ue • Our

S H A M A N I S M • A N I M I S M • W I S D O M WAY S • C O M M U N I T Y • R E N E WA L

Iss Issue • O 10
ISSUE 100 2018
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CELEBRATE THE CIRCLE OF LIFE

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SPIRITS of the r1 t r 100th Iss
NORTHLANDS 00 h Issue
NORSE GODS and MAGIC
• Freyja - Searching for the Goddess
• Mysteries of the Runes
• Sorcery in Iceland
SURGERY and
SHAMANISM
Healing in a Hospital

ART of BLESSING
Retrieving Pictures
from the Spirits

WED to
the SPIRITS SOUL LOSS
Exploring Sacred Bonding and ADDICTION
• SHAMANIC RESOURCES • SHAMANIC RESOURCES • SHAMANIC RESOURCES • SHAMANIC RESOURCES •
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 • SHAMANIC RESOURCES • SHAMANIC RESOURCES • SHAMANIC RESOURCES • SHAMANIC RESOURCES •
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 Shamanism and the Spirit Mate : pages 43-45

EDITOR, DESIGN AND PRODUCTION:

Nicholas Breeze Wood
DESIGN AND EDITORIAL CONSULTANT:
Faith Nolton Shamanism and Art : pages 15-21
PROOF READING:
Linda Booth, Martin Wilford
CONTACT DETAILS:
Sacred Hoop Magazine
Contents
Anghorfa, Abercych, Boncath, UNDER THE KNIFE WITH THE SPIRITS . . . . . . 6-14
Pembrokeshire, SA37 0EZ, Wales
Email: Nick@sacredhoop.org Having recently undergone his own major surgery,
Tel: (01239) 682 029 Jonathan Horwitz looks at ways to approach unavoidable
www.sacredhoop.org hospitalisation in a sacred and healing manner.
PUBLISHING POLICY: PICTURES FROM THE SPIRITS . . . . . . . . . 15-21
SACRED HOOP seeks to network those wanting to Art and the sacred have combined since the time of the
learn the spiritual teachings of indigenous peoples as a first humans. Faith Nolton shares her ways of working as a
living path of knowledge. Our contents cover the integration of both
old and new ways, and insights that contribute to a balanced and shamanic artist, bringing images from out of the Spirit World.
sustainable lifestyle in today's world. A DREAMING OF FREYJA . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22-31
We honour all paths and peoples and do not include material from, or Freyja has been central in Northern European traditions
give support to, any individual or group which seeks to oppress or for a very long time. Valgerður H. Bjarnadóttir shares
discriminate on grounds of race, lineage, age, gender, class or belief. a little about who the great goddess is and her history.
Nor do we knowingly publish any material that is inaccurate.
Views expressed are not necessarily those of the editor. RUNES, ALPHABET AND MAGIC . . . . . . . . 32-35
ISSN 2514-2909 Since her grandmother first told her stories about them,
the ancient runes have been important to Anja Normann.
DISCLAIMER:
Whilst making every effort to be accurate, the Here she shares a little of thier history and use.
editors will not be deemed responsible for any A MAGIC OF ICE AND FIRE . . . . . . . . . . . . .36-42
errors, omissions or inaccuracies appearing
in Sacred Hoop Magazine. Iceland is a wild land, full of myths, magic, spirits and elves.
© Sacred Hoop Magazine
Nicholas Breeze Wood explores some of the island’s rich
and-or individual contributors. folklore and its old traditions of sorcery.
No part of this magazine,
either written text or visual art, may be reproduced SHAMANISM AND THE SPIRIT MATE . . . . . .43-45
in any way whatsoever In many traditional shamanic cultures a shaman actually
without the written
permission of marries thier spirit helper. Shana and Dana Robinson look
the Editor. at some of these traditions, and how they can benefit practice.

Website: www.sacredhoop.org X Facebook: www.bit.ly/Hoop-FaceBook

4 HOOP ISSUE 100 2018

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 The Sorcery of Iceland : pages 36-42
Shamanism and Surgery : pages 6-14
In Search of the Goddess Freyja : pages 22-31
A STUDY IN SOUL RETRIEVAL . . . . . . . 46-47
When a challenging client came to work with her,
Cheryl Bearman Maddick had to look deeply into her ways of
working and she found the encounter enriched her skills.
EXTRA SENSORY OVERLOAD AND ADDICTION . 48-50
Some people, through their life experences, develop a
hypervigilance which can be a challenge to live with.
Mara Bishop looks at this situation and some remedies.
BOOK AND MUSIC REVIEWS . . . . . . . . . . 51-53
PEOPLE ON THE PATH EVENTS DIARY . . . . 54-56
Twitter: @TheSacredHoop
From the Editor
I feel a certain degree of pride with this, our
100th issue of Sacred Hoop. These past
25 years have not always been easy, and
sometimes have required quite desperate
scrambles up steep learning curves,
resulting in tattered jeans, broken and
chewed fingernails and bruised knees. But we’ve made it, and for
those of you who have come along for the ride, thank you so much
for all your encouragement and support throughout the years.
In this issue we have articles about shamanism in a medical
setting, about sacred art, about the ancient traditions of the North of
Europe, bonding with the spirits and about soul loss and soul
retrieval. But I’m not going to go on about them, or anything else,
I’m just going to say a sincere “Thank you for being there dear
readers.”
And I’m going to post again our first ever front cover image - a Y
stick on a hill, and the words of our founding vision - our ‘mission
statement’ so to speak - from the worlds of Lakota Holy Man
Nicholas Black Elk - because it’s just as important today as it was
25 years ago when Faith Nolton founded the magazine.
Blessings to all Beings
Nicholas Breeze Wood
“Then I was standing on the highest mountain of them all,
and around and about me was the whole hoop of the world...
I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit
and the shapes of all shapes as they must live together
like one being. And I saw that the Sacred Hoop of my people
was one of many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight
and as starlight and in the centre grew one almighty
flowering tree to shelter all the children of one Mother
and one Father, and I saw that it was holy.”
X Subscription Details: Page 58
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 Under
The
Knife
With
The
Spirits
Jonathan Horwitz

In the small consulting room,

the surgeon had finished his
examination. My eyes kept
wandering to the chart on the
wall that showed the intestinal
system.
“Well,” he said, “there is
some good news: the tumour is
far enough up so that radiation
won’t be necessary.....”

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 My spirit body left the house and I walked
through the wooden arch planted with New
Dawn roses. As I walked through, a rosebud
blossomed above my head and turned into a
full-blown rose which seemed to be radiating
its power down into my being. New Dawn!
Encouraged by these words I continued
out to our ceremonial fire-pit where my
healing teacher was waiting for me
He then explained the operation he cancer has spread. If it has, we’ll We stood up. He put out his
was going to do. It wasn’t possible have to take care of that first.” hand as he headed to the door.
from the biopsies to see if the tumour I asked, “Am I correct in
was cancerous or not, so it was I can see now that there is no understanding that if the tumour is
necessary to treat it as if it were. way to say things like this gently, not cancerous now and is not
This would mean removing some but the effect of his words was as if removed it will become cancerous?”
of the colon where the tumour was, someone had just vacuumed “Yes,” he said, shaking my
and then re-attaching the two ends. something out of me. Instantaneous hand, “and then you’ll die.”
He explained the whole thing very soul-loss. The shaman works by asking for
methodically and, to him, it was In the impossible-to-hide lighting help. But I felt so shaken that I had
routine and clear, although I didn’t of the examination room I felt no idea what to ask for. Life,
really understand - that this was powerless to do anything about it. I maybe?
happening to me! I had gone to the felt like I had exhaled more than the Sitting in the car, Zara driving,
hospital thinking I was having a small capacity of my lungs and I couldn’t finding it impossible to collect my
procedure and now found myself inhale. I wanted to leave the thoughts. Feeling the soul loss.
staring into the unknown. Having claustrophobic chamber I was trapped Paralysed would be an
worked with shamanic healing for in. I looked at my partner Zara. She exaggeration. Stunned? Definitely.
over 30 years helped me to stay at was looking at the surgeon. I felt the Facing Death.
least partly present, but I was still in assisting nurse looking at me. Yes. It happens to all of us. If
shock. Then he added, “But there’s “So, we’ve scheduled you for an we were fully aware all the time, Below:Åsbacka,
something else. The scans showed MRI scan for….” He looked to the we would know that Death is with Jonathan’s and
shadows on your liver. We’ll have to nurse. “The day after tomorrow,” us all the time, right there at our Zara’s home
give you another scan to see if the she completed. shoulder. But life is generally too in Sweden

It was, indeed, a
healing journey and
filled with help. When I try to count
the healings it feels like I’m standing in the
middle of a stone circle trying to count the stones

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 busy and so we ‘forget,’ or actively
push it away - until Death is
standing right before us, refusing
to be ignored. Thousands of
human beings have this experience
around the world every day. On this
day, I was one of them.
We live in the forest in southern
Sweden. It is a very beautiful place.
People coming for the first time
often use the word ‘Paradise’ to
describe it. For me it is home - and
Paradise. ‘Åsbacka’ was the name
it was given more than a hundred
years ago, the hill on the ridge or,
perhaps ‘Ridge Hill.’ Seven small
cabins spread around a four-acre
clearing in the forest. It is so quiet
here that when Raven flies
overhead, you hear its wings
pushing the air.
Zara and I sat on the floor in the
Drumming Room - where we sit in
circle on retreats - and talked.
Both of us were stunned. There
were so many unknowns in my
situation - did I have cancer of the
liver? If so, what would its
treatment be? Was the tumour in
my gut cancerous? Had it spread?
How long would it take me to
recover? Would I recover? - it was
almost impossible, or so it felt, to
come up with a clear mission.
We go into the cave.
There is a hole in
the roof and a
beam of light is
shining down
through the hole.
I am standing
there with my
teachers and my
spirit animal.
The light is
shining down
through the roof
of the cave.
My teacher says,
“We will take care
of you, my son...”
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Finally, with Zara’s help I settled
for a journey to my Spirit Helpers
and Teachers to ask for help and
healing for whatever the situation is
in my body. A mouthful, yes, and a
little clumsy, but I trusted that the
spirits would understand.
The very first thing I experienced
on the journey was a good omen.
My spirit body left the house and I
walked through the wooden arch
planted with New Dawn roses.
As I walked through, a rosebud
blossomed above my head and
turned into a full-blown rose which
seemed to be radiating its power
down into my being. New Dawn!
Encouraged by these words I
continued out to our ceremonial
fire-pit where my healing teacher
was waiting for me.
It was, indeed, a healing
journey and filled with help. When I
try to count the healings in this
journey it feels like I’m standing in
the middle of a stone circle trying
to count the stones.
My healing teacher was there,
holding my head and stepping with
me into the ceremonial fire to be
cleansed. I also felt the power of
her hands streaming through my
brain, the power of her eyes as
they looked into mine.
The space between my spirit
body and my physical body is thin. I
can feel my whole body-cavity and
experience it as a huge cavern. I
ask the ‘Animal Who Walks With
Me’ to join me in exploring the
cave. My teacher and healing
teacher join us.
All around the cavern are vibrant
flashing lights, illuminating the
walls and ceiling. I see something
organic hanging from the ceiling,
like Spanish moss. It doesn’t look
so bad. I want to go further down
the incline to explore. I ask my
teacher. He agrees.
We come to a strange
rectangular box-like object on the
floor, about five feet long, three feet
wide and three feet high. The top is
smaller than the base. My teacher
says, “That is treasure for you.”
I can see it is attached to the
floor of the cavern. I think it is the
spirit of the polyp in my gut. “Yes,”
he continues, “it is a treasure for
you. It will be a great treasure
when it comes out.” “How?” I ask.
“It will be the key for unlocking the
door of your new life.” He pauses
and looks at me, “We will do that
when the time comes.”
Looking at the journey
afterwards, feeling its power and
taking it to my being, I felt that
 My spirits removed a part of my liver
and her animal spirit helper flew with
it into the Sun, she told me,
“You have been healed.”
The next day my liver was scanned.
Four days later, four days of considering my life,
four days of the dark night of the soul, the surgeon
telephoned. “You have no cancer in your liver.
Even today I can still feel the joy
his words brought to me
there were many gifts of power,
though I did not at the time
completely understand them.
Often when I teach someone
how to journey to the spirit world,
the first thing they ask me after a
successful journey is: “How do I
know it’s not just my imagination
and I’m not making it all up?”
What I generally answer is, “You
don’t.” Then I ask, “How does the
journey speak to your mission?”
After discussion, the journeyer
often can see - or feel - that it
does, in some way, give insight or
power. It is then up to them to
accept the gifts.
Sometimes they ask, “How do I
know it’s not just me talking to
myself?” To which I reply something
like, “If that’s you talking to you,
don’t you think you’d better listen?”
Eventually, there comes a point
in our lives when we know that the
absence of separation between who
we are and the rest of the universe
makes the ‘imagination’ question
totally irrelevant. In this case, for
example, I felt certain that the
organic matter hanging from the
roof of the cave was the spirit of the
shadows they had seen on my liver,
but it did not feel dangerous to my
being. Also, my teacher had told me
that the rectangular object was a
gift for me, the key to opening the
door to my new life. I also know that
my teacher’s wisdom and
understanding is unfathomable - he
could have just as well said the
same thing about Death. My death,
I thought. Yet at the same time I
knew he was not shrouding his
words because that is not his way.
He wanted me to know that my life
in my body was not coming to an
end just now and that I had more
work to do.
As the time for the liver scan
approached I thought about what it
could mean if the cancer had spread
to my liver. I had no idea -and when
one has no idea this makes fertile
ground for fear to grow.
I was trying to push my fear to
the back of my mind, but with limited
success. Finally, with Zara’s help, I
came to the mission: ‘I am going to
the Spirits to ask for help, power and
healing for the situation I am in.’
When I first came to this
formulation I thought it was too
similar to the first journey, but then I
saw that the first journey was about
my body - while the second was
about my being. It turned out to be
an amazingly powerful journey.
They say that at the moment of
death, your entire life goes past in
review. On this journey I
experienced highlights, not only
from my life, but also the points of
power from many of my most
powerful journeys over the past
thirty-five years, initiations, deepest
lessons, instructions and wisdom
my spirits had shared with me
since I started working with them.
Toward the end of the journey,
after my healing teacher removed a
part of my liver and her animal
spirit helper flew with it into the
Sun, she told me, “You have been
healed.” And my teacher added,
“You have the power.”
The next day my liver was
scanned. Four days later, four days
of considering my life and the
crooked, beautiful, terrifying,
peaceful, generous, selfish, loving,
glorious and miserable path it had
been, four days of the dark night of
the soul, the surgeon telephoned.
“You have no cancer in your liver.
We have you booked in for removing
the intestinal tumour on the eighth.”
Even today I can still feel the joy
his words brought to me.
Experiencing a spontaneous soul
retrieval is nothing less than
ecstasy. I felt Life fully returning to
me like a bear hug! That I was
going to have my belly cut open and
a chunk of my gut extracted was a
piece of cake in comparison to the
extensive treatments a liver-cancer
diagnosis would have meant.
During this waiting time, Zara
discovered a book and CD
recording by Peggy Huddleston
called ‘Prepare for Surgery,
Heal Faster,’ which
included some very solid
advice. One - which
was new to the
anaesthesiologists
here in Sweden,
and well
received by
mine -
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 and the more you will remember.
It’s not about ‘doing’, it’s about
My healing spirit lays me receiving and taking to your heart.
down and takes a pulsing Learning. Being. That’s a different
kind of action.”
hot ember, the size of a He paused. “Everything is
walnut, and places it on my reflecting, sending and receiving.”

