Norse Goddess Magic (2 page)
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
The Role of Tranceworking in the Heathen Community
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It is time to chant from the seer's stool at the Well of
Urð;
I saw but stayed silent, I saw and thought, and heard
Hár's words.
H
ÃVAMÃL, ST
. 111
This book grew out of a personal need to better understand the
Norse gods and goddesses. However, in the process of trying to flesh out the
somewhat scanty information available on many Norse deities, I discovered the
art of tranceworking and its role in spiritual study and worship. I am therefore
sharing not only the lore I was able to learn but also the means I used to
acquire it.
Although Norse goddesses serve as my examples, the methods I describe can be
used to explore gods or goddesses from any tradition. Because information on
female deities is often scarce in the Germanic traditions, I chose thirteen
goddesses to explore in detail. I also deliberately selected many who are
obscure to show just how much can be done, even with very little information.
I strongly feel that the historical and archaeological information available
on Pagan gods and goddesses should be supplemented, at least by practicing
Pagans, with less traditional methods. This is the only way we can reclaim our
religions and those practices lost to us through the years. Practices such as
meditation, tranceworking, and ritual can imbue cold, dry facts with emotional
links and make religion more personal and meaningful. Moreover, a living, vital
religion must continue to grow and develop and not remain a carbon copy of the
past.
PART ONE
Looking for a Goddess
Discovering Mythology and Understanding Tranceworking
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FIFTEEN YEARS AGO if someone had told me that I would be
writing about going into trances, I would have laughed. I had never been very
good at what is sometimes called passive or lunar magicâdivination, scrying,
aura-reading, channeling, meditation, dreamworking, and tranceworking. When I
participated in guided meditations at workshops or festivals, I would never get
“in”; I would still be trying to relax my back when everyone else had traveled
to Avalon and back. I thought that this type of visionary work was something you
either had a knack for, or you didn't.So why am I now presuming to advise others on how to journey to other worlds?
Because I believe that the very fact that I don't have a natural aptitude for
faring forth makes me the very person to write on this subject. Let's face it:
Naturals who trance off after a few drumbeats don't need to read things like
this; they already know instinctively what to do. It's the rest of us, those who
have trouble with trances and who perhaps think that this means we can't
experience these sorts of adventures, who need to study and practice. Because,
surprisingly enough, I discovered that the ability to do tranceworking is
something that can be learned and developed, just as you develop muscles by
exercising.I never felt particularly motivated to do tranceworking until I began to
practice Norse Heathenism more actively. My ritual group liked to work with both
male and female deities at every ritual. As I helped develop and write these
rituals, I discovered, as so many others have, that there is a lot more
information on Norse gods than there is on Norse goddesses. I researched these
goddesses as best I could, poking into every esoteric book I could lay my hands
on, but still found my harvest of information woefully inadequate. There we
would be, with a two-page call to Thor and about three lines to his giantess
lover Jarnsaxa.However, just because I couldn't find much material on the goddesses does not
mean they weren't worshipped. On the contrary, assuming that a religion reflects
the culture within which it developed and judging from what we know of Norse
society, women played a strong role; therefore, it makes sense that the female
deities would be equally strong in their world. Great mortal heroes like Sigurd
and Helgi took good strong women for their mates. Would the great Thor, then,
have some weakling for his wife?I knew that much of the information was probably missing because for many
centuries the Christian churches had proscribed Heathen religions, and because
most of the Old Norse lore was passed down orally, it disappeared along with its
last practitioners. It is logical that information on female deities, who were
the least compatible with the new order, would be the first to go. So, despite
my conviction that goddesses had been an important part of Heathenism in the
past, it didn't seem that there was anything I could do about the scarcity of
facts except scrape together the few names and characteristics I could find and
make do. If I had been working as an archaeologist or a medieval historian, the
matter would have had to die there.ALTERNATIVE PATHS TO WISDOM
Germanic Paganism, or Heathenism as many practitioners prefer to
call it, refers to the religious practices of an ethno-linguistic group of
tribes that originated in Northern Europe and shared similar languages,
mythology, and culture. The term
Germanic
was first used in classical
times by Roman authors referring to barbarian tribes. In modern times the term
is generally used to refer to ethnic groups including Scandinavians, Germans,
Austrians, Dutch, Flemish, English, Frisians, and others. The Heathen period
began at some time in the Iron Age and lasted until the medieval period when the
Germanic peoples were Christianized, which occurred at different times in
different regions. In general West Germanic Paganism was practiced in Central
Europe during the sixth to eighth centuries, Anglo-Saxon Paganism flourished in
Britain from the fifth to eighth centuries, and the Norse religion in
Scandinavia (Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Iceland) reached its height during the
Viking Age (793â1066 CE) but lasted as late as the twelfth century in some
places.But Heathenism is more than historyâit is a religion. One can delve into it
by conducting historical, archaeological, and anthropological research as well
as by using other methods, including dreams, divination, the arts, prayer, and
mysticism. I also wondered how the original followers of Heathen religions found
out about their gods and goddesses in the first place. I mean, there aren't any
stories about Odin handing out any stone tablets. Presumably the store of lore
about the gods, goddesses, and other beings of the Nine Worlds was accumulated
from people's spiritual experiences. Back then people believed in dreams and
visions and took them seriously. These people were my ancestors, and my religion
doesn't have a fall from grace or a privileged priest class. If someone two
thousand years ago could find out what Frigg was like, I could certainly do the
same.Some occultists question the spiritual value of these practices, viewing them
as an indulgence in a person's own consciousness, which is liable to degenerate
into self-delusion and fantasy. Perhaps this might hold some truth; used
improperly and unwisely, tranceworking can definitely manifest these and other
problems. Then again, like many jobs considered “women's work,” perhaps these
practices are devalued simply because they have traditionally been associated
with women and considered their special preserve, at least in Western tradition.
