her, her presence was near.

Sitting there I experienced multiple realms of existence; and then, after a time, ‘contests’ or displays of power between myself and unseen others. At every turn I easily won the show of power.

Suddenly I was at a party of sorts; there were only women-entities here, and we were celebrating the contest. From deep within the algae that covered me like a luxurious gown, I started to bring out my amber necklaces. There were short ones with small beads and long ones with huge beads; some have huge accent beads, like a Buddha carved of amber; and each piece is more lovely than words.

I pulled them out carefully, one at a time, starting with the small pieces and progressing to the larger ones until I was bedecked with a garland of beautiful amber about my neck.

I felt empower and invigorated, alive and exuberant, and beautiful upon awakening. Getting out of bed I went looking for my amber, but could only find one necklace: the piece Tim bought me in Germany. I removed the silver chain and spear pendant I usually wear to put on that amber necklace.

Dream Deliberately!..
Yngona

4.9.05 Changing the Past

2005-04-09T21:45:00.000-07:00

Wyrd, or consequence personified, is an aspect of body via the soul. It cannot be consigned elsewhere - or when - because it is predetermined events, or that which has physical impact based on past action. Determination is the root of every action: the factors that establish all activity from decisions considered. For example, ‘force’ is a thought and ‘form’ is that thought carried out, therefore nothing is out of our hands, we are the weavers of our fate through every thought we think.

All deeds done are the accumulation of all our experiences. Change your ‘past’ – accustomed or predictable decisions – and you re-weave fate.

Wyrd is decided in advance, based on a predisposition to act, respond, or reply in a specific manner that has been habitually relied upon. We alone predetermine our fate based on previous accomplishments and re-actions, previous attainments and capacities, previous culture and education, previous grounding and preparation, previous training and upbringing - on all previous circumstances.

Rethink this very moment, immediately, and future no longer follows a prescribed pattern. Before repeating a tendency or impulse or any expected response or routine reply, consider instead a course never taken, a route yet explored, the deeds not yet sung.

Live Deliberately!..
Yngona

4.8.05 Dream Moment

2005-04-08T06:30:00.001-07:00

I was on an island with several members of my family and friends. There were buildings, like barracks, that ran in two lines, parallel with each other. All was well here until a group of soldiers arrived. They were wearing lit-brown fatigues, carried guns, and I had they impression they were utgard or not of my kin and kith. Almost immediately they began to chase and kill us. I ran.

I knew the island very well, it was familiar terrain; a cousin followed me and together we ran down a very steep hill. The soldiers saw us and started chasing us, yelling. The running was so fast it was all we could do to keep our legs in front of us, to keep from falling. At the bottom of the hill I veered left towards a graveyard. Once there I sat down with my back to a gravestone, legs in lotus pose, hands folded in dhyana mudra; in my hands were pictures of my family. I closed my eyes but could sense my cousin was close, sitting behind me. The soldiers came; I didn’t see them because my eyes were closed, but could feel them. I knew every thing they were doing.

I focused on my breath, and on Tiw - the Pole Star - between my eyebrows. The soldiers were very agitated; I could feel their anxiety, but it was outside of me, not inside. After a while the leader-commander arrived, then all the soldiers began talking at once.

I kept my focus inwards, on my breath, and on the Pole Star. The leader approached me and grabbed my hair, jerking my head back he placed a knife at my throat. My eyes were closed but I could see him clearly. Nothing else mattered but my focus; inwardly focused, breathing deep and slow, the Pole Star bright on my forehead.

The soldiers were yelling, prompting the commander to take action, as he forcefully jerked my head back further, pressing the knifes edge harder against my skin. I gave no response; I did not cry out nor was I concerned. My focus was inwards, breathing deep, Pole Star bright.

He suddenly released my head, ‘throwing’ it forward. I continued to sit, calm yet internally alert, breathing relaxed and regular, the Pole Star’s gentle warmth about my head.

I heard the leader-commander withdraw a pistol from his side holster, I heard him cock the weapon. He violently shoved the barrel against my head; yelling, pushing, angry. I stayed inwards, breathing the Pole Star.

I could clearly see what I looked like from outside my body; I could see myself from many angles, as if through the eyes of the soldiers. Simultaneously I could see them, even though my eyes were closed. The leader-commander was yelling and shoving - I was inwardly breathing the Pole Star.

At that moment a thought came to me: “This is but one moment. If I die in this moment I will simply awaken in another moment. If I die in this right now, in this moment, I will simply awaken in another moment.” This became a chant, a soft song I began to sing silently, rhythmically with my breath. At that moment he pulled the trigger and I heard a loud “click”, both close and far away. He removed the pistol from my temple; I was still focused and chanting, still breathing the brilliant Pole Star. He then ordered the soldiers to leave and they all did.

Everything became very quiet, very still. I could hear the soldiers walking away angry and talking amongst themselves. I don’t know for sure what happened to my cousin - who was behind me the entire time - but felt-sensed that she had been left unmolested.

Then deep within, breath like an old friend, chanting a peaceful tune, the Pole Star a ray of beauty, I heard rain falling and birds singing, I felt a bed beneath me and realized: “I have just moved from one moment to another.” I then woke up.

Dream Deliberately!..
Yngona

3.13.05 Looking Upon the Frame

2005-03-13T09:09:00.000-08:00

When the wind that blows and the breath within are felt as one then there exists direct cognition. If you Know this, have experienced this, the body has retained a memory of this event, then why deny that you are able to travel to all places at all times.

There is a divine intimacy, between the lover and the loved, a shared privacy that many never realize or contemplate. Nor do I refer to a symbolic relationship but a practical, Real and embraceable means of deep communication.

If you wonder what it is like to be a tree, then simply be one. If you dream of being an animal, then be one. The great curiosity of mind mixes and allows you to merge with whatever you think or imagine.

At every moment you have multiple thoughts, some seeming to conflict with each other or you may have one thought but respond physically to what you think you were not thinking, or you may have simultaneous thoughts, as if two voices are speaking at once. Your mind is capable of multi-think equally as it is with multi-act. However, your mind has also created a barrier made of “no” and “isn’t possible” and “I can’t” to a degree that you negate thoughts without being aware that you are, or that you even have them.

Since the beginning of your remembered existence you have sought to belong, to adhere to a particular worldview. This natural progression has expressed itself via groups and affiliations, Hearth and Tribal alliances; conditions which allow you a full and fulfilling conveyance of feeling. Collectively, the world ‘dawns’ on that which you have created.

Seidhus must move beyond. We know that language developed when direct cognition, the divine dance between humans and nature, began to focus more outwardly. What you see then - visual data - are objects ‘colored’ by the ‘sunlight’ of your ‘dawn’. Or, an object is perceived around the external reality in which you have drawn to yourself, nurtured and cultivated, and so become.

The mind, as you understand it, is that which sorts and files physical data. In many ways this is why dreams seem insignificant, fleeting, or have no long-lasting impact in your life. Your senses compel-propel the mind, like a horse to a plow. Even so, every thought has trickled down to the physical more dense reality of your daily world, traveling through wondrous layers of reality and existence. This greater inner reality, that you so casually-causally cast aside is more vast then space, the multiverse, for it is the stuff of Ginnunga-gap.