belly a few inches below We go into the cave again,

where, the large, strange box had
my navel. I can smell it, been lying on the floor in the first
but feel no pain. It is journey. There is a hole in the roof
of the cave right above where the
burning its way in, burning box is, and a beam of light is
shining down through the hole
out what must leave. directly onto it.
My spirits have their hands The strange object is
disappearing - but not really. The
on my shoulders to let me outline is still there, though
physically it has disappeared.
know they are there. It’s I am standing there with my
burning out anything that teachers and my spirit animal. The
light is shining down through the
shouldn’t be there roof of the cave.
My teacher says, “We will take
care of you, my son.”

was the use of healing statements I experienced, in this journey, His words did more than reassure
to be read to the surgical patient meeting again many of my spirit me. Later, I realised that they were
immediately before and helpers, some of whom I had not even preparing me for death.
immediately after surgery. seen for a long time. I felt so held, Although the state of high alarm
I listened to the CD of guided- feeling them around me and showing I felt when I was first diagnosed
visualisation body scans once or their support by their presence. had diminished, I was still not
twice a day, for more than two When I met my teacher he was feeling at all comfortable with the
weeks, before the operation and warm and welcoming. I asked him thought of giving myself over to the
again for a month after the my question and he answered quite hospital system, let alone a five to
operation. I feel they helped directly: “Never take anything for eight hour operation.
immensely, as did the recordings of granted. Every moment is a gift. I had not been a patient in a
Andrew Weil, Thich Nhat Hanh and And any moment that gift may be hospital since I was ten years old,
Jon Kabat Zinn which I could listen taken away. You know this, but you and whenever I visited people it
to on-line. must allow it to lead you in life.” was always with the feeling of
Keep your eyes open. A good entering an alien limbo world, and a
By now, I was longing to have a exercise is to look for details. feeling of relief when I left. But the
deep consultation with my belovéd Notice things. The more you power, healing and help I had
teacher. My first two journeys had notice, the more you will notice, received from the spirits in my
been to ask for help. Now I wanted
advice, so I went to ask: ‘What are
the teachings of this time, so I can
live them and let them into me so
they can change my life?’
The help and the healings I had
asked for in the first two journeys
had taken the edge off the fear I
had experienced, and I now felt
ready to assume some responsibility
with the help of my spirits.
I had not been a patient in a
hospital since I was ten years old,
and whenever I visited people it
was always with the feeling of
entering an alien limbo world,
and a feeling of relief when I left

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three journeys urged me on to
prepare for the total experience.
As much as I was not
comfortable with my situation, I felt
I now had what I needed to step
into it, so my next journey was
asking for a healing for me, so the
operation and recovery goes well
and smoothly.
Some years ago, I realised that
many people (myself included) ask
for what they want when they go to
the spirits. The spirits, in their wisdom,
often respond with what we need.
In the beginning, it took me a
while to see what they were doing.
At first, I thought they were - at
worst - ignoring me, or - at best -
teasing me. But once I saw that
what I needed was what I really
wanted, I have always been grateful
for their insight and compassion.
In this case I got the healing I
asked for and more. My healing
teacher and my teacher took turns
until my whole body and being was
vibrating on a cellular level.
My Teacher then gave me
instructions: “Do not resist.” At the
time I thought he was referring to the
healing power I was receiving from
them, but later I felt strongly that he
was talking about the whole process
I was going through with the tests,
scans, the up-coming operation, the
hospital stay and possibly much
more. Today I understand it as: “Do
not resist Life.”
In the periods between the
journeys, my life went on as ‘usual;’
but not really. My goal was to be as
well prepared as possible before the
physical operation. With this in
mind, I asked for a healing for the
polyp itself, to make the surgeons’
work as easy as possible.
When I got to the ceremonial
firepit, the area around was crowded,
not only with the spirits who had
been there on the other journeys, but
lots of what seemed to be ‘ordinary’
people. Also present were three
The nurse smiled. “I’ve never seen anything like
that before,” she said, taking a closer look.
It seemed that Honan spoke to her. For the
next eight days every time she came into the
room, the Spirit of Healing came with her.
Somehow we felt a strong connection and
she became our own personal healing angel
Kachinas, the spirit people of the I had set up a small altar with
Pueblo Indians. Suddenly they all
shout. I understand they are shouting the Badger Kachina, when a
to scare away the spirit of the illness.
They shout again and once more. nurse walked into the room.
My healing teacher lays me Her eyes fell on the kachina.
down, walks over to the fire and
takes a pulsing hot ember, the size “What’s that?” I explained
of a walnut, and places it on my
belly a few inches below my navel. about Honan, the Badger, the
I can smell it, but feel no pain. It is doctor spirit of the Pueblo
burning its way in, burning out what
must leave. people because of his
My teachers have their hands on
my shoulders, not to trap me or
knowledge of roots
hold me down, but to let me know and herbs
they are there. It’s burning in, and
out, too, as anything that shouldn’t
be there is being burned out.
I felt healed after this journey.
The overwhelming number of
spirits who showed up was more
than encouraging, and the care
and actions that were taken on my
behalf, and the physical sensation
of the operation in the spirit-world
stayed with me for several days. Left: Honan
But, as the time for the the Badger
hospitalisation rapidly approached Katchina
and the hospital sent me Hopi People
information about what to bring and C20th
how to prepare, the ordinary, banal,
physical reality of my situation
began to become more
noticeable -and uncomfortable.
I realised one day that the
feeling of my situation was
very similar to the
feeling I had as a
twenty-two year old,
days before being
drafted into the US Army. It
is one thing to surrender to the
spirits, knowing that they will do
everything to support you; however,
it is something else to surrender to
the power of an organisation which
is totally impersonal.
My next journey was to ask my
spirits for help and advice as to how
stay connected to power while I was
in the hospital.
11
 Like the previous
journey, this one took place
entirely around the
ceremonial fire-pit.
The first piece of advice
came from the Red Kachina
being; “You have to
remember to dance in the
hospital.”
“But I’ll be full of holes
and tubes,” I protested.
But the Red Kachina
dancer wasn’t to be put off.
Above: an image “You can dance, you can dance the
of the blue- dance you need to dance.”
skinned Medicine Soon after, my teacher came,
Buddha which showing me a steel rail. “What
Jonathan had does it tell you?” he asked.
on his hospital “Inflexibility,” I answer.
room altar “That is how your connection to
us will be while you are in the
hospital: inflexible, direct, shining.”
A bright ruby-red hummingbird
came to me and whispered in my
ear. Suddenly, I am sitting in a
strange place at a table next to an
oriental woman. She says to me,
“Be yourself. If you want to eat
The first piece of advice came
from the Red Kachina being; “You
have to remember to dance in the
hospital.” “But I’ll be full of holes
and tubes,” I protested. But the Red
Kachina dancer wasn’t to be put
off. “You can dance, you can dance
the dance you need to dance”
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with your fingers,” picking up a
morsel of food from a bowl and
putting it in her mouth, “eat with
your fingers. Be you -and enjoy it.”
“What is this strange place?” I
ask. “This is how it will feel in the
hospital. Remember the steel rail.
Don’t bend. Of course, they will take
care of you, but be true to yourself.”
I don’t really understand. She
says: “You will. And remember to
smile.”
Before returning, I met my
teacher again. He said, “Come back
to yourself. Remember to come
back to yourself. We will be there to
help you and you will be strong.”
He smiles and pats me on the
shoulder: “We are not through with
you yet”. He chuckles. “Remember
who you are. Remember who you
are. That is what it is all about.”
Looking back on my stay in the
hospital, I can see that is exactly
what happened. With the help of
the spirits, I was myself - and also,
inflexible, direct and shining.
Under normal circumstances, it
would be very difficult for me to be
inflexible, but in the hospital it
wasn’t about being rigid, it
was
about being
inflexible in my
determination to go
through the whole
experience as well as
possible in every way. And
that’s what happened.
The morning of the hospitalisation
was not easy. Zara and I stood in the
kitchen of our beautiful home, both
of us knowing there was a chance it
could be the last time we ever stood
there together.
It was time to go. After parking
the car at the hospital, approaching
its huge greyness, I looked at the
building and my teacher said, “This
is the Temple of Healing.” Suddenly,
it wasn’t so grey, and I knew I was
stepping into a great life-adventure.
I felt blessed that I was allocated
a single room. I was told to do this
and that, and was happy that I
didn’t have to get into the bed and
that Zara was allowed to remain.
We were both calling our spirits
asking for help. I had set up a small
altar with the Badger Kachina on the
bedside table when a nurse walked
into the room. Her smile was radiant.
As she looked around the room
to make sure that everything was
alright her eyes fell on the kachina.
“What’s that?”
I briefly explained
about Honan, the
Badger,
the doctor
spirit of the
Pueblo people
because of his
knowledge of
roots and herbs.
The nurse smiled.
“I’ve never seen
anything like that
before,” she said,
taking a closer look.

