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
The biggest surprise on the magical journey of life, weather as a philosophy or a spiritual path, is that the path is a spiral. We go up, but we go in circles. Each time around, our view gets a little bit wider.
The ancients revered the power of the circle. In the African tradition, as well as in Disney movies like the "Lion King," our earthly span is called "the circle of life." Black Elk, the leader of the Ogala Sioux, taught that "The power of the world always works in circles."
Buddhist and Hindu pilgrims circle the base of Tibet's Mount Kailas as an act of worship. Muslims circle the Kabah in Mecca. For thousands of years the creation of mandalas - circular, geometric designs - has been part of both Eastern and Western spiritual traditions. Seekers create personal mandalas in order to invoke the sacred through the visual.
Circles are found at sacred sites throughout the world. The gigantic prehistoric megaliths at Stonehenge, England, form
a circle.
If we search for circles, we will find them everywhere. Plato believed the soul was a circle. If it is, and our higher self is the Soul made visible, how could our awakening to higher consciousness be straight and not circular?
I am reminded of just how much of a spiral life's journey is when I get stuck in a set of circumstances from which escape seems impossible. When this occurs, I ask myself, "What's the lesson here, so that I can move on?"
I usually discover that I've stopped using Cosmic Principals as my stepping stones to wholeness. I've become too "busy." I am dropping in my tracks because I was unable to say "No;" I'm frazzled because I've let myself forget that moments of solitude and meditation are necessary to center myself. I've been this route many times. I know that if I'm not experiencing harmony in my daily round, I'm not participating in the process.
So I start again. Begin at the beginning. I honor the moments of being rather than doing. When I do resume living by my own lights, I usually discover that I am able to move on. But even if I can't change my outside circumstances, it enables me to change how I react to them.
"The Life we want is not merely the one we have chosen and made," poet Wendell Berry tells us, "It is the one we must be choosing and making."
Brightest of Blessings,
Lory
Strong energies radiate from everything (and everyone) that occurs naturally on Earth, although to varying degrees. Thresholds are border areas where one force, power or element encounters another.
Thresholds are divisions and boundaries where two forces simultaneously meet, separate and diverge. These meeting places are potentially the most powerfully charged areas of all.
Thresholds exist everywhere! The most obvious are seashores or riverbanks where water meets land, but there are many, many others. They may be literal areas,(the threshold of a door, for instance) but thresholds are also a crucial magical concept intrinsic to witchcraft and shamanism. The most obvious thresholds are geographical locations but there are metaphoric thresholds too.
Norse Shamans have served as thresholds (mediums) between the general population and the world of spirits. This is an ancient and metaphoric observation. The words hag and hex derive from root meaning "hedge", the boundary between wild and tame.
Birth and Death are thresholds between realms. Birth transforms a person into a parent.
The Norse possessed a mythic concept of the "Haga," the all-enclosing World Hedge, which separates the world under human domain from wilderness. This Haga is a thorny boundary that keeps the wild forces at bay.
The hedge serves as the boundary but the hedge is also a force of nature: if not cut back periodically it expands. Hedges threaten order and civilization: left alone, hedges inevitably overtake cultivated vegetation. Without vigilant pruning and maintenance the Earth Mother inevitably reclaims her land.
The hedge marked the threshold and the boundary of human domain. The shyest birds and other animals live deep in the forest but others, curious threshold animals, those with less fear of people, often make their home in the hedge. Predatory animals, those who might prey on humans or their livestock, linger in the hedge too.
The hedge was a the threshold where humans could commune with wild nature, with spirits, birds, animals and other realms and planes of existence. Many shamanic plants (psychotropic plants) thrive in the hedge. The hedge is the birthplace of Shamanism.
Brightest of Blessings,
Lory
In Norse mythology, life began without any one creator. In the beginning there was a magic filled gulf (Ginnungagap), today we would refer to it at the Quantum Ocean. It was bounded on the north by cold and darkness (Niflheim) and on the south by fire (Muspell).
Life began at the place where the positive energy of Muspell melted the negative energy of Niflheim. These flashing sparks of life and hailstones of cold combined to produce the life seeds of all matter.
From the Sun's warmth on the whirling life-seeds came Audhumla, the great cow, and Ymir, a Giant. Audhumla licked a being, Buri, out of the salty ice. Both Ymir and Buri were asexual beings, capable of spawning offspring without a mate.
Ymir perspired in his sleep, producing his Giant children. Buri produced a male being called Borr. Borr married Bestla, one of Ymir's Giantess daughters; their children, were Odin, Vili and Ve. These offspring created the first the first human man (Askr or Ash) and woman (Embla or Elm) out of living trees by giving them a new form, intelligence and a soul.
But Ymir was terribly cruel, so Odin and his brother's killed him. The whole race of Giants drowned in Ymir's blood, except for Bergelmir (Mountain Old) and his wife who hid in the great World-Mill. From this pair came all the Jotnar, or Giants.