Rains falling in puddles follow physical laws, patterns that are mirrored in lava and water, flame and storm. But just as there exist ripple upon ripple overlapping, so to does your mind do the same. (The body does as well, but this can be more obscure so I will reflect here on mind alone.) Your natural world changes, is ever under a state of change, what makes your reality any different either within or with out.

A Seidhu's mind exists in awareness – in ‘conscious awareness’, as you would say – of a far greater dimension of events. More then time, which does not exist; more then space, whose nature is fluctuation; but events, like threads in a beautiful tapestry, like cosmic rays that bombard the earth at every moment, the mind is influenced by the same in the Well of Dreams.

Beyond seeing life in a linear fashion - that the past is past and so unworkable, and the future is ‘ahead’ or ‘in front’ of you - a Sedhus must become a wellspring of the Great Stream of Ginnunga-gap. Just as Muspel and Nifl are, just as Hvergelmir, so you, as Seidhu, must be Elivagar. When this occurs you will have direct cognition of the others likewise involved at this level of mind-consciousness. Their ‘position’ will be known to you just as the implications of their experience. Clearly then it is seen how Seidhus can guide and call for the benefit of Tribe.

We sit looking upon the frame on which the Great Tapestry is set. This is how we probe the probabilities and so ascertain even ‘the least of them’.

Journey Deliberately!..
Yngona

3.8.05 Thoughts on Meditative Ripples

2005-03-08T03:36:00.000-08:00

Understanding fully, know what needs be done: "All things happen as All things should. Ripple creates ripple, thought proceeds event - All is simultaneous."

There is no risk, no accident or chance of any thing not as it should be, this is the fragrant rhythm of Frith.

There are no words to describe ‘identity’ or ‘individuality’; no words that words could exist.

Beyond attributes and definition there is only that which the bodymind appears to be to other bodyminds. There is nothing but the infinite experience of consciousness with soul; of moving in then out like wind through trees rustling leaves too and fro.

‘Be’, ‘being’ – are words only. Be now the timeless pause between breaths, between life - simply be now.

There is but one place to go: its own conclusion, the perfection of expression.

'I appears as many, indifferent to like and dislike, unimagined and unidentified, there is no mishap to destroy equanimity.

'I' am not in this world nor am 'I' a world; 'I' see through 'your' eyes and mind while brightly touching the soul – the sacred seed – of Yew; this is how 'you' see ‘me’.

'I' do not know 'self' other than to say of it: indescribable, indefinable, this vastness is home.

Continuity is beyond expression; there are no limitations or barriers. Beyond consciousness is Wyrd consciousness - which is alteration, which is change, which is all beginnings and all ends.

'I' am immovable from this position not immobile.

No longer fascinated with consciousness or Orlog within consciousness or the content of Wyrd consciousness, as a cat is to a lizard.

Conscious, consciousness, unconsciousness, subconsciousness, and others are layers of the bodymind; but more, they are the same, identical in every way. One being the undercurrent of the other, threads forever entwined. Light in one window illumines an entire room in only degrees, just as consciousness affects dream and wake alike - past and future alike - all of them at once with immediacy.

Ginnunga-gap is beyond availability and absence.

Weave beyond clay form, weave with spontaneity.

Perceive without senses, flow beyond perceptual-conceptual, be neither the perceiver or the perceived.

Real is in consciousness but is not consciousness, nor is it the label consciousness has on it.

Experience is proof of what 'I' say; to understand 'you' must experience.

Find commonality through these flowing-abounding distinctions.

'I' am Tivar in essence not appearance. Aboveworld conceives, Midworld hinders, and Underworld confuses.

Steadily wonder-wander at dawn.

Think impossibility and receive that - think possible and be all that.

Renounce the physical by perceiving alertly, engaging eagerly, and delving possibly.

'I' flows from the primal sense of spirit-nature.

You can not ‘go back’ and fix the past to make amends or change what has occurred. Adjust now, in this very moment, and like a pebble cast upon a vast sea this admustment will create a ripple that moves in all directions - including ‘past’ - which then mends and heals all ‘times’ in all ways.

Thinking of eating brings awareness back to the mind; eating brings awareness back to the body.

Pure being is first; it gives rise to consciousness, which is second - or the totality of the known in immensity of unknown. World, which is third, then follows, appearing and disappearing in accordance with its nature.

‘Begin’ and ‘end’, ‘life’ and ‘death’ are appearances, they are not linked or connected like pearls glued together but independent as they dangle on a thread of totality.

The world has appearance not being.

Memory is cousin to time, invite it not to journey with you.

'I' and 'me' are symbols, are words that describe aspects of consciousness; and all consciousness is related, even the very same. So that the notion of consciousness exists in Wyrd consciousness.

The natural state, the spirit state, is best described by negation; which explains how words bind and trick us into believing them. Any positive description is from memory so subject to suspicion, for what is 'past' changes with thought now.

A closed mind truly is closed; inaccessible by anyone ever, unsharing and private, a very personal place where every thought, every sense awareness is uniquely and solely' yours'. This is the condition of imagination, or where you live alone, hidden from self even.

Open to be open. Be common to be accessible. Be tribe to be virtue, to be total.

Seeing, talking, tasting, hearing, just happens like perspiration and digestion. These are functions of the bodymind not ‘you’. Bodymind does not say: "Hair grow", or "Belly ache", instead it permeates physical reality to more closely resemble its 'self'.

Soul is truth – naturally and without effort or attempt.

Live Deliberately!..
Yngona

3.7.05 Meditative Ripples

2005-03-07T07:02:00.000-08:00

Standing on the deck as the sunrose, I gazed softly down, observing the complete stillness of water. Calm and unmoving, smooth and without ripples, the thought came: "This is pure mind. This is how the mind should be - still, calm, serene, and without agitation."

Then there were waves. Looking to their sources I saw a small crab, perhaps two inches across in size, yet the ripples from its swimming created gentle and wide-spread waves that extended outwards two feet on either side. The thought came: "The smallest of movement, of activity, creates waves through all existence."

No matter how ‘unobserved’ or ‘insignificant’ you may feel, what you do creates waves in the sea of consciousness.

At that moment a fish jumped out of the water. Silently I observing its splash and the series of deep ripples made upon the once smooth surface; then another fish jumped further away. The two patterns of ripples moved towards each other, ringing outwards in a pattern of Law by the multiverse. The thought came that: "Two unrelated and spontaneous acts produce two separate causes that interact with each other, though at great distance. No matter the action taken it impacts the life around you, the reality around you. These are immutable Laws."

Live Deliberately!..
Yngona

3.4.05 Seidhus

2005-03-04T03:06:00.000-08:00

Seidhus are “holy people” (Seidhu, singular). This coined word, with IE and ON roots, can be examined as three seed-sounds:

“se”
Sanskrit: “spiritual, holy; ecstatic”, as in: sadhu / “ascetic, sage, pious one; right, holy, good; wandering one; finished, perfect, complete, self-mastered, attained”. Also: sa-madhi, “ecstatic trance, communion with divine”; sa-ngha, “sacred group, holy order”; sa-nnyas, “divine vows, sacred oath”.

