The Norse shaman's journey- the seer's journey may take one of two forms: journeying inwards: or it may be a physical pilgrimage to a place of mantic power.
The physical seer's journey is an actual pilgrimage, involving traveling a prescribed route along sacred paths, trackways and roads to a holy site, and visiting other wayside, sacred places on the way. Journeying seership can be accomplished by several means, the most appropriate to be oneself being discovered by experiment. Exploring a wild area until one finds a good location for sitting out is one method.
Another, once popular in the Norse lands, is being wrapped in a cows hide or blanket, with only the head free, and lying all night by a holy well or waterfall to experience visions. The ancient Greek Pagan master Pythagoras, after being ritually cleansed , slept in the skin of a black sheep by a river to gain knowledge. Much of our knowledge of geometry, still used today, came this way.
The inward seer's journey is similar to what is modernly termed "path working", traveling through inner landscapes. In the Northern Tradition this is accomplished through the images of scriptural stories from the Edda or the Sagas, such as Hermod's ride to the Underworld, or Thor's journey to Utgard. This re-enactment of an archetypal journey, either physically, or in the mind, re-creates qualities and insights which cannot be put into words.
When the exercise is finished, whatever it is, there should be a re-awakening, a re-entering of the "normal" world. This is done in the reverse order from the methods used to being meditation, consciously ordering each part of the body in turn to start functioning again. The body as well as the mind, shoud feel revitalized after the exercise.
Brightest of Blessings,
Lory
So many people today are dissatisfied with their lot in life! They are in a bad temper with the whole world, just because life is difficult. They are constantly flinging abuse at anyone whose life seems easier or whom they hold responsible for their own misfortunes.
When they do this, although they may not know it, their words are charged with such venomous, destructive power that they can do real damage to others. You must realize that no one has the right to do this!
When you feel the need to say something to humiliate or wound others, simply because you are being put out, don't give in to it. Complain as much as you like! Cry if you have to. But leave others alone, otherwise you will be called into account by your Karma.
Each one of us must keep watch on our behavior and recognize the danger involved and it's destructive tendency. It is a life long battle, these "Beasts within." To revile others is a weakness, not a strength, still less something to be proud of!
If you take the necessary precautions and try to overcome this tendency, sooner or later, you will get the better of it. But you will never get the better of it if you think that it is magnificent to behave like that. You have only to imagine what you would feel like if you had this attitude and you met your match, another individual who stood up to you and crushed and humiliated you in your turn.
Yes, people who are continually railing at others must realize that sooner or later, they are going to meet someone who is even better at it than they are. Those who are coarse and uncouth will always find others who are courser.
No single word we utter remains without effect. Dione Fortune said, "Be careful what you say as before you die you have to eat every word!"
This is why it is important, as soon as you realize that an unkind or unjust word about someone has escaped you, to concentrate and send that person a great deal of love and light. But even if you do this, a certain amount of damage may have already been done and it takes time for the effects of your good thoughts to make themselves felt.
Mohammad's words are very profound,"The feathers have all been blown away and there is no way of getting them back." Emit positive, beneficial forces and they will produce positive, beneficial effects. Emit negative forces and the effects will be negative.
This explains how good and evil continue to co-exist but, on two different levels. Evil produces evil and good produces good.
This is why we must work had, every day to make our words intelligent, luminous and harmonious. In this way it will work wonders within ourselves. But it will also work wonders in the whole of Nature.
True magic is the potent, living word, the word that comes from the Creator. This is the word that flows from the Divine Source.
Brightest of Blessings,
Lory
Ingredients Needed:
Bucket of warm water
2 tablespoons vinegar
Black pepper
Salt
Oregano
Ammonia
Blue or White Sponge
To protect your home from burglary, fill a bucket with warm water. Add Two tablespoons of vinegar, three shakes of black pepper, three pinches of salt, and a drop of ammonia. All thise ingredients combined serve as protection and a repellent of evil.
Throw in a dash of oregano for peace of mind. Wash the windows from the outside of the house. Wipe down all door knobs.
Finish by splashing the water over your front porch and under the doormat. For apartment dwellers with carpeted hallways, just sprinkle the water outside your door or put it in a spay bottle and mist.