It seemed that Honan spoke to
her. For the next eight days every
time she came into the room, the
Spirit of Healing came with her.
Somehow we felt a strong
connection and she became our
own personal healing angel.
Eventually, Zara had to leave.
Before trying to sleep, I took a
quick look at my emails, my family
and many friends wishing me well.
It warmed my soul and I felt so
beautifully held.
My Teacher whispered in my
ear, “We are all connected.” And I
suddenly knew that even if it had
‘only’ been one other person
wishing me well on this journey,
then that one person would be
bringing the power of the universe.
It was all so strange. The next
morning they wheeled my whole bed
with me in it out of my room down
the hall to the elevator, and then
down, emerging into a pea soup-
green painted basement corridor.
So this is it, I thought to myself.
I wasn’t waiting. I was breathing. I
was looking, thinking: “If this is the
last I see, I’d better see.” What I
saw was the gift of being alive.
Eventually, I was wheeled into
the preparation room. A man sat
next to me and asked questions
about allergies and past illness, as
others packed me so that I couldn’t
move. It felt like when my spirits
were holding me on the journey to
let me know they were there. I felt
very comfortable!
The man who asked me the
questions had very deep eyes and
looked a lot like one of my dearest
friends. I felt even more relaxed
and deep trust as he put needles
into me.
I told him I’d been preparing for the
operation and that I had some things
I’d like to have him read as I went
under. I gave him the piece of paper.
He read them out loud and asked, “Is
this what you want me to say?”
“Yes, please, and on the other
side is what I want to hear when I
am waking up”.
“All right,” he smiled.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“Yes. I am ready.”
He gently touched my arm and
in a beautifully confident and
relaxing voice read aloud:
“After this operation, you will
feel comfortable and heal very well.
You will come back to yourself, and
you will feel well and recover fully.
You will feel comfortable and heal
well. You will feel comfortable and
heal very well.”
There is a song I was taught by
a giant wolf, many years ago, a
song to sing when I need help. I
realised that I had to sing this song
and when my friend the
The next time my eyes opened I was
lying in my bed in a dimly lit room.
It felt cozy, like a cave. I moved my
eyes around. A nurse came and
stood by my bed, smiling. “Hello,”
he said. “Hello,” I answered.
“How do you feel?” he asked.
I looked at them and it felt like I
smiled. “I feel great! I’m alive!”
anaesthesiologist finished reading
(or was it before?) I started to sing
the song as I felt me and my bed
move toward the operating room;
“Ae yo ae ya aio ae ya ae yo a
aio…” The wolf was lifting her chin
to the Moon.
My eyes opened a crack. We
were moving through a brightly lit
corridor. The surgeon was saying it
all went well, someone else said it
took eight hours. My eyes closed.
The next time my eyes opened I
was lying in my bed in a dimly lit
room. It felt cozy, like a cave. I
moved my eyes around.
The hospital.
A nurse came and stood by my
bed, smiling. “Hello,” he said.
“Hello,” I answered.
“How do you feel?” he asked.
I looked them and it felt like I
smiled. “I feel great! I’m alive!”
Through the years working with
shamanism, I have often read and
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 heard people talk about how long it
takes to recover from an operation,
how the anaesthesia can cause
soul-loss, how difficult everything is
after an operation - and, yes, all of
these things can be true. But they
don’t have to be.
One thing that helped me was
taking specific homeopathic remedies
to help clear the anaesthetic from my
body, another was having a loved one
by my side almost all the time and
hear her singing, rattling, asking for
help for me.
I also had cards in my room with
key teachings from my preparation
journeys that I read to myself again
and again.
Several others were also
journeying, or doing ceremony, to
ask for healing for me long
distance. I had so many many
people sending healing and help, I
could feel the incredible power of
love coming through, and how
strong it was, how much it helps.
The day after the operation I
was helped out of bed to a rolling
device I could lean on, and, with
Zara on one side, and our angel
nurse on the other, I walked!
Below: The first twenty steps were a
Jonathan and challenge, and then suddenly I
Zara in New realised I could do it!
Mexico, almost I started laughing. I felt good,
exactly a year and the next day I felt better,
after the walking with only a stroller, and
operation each following day I walked more,
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ate more and felt much better than
the day before. One by one the
tubes came out and after eight
days they sent me home.
My whole experience proved to
me beyond any doubt that we all
are connected - everything with
everything - that the power of the
Universe is everywhere and not
only accessible, but surrounding
us, embracing us and flowing
through us.
Of course, I have always felt the
truth of this. But now I know
through extreme experience.
Also, I am absolutely sure that if
I had gone into the hospital feeling
isolated and alone (disconnected),
my experience would have been
entirely different.
Before going in, I had reached
out to friends, family and my
shamanic community, asking for
help, love, prayers, and healing.
I didn’t keep it secret, I opened
up and asked for help. I allowed
help to come.
By the time I reached the
hospital basement before the
operation I felt so connected that I
knew I was prepared to die - and I
also knew that I would not. And,
when I woke up, I knew I was
ready to live.
Death does not only come in the
hospital. None of us knows when it
will arrive, and I know that life in
this body is not forever, and that I
am closer to death now than ever
before in my life. In the meantime,
I am alive, perhaps more than ever
before. So the question is, how am
I going to live?
A shaman is not a shaman
because they have a powerful
personality, or says clever things or
are a good performer. Shamans are
shamans because of their connection
to their spirit helpers and teachers,
and the world around them; because
of the way they dance with the power
of the Universe.
The shaman knows there is only
one way to step into fear and that
is by asking for help and allowing
himself to receive that help.
Looking back on my hospital
experience I can see there were
many factors that brought me
through in a way that felt
empowering, peaceful, inspiring
and healing: the circle of friends -
and friends I have not yet met -
who held me in their hearts in
many different ways; the
homeopathic remedies; the books
and records Zara found with
exercises to prepare myself before
the operation, and to heal me after;
the surgeons and staff, our angel
nurse, who did their work not only
with expertise but also compassion;
and the spirits who guided me,
held me, healed me.
All of these manifestations of love
were equally important - and they
worked together, knowing it or not.
Later, someone said to me,
“You were lucky.” I just smiled.
The old Vikings used to say that
one was either born lucky or
unlucky. For me, words like ‘lucky’
and ‘coincidence’ and ‘intuition’
are shorthand words we use which
really mean ‘The spirits are dancing
with us.’ We only have to dance
with them.
Jonathan Horwitz has been working with
shamanism since 1972. In 1986, he
founded the Scandinavian Center for
Shamanic Studies together with Annette
Høst and has been teaching internationally
ever since. Jonathan served as European
Editor for A Journal of Contemporary
Shamanism and is a frequent contributor
to Sacred Hoop Magazine. He continues
to lead workshops and retreats with his
partner Zara Waldebäck, internationally
and in the woods of southern Sweden at
Åsbacka where they live.
www.shamanism.dk
jonathan@shamanism.dk

PICTURES
from the
SPIRITS
Today there is a real upsurge of
interest in picture making as a tool
of spirit work among healers,
artists, shamans, and other energy
practitioners. By exploring the ways
in which our creativity and soul
work can co-create with the helper
spirits, we are exploring visual
creative tools that extend and
deepen shamanic practice.
Making sacred pictures has long
been a central part of my own
shamanic practice, and I now pass
on what I have learned to others. I
would like to share with you here
some of the information I most often
find I am passing on, in the hope that
it will give some new possibilities or
encourage your own explorations.
When I attended art college in
Liverpool in the mid 60s, there was
little information to be had about
sacred art traditions beyond
reproductions of Renaissance
madonnas and Bible scenes. So I
had an unpromising start. My own
Shamanic artist and founder
of Sacred Hoop Magazine
Faith Nolton
describes this process which has been
for her a life-long journey of discovery
paintings as a young student
seemed to arrive with me
haphazardly in a way neither my
tutors nor myself understood. It was
a stop-start progress between
bursts of intense inspiration, which I
now know was probably undirected
states of ecstasy. This really did not
fit in with the expectations of the
‘Sacred or spirit-led
pictures are as relevant
today as they ever have
been, from the dreaming
maps of the Australian
Aborigines to the
Blessingway sand
paintings of the
Diné, or Russian
Orthodox ikons
When we enter
sacred space and
unite inspiration
with intent, we can
co-create to bring
power, blessing and
healing from the spirits’
system and much of the time the
inspirational highs and lows left me
drained and confused. For my
artwork, unknown to me, was soul-
based and what would now be
called visionary.
For the next fifteen years, the
spirits took me on a path of learning
that taught me about energy, healing,
tribal art and ritual; experience in
shamanic journeying was added; with
this knowledge my creativity at last
began to make sense.
In the early 90s, various
synchronicities led me to working
as illustrator for one of the first
New Age publications in Britain, a
magazine called ’Link Up’. The
challenge of depicting healing and
earth energies, needed to
accompany the articles, began to
develop my ‘spirit eyes,’ and I
began to ‘receive’ images in a
conscious and controlled way, Left: Badger
which at last felt on track. pawprint detail
With this publishing experience from ‘Badger
and with yet more prods and Dreaming’
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Versions of the nudges from Spirit, I founded I began recording my own
World Tree: Sacred Hoop Magazine and found shamanic journeys, under the
Right: ‘World myself immersed in much more direction of my spirits, and
Tree’ information about tribal art deepened my understanding of how
traditions and shamanic processes. imagery and energy work together.
Once again there were articles to
illustrate, which, in the days before I now make sacred pictures
digital publishing, needed graphic that cover the whole range of
images made. shamanic soul work, from
blessing to soul retrieval. And I
share the knowledge I have
gained so far in teaching and
mentoring others who are also
called to explore the connections
between art and soul. Each
picture and mentoring session
teaches me more, and I am
always amazed by the power and
efficacy of sacred picture making.
RECEIVING PICTURES
A most important difference
between mainstream ‘art’ and the
shamanic picture making my spirits
have shown me, is that in the latter
I am receiving images intentionally
from elsewhere, retrieving them,
rather than producing them from
my individual ego. It is at all times
directed by the spirits.
Above: ‘Singing
Tree’
Right: ’Birdsong
Tree of Life’
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By combining ritual, intent and
spiritual connection, the pictures
are co-created to form energy
windows between the worlds,
intentionally linking Ordinary Reality
and Beyond. And of course this is
always aligned with the highest
Source of light and wisdom.
In the process I have evolved my
own iconography, and each person
gathers their own sacred ‘pictionary’
as they gain experience. Often this
is a main part of my mentoring
work, to help students develop their
sacred picture ‘language.’ We often
look to tribal ritual art sources for
inspiration and to understand the
use of symbol, myth and ritual.
Some personal re-programming
has to take place, as we have all
gathered deeply-embedded rules
about art, our own creative ability
and so on.
A recurring subject
the spirits give me
is that of the World
Tree, a symbol of
Creation common
to many ancient
traditions. This
image always
alters according to
the intention and
destination of the
blessing. This
image has brought
much nourishment
and healing
 As spirit-led pictures reflect Left: ‘A Place of
energy, they do not have to be Mesas’
realistic in style, the rules and
expectations we have accumulated
do not apply! So beware the
‘helpful’ habituated mind that may
try and take over to make the piece
recognisable in form and colour,
accessible and acceptable to
others - a ‘proper’ picture...
In Spirit led pictures, the aim is
different; it is to create maps and
keys and synchronicities to connect
with what Spirit wishes to be birthed,
or convey at this time. This is often
expressed more clearly and powerfully
- as in tribal art - through diagram,
symbol, non-realistic colour, abstract
pattern. These less realistic styles
communicate directly at a soul level.

IMAGINATION PLUS INTENT

I am often asked how this receiving
- or retrieving - of the picture
relates to personal imagination.
What is the difference?
From an early age we all
experience imagination. It is If I make a picture with the intention
programmed and coloured by our
experiences and the culture we are of blessing, that blessing happens while
raised in. This inbuilt imagination is
a great ‘gateway tool’, a point of the picture is being made, beginning
entry to the spirit realities. with the initial commitment of intent
But when conscious intent is
added - as with a shamanic journey
- we can connect clearly with the
spirits and begin an inter-reality
creative conversation.
For example, we may be able to
easily imagine a power animal -
perhaps, say a badger - in our
mind’s eye, but if we add intent and
symbol, we can really connect with
that power animal energy; instead
of trying to ‘draw’ a badger, we
may find a badger pawprint
expresses and invokes ‘badger
energy’ more powerfully. And again,
the ability to ‘draw’ in a realistic
way is not necessarily required.
This is the territory of traditional
icon making, ritual art and healing.
Traditional Orthodox Christian icon
makers who follow prescribed
spiritual practices, are not called
painters, they are referred to as
‘writers’. An icon, which carries an
intent of energy connection,
perhaps with a saint or sacred
story, is ‘written’ with the
prescribed ritual and imagery.
Tribal healing ways that involve interwoven with ritual; these sacred The energy work actually occurs
pictures, such as Diné [Navaho] picturings are also intended for the during the picture making, it is
sand paintings, are not ‘art’ works, spiritual benefit of the community, about process, not end product.
but ‘energy’ works, they have an not made with a gallery, profit, or For instance, if I make a picture Left: ‘Hare
intent, and are supported and personal reputation motive. with the intention of blessing Gazing’

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A simple altar can be set up to reflect the
picture’s intent and connection with the spirits
By combining ritual, intent and spiritual
connection, the pictures form energy
windows between the worlds, intentionally
linking Ordinary Reality and Beyond
someone, that blessing happens
while the picture is being made,
beginning with the initial
commitment of intent. It would not
matter if the image made is never
seen by the person blessed, or is
indeed temporary in form.
The picture making becomes a
prayer or ceremony that happens
outside of time and space. Bringing
the picture into being - however
briefly - focuses energy and delivers
it. Usual ethics of obtaining the
person or place’s permission for direct
healing work of course still applies.
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CREATIVE ALTERED REALITY
Whether we are reading a book,
doodling, watching a movie or
daydreaming, we shift our
awareness into a kind of light
trance state, which is so everyday
that we hardly notice it. We might
lose track of time, or find that a
foot has gone to sleep without us
realising. We have entered the
imagination threshold, where the
sense of time and place both fade.
Any picture making naturally,
automatically, engages this trance
state, while at the same time we
are physically wielding pens,
brushes etc. The creative activity
becomes a potential bridge
between the worlds.
When we consciously deepen
and focus this natural trance with
intent and ritual, we need to create
a suitable energy structure in which
to operate. Then we can enter,
engage with - and then clearly exit
- shifting and grounding awareness
back to the here and now.
In shamanic journeying, the
equivalent is crossing into Non-
Ordinary Reality, connection and
consultation with our spirits (the
journey), and the call-back and re-
entry to Ordinary Reality.
If we do not have this structure,
in either case, we can be left
feeling unfocused, spaced out or
out of phase. Even physically dizzy,
confused and nauseous.
Many of my students have
reported that they had felt
intuitively to make spirit-led
pictures, but then stopped because
this unpleasant, fuzzy after-effect
worried or discouraged them..
A CONTAINER OF RITUAL
Ritual - often described as an
outward sign of an inner meaning -
is a simple way of signalling intent
both to our own being in Ordinary
Reality, and to the Otherworlds
Simple ritual is a point of entry
to the picture making process. The
form it takes can be suited to each
person’s individual preference and
situation, and it will inevitably
change and develop over time and
with experience. And of course
with the guidance of our spirits.
This ritual can be as simple as
lighting a candle, smudging,
sounding a bell or drumming.
Whatever feels effective.
I personally like to light a candle
and smudge, I flick blessed rose
water around the room and onto
the painting area; I may rattle to
the four directions, sing or make a
verbal prayer, statement of intent
and request for help. Each painting
calls for slight variations. And of
course, once again, all is aligned
with the highest Source.
Then the business of making the
picture proceeds within the sacred
space created, and at the end the
space is closed down with a similar
ritual action: the candle is blown out,
the bell is rung again, and so on.
In this way the ‘making area’ is
dedicated, contained and defined,
whether it is the kitchen table,
dedicated studio, garden shed or
corner of the bedroom. The space
is also shifted into one more akin
to a shrine room or spiritual
practice area.