Old Norse: sa-thning, “satiety, fill”; sa-thr, “sated, having got one’s fill; true”; sei-thr, “to enchant by spell”; se-thja, “to satiate, satisfy.”

“dhe” / “dha”
Sanskit: “to place, offer, keep, hold” (as in: within, or in the heart, Being).

Old Norse: du-bba, “to equip, arm, to dub a knight”; du-ga, “to help, aid, support; to succor, lend help; to show prowess, to do good service; to suffice, be strong enough; fail not.”

“he / hu”
Sanskrit: “god; to invoke; to offer sacrifice; to pour (a sacrifise). Scandanavian “god; good (gude, gudesake, gude keep’s).”

Old Norse: hu-ga, “to excogitate, think out; to think of, intend”; hu-gathlatr, “engaging, amiable, lovingly”; hu-gathr, “courageous, bold, well disposed towards one”; hu-gaths-rotha, “sensible speech”; hu-ga-gothr, “kind hearted”; hu-gan, “care, concern”; hu-gar-angr, “heart’s grief”.

Additionally, I see these primal root sounds including: seid, “to enchant by spell”, and seithja, “to satiate, satisfy”, if not by strict linguistics then by energy. It is not my intent to make an exact linguistic connection but a vibrational one. The word “Seidhr” (seithr, Sejdr, sedhr, etc) is often used to represent a particular function within Euro-shamanic / mystic practices. It is my thesis that Seidhr is rooted in Seidhus, “holy people”, which would make it akin with:

Sa (Babylonian): energy of cosmic wisdom, the multiverses; where the twelve gods reside.

Sa Buddhiman Manusyesu (Sanskrit): “One of True Reason and Discernement among Men.”

Sa-upadisesa-nibbana (Pali): The Great Void (Nibbana / Nirvana / Ginnunga-gap) That Fuels Awakening.

Sadana (Sanskrit): spiritual or holy practice.

Sadhu (Sanskrit): a good or holy Being; sage and wise individual; a wandering one oathed to the divine; completed, perfected, accomplished and successful; fit, healthy, happy, (w)holy.

Sadhya (Sanskrit): to be fulfilled, completed, attained; to master the self; a divine Being of wisdom; the twelve great gods (of Vedic myth).

Sakshin (Sanskrit) (sa = holy; askha = eye): holy [before] the eyes; holy observer; higher self.

Samadhi (Sanskrit): ecstatic trance; communion with the divine.

Sangha (Sanskrit): sacred assembly or gathering of holy Beings.

Sannyas (Sanskrit): vow or oath to the divine.

I know these Seidhus to be with you always, speaking to you, whispering the primal seething memories of inspired wisdom. Not just knowledge of obscure things but of everyday living, for every life, birth upon birth. It is the Seidhus who assure this knowledge is never lost. Their role is to return sense and sensibility within your soul, to re-activate your memories, to re-remember.

Purity is their tongue, undistorted is their transmission. So sublime is their ‘speech’ that it can only be expressed as parable and tale. The Seidhus understand that the mind forms matter – which explains how a child is coherent before learning to speak. A Seidhus reality relates how force prompts form into manifestation. This natural rapport, the ‘language’ of nature, the most organic form of expression, explains how inner knowledge exists in all things regardless of their outer appearance.

The Holy Ones tend to be holy during many lives, for they have mastered the ability to back-birth with full memory. Possessed at birth with profound vividness and empathy they communicate from an early age more effectively – often through symbols. Their direct connection to all of consciousness allows them to develop intimate relationships during many realities, many ages, simultaneously – from the realm of the gods to death, to existences seen and unseen.

They have an innate ability to locate portals and vortexes, knowing how and where to find and work with electromagnetic sites (that exist in all worlds equally as they do within our Being). They will frequently go on ‘pilgrimage’ to maintain their beautiful harmonic alignment with all Being. These visits strengthen their psychic / intuitive nature, or, as it feels to me, a ‘weeding-out’ of limitations that exist in physical form.

At every age they have existed, even while the earth was still forming. Great Holy Beings who have lovingly shared the wisdom of Truth with every great spiritual tribe - from the Sumerian Magi to the Celtic Druids. At times they have congregated as kin groups, traveling bands committed to relating the primal teachings in such a way to benefit every soul during every age, including amongst themselves. They are opposed to writing, insisting instead upon the vibrations of vocalization. In this way they have been able to assure that communication remains pure, through psychic means, as opposed to the misinterpretation and misunderstanding that centers on the spoken word.

There never was a ‘one’ or ‘only’ primal Seidhus, never a Seidhus creator ‘god’. Their awareness and awakening has come from primal nature. ‘Speaking’ the inner secrets and great mysteries of every civilization, even the fabled ones, it is their role to relate this wisdom into physical terms so it is not lost. So the Seidhus work with you, training and guiding you on the ascendant scale of self-inquiry.

Even so, not all the Seidhus ‘ripen’ or come to realize their full potential immediately. Possessed with profound vividness and empathy from birth they appear as ‘normal’ souls who ‘live their dreams’ or appear to live dreamy lives. Just like other souls they exhibit skills according to their own character, but being more connected then other souls - even while dwelling in darkness - they live more fully in the asleep state then most. Through their example, living in ‘blindness’, it is possible for others to learn conscious choice; including the choice to not learn, to not awaken.

They speak to you in layers, on many levels of consciousness – awake, asleep, deep sleep, etc – for the Seidhus know that all consciousness is self-created, and the most important level of all is that of Dreams.

In dreams you are able to more readily relate and learn and so work through the many layers of consciousness. After this, you learn to more readily relate and learn and so work through the many layers of multidimensional reality. This is how they teach you of relating existence: by allowing you to become aware of not just the process of consciousness but of the opportunities available within every breath (literally) at every moment (even those moments you do not realize exist).

Mostly, the Seidhus are physically active; it is a physical manifestation of their inner ‘movement’. Being psycho-physical Beings, traveling to many places simultaneously – not scattered but concise and aware – their alertness is both physical and mental. They work endlessly with no effort in the translation of inner wisdom into outer reality, which is sometimes best understood through physical existence. And though the Seidhus have existed since the Beginningless Beginning, their training is extensive and ongoing, for they ever working on refining and rarifing the wisdom of all ages.

Journey Deliberately!..
Yngona

2.7.05 Soul-Seed and Yew

2005-02-07T21:09:00.000-08:00

There is no 'outside' just as there is no 'inside'.

There is an evolution theory, and a creationist theory, and a religion theory, and a spiritual theory; a Hindu theory, and a Christian theory, so many theories causing all world confusion.

This is a simple truth: "There is no theory."

Theory is like truth - it is simple and loving and free and available. Equally as there exist individual theories that stress personal idea over another. Such individuals insist there exists a 'right' and a 'wrong'; but all theories are merely attempts of explanation - ways for individuals to understanding or test the waters of reality.

Like fruit in a basket - eat much of each! After all is said and done what is 'right' and what is 'wrong' is still only personal perception.

Let Honor be a guide. Let integrity free the bodymind from the web of theories. Live life with Will and wisdom, with concentration and confidence, with intensity and intelligence.