At any rate, tranceworking is certainly an avenue that merits further
exploration and that can benefit anyone who is interested in real contact with
his or her gods.
1
The Importance of Mythology
Why should we bother to work with gods and goddesses in the
first place? Almost every religion includes some form of mythology, from the
earliest and most primitive practices to the more modern and “scientific”
variants, which tend to disguise their myths as symbology or history. It is
obvious that these god figures and their stories, whatever one chooses to call
them, are important and meaningful to humanity, a vital and intrinsic part of
our spiritual lives. Myths also usually prove to be one of the most provocative
and revealing aspects of the inner life of a people.
Our present-day interest in mythology is a relatively recent phenomenon. Once
a particular mythology and the religion it is a part of lose power and
credibility, there is a tendency to try to push those myths into a background
far from us, suitable only for indigenous peoples. We endeavor to objectify
myths and provide logical and scientific explanations for them. In the
nineteenth century, with the upsurge in nationalism among the various European
nations, renewed interest in mythology was sparked as part of national culture.
There was also a tendency in that scientific age to equate all the mythological
figures with natural phenomena, reducing each tale to a primitive attempt to
explain the workings of the universe.
In the twentieth century the new science of psychology brought myths renewed
respect, and they came to be viewed as symbols and archetypes of the great human
unconscious and of the workings of the human psyche. The study of comparative
religion also sparked renewed interest in mythology. Still, we moderns are
hesitant to hint at anything that smacks of the “spiritual” in our society, and
we continue to use scientific terms and explanations to skirt the issue of the
importance of myth in humanity's spiritual life. We call the divine tales of
primitive people “myths,” while we call our own modern myths “theology.”
1
MYTHOLOGY'S ROOTS AND MEANING
What is mythology, then? Why should we bother to study it, and
what relevance does it have to our spiritual lives? Briefly, a myth is a story
in narrative form that recounts the acts of gods and goddesses or of heroes and
is set in the divine and magical realms of the other worlds. Myths are
expressions of spiritual or psychic truth, not rational or scientific truth, and
are often incorporated into rituals. Often, they have as their theme the origin
of things. Their purpose is to make incomprehensible universal truths
intelligible to human beings and to help articulate and explain a culture's
beliefs, rituals, collective experiences, and values. They are thus a vital
component of human civilization.
Myths communicate through the language of symbols, using them to represent
abstractions. These symbols lend a sense of compression to most myths, embodying
the essence rather than the detail of experience; mythological symbols usually
seem to imply more than is being said.
2
Myths are characterized by
vivid and graphic imagery, metaphor, and imaginative qualities. They usually
display a certain freedom of fact, form, and time, for they deal with
primordial, nonlinear time, rather than chronological events.
3
Myths tell a sacred history; they relate events that took place in the
“beginning time.” They usually recount how a reality, either big or small, was
created, or how something came to be. Myths describe the acts of supernatural
and legendary figures, revealing the creative and sacred nature of such beings.
Myths describe instances when the sacred has penetrated the mundane world. The
purpose of telling myths is to allow people to reexperience that beginning time,
to meet with the gods and learn again their lessons of creation.
4
By
knowing myths, one knows the origin of things and can therefore control and
shape them at will. Myths provide a past basis for our own current actions and
give us the confidence of precedent; they give us a model for life within our
universe. Myths give us a voice when our own inspiration fails us.