A simple altar can be set up to

reflect the picture’s intent and
connection with the spirits; this A picture begins
may hold ritual tools and other with being blessed,
items specifically related to the
picture - maybe a bottle of blessed and words of prayer
water, candle, smudge kit, rose
quartz for blessing, or a small
and intent may be
figure of a power animal or put on the blank
goddess. The intent itself, the title
of the picture (if known), or a surface. Each picture
person’s name can also be written asks for a different
on paper and placed on the altar.
An altar can of course be made process, whether this
inactive between work periods by
simply covering it with a cloth. be presenting it to
This is tidy energy, and does not the earth and sky,
leave the energy door ajar. At
points throughout the work singing or drumming
smudging, rattling or whatever
renews the focus can be helpful.
into it, or perhaps
blessing it with fire,
I do strongly advise students to
take regular breaks from the work: ground corn [paho]
to walk outside, leave the work or rose water. It is
area, stretch, have a glass of water
- basically, check back in with their then charged with
body! It is easy to spend too long
absorbed in the liminal creative intention, a living
space, but this can be very draining. connection to Spirit
When taking a break from the
work space it helps to have the Some people like to make a
threshold marked in some way; I journey to ask for a specific spirit
have an embroidered Indian door helper for soul picture making. My
pelmet above the door; but a mat or own painting spirit helper informed
a scarf, laid in the doorway, which me that he always joins me when I
you step over would also do. Even am picture making.
putting on and removing an apron or
item of clothing works, and can be a TRUSTING THE SPIRITS
way of doing it. The point of this is The act of making the picture
to signal to all concerned that you becomes a kind of spirit conversation,
are shifting away temporarily, and on and involves deep listening. The Some pictures are completed quite
re-entry you return consciousness to timing and progress of this quickly. Other pictures may take
the sacred trance space. conversation varies with each picture. days, weeks or years.

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The work may change radically in
content, colour, design, symbolism…
Some of my paintings are completely
repainted over time, as the spirit
conversation moves along; they often
have many layers of different colours
beneath the surface.
People sometimes worry about
these shifts - have they been
negligent or inattentive, ‘got it
wrong’ in some way… It may
indeed be a lack of focus, but the
spirits are not concerned with
‘mistakes,’ but only that we re-
focus. Usually, however, I find that
each change records the
movements of energy which are all
embedded into the surface.
It is not uncommon for a picture
to ‘go quiet’ for a while. I sense
this nowadays as soon as I
approach the easel; if the picture
does not wish to be disturbed -
that it is brewing in some way I do
not go ahead. The picture and my
self are not meant to be in active
creative connection right then.
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I often make quick line sketches and diagrams
in my personal journal or on iPad. These brief
reminders hold the essence of the information,
which can later help me reconnect, deepen
and unfold further understanding
It is not a rejection, it is just
spirit timing. So, I respectfully
cover the picture with a cloth and
wait until intuition calls me, and I
know it is ready to remove the
cover and recommence.
Experience has shown me that
there are so many good reasons
for these pauses, and that spirit
timing is of course perfect.
When making a picture for a
specific person or place, the
client’s energy is also connected in
to the process. Time and again I
have realised that the rhythm of the
work has reflected that person’s
life or soul events, and they often
inform me afterwards that the
pauses and completion point are in
perfect synchronicity with what has
been going on for them.
Trust is key. I always have to
trust what I am shown. This might
be through strong intuitions, clear
thoughts dropping in, noticing
synchronicities and ‘coincidences’.
It may include guidance from my
spirits on how to map out the
image, even the way paint or marks
are to be applied, or what materials
are to be used. It is a case of
continually listening, trusting,
paying attention.
Of course I have been known to
argue politely with the spirits when
my eager-mind imagination,
‘performing artist’ or personal
aesthetics get in the way…
Arguing never works, of course,
the focus is interrupted and I lose
connection; I have to stop, eat
humble pie, (maybe eat some real
pie and have a cup of tea), regroup
and reconnect! A sense of humour
is of course essential…
It is not even important that I
like the finished picture. But I need
to trust that, providing I have been
listening, I have ‘written’ an
accurate enough account.
Just like the response of a
shamanic journey or deep
meditation, the meaning may not
be apparent at first, and may not
be at all what I had expected.
Indeed, I sometimes realise years
later what teaching or message the
picture brought.
CAPTURING ESSENTIALS
When recording shamanic
journeys, inspirational spirit
‘downloads’ or day or night
dreaming, I often make quick line
sketches and diagrams in my
personal journal, or on an iPad.
Sometimes the spirits give a
clear, complete image, or specific
instructions on preparation or
execution; sometimes they simply
give the title of the picture as a
starting point, even a poem, a quality
or a single word. I might write notes
in words alongside the sketch.
These brief reminders hold the
essence of the information, which
can later help me reconnect, deepen
and unfold further understanding.
And of course one can always
make a specific shamanic journey
to ask for help in releasing fears or
feeling of inadequacy, to have
greater receptivity, and so on.
Asking for help ... hmm... I guess
we all forget that at times!
BRINGING BLESSING
Blessing is a main part of my own
shamanic work, and so I often
make blessing paintings for people,
places or situations. Sometimes
the request comes from a person,
sometimes from spirit.
 A recurring subject the spirits
give me is that of the ‘World Tree,’
the sheltering, life-giving symbol of
Creation that is common to so many
ancient traditions This image always
alters according to the intention and
destination of the blessing I am
requesting. It has brought much
nourishment and healing.
Blessing paintings may arrive in
different ways; for instance at one
time dragonfly energy kept popping
up in odd moments - repeatedly
catching my shamanic attention. So I
started to look at photographs of
dragonflies, to find out about their
habitats and habits - their ‘medicine’.
Over a period of some months I
journaled and doodled and learned
how to draw their physical shapes
(which I found quite difficult - it's
OK to copy and trace, by the way!).
A picture of dragonfly medicine
emerged eventually and the
painting now lives in a shamanic
practice space where it brings its
medicine through as blessing.
At the same time a healing
painting was requested from Spirit;
I was asked to make an energy
picture to help protect and bless
the waters on the Standing Rock
Oglala Souix Reservation in North
America, as part of the tribal
protector action being held there.
For this picture dragonflies
appeared in their simple Hopi
symbol form, and I was guided to
paint them across a map of the
area, to put a dragonfly to
represent each of the victims of the
historical Battle of Wounded Knee.
These ancestors, who had been
massacred for trying to preserve
connection with their culture, wanted
to come to help. So the act of
painting became a deep ritual
process of connecting energy threads
and depicting healing. Later, I found
out how dragonfly is regarded as a
cleanser and protector of water...
That picture was sent out via
the internet during the Standing
Rock tribal action, (the spirits are
more comfortable with the Internet
than I am!). The original remains in
my folder. I don’t know where its
journey will take it next.
Indeed, the sacred pictures I am
asked to create cover the whole
range of healing and energy work:
to help at the gateways of life - with
birthing and dying, with relationship
problems, as rites of passage and
for soul and power retrieval…
... dragonfly medicine kept catching my shamanic
attention... I made a picture to help bless the waters
on the Standing Rock Reservation, as part of the tribal
protector action. Dragonflies took the Hopi symbol
form and were painted across a map of the area
The stories of how many of my
pictures came into being, and their
energy working, are recorded in my
latest book 1.
I do know from experience that
people and situations are changed
by this sacred picture making.
Somewhere in my incredulous
human being this baffles me still,
but I continue to travel on this path
of co-creation in trust.
The effectiveness and power
that comes through the pictures is
a beautiful gift from the spirits, I
am the willing hands in service,
learning and listening all the time...
I wish you blessed and
wonderful pictures.
Faith Nolton is an illustrator, shamanic
artist and practitioner, author and poet
who lives in West Wales. She originally
trained in fine art at Liverpool College of
Art, and then in counselling, healing,
medicine wheel and shamanism.
She is author of ‘Easy-to-use Shamanism’
(Vega Books 2002) and ‘Gardens of the
Soul: making sacred and shamanic art’
(Divine Arts 2014).
She founded Sacred Hoop Magazine in
1993, and has led groups, ceremony and
circles throughout UK.
Faith now offers individuals mentoring,
guidance and personal intensives covering
intuitive, creative and shamanic
perspectives. Her paintings and poems
can be found online
www.faithnolton.weebly.com
(+) (01239) 682071
Faith@faithnolton.co.uk
Vlogs about her work on
www.earthstarcentre.land
NOTES:
1: ‘Gardens of the Soul: making
sacred and shamanic art’
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A Dreaming of Freyja
Searching for the origins of the Great Goddess
Valgerður H. Bjarnadóttir
I t is a beautiful day. and I - as the
goddess Freyja - stand in my
white temple, up in the mountain
slopes above the fjord.
I am tall as a tree, dressed in
white. Behind me in my temple is
my consort, my husband, father
and brother. He has no name and
no body, only a head. Wavy hair
with grey streaks and a beard.
Deep, wise blue eyes. I love him,
respect and trust him,
unconditionally.
I look across the land and over
the fjord, and I see barren red
earth everywhere. There is no life,
no growth, and I wait and wonder.
How did this happen?
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Then I see the giant step up
from the waters and walk towards
the mountain, towards my temple.
He is made of red clay and his
name is Auður. I communicate with
my consort, about my task and he
gives his consent.
The giant’s steps are heavy,
shaking the earth every time. He is
without a soul, without feelings,
thought or spirit.
I walk towards him and, taking
his hand, I lead him to a sacred
valley - the valley of sacrifice. As we
walk, I whisper words of love and
wisdom in his ear. I am aware of the
risk I am taking, I know that if I
arouse his passion before his love
and wisdom, he will destroy me.
We lie down on the barren earth
and I am careful in my caresses. I
touch his body with my loving
hands and continue whispering
wise words. I can feel him respond,
and I sense his body changing. I
feel his soft skin and the growing
energy in his now vibrant body.
We make love, and as we reach
the peak of passion, the earth
trembles, and I feel his thick hair
when I run my fingers over his
head. We are one. I open my eyes
and look into his. He is beautiful!
He is my lost love.
I look around me and the whole
earth has come alive with our
lovemaking. There are fields ofgreen