The great World-Mill was used to grind the mold that made earth. Odin and his brothers put Ymir's body in the millstones. From his flesh they made the Earth from his bones the rocks and mountains. His jaw and teeth became boulders, his blood the rivers and the seas. His brain and skull were set in place to make the sky. The bodies of the other Giants were also ground up to make sand an pebbles.
Odin set the heavens swinging around Veraldar Nagli (World Spike) which is the North Star, also known as Odin's Eye. He hung bright sparks of fire from Muspell inside Ymir's skull as stars.
The Sun and Moon, which were larger fire sparks, were carried across the heavens in chariots made by the Elf-smith sons of Ivaldi. Children of the vanquished Mundilferi, a rival of Odin's, were appointed to drive the chariots.
Mundilferi's daughter Sol drives the Sun Chariot with the horses Arvaker (Early Dawn) and Alsvid (Scorching Heat). Her brother Mani drives the Moon chariot. With him are two kidnapped children, a boy Hjuki and a girl Bil. Bil was petitioned by the skalds to sprinkle magic song-mead on them from the Moon. The Milky Way was known as Bil's Way, named after the girl who rides in the Moon Chariot with Mani.
The chariots of the Sun and Moon are eternally chased by two evil wolves. Giants in disguise. Skoll (Adherer) chases the Sun; Hati (Hater) chases the Moon. At Ragnarok the wolves will catch and eat the celestial bodies.
Blessings,
Lory
Everything that passes and is transmitted is through the hands. Whatever you touch bears the imprint that you leave on it and that only you can leave on it. The fact that one can identify someone from his/her fingerprints and that, among all the billions of men and women in the world, no two fingerprints are identical, is proof enough that the hand is capable of expressing the unique character of it's owner.
Everything that passes through your hands, all your fluids and emanations, contain the essence of your being. A true medium, someone who is truly clairvoyant, only needs to pick up an object that you have handled, to know all you strengths and weaknesses, your state of health and the events of your present and previous life.
You leave your prints on everything you touch. When you give someone an object, you are giving them at the same time, something of yourself. As a result if your life is not what it should be, the gift will transmit the negative waves that you have put into it. This will happen even if it is a rare and expensive present.
Our hands are like antennae. They have the power to attract and capture magical currents of energy from the Cosmic ocean in which we all are in. If the currents we receive are weak, it is because our consciousness is asleep or busy with other things.
True Magi, Shamans, Witches are beings who know how to use their hands in order to receive or project forces, to retain or reorient them and amplify or diminish them. We see a wonderful portrayal in this with Gandolf pointing a finger against the forces of darkness in "The Lord of the Rings".
But if the hand can be used for hostile purposes, it can also be used to create love and harmony. When you see people fighting, you can raise your hand and they will feel compelled to calm down and be less aggressive. They will feel the beneficial waves you are sending them.
There is really only one thing man needs to align himself with the Universe. This would be learning to stretch out his hand to receive the forces from above and project them onto himself and others in order to restore balance, cleansing, healing and giving life. The Tarot card of the Magician shows this.
The hand is important in every day life as it is a means of communication between men. When people meet or part, what do they do? They wave or shake hands. For most people a handshake or a wave is are purely conventional gestures that they do mechanically.
But for someone who is fully awake to what he/she are doing, the gestures are tremendously significant. They are an effective tool that they can use to encourage, console and give others a great deal of love. A handshake or gesture of greeting should be a true communion, potent, harmonious and alive!
Our hands are not only a means of communication with human beings; they are also a means by which we can make contact with nature. When a true magi opens their door in the morning, they salute the whole of nature, the trees, the sky, the sun. They raise their hand and say good morning to the day and the whole of creation.
Yes, the hand is an instrument of Magic! All the marvels that human beings accomplish today, thanks to their hands, is nothing compared to what they could do.
The hand is a living being with it's own brain, nervous system and stomach. Yes, just as the Universe is reflected in the different organs or our body, the organs of the body are reflected in our hands. The hand stands in exactly the same relation to our body as the body to the Universe.
Brightest of Blessings,
Lory
Odin won one of his greatest gifts to gods and men, the Mead of Inspiration. In order to do this Odin had to shape shift into an Eagle form, as he needed the power of flight.
This mead was prepared from the blood of the wise giant Kvasir, who was created by the gods. He was killed by dwarfs, who mixed his blood with honey and brewed the marvelous drink.
When the dwarfs also killed the father and mother of a giant, Suttung, he took vengeance on them by placing them on a rock and leaving them to drown. To ransom their lives, they had to give up the mead, and Suttung shut it up within a mountain.