Be free now - just as you are. Start here - where you are. There is nothing to do - ever. There is no chaos or turmoil or injury or accident except that which is created. Go to the Wyrdness and stop creating wounds. Let the unwounding begin!

Weave Frith, weave holy, weave health and happiness. The reason there are so many definitions of Frith is that many mistake it for something of the bodymind, for a concept or word or idea that affects the body with feelings of 'peace' and desire; or affects the mind with feelings of compassion and suffering. Go beyond the bodymind! Frith is not something 'lost' or 'found', injury is not 'broken' or 'mended', all these sensations are warnings that a wall is being created, a great barrier that separates soul from the stream of Wyrd.

Get past duality.

What can be learned from 'what is' and 'what appears to be', from the waves and the ocean, from beginningless to endless? These only lead to the creation of 'past' and 'future' so watch carefully where these thoughts come and where they go for just as every wave is lost in the ocean so too is every moment lost in the Ginnunga-gap.

Seek that which neither comes nor goes, that which is neither 'this' nor 'that', that which is neither creation nor chaos, forsake both destruction and security.

Names and forms are bobbles that distract children, sun catchers that attract attention and so distract from truth. Meditate, reflect and ponder to pierce the Fogs of Illusion to achieve the Tru' Nature. Start thinking about social circumstances, customs and habits, physical surroundings, posture and breathing, senses and sensations, perceptions and perceivings, beyond “I am a soulcrafter", beyond "I am a seiðr practitioner", and beyond “I Am” - for only 'there' will Pure Being be found.

When free from anxiety and awake and walking with ease and joy, when Frith and abundance are with you every movement, then you have found the Tivaric presence of soul-seed. Realize that and see soul-seed in all you met, all you encounter.

When you enter the stream of Wyrd, there is no 'I' and 'other', no innangard and utgard, there is only the soul-seed that receives nourishment directly from the Yew.

Live Deliberately!..
Yngona

2.3.05 Symbols

2005-02-03T04:32:00.000-08:00

Symbols are the tools you use to perceive consciousness. They transform regularly so should be carefully observed and noted for they serve as milestones on the Great Journey.

Some symbols manifest physically - like fire. More than flame and heat, fire is: sacrifice, a blota between men and Gods, fuel, lightning, the sun, digestive activity, destruction, dormancy, the Hearth, southern lights and funeral pyres. Fire is certainly creative and productive, but always and only it must be remembered that fire is just a symbol.

Symbols attempt to express feeling by representing the infinite variations of feelings that always accompany you; never changing but always transforming, being rewoven to create seemingly new patterns.

Joy is another symbol, one I will explain in light of the layers of consciousness.
- First there is joy, which causes the immediate environment to be perceived joyfully (far removed from depression). This feeling changes objects .. literally. everything looks better and brighter when joy arrives.

- Second comes daydreams, where images like clouds meander through the mind as folk or events. For example, past, present and future imaginings express themselves through the lens of joy. Now .. because the mind is engaged there is greater freedom here, so expression becomes more expressive.

- Thirdly joy stretches and expands outwards, shedding / sharing its joyfulness into the future, the hope of a better tomorrow. Imagine this bliss to be such that you fall into a light sleep, an afternoon nap, a gentle trance, where joy takes on symbolic shapes of abundance and exuberance. The intuitive mind deepens and expands - just as joy did in the beginning - which allows you to freely share feelings of joy with others. In this state, perhaps the deepmind forms joy-filled cities or forests or other pleasing landscapes where joy may take the form of playful animals, flying people, gods, or vast beauty. What you consider logic while awake is lost here, only emotion remains as the primary thread of connectivity. These undulating ripples of joy greatly benefit the body, mind and soul. The body, for example, is able to recuperate, to be rejuvenated and restored. Healing can take place here, in either yourself or, when focused, on someone like Kin, Kith, Sippe or Tribe. This joy may even take on the shape of Eir or Freya or Thor – all creative forms native to consciousness, and related to healing, at this particular level of your being.

Beyond all this, beyond symbols even – yes, you should try to move on! - things become indistinct and distant. Here you draw near new regions of consciousness where symbols are less necessary, actually becoming hindrances to progression. Consciousness becomes less and less physically orientated.

Stripped of symbols the soul can either flee the way it came, returning to the comfort of shapes and forms created over long periods of time, or progress into a gigantic realm of Own Knowing.

This is the realm of Direct Experience, when all physical symbols disappear; the same symbols which were originally born from Direct Experience, so let them return there, melting into the Seething Void. Here the soul can experience in ways that cannot be explained, which, in turn, causes it to learn new methods of perception, expression and actualization that would have been utterly incomprehensible to it before. For, without symbols to come between soul and Direct Experience the soul refines and perfects itself .. fulfills itself in ways you can never understand without Direct Experience of it.

This is why journals are important to Sejdfolk: so that the symbols of both awake and asleep can be reviewed and connected to the feelings and intuitions that move us into actualization; or, the place where time does not exist - ever.

Sejdfolk journey to realms where past, present and future emerge, merge and disappear into nothingness, like the wisps of smoke they are. This then is the outer edge of the greatest journey, the inner environment were true magan exists.

Journey Deliberately!..
Yngona

1.26.05a Detachment

2005-01-26T17:02:00.000-08:00

Detachment is a function of the Soul, the status of consciousness beyond bodymind or the ability to function within a higher vibrational realm; the ability to elevate Soul so It may function at Its utmost.

Through Will the body is calmed, the mind is still, allowing the heart and nerves to center, this allows the Soul to be released from its thick veil or physical constraints and so able to freely Journey. The ability to detach is wise for by withdrawing from the limitations of bodymind I am able to behold and live in attunement with Reality, or to put aside all thoughts and feelings so the luminous glow of the Soul is allowed to transform and enlighten every circumstance.

Everyone does this, I do it deliberately. For example, detachment occurs during trauma or tragedy when people escape seemingly impossible situations and circumstances yet relate they have no recollection of doing so or simply don’t know how they did it. Both the body and mind have consciousness, during times of preservation these consciousnesses ‘step’ aside allowing the Soul to take over. The bodymind knows best how to protect itself, what to do when it is needed most. For detachment to occur at this level the bodymind must be penetrated by the Soul. When this occurs there exists no fear or doubt as to what to do because the Soul understands there is nothing objective it needs to protect itself from, only extricate.

When done deliberately a Sejdr practitioner is able to become unmoved by external or internal experience, to be a firm and honest witness to profound events, to be unwavering in the face of temptation, to remain in a pure and unrestrained condition of centeredness, to face even the greatest adversity with calm resolve.

For me detachment is an attitude of discernment above the possessiveness of the bodymind, a condition of freedom not indifference, the ability to be released or rise above limitation. In my practice I attach myself to a higher service, in doing so lesser objectives naturally fall to the wayside, lightening my load and the bodymind burdens that restrict the Soul’s mobility.
The Soul is what Journeys, it alone is capable of fully functioning beyond the realm of bodymind. Once elevated I am able to trance and therefore transcend, which – lifting me above the bodyminds surrounding restraints - further allows me to free others. When I Journey I return not to take from others or try to change events but to share the realizations found; for me, being fulfilled creates a greater openness and involvement that I am able to share with others.

