Norse Goddess Magic (3 page)

DETERMINING THE AUTHENTICITY OF SOURCES

However, even primary texts are not always entirely reliable. So
it is wise to find out when a given work was written and by whom. Was it written
by a genuine Heathen or by a Christian? What sort of Christianity was practiced
in that time and place? If the Heathen material might be distorted, you need to
know what kinds of outside influences to look out for. It's also useful to check
out any Christian letters or edicts of the period, especially the writings of
clergy. Whenever you find some priest condemning the worship of a particular
god, you can bet that god is one of the more important deities of that era. And
if the priest goes on to complain in detail about the specific acts he's upset
about, you have a nice list of ritual practices that you can incorporate into
your work.

Secondary texts on Norse culture and mythology are also useful, especially in
terms of gaining a broad overview, providing bibliographies, and learning what
conclusions other writers and scholars have formed about your goddess. You have
to be even more careful in evaluating these sources, however. It's particularly
important to note the date a book was first published and the background of the
author in order to judge how reliable the opinions in that book are. Scholarship
goes through fads, just like music or fashion, and it is important to know which
philosophies were popular when a particular book was written. For example,
during the nineteenth century, many scholars were enamored of the idea that all
Pagan gods personified natural forces. Therefore, although many gods and
goddesses are indeed associated with the sun, the moon, thunder, and so on, some
writers drew some pretty far-fetched conclusions about the nature of many of the
deities.

It is also a good idea to read the author's biography, which is usually
provided somewhere in the introduction, on the flyleaf, on the dust jacket, or
on the back cover. The background and expertise of each writer will give you a
clue as to how accurate her writing is. An author with a degree in Germanic
languages will probably know a great deal about the etymology of a goddess's
name; however, that same author may be a devout Christian and have prejudiced
views when it comes to Heathen ritual practice. Some books, too, are just plain
off the wall, written by someone trying to cash in on the current fad for runes.
But it won't hurt you to read a book, and if you arm yourself with knowledge,
you can draw informed conclusions about what you read.

DELVING INTO WORKS OF IMAGINATION

You should also include imaginative works in your reading, such
as mythology books written for children and other folk stories from the Germanic
countries. Because you are after artistic and symbolic as well as intellectual
information, you shouldn't restrict yourself to factual or scholarly texts;
select some books chiefly for their ability to spark your imagination. Reading
fairy tales, especially older or more traditional ones, serves another purpose;
the images and style of folktales attune your mind to the world of myths and
prepare you for the more visionary work to come.

Because names were very important to the Germanic people, you might next try
to find any etymological meanings that can be gathered from the names and
bynames of the goddess at hand. This does not mean you have to be a language
scholar. For example, I am by no means an expert in Germanic languages, although
I have a reading knowledge of German and a little Old English and Old Norse, so
my research in this area is probably not conclusive. Still, I was able to find
some useful information. I used dictionaries in Icelandic, Old Norse, and German
to try to ferret out some of the meanings; I read the conclusions drawn by other
writers on the subject, many of whom are language scholars; and, finally, I
asked some of my friends who are language scholars to help me out (see, you
don't have to know everything yourself to do this!).

After doing all this work, it is surprising how much information you can
accumulate about these obscure deities, although some of it is admittedly trash.
Go ahead and read it all, good and bad, noting which facts are repeated by more
than one source, tracking down where some of the more unusual ideas came from,
and deciding whether you think the author who proposed a particular idea knew
what she was talking about. Don't feel that you necessarily have to throw out an
idea just because it shows up in only one or two places; remember, the majority
isn't always right. Keep in mind that you are reading not only to gather as many
facts as possible but also to stir your imagination with stories, ideas, and
images.

LOOKING FURTHER AFIELD

You needn't limit yourself to information specifically about your
particular goddess, either. Consider her relations as well: family, friends,
servants, associates, and even enemies. What other deities usually appear or are
named in connection with this goddess? If nothing is known about her but her
husband's name, use what you know about him to ferret out clues. For example,
what kind of wife would Thor have? You can also use comparative mythology to
help you out. What kinds of deities are traditionally paired in other similar
cultures? If your goddess is married to a sky deity or a weather god, might she
therefore be an Earth or fertility goddess?