Good Luck, Good Protection and Good Magic
Lory
Both my husband and I are big Sci-Fi movie and book fans. We genuinely believe that these books and movies, both of which we consider Art forms, imitate "life" in many ways.
One of the best is Highlander II. By 1999, Conner McLeod (one of the immortals) has become supervisor of a scientific team headed by Allan Neyman, which is attempting to create an electro-magnetic sheild to cover the planet, and protect it from the Sun's radiation.
The team succeeds, in effect giving Earth an artificial ozone layer. But unfortunately, the shield has the side effect of condemning the planet to a state of constant night, a high average global temperature and high humidity.
By 2024, the years of darkness have caused humanity to loose hope and fall into decline. The Shield has fallen under the control of the Shield Corporation. The corporation's current chief executive is focused on profit, and is imposing fees for the corporations services. A number of terrorist groups have begun trying to take down the Shield, among them Louise Marcus, a former employee of the Shield Corporation.
Louise Marcus discovers that the ozone layer has in fact restored itself naturally, which means that the shield is no longer needed. The Shield corporation is aware of this development, but has chosen to hide it from the general public, in order to maintain it's source of profit.
Many other shenanigans go on with Conner but suffice it to say that both he an Louise are able to succeed in taking down the Shield by using the energies of his final Quickening from General Katana. Louise is able to see the stars for the first time in her life.
The movie's story is great fun, totally way out and could never come near to happening, right? Well that's what I thought when I first saw the movie back in 1991, but not now.
By now many people have seen crisscrossing streaks of white clouds trailing behind jet aircraft, they stretch from horizon to horizon, eventually turning the sky to a murky haze. By researching it we read that they are called contrails by the government and chem-trails by those of us who feel they are not mere vapor trails from jet engines. But as yet no one has deeply probed the serious questions of who is doing this and why.
But with the release of the new movie "What in the World Are They Spraying?" all this has changed. (You can see the movie for free in it's entirety on You Tube.)
Here is a story of a rapidly developing industry called Geo-Engineering, (Geographical Weather Engineering), driven by scientists, corporations and governments intent on changing global climate; controlling the weather and altering the chemical composition of soil and water. All this is supposedly for the betterment of mankind.
Although officials insist that these programs are only in the discussion phase, evidence is abundant that they have been underway since about 1990. In effect it has had devastating effects to crops, wildlife and human health. We are being sprayed with toxic substances (like aluminum and barium) without our consent.
Even if you are skeptical; I encourage you to watch this movie. The truth really is stranger than any science fiction story.
Blessings,
Lory
A Christian Pastor has announced that today, May 21st, 2011 we will be having a world wide flood of biblical proportions. His reasoning behind this is his calculation that it has been 7rl thousand years since the last "Big One" and he assumes we are well overdue for another house cleaning of Mother Earth.
When my husband Ragnar lived in Arizona he said the Native American cultures told that the world, perceived as a turtle, would shake it's back. This in turn would dislodge man and his disrespectful ways from her back.
In Norse Shamanism it speaks of Ragnarock. A terrible battle ending in the decimation of "Middle Earth." The Mayans had their take of "Apoplectic" repercussions as well. All speak of dire results if man does not take his peaceful coexistence with Earth seriously.
I don't know when we are ever going to wake up as a human race and learn to co-exist with Mother Earth, rather than constantly trying to destroy our home. Hope springs eternal, but if today is the day; I say let the "Tidy Bowl" flush begin! I have enough trust and faith to know I will be on this circuit (earthly plane) again some time in the future and Earth certainly isn't going to go any where.
Something to consider is that our relationship to the Earth and the other species that share it has been conditioned by our religious models. The image of God as "outside" nature has given us the rationale for our own destruction of the natural order, and justified our plunder of the Earth's resources.
We have attempted to "conquer" Nature as we have tried to conquer sin. Only as the results of pollution and ecological destruction become severe enough to threaten even urban humanity's adaptability have we even come to the "tiniest" realization of the importance of ecological balance and the interdependence of all life.
The Shaman fosters respect for the sacred in all living things. Therefore the pagan and Nature religions can be seen as religions of ecology. The goal is harmony with Nature, so that life may not just survive, but thrive.
Brightest of Blessings,
Lory
Rune Teiwaz corresponds to where your strengths lie. It is taking the initiative as well as representing honor and justice.