A dream came into
my life almost thirty
years ago. I stood
as Freyja above
the fjord. I see the
giant step up from
the waters. His
name is Auður
Upon wakening, I
felt Auður and Freyja
were calling my
attention to home,
to Iceland - and its
shamanic heritage
grass, flowers and trees. I can smell
the newly awakened nature. I am
pleased with my act of love and
power. Grateful. I feel whole.
Then the earth trembles anew. It
is a steady throbbing. I look up,
and in the North, where the fjord
meets the ocean, I see hundreds of
giants rise from the ocean and
walk their lifeless weighty steps
towards me.
Some are made of red clay and
others are made of dark gray rock.
I know and accept that this task
is never ending....
That dream came into my life
almost thirty years ago, when I was
starting to work with shamanism,
inspired by shamanic teachers from
other cultures.
Upon wakening, I felt Auður
and Freyja were calling me. They
were calling my attention to home,
to my land - Iceland - and its
shamanic heritage.
I had never been conciously
connected to Freyja or the
Icelandic myths, I had a much
stronger interest in the myths of
foreign lands and time, and my
goddesses were Innana, Isis, Kali,
Athena, Morgan, Brighid, Sophia
and even Mary.
But the dream kindled an
interest in my own ancient roots,
and I started to re-read the
Icelandic myths and sagas,
realising I had never truly shown
them deep interest.
I found a lot of hidden treasures
in them. For example, the giant
Auður, who I never knew existed -
or I wasn't aware of my knowledge
of him, and therefore I hesitated
when I awoke from the dream. He
was - according to the C13th
Icelandic author Snorri Sturluson in
his Edda - the first son of the
giantess Nótt, [Night], and
probably the father of her daughter
Jörð [Earth].
So the dream reflected the myth
beautifully, but there was more.
The name, this word, ‘Auður,’
was in itself a symbol of what I was
looking for.
I looked into the word as a
symbol. It is a masculine word,
the noun ‘auður’ means
‘riches’ or ‘wealth,’ and
the adjective - ‘auður’
(masculine), ‘auð’
(feminine), ‘autt’
(neuter) - means
‘empty’ or ‘void.’
There are also
related feminine
nouns, like ‘auðn’
[wasteland],
whereas the
feminine ‘auðna’
means ‘fortune’
or ‘luck.’
The powerful
paradox of the ‘wealth
hidden in the void,’ and
‘the fortune in the
desert,’ was immediately
apparent and beautifully
expressed in my dream.
But Auður is never used as a
man's name any more, it is a now
a woman's name. So I looked into
the origin of the female version of
the feminine noun.
Its meaning is translated
roughly: ‘destiny,’ ‘death,’
‘happiness,’ ‘fortune,’ a goddess
of fate, the ‘web of fate.’
And I felt that this was my task,
to remember the paradox. Myths
are essentially paradoxical, they
can never fit into a dualistic and
rationalistic mindset.
With that in mind I re-searched
Freyja and her myths, and there I
found many aspects of her which I
had never noticed before. I saw the
goddess, the völva and valkyrie,
and in fact I saw all that I found in
a new context.
Then I came to a halt, because
almost everything that I found
written, both the old literature and
the scholarly writings of the last
few centuries, came from a
Christian and-or dualistic, Below:
patriarchal point of view. modern artist’s
There were few doors leading to intepretation of
a deeper mythic, shamanic, the high seat of
feminist and holistic understanding; a völva - possibly
although many scholars were, of a representation
course, precious in their approach
of Freyja or
and comments, and I would have
possibly Óðinn
been really stuck without them. But
there was still something missing. The original was
So I had to look elsewhere, and a small silver
sometimes one sees things most statue, found in
clearly Lejre, Eastern
Denmark,
dating to
C900
CE
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Óðinn needs to awaken the völva
and use her wisdom to understand
what is going on in his world.
She has been sleeping in the
Lower World, so the children of
Earth haven't had access to her
wisdom for a long time
from a distance. I travelled across
the ocean and studied at the
California Institute of Integral
Studies. There I learned to trust
my dreams, and I studied women's
spirituality, the history of religion,
philosophy and archeaomythology,
and the theory of Maria Gimbutas,
the Lithuanian-American
Right: a modern archaeologist and anthropologist,
recreation of a known for her research into the
völva’s staff, a Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures
copy of one of Europe.
found in a grave
at Gävle, in From those points of view, with
Sweden an emphasis on the old, old deities,
the story of thought and
Below: the humankind, which go all the way
C13th Codex back to Paleolithic times, I got a
Regius different perspective on the
manuscript and literature and legends of my land
and the C14th and its myths. I found connections
Flateyjarbok that were suddenly obvious, and
manuscript which made sense to me.
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Freyja merged with Auður, and
around them the world flourished.
Meaningless words and sentences,
images and symbols became living
ideas with deep, deep roots into
my own inner world, my dreams,
with connections to the outer world
and it's treasures and pitfalls.
I could see how the ancient
poem Völuspá - first and best
known of the Icelandic Poetic
Edda, which tells the story of the
creation of the world, and its
ending - was a true and living
account of world history, both
measured in millennia and
moments, and in both a physical
and spiritual context.
I could see how the medieval
writer Snorri Sturluson's
Heimskringla - a collection of
sagas about the Norwegian kings
- were rendering events of this
world, as well as mythological
ones. The world of humans and
time - measured in minutes,
hours and years, and the
timeless world, where the Web
of the Universe connects every
thing and every time.
And from there, from the
‘non-divided timeless web,’ I
felt a need to divide, define,
describe through connection to
other myths, other stories and
towards re-connection.
And since almost all the
focus of medieval Norse
literature is from - and towards
- the world of males, and
since I am a woman, I felt a
need to look at the female
aspects to re-root and re-
member the balance.
SEEKING FREYJA
I felt that in the saga of
Freyja and her numerous
roles, was an earth that
could give me and others a
chance to be rooted, an
earth that could flourish
again. But, how do we
remember those roots?
Memory is collective,
that is my firm belief,
although it may be in ways
that are hidden, and may
not be meant to be fully
understood.
I defined my sources
for memory in this case,
as three strands in a braid.
Firstly, there is the old
literature, lost and
then partly found,
often buried in remote
places, and clad in the
mystery of mythical
symbolism.
Secondly there is the
information, lost and found
again, in the ground and in the
roots of language, and even in
the DNA of modern people. This
is discovered by archaeo-
mythologists and other scientists,
and brought to us through
modern literature, and now of
course the world wide web.
The scope of this strand is
broader than any person can
hold, so I had to limit myself
more than I find feasible, but
that's life.
And thirdly there are my
dreams and visions, tapping into
the ultimate Auður, the rich
subconscious ocean of
information.
And finally, there is the
weaving of all three.
I started with Völuspá - which is
sometimes known as ‘The
Prophecy of the Seeress,’ or ‘the
Sibyls Prophecy.
It is the opening poem in the old
manuscript called the Codex
Regius, which dates to about
C1270, although the stories are
much older and scholars think it
was probably first written, or even
composed, in its preserved form in
the C10th. Later this set of stories
became know as the ‘Poetic
Edda,’ and they contain a
collection a old mythic poems.
Völuspá has been found in other
manuscripts too, and sometimes
these differ somewhat, which gives
us at times choices in how we
understand it. But in all her
versions, Völuspá is a poem of the
saga of our world and the worlds of
the divine and semi-divine beings -
from beginning to end, and a new
beginning. It is circular.
THE STAFF AND THE SEEING
It is told by a völva - a wise woman
or female shaman - at Óðinn’s
request. The word ‘völuspá’ is
made up from the words völva [or
vala], and spá.
I have a theory that the word
völva is the same as the English
world vulva. Most scholars say the
word derives from a ritual staff -
called a völur - which the völva held
while she was in trance talking with
the spirits. According to them
völva would mean ‘a woman with a
staff, or wand.’ I don‘t agree.
However, the word ‘völur’ also
means - and is the same word as -
phallus; and both ‘völur’ and ‘völva’
have the same root in Latin;
‘volvere’ [to turn].
The English word ‘evolve’ has
the same root, and also from that
root comes the English word ‘vulva.’
So the name for a priestess
practicing the ancient Norse form of
female shamanism seiðr, or seiður,
comes from her place of femaleness,
her vulva; which in turn derives from
the evolving regenerative function of
women as creatrix and the goddess
of life and death.
The female shaman - the völva -
carries the völur, the phallus - in
the form of a staff - as a symbol of
male-energy, to create the sacred
balance.

In Völuspá the völva remembers,

she ‘sees.’ The word spá originally
has the meaning ‘to see’ and is
related to the English word ‘spy’
and Icelandic word ‘spegill’ [mirror].
In modern Icelandic it usually
refers to a prophecy, or future for silence from all beings, higher Top Left:
vision, and in the poem the völva and lower children of Heimdallur.” Heimdallur
focuses her sight in all directions - blowing his horn,
what we call past, present and As I read and digested the Gjallarhorn
future - but it is all in the ‘now’, in poem, I listened to her words too, Above: Óðinn
the form of the tree, with its roots, and I listened to what lay behind, riding Sleipnir,
stem and branches, all existing below and beyond her words. his eight-legged
simultaniously. The völva assumes that the horse
listener has a general knowledge of
THE WORDS OF THE VÖLVA the story behind the big story. Both drawings
Óðinn - Odin - needs to awaken She describes the tree, and Jakob Sigurðsson:
the völva and use her wisdom to assumes that the ones listening C1760
understand what is going on in his know the roots and the branches of
world. She has been sleeping in the tree. She mentions the bride of
the Lower World, so the children of Óður, assuming the listeners know
Earth haven't had access to her she is talking about Freyja, and
wisdom for a long time. that they know Freyja’s story, know Left: the
Óðinn has given away one of his her powers, know her importance. great ash tree
eyes for knowledge, and the völva Some of these stories, or pieces Yggdrasill and
tells us in the poem that the god of them, we can find in other the creatures
Heimdallur - who is the one who sources, and some are lost to us. that inhabit it:
listens and warns if danger is ahead Almost all the stories that have the hawk
- has given away one of his ears. So survived have been handed to us Veðrfölnir, the
the situation is dire; the protectors by scholars and writers who were unnamed eagle
are half-blind and half-deaf. no longer in touch with the at the top of the
The Völva demands that not essence of these stories and their tree, the four
only Óðinn - but all beings of the mythic beings, and who even saw stags Dáinn,
world - listen to her words; “I ask them as evil powers. Dvalinn, Duneyrr
and Duraþró,
The völva focuses her sight in all directions - the squirrel
what we call past, present and future - Ratatoskr and
the dragon
but it is all in the ‘now’, in the form of the Niðhöggr who
gnaws the roots
tree, with its roots, stem and branches, Anonymous
all existing simultaneously drawing: C1680

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 Most scholars look to Völuspá,
and Old Icelandic literature in
general, as historical research
material, which has little or nothing
to do with us as living people.
So to understand this great
poem, and the culture and myths it
is based on, we need to gather
information, not only from our
Norse literature, but also from the
literature from elsewhere, literature
which existed long before we
began to write down our thoughts
and beliefs.
I do that, assuming that people
everywhere have, deep in their
DNA, similar archetypical
knowledge, or a base of wisdom,
on which they build their myths and
ideas of the world.
I do that, assuming that there are
Below: living energies which are timeless
spectacular and far more universal than we can
Kirkjufell in the ever understand, and that the myths
West of Iceland reflect those living energies.
Iceland is a young country,
the first settling of the land
we know of was in the C9th,
some 1100 or 1200 years ago
26
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THE BLOOD LINES OF ICELAND
Let's look closer at the roots of the
Icelandic culture.
Icelandic roots are made up of
at least three main strands,
genetically and culturally; and this
has been recently verified by
genetic research.
We are Norse, and we are
Celtic. The men are more Norse
genetically, the women are more
Celtic. But we are also Saami
(from the northernmost parts of
Europe), and just as with every
culture, we are influenced by the
world around us.
Iceland is a young country, the
first settling of the land we know of
was in the C9th, some 1100 or
1200 years ago.
Over time, settlers travelled
from far and wide, and their
ancestors came from many
different parts of the world. From
early on, Icelanders had contact
with the indigenous cultures of
Greenland and North America, so
what we generally call the ‘Norse
myths’ and mythic beings within
them, are of course not at all solely
Norse, they have developed from
many different sources. Therefore,
although I choose to talk about
Icelandic myths, and that might
appear to be a limited definition -
and perhaps a nationalistic one too -
in reality it is not. What was brought
to, learned, developed and written
down in Iceland, was influenced by
many cultures.
To understand those myths, we
also need to look at their pantheon
of divine beings.
This pantheon consists of many
divine ‘tribes,’ who again
correspond to human tribes or
cultures in history.
In the myths we find:
• The Æsir are, on the one hand, a
human tribe of Indo-Europeans
[Kurgans] who lived East of the
River Don in Russia, and, on the
other hand, they appear as a divine
tribe of warriors and poets
• The Vanir were a human tribe of
old Europeans, who were living
west of the River Don. They were
peaceful, and had a culture of love
and abundance. They also appear
as a divine tribe, with deities of
love, fertility and peace.
• The Jötnar represent the human
tribe of Finns and the Saami.
When they appear as a divine or
mythic tribe, they are the giants,
called jötnar in the myths.
• The Álfar are an otherworldly
tribe, and may be the same as the
Vanir, since the god Freyr is the
king of the Álfar.
• The Dvergarare are aboriginal
beings, connected to the earth and its
treasures. They are all male and are
known as the masters of metalurgy.
We are Norse, and
we are Celtic, we
are also Saami,
and just as with
every culture, we
are influenced by
the world around us
• The Valkyries are female semi-
divine beings. They are
psychopomps, bird goddesses,
warriors, and norns [goddesses of
fate]. The valkyries are said to be
the daughters of Óðinn, his
handmaidens, and they follow as
he orders, and if they do not obey,
they are punished.
Sometimes many different
definitions for one being are used.
For example, a female being of the
Jötunn tribe is sometimes called a
Jötunmaiden, and sometimes a
Þursa-maiden, and sometimes a
tröll. She is a Norn, and sometimes
a völva, and sometimes she might
even be a valkyrja.
In the poem Völuspá, the völva
is awakened from a deep sleep by
Óðinn. He demands that she tell
him everything about the situation
of the world – since he realises
that his world is in great danger.
She tells him - and all the
beings of this world - a story
throughout time, and a timeless
story. She remembers the
beginning of time and she sees the
end of time, and a new beginning.
She asks him regularily: “Do you
know yet - or what? But he has to
hear all of the story.
She is telling him her own story,
as well as the story of the world, so
she, herself, is a character in that
poem. She is the völva who
remembers, and she gives her
name as Heiður.
In the stanza before she
mentions her own name, and talks
about the völva, she introduces
another female character called
Gullveig, and, she gives us the idea
that she is also Gullveig, and that
she is the Goddess of the Vanir,
who in other words is Freyja herself
Það man hún fólkvíg
fyrst í heimi,
er Gullveigu
geirum studdu,
og í höllu Hárs
hana brenndu;
þrisvar brenndu,
þrisvar borna,
oft, ósjaldan,
þó hún enn lifir.
She well remembers
world’s first war,
when Gullveig
was stabbed with spears
in hall of High
they burned her;
three times burned, Above:
three times born, Njörður, god
again, often, of the sea and
yet, she still lives. of the wind
releasing the
Völuspá: stanza 21
wind from a bag
DISCOVERING FREYJA
Let us take a short look at what we
Njörður was the
father of Freyja
know about Freyja from the
and her brother,
medieval poet Snorri Sturluson,
who is, after all, the main source
and lover, Freyr,
Anonymous
on the myths.
He tells us that Freyja was the
drawing: C1680
daughter of the ancient Vanir god
Njörður - of whom little is known.
She was a blótgyðja [high-
priestess], and was the first to teach
seiður to the Æsir. So Freyja is the
high-priestess of the Vanir, when
she is a woman, and is the goddess
of the Vanir when she is divine.
Snorri says: ‘Freyja is greatest
[among the goddesses] with Frigg.
She married a man called Óður.
Their daughter is Hnoss. She is so
beautiful, that from her name, that
which is beautiful and precious is
called hnossir [‘jewels’ or
‘treasures’]. Óður went away on
long travels, but Freyja weeps for
him, and her tears are red gold.
Óður is her husband, and that is
all we know of him. His name
means both poetry - we still use
the word ‘ode’ to mean a form of
lyric poetry - and madness. The
weeping Freyja reminds us of the
weeping Egyptian goddess Isis,
whose husband, Osiris, she weeps
for as she goes looking for him.
Isis is a goddess of a thousand
names, so let's look at that aspect
of Freyja - her name - according to
Snorri: ‘Freyja has many names,
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Right: Silver and the reason is [Gefn]; and she is the that of a love
valkyrie figure. that she referred shining sea, goddess, but my
Central Denmark to herself in [Mardöll]. image of Freyja is
C800 CE different ways, In the second that of the Great
when she part of Snorri Goddess and völva -
travelled among Sturluson's Edda - the shaman. Many of
foreign peoples, known as the old Icelandic myths
looking for Óður. Skáldskaparmál - he are shamanic and the
She is called gives examples of heroes of those myths
Mardöll [Shining how she is seen: are most often
Sea], Hörn [flax] ‘How would you Óðinn, Loki and
Gefn [The Giving paraphrase Freyja. Snorri
One] and Sýr [Sow]. Freyja? By tells us that
calling her Freyja was
He also tells us daughter of the original
that: ‘From her name, Njörður; sister of goddess or
it is a title of honour Freyr; wife of priestess of
to call grand ladies Óður; mother of sacrifices,
‘fróvur’ [ladies]. Hnoss; possessor of and she was
Freyja is really not the slain; owner of the one who
a name as such, but Sessrúmnir [her hall]; knew the art of seiður,
instead is a title, goddess of beautiful an art which was not
Below and comparable to ‘Lady.’ weeping; and as ástaguð thought fit for men to learn,
Bottom Right: We see the same in the [god of love].’ so it was only taught to the
valkyrie figures. way we address ‘Our Freyja could be called goddesses. Óðinn, however
C10th Lady Mary,’ ‘Notre ‘Dame,’ and Frigg, Sága, Eir, Gefjun, Fulla, wanted to learn it - at whatever cost
Vor Frue.’ and the Sumerian Sjöfn, Lofn, Vár, Vör, Sýn, Hlín, - so he became a pupil of Freyja.
goddess Nin-gal also means Snotra, Gná, Sól, Bil, Jörð and
‘Great Lady.’ The word Freyja Rindur, as well as Sif and Iðunn. THE NECKLACE OF FIRE
has the same roots as the She could be called Gerður or One very interesting story survives
German word for a married Skaði. In the poems and myths she in Flateyjarbók - an important
woman, Frau, frú in Icelandic. is also Menglöð, Göndul, and she Icelandic manuscript of stories,
So this title, Freyja, has may well be Gullveig. complied in the late C14th. In the
survived as the goddess‘ most All these names and titles reflect chapter called Sörlaþáttur, about
common name, and her partly her role as a Great Goddess; how Freyja acquired Brísingamen -
brother - and lover - is best and partly reflect her long and the necklace of fire.
known to us as Freyr [Lord]. complex - although obscure - Flateyjarbók was written by
history. She is a goddess, forever Christian priests, or monks, and is
Freyja has many faces transforming, forever taking new probably meant as an illustration of
too, many forms. She is the forms in the minds and hearts of Freyja’s unsaintliness - maybe in
fertile sow, [Sýr], she is the new people, and thus she has an attempt to do away with her for
growth of earth, the flax many, many names. Today, the good. If was written for that end, it
[Hörn]; she is the giver most common image of Freyja is had a reverse effect, for it is the