After accumulating and evaluating all these facts and ideas, you might need
to mull things over for about two to four weeks. During this stage try to spend
some spare time thinking about the goddess and what you've read, testing
conclusions in your head, and letting your own ideas about her begin to gestate.
Also note down any dreams you might have during this period, especially anything
that seems significant to your deity. You might begin to meditate or daydream
about the goddess, and this can be done in a very casual or playful manner. Try
out different physical images of her to see which one seems right. Create some
scenarios in which you imagine her in various situations, and observe how she
acts under different circumstances. Try to build on the knowledge you have by
letting the deity you're studying interact with gods and goddesses you already
know a lot about. What would this goddess and Odin talk about? How would she get
along with Freyja? You can even go a step further and try to imagine what it
would feel like to be this goddess, or perhaps to be one of her representative
animals.

This is the point at which some people will say, “Well, you're just making it
all up, aren't you? This isn't a goddess, it's just one of your own
thoughtforms, a fantasy figure you've invented to amuse yourself.” I can only
reply that any version of what a god or goddess has done or looks like was “made
up” by someone. How did we learn that Thor has a red beard and hair? Did someone
decide that a thunder god should be a redhead? Did Thor appear to someone in a
vision or a dream? I speculate that all these things happened to a lot of people
over a long period of time and that there were probably other secondary
characteristics proposed by a few that were rejected by the rest of the people
because they didn't seem right. And after worshipping Thor for many, many years,
enough people had experienced him in the same way to be able to say
collectively, “This is what Thor is like.”

The tricky part in these reconstructions is figuring out how to separate
legitimate revelations from your own personal fantasies. This isn't easy to do,
because it's difficult to be objective about your own pet ideas. I can only urge
you to be as open and, at the same time, as skeptical as possible. Give yourself
the freedom to brainstorm, to read anything, no matter how absurd; to let your
imagination run wild and try out any idea that comes to you, no matter how
unusual; to be willing to try anything that seems appropriate. It's also
important to keep a record of your research, your dreams and daydreams, and your
trances, because when you're done letting your fancy have a field day, the
critic in you will have to go over it all with a mind like a razor and a heart
of stone.

Because many of the goddesses are so poorly defined in most sources, you will
have to reconstruct for yourself what they looked like, how they talked, and
what sorts of adventures they might have had, and it's tempting to let ideas
from some book or movie or dream creep in to your vision of the goddess. Some
ideas are genuine revelations, but many are just whims. How do you tell the
difference?

TAKING CONCRETE STEPS

A good way to start is by making an outline of all the concrete
facts you do know. These are the facts gathered from the oldest and most
trustworthy sources, or the ones that appear repeatedly in the more reliable
authors' work. What physical characteristics are typically associated with this
deity (for example, Thor's red beard or Sif 's hair)? Consider the goddess's
possessions and dwellings. What symbols are associated with her: plants, trees,
rocks, animals? What sorts of places, seasons, and weathers are linked with her
(for example, Thor is associated with thunderstorms and the goddess Holda with
pools and wells)? You might also consider things like colors, numbers, and
sounds. Use these outlines as a framework for your more speculative work, and
don't ignore obvious, well-established facts. If the
Prose Edda
says that
Fulla has long golden hair, don't try to make her a brunette. You'll find few
enough facts as it is; don't discount those you come across in legitimate
sources.

Next, write down all the actions your goddess performs in any myths or
stories known about her. Leave out all the adjectives, adverbs, and editorial
comments made by the various writers and just look at what she actually does—the
bare bones of the stories. It's also important to note any other characters who
are present. Who does what to whom, and who else is there contributing to or
watching the action? Break down the different sides or functions of the goddess.
Is she a simple deity, associated with only one basic function, or is she
many-sided and complex? What other gods share her various functions, and how are
they similar to and different from those of your chosen goddess? Consider what
gifts she contributes to Midgard and what sorts of gifts and deeds would please
her in return.