In the Viking age Teiwaz was considered the Tyr rune, referring directly to the Norse God Tyr. He was the original "Sky Father" before Odin. Tyr is the god of law and order in the cosmos. His original work in shaping the universe was to open up a space in the cosmos in which further (shaping) might take place.
Tyr is the the God of Self-Sacrifice. Tyr lost a hand to the Fenris Wolf, who was causing havoc in Asgard.
Because the gods did not want to shed the blood of the Wolf, they bound him with a magical cord. But before the Wolf would allow them to put the cord around him, he demanded Tyr put his hand in is mouth as a pledge of good faith. When the cord held the Wolf, he snapped Tyr's hand off at the wrist.
Rune work can be done through the power of Teiwaz (the "T" stave) which includes obtaining success or justice. It is the power of the purest form of justice. This is also the rune of victory.
When this rune shows up in a casting there may be some sacrifice of your own self interest involved. Here you would be counseled to analyze the situation, apply rational thought to any problem and act on the conclusions.
On a spiritual level Teiwaz is the rune that embodies the values of a "Spiritual Warrior." In addition this rune has connections with death, particularly an honorable death in battle. In the Havamal it is part of the twelfth rune-charm, designed to communicate with the dead.
From the shape of the Teiwaz rune one is also reminded of a symbolic representation of the Norse World Tree, Yggdrasil, as the sacred Cosmic Axis.
Brightest of Tewaz's Blessings,
Lory
Since the dawn of Time, we've tried to understand her nature. Why? In order to control her. But time is a holy mystery, a gift meant to be experienced, not understood. Certainly not controlled. Why do you think we're crazed half the time.
Even Quantum Physics is finding that time is a mystery and something that cannot be pinned down. This is a mystery that is difficult for most of us to appreciate because we have so little of it. Although we have been allotted twenty-four hours in a day, it doesn't seem to go very far.
So if we experience anything at all it is dread, because we keep running out of time. It doesn't matter what kind of time it is - daylight saving, standard, eastern, mountain, central or pacific. All that matters is that we never seem to have enough of it.
For centuries those with time on their hands - saints, poets, mystics, masters, sages, and philosophers - have pondered time's enigma. They have discovered her duality.
The sculptor and poet Henry Van Dyke explains: "Time is/ Too slow for those who Wait/ Too swift for those that Fear/Too long for those that grieve/ Too short for those that Rejoice..." Slow and swift are time's parallel realities, the yin and yang of existence.
Quantum Physics too is discovering that we do not have the same perceptions of time, at any given moment. And that there really is no past present or future, only the Now.
In order to know a semblance of serenity during the days of our lives, we also need to discover Time's twin nature, which the ancient Greeks called chronos and kairos.
Chronos is clocks, deadlines, watches, calenders, agendas, planners, schedules, beepers. Chronos is time at her worst. Chronos keeps track. Chronos is delusion and grandeur. In chronos we think only of ourselves. Chronos is the worlds time.
Kairos is transcendence, infinity, reverence, joy, passion, love, the Sacred. Kairos is intimacy with the Real. Kairos is time at her best. Kairos let's go. In kairos we escape the dungeon of self. Kairos is Spirit time.
We exist in chronos. We long for kairos. That's our duality. Chronos requires speed so that it won't be wasted. Kairos requires space so that it might be savored. We "do" in chronos. In kairos we're allowed to "be."
We think we've never known kairos, but we have: when meditating or praying, when lost in music's rapture or reading, when painting a picture, when making love, when planting bulbs or pulling weeds, when delighting at a sunrise or sunset, whenever we revel in our passions. We know joy in kairos, glimpse beauty in kairos, remember what it is to be alive in kairos, and we reconnect with our Divinity in kairos.
So how do we exchange chronos for kairos?
We do it by slowing down.
By concentrating on one thing at a time.
By going about whatever we are doing as if it is the only thing worth doing at the moment.
By pretending we have all the time in the world. This allows our subconscious to kick in and make it so.
By making time.
By taking time.
It only takes a moment to cross over from chronos to kairos, but it does take a moment. All that kairos asks is our willingness to stop running long enough to hear the music of the spheres.
Brightest of Blessings,
Lory