Right: image of
a witch riding
a cat. Many
experts put
forward the
idea that this
is a picture
of Freyja, or a
folklore memory
of Freyja in the
form of a witch
Schleswiger
Catherdral,
Germany. C13th

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most fascinating myth, and a clear Four dwarfs lived in a stone in Ásgarður,
example of her shamanic role.
Freyja was at that time living and one day Freyja visited them and saw
among the Æsir in Ásgarður - one
of the Nine Worlds of Norse Brísingamen, a golden necklace, which the
mythology, and home of the Æsir dwarfs were crafting. Freyja offered them
tribe of gods. This land lay to the
east of the river Don, and she was gold and silver, but they had enough of such
the lover of Óðinn.
As the story goes, there were
treasure. So in turn, they said what they
four dwarfs living in a stone in wanted in return was one night with her
Ásgarður, and dwarfs are said to
have mingled more with humans in each. Freyja agreed, and so she made
those days than they do today. love to each dwarf in turn, and then
One day Freyja visited the
dwarfs in the stone, and while she returned to her house with Brísingamen
was there she saw Brísingamen, a
golden necklace, which the four
dwarfs were crafting.
The beauty of the necklace
instantly captured Freyja, and
likewise, Freyja’s radiant beauty
captured the dwarfs
Wishing to own the necklace,
Freyja offered them gold and silver
for it, but, being dwarfs, they had
enough of such treasure. So in
turn, they haggled with her, and
said they would each sell their Left: part of
share of Brísingamen, but what a Viking gold
they wanted in return was one necklace. The
night with her each. figure in the
Freyja agrees, and so, for the centre of each
next four nights she makes love to disc is thought
each dwarf in turn, in the dark of possibly to be a
their stone, and then returns to her representation
house with Brísingamen. of Óðinn
Now, Freyja’s house is always
securely locked to outsiders, other
than those she would - on her own
free will - let in.
Unbeknown to Freyja, the god
Loki had followed her and he goes
and tells Óðinn what he has seen.
Óðinn becomes furious with
jealousy, since he is very much in
love with Freyja himself, and also
desires Brísingamen. And so Óðinn
gets Loki to shape-shift and steal
the necklace from Freyja.
First Loki changes into a fly, and
gets through a tiny hole under the
roof of Freyja’s house, into her
temple. But when he does, he
finds that she is sleeping with the
necklace around her neck, and the
catch to it is underneath her neck.
So Loki, he changes into a flea
and bites her, and she turns over in
her sleep, and Loki gains access to
the catch of the necklace
Brísingamen, and he undoes it and Left: Parts of a
takes the necklace to Óðinn. golden Viking
When Freyja wakes up the next necklace, a
morning, she discovers that the torque and a
necklace is gone, and she becomes golden medallion

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Loki changes into a fly, and gets
through a tiny hole under the
roof of Freyja’s house. But she is
sleeping with Brísingamen around
her neck, and the catch to it is
underneath her neck. So he
changes into a flea and bites her,
and she turns over in her sleep.
So Loki gains access to the catch
of the necklace and undoes it
and takes the necklace to Óðinn
furious, going to Óðinn’s hall and
demanding to be given it back.
Óðinn agrees, but sets a
condition on it, telling her she can
have the necklace if she finds the
world’s two most powerful kings and
causes a forever-ongoing war
between them. ... and so she does 1.
Freyja is immersed into the
warrior culture of the Æsir, and
here we have an example of how
Óðinn gains power over her and
she becomes his mistress and his
Right: Loki emissary in war.
with his net. We see the same in myths such
Jakob Sigurðsson as Völsungasaga - a late C13th
C1760 Icelandic manuscript - where
Óðinn’s daughter, the valkyrie
Brynhildur disobeys him, and she is
forced to marry, which is not
something she wishes. Brynhildur
is punished and so is Freyja.

Another myth of Freyja as a

shaman or völva, has survived in a
poem called Hyndluljóð, preserved in
the C14th Flateyjarbók manuscript.
It is one of my favourites,
because it shows a fascinating
aspect of the relationship between
two goddesses, one from the tribe
of the Giants (Jötnamey) and the
other a goddess of the Vanir.
It is a conversation between
Freyja and the giantess Hyndla,
whom Freyja visits on a journey to
the Lower World.
The purpose of the journey is to
remember, to find the roots of a
king‘s son, who has lost his land to
an enemy. He needs to remember
his ancestors to be eligible as a king.
Freyja does not remember, she
is a goddess of the world now, an
Right: Viking Upperworld goddess, but she
silver gilt knows that her sister in the Lower
pendant World remembers everything. So
C10th she disguises her protegee as a

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boar and rides on his back to visit
the völva Hyndla.
Vaki mær meyja
vaki mín vina
Hyndla systir
er í helli býr
nú er rökkr rökkra
ríða við skulum
til Valhallar
ok til vés heilags.
Wake mighty maiden
wake my friend
my sister Hyndla
the hollow dweller
now is the darkest dark
and we shall ride
to the Hall of Valur
and to the holy shrine
Hyndluljóð: stanza 1
Hyndla takes her time, she has
great power although she is the
underprivileged one.
At last, at the constant urge of
Freyja, she recites the names of the
foremothers and fathers of Óttarr,
but she uses the opportunity to
show Freyja her distrust and disgust.
Freyja stays calm as they fight
with words, and it is clear that both
respect the other, despite all. That
respect and the balance between
them is constantly threatened by
both but at the end they part in
peace, each has offered what the
other needed.
The Great Goddess cannot be
defined, neither can she be killed.
She is forever reborn, as divine
being, as nature, as human being.
Heiður, the völva of the poem
Völuspá, sees forthcoming the great
battle between the tribes of the
world - whether human or divine -
as they continue on their blind race
towards the destruction of earth.
Sól tér sortna,
sígr fold í mar,
hverfa af himni
heiðar stjörnur;
geisar eimi
ok aldrnari,
leikr hár hiti
við himin sjalfan.
Sun will blacken,
earth sinks into sea,
shining stars
from heaven vanish;
Furious flames
in the towering tree;
the raging heat
reaches heaven.
Völuspá: stanza 57
And then, just as Gullveig is
forever reborn - stabbed with
spears in hall of High, they burned
her; three times burned, three
times born, again, often, yet, she
still lives - so too is Earth.
When Freyja sees the barren
earth, caused by the imbalance and
ignorance of the reigning powers,
she merges, again and often, with
the giants, the dwarfs or her sisters
and re-creates a wholeness, a
balance, Brísingamen as culture,
as wisdom, as nature.
Sér hún upp koma
öðru sinni
jörð úr ægi
iðjagræna;
falla fossar,
flýgr örn yfir,
sá er á fjalli
fiska veiðir.
She sees upcoming
a second time
green earth growing
great from the sea
Falling waters
flying eagle
from the mountain
fish catching.
Völuspá: stanza 59
The poem Völuspá ends with
the völva descending again into the
Lowerworld. She has said all she
has to say for now. And so have I.
Valgerður H. Bjarnadóttir has a degree in
Social Work, BA in Integral Studies (with
an emphasis on dream-work) and an MA
in Women's Spirituality (with an emphasis
on Norse mythology and it's roots and
branches) from CIIS, San Fransisco.
She has studied shamanism with Lynn V.
Andrews, Caitlín Matthews, Robert Moss,
Carlos Castaneda, Bíret Marit Callio and
more. She is the author of ‘The Saga of
Vanadís, Völva and Valkyrja, published 2009.
Valgerður teaches, counsels, writes and
organises workshops in shamanism,
dreams, mythology, self-empowerment,
women's history etc. She lives in a remote
valley in the North of Iceland.
www.vanadis.is
www.facebook.com/vanadisenglish
NOTES:
1: The story in the Flateyjarbók
manuscript explains that In exchange for
giving back Brísingamen, Óðinn ordered
Freyja to make two kings - king Högni and
king Heðinn, each served by twenty kings
- fight forever, unless a brave Christian
man dares to enter the battle and slay
them. Freyja told Óðinn that she would,
and so she got the necklace back.
Under her spell the two kings battled for
one hundred and forty-three years, and as
soon as they fell down, they had to stand
up again and fight on. But in the end, a
Christian lord, called Olaf Tryggvason,
arrived with a group of fellow Christians,
and because - according to the story -
whoever was slain by a Christian would stay
dead, they kill the two pagan kings and all
their men, ending the never ending battle.
This story was part of the Christian
propaganda of the time, saying in this
way, that the pagan traditions of Iceland
had been killed and defeated forever by
Below: the
the arrival of Christianity. wild and dramtic
Little did the Christian monks who wrote landscape of
that medieval story know... Iceland
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runes,
Alphabet
q ends with ‘z’. But for us to be able
and
qmagic
Anja Normann
A lot has been written about runes,
and one thing they all have in
common is that no one really
knows what they are, where they
came from, and what you do with
them; instead, everybody has their
own theory, just as I do. There are,
however, some historical facts, and
some common points on the
subject, so let us start by looking at
those, and then go into their
magical aspects.
THE ROOTS OF THE RUNES
The runes are an alphabet which
probably derived from the alphabet
used by the north Etruscans, who
came from Tuscany, Umbria and
Lazio in Italy, and whose alphabet
was used upto about the C4th CE.
The runic alphabet as we know
it today, was used in the Germanic
an Scandinavian countries, and the
first actual runic inscriptions have
been dated to around 150 CE.
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There are three different runic
alphabets, and these could be seen
as the three main groups. These
are the ‘Elder Futharc’ runes, used
in northern Europe before about
800 CE; the ‘Anglo-Saxon’ runes,
used in Britain from about the C5-
6th; and finally the ‘Younger
Futharc’ runes, which were used in
Scandinavia and Iceland between
the C8-13th. There are also more
local runes, such as ones used in
the Älvdalen area of Sweden -
which are still in use.
The word ‘Futharc’ comes from
the names of the first six
characters of the alphabet; feh, ur,
thurs, ass, reid and k(c)en. The
Elder Futhark had 24 characters,
and the Younger Futhark only 16,
but each character in that set was
given several sounds, which made
writing easier. The Anglo-Saxon
runes, however, needed more signs
for different sounds, so they added
more runes, resulting in a 33
character alphabet.
I would also like to mention the
‘Uthark Runes,’ a runic alphabet
used in mostly Sweden. This has
the same 24 characters as in the
Elder Futharc, but here, instead of
starting with ‘feh,’ it starts with ‘ur’
and has ‘feh’ at the end of the
alphabet.
The progression of the runes is
not linear, but circular - or spiralling
- with no beginning and no end to
their sequence - unlike our own
alphabet, which starts with ‘a’ and
to make sense of an alphabet we
need a beginning to it - and an
end, an ‘a’ and a ‘z’.
The rune ‘ur’ means ‘origin.’
This rune is associated with
Audhumbla, the nurturing, milk
giving wild cow, which was the first
being created in the Nordic
creation myth.
The last characters,‘feh,’ is
associated with domesticated
cattle, and it is logical to start with
the wild, and finish with the
domesticated. So starting with ‘ur,’
and ending with ‘feh’ has always
seemed logical to me, and it also
speaks to my heart.
But one of the beauties of the
runes is that this type of
understanding is personal, and so
up to everyone who works with
runes to find what speaks to them.
THE POWER OF THE RUNES
A lot of ancient runic inscriptions
can be found carved on stones and
monuments, erected to honour
someone, or sometimes as magic
formula. It is certain however, that
the runes were also used as more
than just a written alphabet.
There are descriptions of the
use of runes in magical practices
found in ancient accounts. For
example, in the writings of Tacitus -
a Roman senator and historian -
we learn that the Germanic people
used pieces of wood with signs on
them, which they cast on the floor
and interpreted before taking any
big decision.
In the Viking sagas we also find
examples of the runes being used
for magical purposes. In the
Icelandic poet Erik
Skallagrimsson’s Saga, written
around 960 CE, it is told that a
young man, who loved a beautiful
girl, tried to use the runes to make
her fall in love with him.
 The girl became ill, and was
near death, until Erik
Skallagrimsson discovered the
runes under her bed, whereupon,
he erases the runic marks on them
and wrote healing runes in their
place, which made her regain her
health.
This tale serves as a warning
not to use the runes without having
a good connection with them.
If we look at the Viking Eddas,
we can find several clues as to the
supposed magical origin of the
runes. In the early medieval
Völuspá manuscript - first writen
down in the C13th in the Codex
Regius, we read:
Ash I know standing,
named Yggdrasill,
a lofty tree, laved
with limpid water:
thence comes dew
that in dales fell;
stands always over
the green Urd’s well.
Thence comes maidens,
much knowing,
three, from the hall
under tree stands;
Urd hight the first,
the second Verdandi,
they ash-tablets graved,
Skuld hight the third;
They laws made,
they life selected;
all the children
they destiny say.
Völuspá: stanzas 18-20
Here - in the ‘graved ash- with the runes, I see them coming Below:
tablets’ - we come across the first up from out of that well, swirling Runestone at
sign of runes being used in the and teaching me. Växjö cathedral,
nordic text. The Norns - the three Sweden. It
maidens in the poem - are the Stanza 141 of Hávamál uses the translates as:
ones who know the past, the word ‘wailing;’ a sound, a cry. In ‘Tóki the Viking,
present and the future. The poem the Swedish version of the poem raised the stone
states that the ones who weave the the word is ‘skrikande’ [screaming], in memory of
destiny of men, carve on ash- which is once again a sound. The Gunnarr, Grímr's
tablets, the laws and the destiny. runes themselves are also son. May God
considerd to have sounds, and the help his soul’
And then we have Óðinn’s runes are meant to be sounded. C12th
initiation, found in Hávamál, So, let’s make a giant jump to the
another poem in the Codex Regius: myth of creation - where at the
beginning there was ‘no earth and
I know that I hung,
no sky,’ there was just Ginnungagap,
on a wind-rocked tree,
which means ‘the big void,’ but
nine whole nights,
which can also mean ‘the big
with a spear wounded,
mouth;’ and mouths make sounds.
and to Odin offered,
Could it be that at the beginning Below Left:
myself to myself;
was sound? Many creation myths Codex Runicus
on that tree,
have the sound as there starting manuscript
of which no one knows
points - ‘in the beginning was the from Sweden or
from what root it springs.
word.’ Could it be that the sound of Denmark which
Bread no one gave me, the runes connects us to this contains a mix
nor a horn of drink, original sound; that they make the of legal and
downward I peered, Great Web, in which everything is historical texts
to runes applied myself, connected within one vibration? C1300
wailing learnt them,
then fell down thence.
Hávamál: stanzas 140-141
In that poem, we learn that
Óðinn got his runes after a long
and difficult initiation, and that he
got them looking down.
Could it be that he was looking
down into the Well of Urd, the
deep well where the Norns take
water, and from out of which grows
Yggdrasil the cosmic tree? That is
my theory, and every time I connect
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 Runes can change things, they Then I began to bear fruit, MY OWN RUNIC JOURNEY
can heal, and they can destroy. If and to know many things, So, let me tell you the tale of a
you sing the 24 runes of the Elder to grow and well thrive: little girl who fell and hurt her
Futhark over and over again, you word by word ankle. She was picked up by her
may experience a profound trance I sought out words, great-grandmother, who put the
state, and a connection to the fact by fact little girl on her lap, and sang with
Great Mystery, to the universe as a I sought out facts. a soft voice while stroking the little
whole. It is said that if you do, it is girl’s hurt foot with gentle hands.
Runes thou wilt find,
possible to actually see, and The little girl stopped crying, and
and explained characters,
interact with that Great Web which felt the warmth that spread through
very large characters,
binds us all. her ankle, and the pain
very potent characters,
So, be careful, don't seek to disappeared.
which the great speaker depicted,
interact, not unless you know what The little girl was me and Selma
and the high powers formed,
you are doing. Remember that was my great-grandmother, and
and the powers’ prince graved:
young man in Erik Skallagrimsson’s the song she sang was one of
Saga, who almost killed his beloved Hávamál: stanzas 143-144 healing runes.
because he didn’t have enough That was my first contact with
Knowest thou how to grave them?
knowledge. runes, the 24 sounds, the 24
knowest thou how to expound them?
characters, the 24 signs of the
knowest thou how to depict them?
In Óðinn’s Runesong, found in Universe, which allow us to
knowest thou how to prove them?
Hávamál, is described all the work connect with the Great Web.
knowest thou how to pray?
he did to understand and to be able
knowest thou how to offer?
to use the runes after his initiation, Many books have been written
knowest thou how to send?
as well as what he - and therefore on the runes, some are very good,
knowest thou how to consume?
we - need to know before using and some are less so. But I didn’t
the runes: Hávamál: stanzas 146 learned the runes from books,