WRITING AN INVOCATION

After you have put together all the facts, the ideas from other
sources that you have decided are legitimate or at least worth investigating
further, and the impressions from your daydreams and musings that you believe
are possibly valid, you should have at least a dim picture of the goddess you
want to work with. Now you are ready to write an invocation to her using names,
adjectives, and attributes gathered from your various sources. You may not have
very much material, but you can at least put together a few sentences.

Address the goddess by some of her names, making sure to pick ones that
express the qualities you wish to call forth. Include relational titles like
“wife of Thor,” “mother of Hnoss,” or “friend of Frigg.” If you know of a few
physical traits or possessions, throw those in: “Redbeard,” “Hammer-wielder,”
“Sif of the golden hair,” “One-eyed god.” Finally, include phrases indicating
function: “champion of Asgard,” “best of skalds,” “keeper of the apples of
youth.” Don't be afraid to include a few things you may have come up with on
your own that particularly struck you, especially if they evoke some strong
emotional response, but don't go too far afield at this point. You may
eventually decide that some of these phrases are inappropriate, but for now you
want to have a starting point for the next step in your process—tranceworking.

TRANCE: AN ALTERED STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Tranceworking, pathworking, guided meditation—one hears these
terms used over and over in all forms of Paganism and magic. Just what is
tranceworking? People use the term
trance
to describe anything from a
catatonic stupor to mild daydreaming.

The definitions of
trance
and other related words indicate a state in
which bodily functions, senses, and feelings are temporarily suspended and the
mind—removed and separated from the stimuli of the outer world—becomes fully
occupied with its own inner landscape. An archaic Scottish meaning for the word
was “passageway.”
¹
These definitions suggest many of the
characteristics of tranceworking—a lessening of physical sensations in order to
concentrate deeply on the act of passing between the worlds, a turning of the
attention inward to experience a state of nonordinary reality.

Many people expect a trance to be such a spectacular and awesome experience
that they don't realize it when they attain one. In reality, we already
experience some types of trance states in our everyday life—daydreaming,
meditating, being deeply absorbed in a play or film, or being under the
influence of intoxicants. If you have ever driven your car to work and arrived
without being able to remember how you got there, you have been in a trance. If
you have ever read a book and at some point realized you didn't remember what
you had just read, you have been in a trance. Most people going into even a
formal trance still have some awareness of the physical world outside them but
choose to direct their attention away from that world toward other realities.

TRANCEWORKING AND ASTRAL PROJECTION

Tranceworking is very similar to the traditional magical practice
called astral projection. In both cases, one sends the consciousness out of the
body to explore places that are not accessible to the physical form. Astral
projection involves a person separating a part of the self from the body, and
this “self ” then travels through this world or through others, eventually
returning with the memory of where it's been and what it has experienced. Astral
projection most often refers to the practice of separating the astral body from
the physical body, leaving the two joined only by a thin connection of etheric
energy, sometimes referred to as the “silver cord.” Other methods involve
projecting the consciousness alone—what some occultists call the “mental
body”—without creating an etheric body to travel in. W. E. Butler, noted
twentieth-century occultist, refers to the “body of light,” an artificial,
mentally produced vehicle of consciousness that is a type of thoughtform, which
the magician creates and to which he transfers his consciousness.
²

Shamans have traditionally utilized trances to see and interact with
nonmaterial forms of being. Michael Harner, author of
The Way of the Shaman,
describes the shamanic altered state as being similar to a waking dream in
which, although dreamers can control and direct the action, they still do not
know what they will encounter.
³
The shaman's experiences in the other
world are considered to be fully real, not fantasy.

For any Norse purists out there, rest easy in the knowledge that early Norse
Heathens also practiced forms of tranceworking. Some of these types of workings
were part of the magical practice called
seiðr
. This type of magic was
historically associated with the group of gods and goddesses called the Vanir.
The Vanir goddess Freyja was a mistress of the art and is said to have taught it
to the leader of the Aesir, Odin. It was most often practiced by women and was
characterized by the act of soothsaying while in a trance state. Other workings,
such as “faring forth” from the body and “sitting out” at night to speak with
other beings or the dead, also bear resemblances to tranceworking.