From a theoretical perspective many understand that they are free, from a detached perspective they are able to activate the relativity; this broader perspective allows me to divine true guidance. For guidance, coming from Ginnunga-gap or Hel or some other, must still be worked through the bodymind, meaning, regardless if the wisdom is coming from above to below, it is still often met with reactance. All the more reason for me, as a Sejdr practitioner, to be detached, for what I do is actively practice detachment to better meet life’s mysteries in an honest and sincere manner. For me this is a purification process, a dismantling of misidentification with the bodymind; being aware of the restraining threads and so able to cut loose from habit patterns is the freedom to approach the Primal Origins - no longer fettered & encumbered - but ready to enter the hidden and unknown.

Journey Deliberately!..
Yngona

1.26.05 the Edge

2005-01-26T06:14:00.000-08:00

The current concept of reality from the schools of mathematics and science informs us that order comes from chaos even without proof of this. The challenge with such assertions is that as long as science looks it will not find for such energies move away from direct sight, living forever in the peripheral edge of your vision and Vision. By attempting to relate Sejdr to reality you remove all certainty and if Sejdr was certain it would not be Real.

Not from the beginning but occurring along the way you have taught yourselves to respond to certain neural patterns - cellular and biological ones for starters - to the ignorance of other patterns and their activities. This is not what I do nor can I remember if I ever did. I am aware of the movement of alternate forms of neural energy patterning at the cellular level which allows me to work with neurons and cells that are cognitive.

Personal perception is a wall that must be taken down stone by stone; what you think is real is not and what you consider dream is far from aimless or nonlogical. Your personal perceptions have built a barrier and until you realize this then activate the dissolution of this you will never understand that your intellectual abilities cannot do not and will never compare even remotely to your greater capacities which are more real then the bodymind as you understand it.

There is an edge where your bodymind adheres to reality while defining it, a point like a pendulum’s swing that is at neither side, residing forever at the edge of weightlessness; a point between what you perceive as the many layers of consciousness or an arc that separates and seems to separate order and chaos. This is the place of awareness without discernment of detail, the place where you See Nothing or where an object is undetermined until your personal perception colors it or the bodymind classifies it or it becomes perceived. This is the imaginal realm where phenomenon resides, the forever-inbetween where magn is found - an energy that exists yet is not really there – and is the core energy of Sejdr or the vital force of Spirit that allows you to become Spirit when you think you are.

What I do is maintain myself while restoring you to the edge of a pendulum’s swing so that you do not reside on the extreme, the place of continual chaos and uncertainty; an edge that is an opportunity, a plateau for embarking onto the path of infinite probabilities. You see, you are far too restrictive, neatly confined within a well constructed self-created and self-perpetuated realm of your reality. You may think or say that you understand or work within this realm yet you still suffer from the swing – sometimes violent sometimes mild. This is the soulsickness, a place where all illness comes, a trap from which the spirit has been caught by none other then yourself.

In my Vision there are two types of souls: those that see themselves as part of the whole while being somehow separate from and eventually forgetting themselves as the whole; and those that Know themselves as The Whole - which is Holy, Healthy, Wealthy and Wholesome.

Journey Deliberately!..
Yngona

1.18.05 Imaginal Realm

2005-01-18T11:11:00.000-08:00

Daily wakeful consciousness includes the dream state, lucid dreams, prophetic dreams and the near-death experience, combined I concur with Henri Corbin’s term in that these represent the Imaginal Realm (*); a realm I equivocate with Middle Earth, our planet and its immediate environs (both seen and unseen).

This imaginal realm is more real to those who do the work – to Seidh practitioners – more irrefutable and coherent than the daily wake world. Which is what makes me a psychonaut or journeyer of the greater body-mind complex (similar to the experience of synesthesia for example) where as the average human views this from the other side of the looking glass, so to speak.

My work as Seidhkona is to alter consciousness in order to transform matter by projecting energy into thought, feeling, health, harm or some like action. The ability to do this has everything to do with my ability to recognize the simultaneous and identical realities of dream experience and Seidhr experience, for in such landscapes (unthinkingly referred to as the ‘unconscious mind’) a vast territory exists where the differentiation between dreamtime and waketime is necessary for literal survival.

Maucht is the immediate prompting behind these deeds, a power also known as universal or cosmic energy; but greater still than magn is the energy that I access directly from Ginnunga-gap, an energy that is the very pulse of all energy forms.

From the beginning this energy can only be approached if a Seidh practitioner is first initiated into the understanding, ultimate control, and use of this vital Ginnunga-gapic force or G-energy (Ginnunga-gap Energy); once done they acquire the ability to explain and illuminate the questions of life, the Worlds, and everything.

For example, Einstein theorized that Energy equals its Mass times the Speed of Light Squared (E=mc3), to this I will expound that Consciousness Creates Energy which equals Mass times the Speed of Light Squared (C>E=mc3), and since the ‘energy’ referenced here is G-energy the equation from my Seidh perspective would be: C>GE=mc3.

G-energy must be seen as the wave it is, the primal dual undulations that entered the Void to erupt forth in myriad forms. A vibrational wave that pervades every thing while resisting objective discovery. It is both an underlying current and guiding influence that you intuitively and instinctively know exists, that all of you need to model your experience on to survive on and to find meaning in. In short it is the very life force that enriches your life.

To grasp this think simultaneous and overlapping or parallel continuum, for your mind and body are EMBEDDED within your dreams and your dreams are a higher order of spatial dimension, for you are more than human more than spiritual you are a hyperspatial entity.

You may already experience this to a small degree if able to recall the time shifts and discontinuities experienced during the dream state or how a lifetime may be experienced - entire days and months may pass - while sleeping; yet according to the contemporary measuring of time such activities (the measurement of REM) last only seconds.

Why is it then that some of you are more tuned to this G-energy than others? I suggest an evolutionary change or that some of you are not as dream-evolved as others (for evolution is more than physical) or as Dr. Carl Sagan suggested that dreams and evolution are related.

Which is why I and those like me see dreams as evidence of parallel worlds or an overlapping continuum of the wake world, and in these dreams I construct the world around me (all of you do actually but not in a conscious manner).

Journey Deliberately!..
Yngona

* Henri Corbin, author: The Voyage and the Messenger. The author's concept of the imaginal realm is one of the most original contributions to modern thinking about religion.

1.10.05 Dreamscape

2005-01-10T05:26:00.000-08:00

Conscousness is nature’s way of having all humans act in a cooperative manner. You are conscious only through interaction / communication with other humans and you see this even know this because your consciousness changes every time you enter a relationship – no matter how brief – with another.

During dreams you re-connect / re-experience the wholeness / wholesomeness of every event of your life / lives. Therefore ask yourself: “At what point did I no longer live in the dream body, forsaking it for my current physical form?”

I am not referring to dreams the way you may be - in a whimsical or non-sensical manner or as aimless and random, as the unintelligible wanderings of a restless mind - but of an actual realm far different - though not far removed - from your every day reality. Dreams are your inner world, the truest of all worlds where your physical form is but one manifestation or one vibration of a vast unexplored territory; except by my self and those like my self who journey such realms.