Odin set out to win it back for the gods, by a devious plan. He joined the men of Baugi, Suttung's brother, when they were working in the fields, and offered to sharpen their scythes with a wonderful whetstone. It was so efficient that they fought to possess it, and finally all nine were killed with their own sharp scythe-blades.
Odin then offered to do the work of nine men in their place, if Baugi would in return promise him a drink of his brother's mead. But when the time cam Suttung would not agree, so Odin persuaded Baugi to bore a little hole in the mountain, and he crawled through this in the form of serpent.
He met Suttung's daughter inside, and stayed there three nights with her, persuading her to let him take three drinks of the mead. In three draughts he emptied the three casks which held it, and then flew off to Asgard in the form of an eagle. He was pursued by an angry giant, also in eagle form. The gods had set out vessels to receive the mead, and Odin spat it out into them just in time, before Suttung could catch him.
Thus the Mead of Inspiration came into Odin's possession, and he allowed the gods and his followers to drink from it. It could give to him who drank the power to compose poetry, or to speak words of wisdom.
An intoxicating drink was probably an essential part also of the ritual sacrifice to Odin. The arrival of Odin with the mead may be the subject which inspired one of the carvings on the Gotland stones. Instead of the usual scene of a warrior arriving on horseback to be met by a woman with a drinking horn, an eagle is shown in his place and the horn is held up to him.
Brightest of Odin's Blessings,
Lory
Jacquelin Small said, "We are not women trying to be spiritual. We are spiritual beings trying to be human."
The question of whether women were human fascinated the English writer D.H. Lawrence, who often explored this conundrum in his work. "Man is willing to accept woman as an equal, as a man in skirts, as an angel, a devil, a baby-face, a machine, an instrument, a bosom, a womb, a pair of legs, a servant, an encyclopedia an ideal or an obscenity; the one thing he won't accept her as is a human being, a real human being of the feminine sex."
Perhaps the reason men find it so difficult to accept women as human beings is because we're not, and deep down everyone knows it. Now I am not saying that men are not Divine and Spiritual also, but I think women have a tendency to minimize themselves. Many times women forget their Divinity as they go about their daily routine. And how often do we excuse ourselves with the expression, "Well, I'm only human."
No, your not, and neither am I. We forget we're spiritual beings appearing for a brief span on this planet as humans. Spiritual beings do not sweat life's small stuff. They also know that most of what drives us crazy in life is small stuff.
The only thing that isn't small stuff is the reason why you're on Earth in the first place: to find that portion of the world's lost heart that only you can ransom with your love and authentic gifts and then return it, so that all of us can experience wholeness.
A spiritual being knows that the work will be waiting for her when she gets back to it, even though she had to leave it for more "important matters,"like caring for a sick child or animal. A spiritual being knows that there is no such thing as a deadline. Deadlines are chronos, the worlds time; Divinity knows only kairos, Eternity. All will be completed if we ask for grace.
Great teachings tell us that men were created a little above the angels. But don't ever forget that women are the climax of the Spirit's creativity cycle. After woman was created, Wisdom realized there was no need to proceed further. As women, big things are expected of us.
Brightest of Blessings,
Lory
Herbalism is the magical art of botanicals. Some believe that Shamanism first emerged as a "botanical cult." Individuals studied plants, communicated with them and learned all about them. They acquired knowledge of physical healing, magical, and psychoactive effects.
Norse shamans were able to spiritually interact with plants (or at least their presiding spirits, depending upon interpretation). Herbalism remains a beloved magical art and botanicals are the primary component of magic spells from every tradition around the world.
Each plant is believed to radiate a specific magical power in addition to whatever healing or harmful effects it might cause. Lavender is believed to sharpen the mind, while calamus root enhances your powers of command. Roses are favored for love spells; chrysanthemums are identified with death.
Different botanicals are identified as under the domain of various spirits. Working with botanicals is one way of attempting to contact spirits or avail yourself of their power.
Cowslips, wild primroses, are identified with the Norse goddess Freya. They are her favorite flower and are believed to transmit her grace and power. Washing one's face with a cowslip infusion is a method of petitioning Freya to share some of her beauty.
The simple act of gardening or tending the Earth becomes a spiritual interaction. A private garden is transformed into an outdoor altar. Magic spells are transmitted via gardens. A desire for fertility may be conveyed to the universe by crafting a garden filled with plants associated with fertility such as poppies, figs and pomegranates.
A desire for protection might be signaled by planting cactus, nettles, and poisonous plants like oleander or datura. Spirits may be summoned or fairies beckoned by planting inviting gardens filled with their favored botanicals.
The Norse magical tradition, as well as being many other things, is a botanical tradition. Some are simple, others extremely elaborate and complex. But this remains a very accessible magic. Many fine books on herbalism are available, as are academies devoted to the botanical arts including aromatherapy and flower essences in addition to the traditional herbalism.
Brightest of Natures Blessings!
Lory