Right:
Runestone
at Kullerstad,
Sweden. It
translates as:
‘Hákon raised
this monuments
in memory of
Gunnarr, his son.
He died in the
West.’ C11th

Far right:
Runestone at
Nöbbeleholm,
Sweden. It
translates as:
‘Gunnkell placed
this stone in
memory of
Gunnarr, his
father, Hróði's
son. Helgi, his
brother, laid
him in a stone
coffin in Bath
in England.
C10-11th

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instead I learned from family
traditions, and from the runes
themselves, by listening to them
deeply over the years, listening to
their own teachings.
A few years after my first
meeting with the runes, I saw some
strange signs on Selma’s old
wooden spoons, and I asked my
mother about them.
My
mother told
me they were
runes, and she told me the tale of
the creation of our world, about the
Ginnungagap - with Muspelheim,
the world of fire, on one side, and
the Nifelheim, world of ice, on the
other side.
And my mother told me how,
one day, sparks from the fires of
Muspelheim crossed the big void
and melted the ice at the source of
Hvergelmir, one of the great rivers
which feed the roots of the cosmic
tree Yggdrasil. And my mother
continued her story and told
me how two beings
emerged from the mist,
Audhumbla, the first cow,
and Thurs the first giant.
And so, in this way, I
learned the names
of the two first runes
ur (u) and thurs (t).
Many years later, I was doing an
utesita - a ‘sitting out’, which is a
nordic version of a vision quest.
That night the runes came to me -
one by one - and they taught me,
they connected with me, and
invited me to go upon a long
journey; one which I think will
continue for the rest of my life.
Recently I was driving in the
Pyrenees mountains in France, it
was during a snowstorm and
driving was hazardous. I began to
lose control of my car and it began
to slide towards the edge of the
road, and a long fall down to the
valley below.
As I slid, a rune immediately
came in front of my inner eye;
eho (y), the rune of the yew
tree - a strong and resilient tree.
If you look at it’s shape, you will
see it has a hook on both ends.
With my mind, I ‘threw’ this rune
on to all four wheels of my car,
which immediately gained a grip on whole forest just to get our fire
the road once again; and then I started.
made prayers of gratitude to my
great-grandmother, my mother and Anja Normann has been on a shamanic
the runes. path since she was six years old, but did
not realise it at the time.
She has studied shamanism with Jonathan
Have you ever forgotten to Horwitz, Annette Høst, Mikkal Smith
turn the lights of and Thierry Piras, and has also
your car studied with traditional shamans in
Mongolia and Tuva.
Her roots are Nordic, and her work
is deeply connected to the Nordic
off, and traditions and her family traditions.
have come back to find She is a member of the ‘Cercle de Below:
yourself with a flat battery? Next Sagesse et Traditions Ancestrales’ - the Runestone
circle of wisdom and ancestral traditions,
time, try using the rune ur an association of shamans from all over
in Gillberga,
(u). It has saved me from the world. Sweden.
having to ask for help in Although Swedish, she currently lives in It translates as:
this exact situation. Just, France, where she teaches and does ‘Rauðr raised
healing work
in your mind’s eye, picture www.vitkanordika.com
this stone in
it, superimposed upon the vitkanordika@gmail.com memory of Tóki,
battery, and sing it too, make it’s www.cercledesagesse.com
his brother, a
sound, send out the intention of very good
getting the ‘power of the origin’ If you are looking for a book to guide you, valiant man,
I highly recommend ‘Rune Magic and
into your battery. Shamanism - Original Nordic Knowledge
who was killed
You won’t be able to charge from Mother Earth’ by Jörgen I. Eriksson. in England’
completely flat batteries using this Available at Amazon. C10-11th
rune of course, otherwise we would
be able to reduced our electricity
bills dramatically, but as a way to
get help in an emergency situation
it works just fine for me.
I don’t only use runes with my
car, I use them to help to get my
fire started too, especially when it’s
difficult, or the wood is wet. I also
use them to help my well flow, and
never get dry, so I always have
water.
When its cold outside, and I’m
freezing, or when I’m too warm on
a hot summer day I sing a rune.
And of course, I use them in my
healing work.
I used to work in a hospital and
also gave home care to patients.
Sometimes I had patients who had
difficulties breathing because of
the humidity and heat, and in those
cases I put a rune connected with
air - with my mind’s eye - upon my
hands, and then I could help them.
These are only a few examples
of how we can use runes in our
everyday life.
But before we use them, we
need to get to know them. It is
important that we connect with
them and ask them to teach us.
They are strong, powerful, and it’s
possible to make things worse
instead of better if we don’t know
what you are doing.
Again, remember the young
man in Erik Skallagrimsson’s Saga,
we do not want to burn down the
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Above: the In the northwest of Iceland, in a
Sorcerer’s fishing village called Hólmavík, lies
Cottage at Strandagaldur - The Museum of
Bjarnarfjörður Icelandic Sorcery and Witchcraft.
This small private museum is
dedicated to the folklore and history
of sorcery and witchcraft in Iceland,
a tradition which has a long history,
since the island was first populated
around 1200 years ago.
A Magic of
Ice and Fire
Nicholas Breeze Wood
The Vikings were the first to
bring their traditions to this tree
covered island, followed by the Celts
from Ireland and Britain, and Saami
settlers from the north of Finland.
The trees are all gone now, cut
down by the settlers - in a
Northern Atlantic version of the
clearing of the forests of Easter
Island in the South Pacific - but the
Sorcery and
Spirit Work
in Iceland
traditions of sorcery and witchcraft,
and the worship of the old gods of
Europe still continue - despite
Iceland being a Christian country,
and despite a heavy persecution of
sorcery in the C17th.
Iceland is a wild, empty country.
Even now it only has a population of
some 330,000 people - almost all
Those who practice are said to have Spiritualism, which became Below: the
popular in Europe and America in Sorcerer’s
skyggnigáfa [the gift] - an openness to the the C19th, didn’t arrive in Iceland Cottage
until 1905, and when it did, it
spirit world, which most people would not mixed with the old pagan folk
traditions already present, which
choose for themselves. Those with the gift had mixed with Christianity over the
normally have it from childhood, and are years. This is now the prevailing
form of spirit work on the island, a
often said to spend their childhood playing mix of Christianised ancient pre-
Christian traditions and a influences
with spirit animals, spirit people, or elves of Western spiritualism.
There is a long tradition of
of whom live in Reykjavik the Forms of magic varied, from trance and spirit possession within
capital, situated in the South West simple spells to help protect the andleg mál, practitioners go into
of the country. The island has an home, to curses to do ill to a
land area just a little less than the troublesome neighbour, and many
land area of England, but compared more besides.
to Iceland’s emptiness, England has
a population of 54 million. SEIÐUR, SCREED, SPIRIT STUFF
Because of it’s sparse A general Icelandic term used
population, combined with its often today for anything to do with the
hostile weather conditions, life was spirits is andleg mál, [spirit stuff, or
hard for the people living there, and spirit work], and the work still
so they would often employ any continues to this day, especially in
method - both practical and Northern Iceland (see the review of
supernatural - that they could, in the book ‘Bridges between Worlds’
order to help them survive. in this issue).
Those who practice nowadays
Of course, the boundary are said to have skyggnigáfa [the
between magic and primitive gift] - an openness to the spirit
superstition is a very blurred one, world, which most people would not
and many of the old ways of choose for themselves. Those with
sorcery were obviously nonsense, skyggnigáfa are normally have it
practiced by desperate illiterate from childhood, and are often said
people who were grabbing hold of to spend their childhood playing
what they could in very desperate with spirit animals, spirit people, or
times. But some of the magical arts álfar [elves].
practiced show considerable levels On a recent visit to Iceland, one
of sophistication, and at the end of woman I spoke to, told me in all
the day any form of magic - when it seriousness how her own mother
is practised to help a people survive had been delivered by an álfar
under adverse conditions - tends to midwife, and how her grandmother
have a degree of pragmatism about had played with elves as a little girl,
it; people don’t waste too much and called upon their help, not only
time on things that are not going to to be a midwife, but as healers,
bring results. when her children had become ill.
 trance, and spirits - which they say
are the spirits of the dead - speak
through them. Those who go into
trance are called miðill, and they sit
upon a special chair, while
everyone else gathers around them
in a circle.
Whether there are traces of the
ancient Viking art of seiður in the
modern practice is hard to
determine, but it would seem quite
likely that there are some, the use
of a special chair is one possible
connection as in seiður a special
‘high seat’ was an important part
of the ritual equipment.
In the practice of seiður - a
tradition which has seen a revival in
our own day - a shaman-like figure
- most often a woman, who is called
a völva - goes into trance. While in
trance, the spirits speak through
her, giving advice and prophecy to
those gathered at the ceremony.
There is a considerable tradition
of healing within the modern andleg
mál tradition. Different healers have
different ways of doing it, some will
use a physical touch, some will
employ light, some will call upon a
special force which arises from the
ground - or a particular mountain
the healer has a connection with -
and also, because they are present
in Iceland, sacred hot springs are
often used as part of any treatment.
The runes were an important
element of traditional Icelandic
magic, but nowadays they are less
important, although still employed
by some.
In the past they were combined
with a system of stafur [sigils - magic
signs] in a tradition called ‘screed.’
Screed are a series of magical
diagrams or patterns, each drawn for
a specific intent. Some of these
were for protection, some for the
gaining of wealth, some for cursing.
They would be drawn on the body, or
on paper or other material, or
marked in wood or stone.
In effect they are a form of
spell, and when executed in the
correct way, with the right
ceremony and using the correct
Top: a rune spell to control
the weather, runes carved on
a wooden stave pushed into
the mouth of a dried cod head
Centre: a book of magic spells
Bottom: magical screed drawn
on paper and animal skin
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words, they are said to be very
powerful - even today. A very
similar practice can be found in
Tibet, where patterns are created,
often using very specific forms of
ink, such as human blood from a
person of a certain age or sex.
Here is an example of one
Icelandic screed, used to lay a
ghost, or banish a harmful spirit.
Draw the design on the scalp of
a horse, using a mixture of seal’s,
fox’s and human blood.
Recite this verse over the mark
when you wish to use it:
‘Þykkt blóð, þreytast rekkar.
Þjóð mörg vos öld bjóða,
grand heitt, gummar andast,
glatast auður, firrast snauðir.
Hætt grand hræðast dróttir
hríð mörg, vesöld kvíða,
angur vænt, ærnar skærur.
Illur sveimur nú er í heimi’
‘Thick blood,
fighters grow weary.
The nation endures
centuries of hardship,
great destruction,
men die, wealth is lost,
the destitute are shunned.
Perilous ruin the people dread,
storm upon storm,
plagued by misery,
heavy remorse,
relentless warfare.
An evil stir haunts the world’
You probably need to be careful
with that one however, it is also
used to raise the dead.
Here is another, a protection spell
called ‘The Greater Shield of Terror:’
Draw this design on black paper
using bile taken from a raven as
your ink. Once you have drawn it,
place it in the nest of a brooding
raven and leave it there until the
raven has hatched its eggs, then
take back the paper.