Faring forth is a form of astral projection in which the practitioner travels
from her body, usually in the “hide” (similar to the astral body) of an animal
or with the aid of her “fetch” (a semi-independent part of the soul that usually
appears in the form of an animal or a person, most often a woman).
⁴
Sometimes the fetch alone is sent to work the will of the seiðworker. Faring
forth involved travel both in the everyday physical world of Midgard and through
the other Eight Worlds of Norse cosmology and could be used to carry out magical
acts, communicate with other beings, or gain information. While the hide or
fetch of the worker was gone, the person's body would appear to be in a deep
sleep or trance.

There is a detailed description in
Eirik's Saga Rauða
(4) of a
völva,
or prophetess, performing a soothsaying trance. The völva arrived at
a farmstead wearing a distinctive costume made of several animal skins, ate a
ritual meal made from the hearts of various animals, and then sat on a platform
while one or more helpers chanted special songs to aid her tranceworking and to
enlist the support of helpful spirits. From this trance she learned the answers
to various questions concerning the future of the land and the people.

WESTERN TRANCEWORKING

Western occultists have long used a type of tranceworking to
explore the kabbalistic Tree of Life and the tarot. This practice, usually
called path-working, involves going into a trance state and exploring the
different spheres and paths on the Tree of Life or “stepping into” a tarot card
to experience what it has to offer. Pathworking can also be used to explore any
comparable system of symbols. Scrying, another similar practice, involves going
into a light trance while gazing at a fixed point, such as a crystal, a black
mirror, a bowl of water or dark liquid, a candle flame, or the smoke of incense.
One then observes the mental pictures that come to mind, usually in order to
learn something about the future.

Also bearing some similarities to tranceworking are the nineteenth-century
passion for spiritualism and the current New Age interest in channeling, or
going into trance and allowing an entity or spirit to communicate with and
through you, as well as the more structured Wiccan practice of “drawing down,”
where you open yourself specifically to a goddess or god and allow the deity to
speak through you. Finally, tranceworking is closely related to hypnosis. The
physical and mental sensations are very similar, and most of the methods for
hypnotic induction can be used for tranceworking rituals.

Having presented all these different practices to show the
breadth and diversity of tranceworking and related practices, I am going to
describe what I mean by tranceworking in the following chapters. What I usually
experience while researching gods and goddesses is a light trance, which is akin
to the drowsy state preceding sleep or a lucid dream—the kind where you
suddenly realize you're dreaming while you're still asleep and can exert some
degree of control over your actions and the direction of the dream. In these
trances I am not in a total stupor; I am still aware of the outside world, but
my attention gradually pushes the outside world into the background as I become
involved in the trance. It is similar to channeling or drawing down, in that I
am seeking to communicate with another being. But rather than opening my own
consciousness to allow someone else in, I send my consciousness out to meet
other beings on their own turf. Also, these tranceworkings are not used to visit
just any entity I run across; I plan ahead of time which goddess I am going to
try to reach and research her in advance, attempting to fill my mind with images
of her before I begin the trance. I also usually perform a brief ritual and
invocation to my chosen deity to guide my trance journey to the desired
destination.

In these workings I definitely send some part of my consciousness out
“somewhere,” but it is not the kind of astral travel in which an etheric body is
separated from the physical one. The trances at this initial phase are not meant
specifically for healing or divination but rather are merely an attempt to
interact with a particular goddess and acquire information about her for future
rituals or magical workings. However, I have often received healing or advice as
a by-product of these journeys. The practices of pathworking or guided
meditation are most similar to what I have been doing.

The point of all this discussion on tranceworking is to explore the many
types of methods that have been used by Pagans and occultists over the years and
to show that the term may mean many different things. I want to be clear about
what sorts of trances I will be referring to in the following chapters. I also
want to give people an idea of what kind of experience they might have if they
try out any of my suggestions and what types of sensations to expect. Once you
know what sort of trance state you're aiming for, the next step is to learn how
to achieve it.