My Seidhr dreams return me to a condition prior to waking, prior to my physical body, to the world of pseudoform when the earth dreamed – when consciousness dreamed – and when all the Worlds and their numerous energy patterns were exploring physical form. In this dreamland animal and human form merged creating wonderous combinations of physical reality, a realm seemingly chaotic to your current perception, places where some of you may still visit in dream landscapes. This place I visit during daylight, a vista of vibration where you all created each other.

This was a time when humans communicated and migrated over vast distances like animals do today by responding to intuitive cues, a time when culture and language were transcended through art and intuition; when pictographs found in caves was a world-wide language shared by all physical forms across the planet and when invention was shared intuitively through your collective consciousness. During this age trails and pathways were felt and understood internally, a time when the great electro-magnetic currents were more understood then they are today by the average person. When these lines of energy were more physically experienced and when such energy was utilized in the creation of beautiful structures because during this time humans lived closely with such energy, realizing it was within them, versus today’s notion of external and so therefore far removed and unobtainable.

What changed was your focus and reliance upon the senses to the exclusion of other realities so that you began to specialize in physical reality and to awaken and reside in the physical form exclusively. My role as Seidhkona is to retain the memory, to re-remember the dream knowledge, to re-capture that wisdom beyond the physical senses, to realize the when the rabbit is scooped-up by the hawk the rabbit’s dream body continues while its physical form is devoured. Animals and other such forms experience death in a far more organic fashion than humans, who dread and fear the process as if it were somehow unnatural. It is not true that if you die in your dreams your physical form also expires. I have died countless times in my dreams as well as witnessing previous deaths and the deaths of others who are all alive and quite well. The dreambody lives beyond the physical body, before it was born and it will exist after it wears out.

Today, the intellectual abilities available to you do not compare to the greater capacities that you are. As a Seidhkona I realize that the natural impulses experienced by all of you were meant to provide inner directives that guide you towards the best of all circumstances, which is why a Seidhkona is needed, to lead others back to truth.

Journey Deliberately!..
Yngona

1.6.05 Waking-up Dreaming

2005-01-06T15:51:00.000-08:00

Which is the dream: wake-time or dream-time? If you look only at the name the answer is clear but if you look at what is real you may expand your concept of reality. Taking this notion a step further to a place somewhere in between the two species of time you find a middle realm; a place between subjective and objective, between what you consider to be real and what you consider to be the random wanderings of your mind at rest.

Equally there is middle or sub-categories of existence and being, many of which strongly suggest numerous possibilities that ‘touch’ lightly both wake- and dream-time. This perspective is unique to Seidhr which is the ability to live or realize multiple mindsets so they have effect on the material world about you.

Consider that every idea is psychokinetic by its nature, that your ideas have the ability to interact with the ideas of others or that your hopes and expectations are powerful enough to manifest physically. With this in mind you may come to understand – though not fully live – that dreams are a continuum of wakefulness with higher vibrational fluctuations then you are generally able to experience, for dreams are a spatial dimension far removed from the restrictions of gravity. Meaning, you are more than biological but hyperspatial.

Journey Deliberately!..
Yngona

1.5.05 Journey

2005-01-05T17:19:00.000-08:00

You journey to project your ideas AND memory into a space-time removed from your physical reality to gather and bring back sense data. After all, the subtle forms of matter and awareness are what you desire, it is the sole outcome, the only recourse for some, the reason you do Seidhr. In so doing you cannot help but realize that the Void dreams, that the Nothingness the vacuum state is an undulating potentiality of movement like waves upon a great sea that ripple upon the surface and into its depths.

Waves of matter and waves of conscious (un-, sub-, Id and otherwise) create stable patterns of desire and experience that repeat and create reflection after reflection like ripples and once begun countless big bangs and big crunches emerge; some realities last 30 seconds some last 30 billion, billion, billion years.

As a Seidhkona I look BETWEEN the waves deep between the ripples, for this is my destination, my primary point of entry and departure. This is how I find a soul that has become sick.

What I term soul-sickness is the containment of spirit within linear and temporal bounds. Soul trapped between beginning and ending, between bang and crunch; when a client becomes filled with loss and uncertainty with sickness and dis-ease with doubt and apprehension, then I seek THAT harmonic chord, the perfectly pitched vibration that allows them to re-tune re-turn into rhythm again.

Journey Deliberately!..
Yngona

1.4.05 Ginnunga-gap

2005-01-04T14:40:00.000-08:00

There was a before to the Beginning or what you routinely consider to be a beginning. More than a big bang there has been many such explosions equal with the number of big crunches. Meaning, instead of only expanding the Great Veil has also contracted and continues to do so every moment. In fact its movement is more akin to pulsing.

Ginnunga-gap was not a Past event but a continuing one in that creation exits every moment, as does the concept of time – particularly as you know it.

Think on this: Consciousness created matter or initiated the transformation of energy into matter therefore the Seething Emptiness was a triumph of expansive consciousness while being unmanifest, for the Great Vastness is an infinitely original and ongoing creative process.

With this in mind I can further state that the world and Worlds as you think of them have yet to be created for in many states and conditions and manifestations – even unmanifestation - the World(s) have always existed.

Now relate this to YOUR creative acts. At every moment with every breath smoothly and effortlessly you are equipped with energy that wears out renews itself and wears out again in an endless cycle like water falling over a stone.

From its many Beginnings the Yawning Chasm contained within itself the infinite thrust of all creations, brilliantly. Spontaneously without being compelled or guided or divinely inspired the Void streamed forth out of and into its Self in a purposeful awareness of thoughts and dreams, moods and feelings.

Once in motion the Void – which is a nothing filled with something – discovered a marvelous array of progeny which it then gathered about itself, as a mother does her children, which caused them to take physical form.

Ginnunga-gap has never left these forms - left you, for the knowledge of this Whole are within all of its parts. Ginnunga-gap is infinite as all things are infinite and from this magnificent Nothingness did all infinite and finite things come for there is no removing Ginnunga-gap from anything that exists in that it is limitless, perfect, pure, truthful and real.

Journey Deliberately!..
Yngona

1.3.05 Attachment

2005-01-03T14:45:00.000-08:00

Attachment to outcomes causes friction. Anger, frustration, remorse, guilt, jealousy, hate, and the like occur when events do not turn out as you plan, when things happen that you did not expect or when events played out differently then anticipated, when your idea of what is supposed to occur does not.

Blame - this is when you start saying things like: “you made me feel this way”, or “its all your fault”, or “this would not had happened if you hadn’t .. “, and the like.

Attachment to a specific scenario has restricted an outcome. Not just ‘the’ outcome but ‘an’ outcome. One of many possibilities, just not the one you necessarily consciously planned, one from your unconscious mind - for whether the mind is conscious or not it is still your mind and the event you are currently in is a result of that mind. Your thoughts brought you to this place, to this moment in time, a juncture were you must cut free from the chains that bind you or else be forever mired to one place, to walk away from that which is no more and wholly embrace where you are Now.