5
Myths often deal with paradox. They attempt to resolve contradiction and
dilemma by blurring polarities and breaking through extreme oppositions. Rather
than presenting absolute truths, myths try to identify mediating forces to
resolve conflict.
Myths do not relate rational, scientific, idea-oriented knowledge but instead
offer experiential knowledge: sensual, ethical, and emotional.
6
Their
meaning is accessed by intuition, rather than by linear reasoning. Mythology
accepts and preserves the unknown and the unquantifiable, the outer reaches of
the universe, that which can't be examined and mathematically analyzed. Myths
are not meant to represent factual, rational truth; they are not meant to be
taken literally. They are a conscious deception conceived to impart a different
kind of truth.
Myths embody a culture's deepest truths, those that give purpose, direction,
and meaning to life.
7
They confirm a people's belief in reality,
truth, and the significance of life, the knowledge that something real and
meaningful does indeed exist in this universe. Myth is a refusal to accept that
our mundane world is all there is, an acknowledgment that the physical world is
not quite enough. Myths arise from an interest in reality that is not satisfied
by facts alone. They free us from everyday experience, stir up our intellect and
emotions, and give us full freedom of human expression.
It is not important that myths confirm scientific fact but that they make the
world more comprehensible and manageable to people. Myths help people deal with
the realities of existence, including hardship and death, and give them guidance
in conducting their lives.
8
Myths explore and explain the social
order and offer a system for interpreting individual experience within a
universal perspective.
Myths are also a powerful cultural and social force, teaching and reinforcing
social values. They legitimize and validate society by relating human needs to
mythic archetypes. Myths create cohesiveness and unity among members of a
community and provide a sense of continuity; they reinforce systems of meaning
held in common by all. Containing the seeds of a collective memory, they
reinforce the values and ideals of a group's ancestors. They can also defuse
potentially tense situations by enacting conflict in a safe and socially
acceptable way. Myths offer the opportunity to focus a community's efforts on
cooperative and productive responses to problems.
9
RITUAL AND MYTHOLOGY
Ritual and mythology are closely related; one implies the
presence of the other. Ritual is a form of magic; its purpose is to focus the
imagination. Ritual springs from the human need to periodically reenact the
myths, to go back to the beginning time and re-create the world, so to speak. By
repeating the actions of a myth in ritual, people seek to live the myth and
share in the power of the sacred.
Ritual makes the sacred accessible to human experience. It frees people from
the restriction of time. When they reenact myth, they cease to live in the
everyday world, and the beings of the myth are made present to them.
10
Further, ritual fills a deep human need to respond to those numinous upwellings
of joy and wonder that overtake us from time to time, a need to perform
concrete, material actions in the physical world to reflect those feelings of
awe and inspiration. Ritual allows us to be participants in the universe instead
of merely spectators.
The use of god-forms and mythology is often viewed as childish and somewhat
primitive by scientific and sophisticated moderns, but this is perhaps because
they are not considering the true function of mythological figures. Most people
don't think of their gods and goddesses as real people living up on a sacred
mountain somewhere anymore than Christians or Jews or Muslims believe their god
is an old man sitting on a throne out in space. Rather, the use of god-forms is
an attempt to symbolize the great forces perceived to exist in the universe, to
somehow get a grasp on them and display them in such a way that we can
understand and interact with them.
Although these sensory interpretations are highly subjective, they are a mask
for real, objective energies. These god-forms symbolize in human terms the true
nature of the gods behind them. By consenting to the use of these god-figures,
the gods are able to communicate and interact with humanity, to make themselves
present in our world and allow us to interact with them in theirs through trance
and ritual. A society's myths provide links with the gods, a channel through
which we can communicate, a path between the worlds that both gods and humans
recognize and can use. They help us comprehend the Divine.
Mythology and god-forms also provide a valuable emotional link with what
might otherwise be seen as a set of abstract concepts. Effective magic and
ritual is dependent on a certain level of emotional energy, as well as thought
and will. It's very hard to get emotionally worked up about an abstraction or a
symbol, whereas it's very easy to feel real affection and kinship for a
red-bearded god who rides a goat-driven chariot or a beneficent earth mother
with wondrous golden hair. While some individuals can be truly moved by the
beauties of prime numbers, most of us need a more personal touch to become fully
engaged in an experience. Mythology, with its powerful symbols and sensory
images and its use of archetypes and primal events, has the power to stir the
human soul and aid us in discovering our own spirituality.