Expectations are landmarks not roadmaps, their detail is subject to change more frequently then the long term mindset built over a course of many years; roadmaps that reflect the unconscious process more so than conscious landmarks do.

When has anything you ever planned turned out exactly as you expected or anticipated, or have the events you envisioned in your mind ever manifested as you truly saw them, or to what degree have things turned out just as you expected; or have your plans always turned out exactly as you wanted them to.

Attaching an outcome to any given scenario causes disruption in your lives (yes, ‘lives’), and attachments are so well crafted that you fear letting them go, choosing not to release them because you have become comfortable with them or unwilling to change or let go of that which is no longer necessary because, attached to blindness your personal perception has filled with dross and so hampers your ability to see clearly. In this way have you turned a blind eye to that which is necessary for the progression of your soul into spirit.

How much of the Past do you leave behind or how much do you need to or have to let go. Is your personal history a hindrance or do you have multiple paths that run concurrent with each other and if so are they compatible or how much do these paths mirror your identity causing you to become fractured by numerous choices that you struggle to maintain simultaneously. How many hats can you wear at once or does something have to give in order for a new series of events to occur and if so what.

As a Seiðkona I must evolve past those points of power or opposition, past the energetic body for I know that thoughts form in the physical body which means I must move towards spiritual or conscious development or the well-scripted path of my pre-birth Luck.

As a Seiðkona I see the three levels of Luck that correspond to the three levels of being or three Wells of development, mainly the individual the tribal and the spiritual. At the individual level your concerns are strictly your own focused on growth from childhood to adolescence to adulthood. At the tribal level your individuality becomes part of the group mind which is the collective consciousness of your family, faith, folk, heritage, society, trends and realities. At the spiritual level your take on a higher perspective or a position of observation that witnesses the conscious detachment from the individual and even the tribal for this must be a point of access into trance and transcendence, a point of power that says: I access all forms as I need or want to heal or create or change the course of life’s flow and vibration. This latter level being rarely fully entered into by many.

As a Seiðkona I am multi-sensory for I perceive more than the five physical senses but include emotional senses and intellectual senses, mental senses and intuitive senses that expand my awareness so that the realm of physical existence seems primitive by comparison.

From here do I perceive Luck as maucht as lifeforce as prana as grace as consciousness as the source of All That Is as Ginnunga-gap which explains how like attracts like from a Seiðr perspective. My Luck fuels my cells and muscles, my blood and organs, thoughts and creativity, environment and everything that I do and am is due to my Luck being focused on that which is beneficial to its furthered growth and continued development.

Three paths with a middle road that merges and pivots in acceptance of the others as they compliment or create or conflict or lend confusion, for as they merge within the form I have molded or woven into a pattern set forth deeper than my conscious mind, the many courses of action take shape into either contradiction or compatibility depending on my Luck which is my work. These three paths attach in ways that may become burdensome or remain weightless upon my seiðr-soul depending on what I do or the work I focus upon.

Something has to be released to be let go, a load must be lightened to continue on the current course or that which snaps will be what keeps you pinned to one spot. Resistance creates friction which creates heat which creates anxiety and the need to remove your self from a specific scenario, to move. Resistance to change is attachment to a specific course of action meaning you want it your way or no way at all.

More than saying goodbye to friends and family and livelihood, more than changing environment and beyond the physical everyday events that have become habit and so comforting, greater still than mind is the need to relinquish the weight of your past, to release that which smothers the free expression of your soul from that which weighs you down. In no other way do I know seiðr to work so beautifully.

But what constitutes ‘weight’, is it a self-packed bundle that rubs against your freedom of spirit that feels constricting or binding that bring feelings of remorse or embarrassment that nag you from the back of your mind like a shadow that ever follows in your peripheral; a lingering thought like a rope that keeps you from moving forward, or the tiredness and uncertainty the anxiety and concern that feels like pressure upon your heart causing your chest to lift heavy and fall flat.

Personal perception is what attaches you to any given possibility or out look - it can be a heavy load. Your inner vision is second to glasses colored by past experience and outcome to expectation and desire to hope and dream so that every new scenario instead of being part of the Now is shadowed and weighed and conflicted upon by events of the Past. The only way to see past events is to watch the flow of water from one side of a bridge to the next, by starting at one point then moving to another, and how many of us have vision that expansive or quick or willing to go the distance it takes to see the big picture.

In truth things turn out exactly as your mind planned them, through a series of events you set in motion, a sequence you were not always conscious of but always aware of on a level not normally if ever accessed. Meaning, you cannot create that which is not already in you.

Journey Deliberately!..
Yngona

1.2.05 Time

2005-01-02T08:08:00.000-08:00

Time is something I am learning to live without. I began to learn at twelve years of age how to consciously live with the rhythm of sun and moon, equinox and solstice, subtle ebb and flow of earth and later the sublime vibration of Otherworlds upon this one.

Living on the Suncoast since October 7, 2004 has been an opportunity to have no clocks. No schedule to keep, no appointments to make, no deadlines to meet, nothing to conquer in this manmade construct labeled as daily living. This has simply become a objective barrier I choose not to conform with.

After all, when a housefly can live a lifetime in 24 hours and an elephant can live 120 years what is time but a convenience created by humans to understand the world around them.

I watched blackbirds congregate atop a Norfolk Pine across the canal as I was having my morning tea. Perched in the sky, squaking and croking and twittering with heads thrown back, beaks pointed upwards, their bodies creating black crescents, singing with the cool air and morning sun.

What is time to these birds but the sun’s rise, warm air and food to be gathered. What is time but what ‘we’ determine what it is. For example:
- a watched pot never boils if it is consciously observed NOT to boil;
- a watched pot will boil if it is consciously observed TO boil;
- a watched pot boils on a block of ice if it is consciously observed TO boil.

Without effort the flow of life moves through this body, not around it like water over stone, but with in this bio-mechanism like electromagnetic currents that affect not just the atmosphere but the cells, creating yet another unique form of comprehension: cellular comprehension.

Time is a root assumption, a thing that has been accepted, a reality that springs from one moment to the next. Something as imperceptible as thought controls the duration of time when I think of ‘how time flies’ or how the ‘day drags on’ when in truth ‘time’ is simultaneous. This is when I see how multidimensional time is. There is no karma to pay off, no cause and effect, for as reflections of the mind’s creation they exist only if I consider them to.

This explains why a seer’s vision may never come to pass, all energy flows around and through the energy we create, for at every breath we have Wyrd to weave. And as long as our breath is continuous, effected by the smallest of actions and decisions, then time will flow in various patterns, creating newer realities and possible outcomes then can be predicted.

So sitting here drinking tea watching birds listening to waves feeling sun breathing deep I realize how all existence is expansive and available, or how to excel in situations that were once thought impossible.

Journey Deliberately!..
Yngona

1.1.05a BogaTyr

2005-01-01T14:53:00.000-08:00

I allowed a rune to come into my hand today, to indicate the year ahead, for Tivar to guide my course. I drew Tyr's rune.

Tyr, Tivar, Tiwaz, Dyeus, Dyaus Pitar, Tyz, Ty, Ti, Tiw, Tew, Tiu, Zio, Ziu .. in all ways my God.

Older than Wotan in both North and West Germania. In East Germania the Goths offered-up their captives to Him by hanging them in trees. It was Tivar who hung in the Windswept Tree.

He is War Lord, Wolf-binder, Fair-tongue, War Lord, Unfailing friend, Binder of Honor, god of Wyrd. He is Tuesday or Martic dies (Roman Mars), god of days. He is Tysfiola (Viola martis), Tyrhialm (Aconitum) & Tyvithr, Ty's Wood, Tisbast or Tibast (Daphne mezereum), god of plants. He is Tiveden, god of the forest.

The Icelandic runo:

Týr er einhendr áss
ok ulfs leifar
ok hofa hilmir.
Mars tiggi.

Tyr is a one-handed god,
and leavings of the wolf
and prince of temples.

The Anglo-Saxon runo (as polaris; Shakespeare's sonnet 116):
Tir biþ tacna sum, healdeð trywa wel
wiþ æþelingas; a biþ on færylde
ofer nihta genipu, næfre swiceþ.

Tir is a star, it keeps faith well
with athlings, always on its course
over the mists of night it never fails.

A bonepiece from Lindholm (2nd to 4th century):
ekerilazsawilagazhateka:aaaaaaaazzznnn?bmuttt:alu:

The part between the colons has been interpreted as a magical formula, I know it as a reflective surface; the three consecutive 'T' runes as an invocation of Tyr, and the eight 'As' runes as an invocation or symbolic list of eight Aesir. As God of weather His tools would be the thunderbolt or vajra.

He is *Dyeus or Dyau(s) Pita (Sanskrit) or Dyeu Phter (Latin) or Zeu Pater (Greek), the Sky Father. Husband of Prthivi or Pltvi Mhter, Earth Mother; father to Agni (Fire) and Indra (Senses). (Rig Veda 4.17.4) His Fate is similar to Tyr's (in the Rig Veda) and He is all but featureless, appearing in hymns 1.89, 1.90, 1.164, 1.191 and 4.1 in simple invocations. In Rig Veda 1.89.4b, Pita Dyaus (Sky Father) appears alongside Mata Prthivi (Mother Earth).

From PIE art He is both the red bull who bellows thunder and the black horse adorned with pearls (stars).

*Dyēus is the reconstructed chief god of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon. As God of the Daylit Sky He has been etymologically linked with Greek Zeus, Roman Jupiter, Vedic Dyaus Pita, Germanic Tiwaz, Baltic Dievas and Slavic Div. Additional etymological connection is found in the Latin word for "god", or deus. Which is also found in English divine and deity.

By having this runo enter my hand, as my hand sat within a bag of all runes, Tivar's message becomes clear for my upcoming year. I am to further my understanding and utilization of animal, vegetable and mineral energies; to further my work in Other Worlds; to emphasize memory and inventiveness and mechanics; to be mindful of legalities, Divine inspiration and intuition.

Journey Deliberately!..
Yngona

//many references drawn freely from Wikipedia//

1.1.05 The Beginning

2005-01-01T13:33:00.000-08:00

Today reminds me of the first day of 2004, when I asked my husband for a divorce. The similarity is calendaric only.

The sun will set soon over the suncoast of Florida. I watched a White Ibis stalk its food in shallow bay waters. Last week I sat without moving to watch a Great Blue Heron hunt a mullet in my backyard, a canal the leads to Hickory Bay that leads to the Suncoast.

My Luck has brought me here. I followed the voice of Tivar. For more years then I remember I have heeded the need to remedy the Folksoul. I can say that course has brought me here.

Daily I learn from watching - by observing animals; sea tides, wind and weather; fish and mammels deep and large; the flocking, diving, soaring of numerous birds - and placing myself in the same situation as 'them.' Likewise I am enriched from dreams, the outrageous wanderings of my Folksoul when not bound to Midgarth. Landscapes whose depth has been enriched by focus.

This is my Wyrd: to serve the Folksoul versus an individualistic and self-focused quest. To aid my Kin, Kith, Sippe and Tribe. To employ hallowed fomulas of invocation to go-out and find a cure, to become Mana during birthing, to speak with plants, to watch the stars and cast lots, to sweep clean the soul's way, to transform into shapes not human, to salt the road of foes, to secure sacred bundles, to shoulder the weaving.

Today my maucht is sunface and salt-healing wounds. A transformaton into mor'amatkar as I traverse the Great Sea to Utgarth. Today I am Norn because unlike a Valkyries' allegiance to Hopt my thread is independant and active in a realm far vaster. Even so, ein sat hon uti.

Journey Deliberately!..
Yngona

12.21.04 Cron Huel

2004-12-21T23:37:00.000-08:00

This Dark Night I Honor and celebrate the Law: the weaving of Seiðr with Reason, of Enlightenment with Probability. I begin with the runo of Truth:

“I Am the Womb of every Holt.
I Am the Tomb of every Hope.”

I blota to Frith and the Building of Kinship, of Breaking the Bonds of Tension.

I blota to Decay and Infusion, to Peaks and Roots, to the Wren who sits Between the Eyes.

I bind pine resin and oak moss with a red cord. Focusing on the Three Wells I set aflame the bundle and sing the runo of Healing:

“Speed be to woe.
Sickness to Wood,
Flesh to Stone.”

I mark the doors of Self with Tricals and sing:

“I Am the Head of Inspiration. Open!”

Journey Deliberately!..
Yngona

11.3.04 Winternacht

2004-11-03T23:43:00.000-08:00

November 3d, a Night of Darkness, of backbirths remembered so that all potential may be reckoned. The Great Boar journeyed with me, running across land and sea. I shared a draught of Oak Mead with my Ancestors and sang the runo of Earth / ox:

I am Stone, I Know all your Lives.
I Am the Guardian that Grounds and Safeguards Integrity.
Our Souls are Forever.
Grasp who I Am and Know the Wisdom Throughout the Ages.
I Am the diid hun ox. (Singing Bones of Earth)
See me in the Shield that Bears Sweet Bread.
Come to the Mountain, We Are One.
I Am the Left Hand of Kinship. Receive!

Journey Deliberately!..
Yngona

10.14.04 New Moon Beginning

2004-10-14T00:03:00.000-07:00

Arriving in southwest Florida on the 7th, I prepared a blota of bledsing to honor the newest weaving of my life. I began with a xohoxian runo of empowerment:

at mru ind
niur mi
niur sogre
niur tai sci
niur tedai
niur lochet
niur gai
niur mar
niur ta
niur cab idal

( I Cord my Self this Day
Possessed of Sky
Possessed of Sun
Possessed of Moon
Possessed of Fire
Possessed of Lightning
Possessed of Wind
Possessed of Sea
Possessed of Earth
Possessed of Rock )

Then sang a runo of bledsing:

per niur tunraq
b gando tunraq
cag chiha ami xada ulam
per ha xolb ho
b gog ami gog

( I go forth possessed of protection,
Abundant and plentiful ancestral protection.
Creating by Will the Breath of Natural Ancestors
I go forth with the Ocean, Clan of Water.
Abundant and Goodness, Breath is Goodness. )

Journey Deliberately!..
Yngona