It will be of great use to you for
protection, as even if a hundred
men were your enemies, and
attacked you, wanting you dead,
this will save you. Hold it up before
you when you face your enemies,
and it will appear to them as a host
of black dragons, which you are
setting loose on them.
And one more, called ‘The Mirror,’
designed to reveal things from the
past and the future, anywhere in
the world:
Draw the design on calfskin
which has never been out under
the bare sky. For ink, use water
from within a raven’s eye, and
blood from the heart of a man, and
a woman, who have loved each
other with all their hearts, but never
consummated their love.
water and gaze into it and through it, - a pagan magician and Below: Law Rock
and you will be able to see lögsöguaõur [law speaker] - at the Alþingi.
throughout the world, backwards and decreed that from that time on, On the flat rock
forwards through time, and anywhere Iceland would be a Christian in the centre left
in the world’s four quarters. country, but all people would be foreground, each
The calf skin with the design free to practice any spirituality they June until 1798,
must be kept in an amnion [the chose in private. the Lögsöguaõur
membrane which covers an embryo The peace between the pagans recited aloud
in the womb], and only brought out and the Christians continued fairly all the laws of
when you are going to use it. well for several centuries, but in the the land in force
middle of the C17th, a rising
FALL AND RISE OF SORCERY puritanical Christian backlash arose Bottom: the
Iceland became a Christian country - much like the witch trials which ‘drowning pool’
in the year 999. There was swept mainland Europe at this time at the Alþingi,
growing internal dispute in the - and people were prosecuted for where those
country between the Christians and sorcery, and burned or drowned. found guilty of
the pagans, and so, at the Alþingi So many were killed at this time witchcraft were
[Althing], the open air parliament, that it is known as Brennuöld [the tied in sacks,
held in the gap between the age of fire] weighed down
tectonic plates of North America As in the European witch-frenzy, with rocks and
and Eurasia, Thorgeir Thorkelsson often there was little evidence, and thrown in

For a pen, use a feather from a

water rail bird, and once the ink is
dry scatter myrrh all over the design.
Then go to a spring, over which
no bird has flown that day, and
where the temperature of the water
remains constant, winter and
summer, and strike the water with
the calfskin, making sure to face the
design you have drawn downward.
Let the design lie still in the
water, while you yourself circle the
spring four times, counter-clockwise.
When you have completed
circling, take the design from the

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 neighbour turned on neighbour,
denouncing someone if a cow
became barren, or some other
misfortune occurred.
The Icelandic witch-frenzy
ended in 1700, when the last case
of sorcery was tried, but in the
almost 50 years of ‘the age of fire’
great damage was done and many
innocent lives taken. It should be
noted that unlike Europe, many of
the accused and executed in
Iceland were men.
However, Iceland is now, once
again the home of an active pagan
community, and as well as those
who practice andleg mál, pagan
rituals are practised by many
modern Icelanders as part of their
everyday life. This can be seen in
the protests against road building
which Iceland is known for,
because it will disturb the álfar and
the other Huldufólk [hidden folk].
THE MUSEUM OF SORCERY
The museum is in the area of
Iceland which is reputed to have
been the most active, magically,
the last place where the old ways
Above: the nábrók [necropants]
Above right: the museum in Hólmavík
Right: a screed drawn on the inside of
the skin from a fox’s head
Below: a zombie pushes up through
the floor of the museum
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died out, and which saw some of
the largest humbers of burnings
and drownings in ‘the age of fire.’
The first burning in the area was
in 1652, when a man called Jón
Rögnvaldsson was charged with
creating a zombie, which he was
said to have used in order to cause
harm to his enemies. The museum
has a somewhat tongue-in-cheek
display of a zombie climbing through
the floor as a reminder of this.
Other displays in the museum
are perhaps a little less
sensational, but they do include an
invisible man - together with the
screed for making oneself invisible,
the somewhat world-famous
nábrók [necropants], various
antique books of screed and other
magical formula, and other items.
The necropants, nábrók, have to
be the strangest exhibit in the
museum, the flayed skin of a man
from the waist down - including his
genitals - which is part of a spell
designed to increase one’s riches.
The making of a nábrók is quite
exacting. First you have to ask, and
get, permission from a living man
to use his skin in this manner, after
he has died, then when he has
been buried you have to dig up his
corpse and flay it, in one piece,
from the waist down.
Next you have to steal a coin
from a poor widow and place it in
the dead man’s scrotum, along with
the special screed for the nábrók,
which is written on a piece of paper.
The skin is then put on, and
worn by the person seeking to gain
riches, and once worn, the coin and
the screed in the scrotum will draw
more money into the scrotum, so
that it will never be empty, as long
as the original coin is not removed.
Before death, the owner of the
skin has to convince someone else
to take on the nábrók, and the
present owner must step out of
them and the new owner
immediately step in, and in this way
the magic of the nábrók will keep time she spits the sanctified wine Inflammatory hardening of a Above: a tilberi
drawing in coins. on the bundle, the tilberi will cow’s udder was traditionally blamed and the thigh
The nábrók at the museum are become a little more alive. on to tilberi, and as late as the of its ‘mother’
actually a replica, as are some of After the third time she spits the C19th animals would be protected showing the
the other items on display, but the wine, she has to place the rib bundle by the sign of the cross under their nipple on which
tradition is real enough. under her skirt and let it suckle on a udders. Butter made from milk the tilberi feeds
growing wart-like nipple, stolen by tilberi is said to
Another interesting exhibit in the which forms on the inside of form into disgusting clumps, Left inset:
museum is a tilberi [carrier] or her thigh. The tilberi is now or dissolve if a magical sign, a butterknot
snakkur [spindle]. These were ready, and it’s mistress can called a smjörhnútur
supposed to have been created by send it out to suck milk from [butterknot] is drawn in it.
female sorcerers in order to steal milk the cows and ewes belonging to If the mistress of a tilberi has a
from a farmer. Similar supernatural other people. Once it has done this, child themselves, and the tilberi
beings occur right across the old the tilberi will return to its mistress, manages to reach her own milk-
Norse world, in Norway a being and call out; “Full belly, Mummy,” and filled breast, the woman is at risk Below:
called a trollnøste [troll cat] was vomit the stolen milk into a container. of being sucked to death. a view of the
created to carry out the same task. To suck the milk from the The supposed traditional method inside of the
To create a tilberi, a woman has animal's udder, the tilberi jumps on of getting rid of a tilberi, if its museum showing
to steal a human rib, taken from a the back of the animal and then it services are no longer required, is to the nábrók and
recently buried body early on the grows longer, so that it can reach send it to a series of three mountain a display about
morning of Whitsunday (the down to the teats. pastures, with orders to collect all invisibility spells
seventh Sunday after Easter), and
a piece of copper, which should
come from a church clock.
After she has the rib and the
piece of copper,, she has to twist
grey sheep’s fleece around them
which has to be stolen specifically
for the purpose - some traditions
specify that the wool must be
plucked from between the shoulders
of a sheep belonging to a widow.
Once the rib and copper are
wrapped in the wool, the bundle is
placed between the woman’s
breasts, and for the next three
Sundays, she has to go to church
and take communion. When she
has drunk the communion from
the chalice, she holds it in her
mouth and discretely spits it onto
the bundle. Over the course of the
three weekly communions, each

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 the sheep and lamb droppings from
each one of the three. The tilberi will
then work itself to death, and only
the original human rib and piece of
copper will be left lying in the pasture.
THE SORCERER’S COTTAGE
A few miles to the north of the
museum in Hólmavík is a long,
remote, and rather desolate valley
called Bjarnarfjörður.
The valley has several sacred
sites within it and a small side valley,
Above: a ritual
stone bowl
discovered at
Bjarnarfjörður
Right: the lonely
landscape of
Bjarnarfjörður
called Goðdalur [Valley of Goði],
once contained a pagan temple. A
sacred stone bowl - now displayed
in the museum at Hólmavík - was
found on the site, and after forensic
tests, was found to still hold traces
of blood - presumably from sacrifice.
There is also a burial mound in
this remote side valley, containing
the remains of a Viking called
Snorri Goði, who died around
1030. It is said that the valley and
the burial mound are haunted and
best not disturbed.
A little way further down the
down the Bjarnarfjörður valley,
Above: the
ancient hot
pool close to
the Sorcerer’s
Cottage at
Bjarnarfjörður
Right: the inside
of the Sorcerer’s
Cottage
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towards the sea, there is an ancient
hot pool called Gvendarlaug. This is
one of the oldest in Iceland, and it
was said to have been blessed by
the early Christian Bishop Gudmund,
around the C1200. However, it was
well established by then.
Close to this pool, a stone’s
throw away from a former local
school, which is now Hotel
Laugarholl, can be found the
Sorcerer’s Cottage, an annex of
the Sorcery museum in Hólmavík.
The cottage is a faithfully made
reconstruction of a typical Icelandic
house of the C17th, dug into the
hillside, with walls made from
driftwood - the only timber available
once the abundant forests had been
cut down - and covered over with turf
for insulation. This is the type of house
typical in Iceland - and such dwellings,
which can still be seen here and there
by the side of the road in some parts
of the island, were inhabited well into
the C20th in rural places.
Walking through the primitive,
rooms of the cottage shows the visitor
why magic was so important to the
population of Iceland, as life there -
even with volcanically heated running
water issuing directly from the hill a
few metres away - was very tough.
Iceland is a place of magic and
mystery, its land is very natural and
powerful, and the spirits of nature
are immensely strong there. It is
however rapidly becoming a major
tourist destination, as the world
wakes up to its beauty, and in the
summer its own population are
outnumbered some seven to one
by inbound foreign tourists.
Whether the island remains true
to its nature, or is turned into a sort
of Disney theme park, we will have
wait to see, but I feel confident that
the bleakness and the isolation of
many of its wild places mean that
the álfar will still have homes for a
long time to come. And after the
last tourist has left, once the
West’s culture finally collapses, a
knowledge of sorcery will once
again be probably be a requirement
in order to live within the islands
rugged beauty.
Nicholas Breeze Wood is the editor of
Sacred Hoop Magazine and has a life
long interest in sacred objects.
www.NicholasBreezeWood.me
Museum Website:
www.galdrasyning.is
W
Shamanism
e’d like to invite you to take a
step back to 1947. In that
year, three amazing films were Shana and
released: ‘A Portrait of Jennie,’
Dana Robinson

the S pirit-M ate

‘Down to Earth,’ and ‘The Ghost

and
and Mrs. Muir.’
While at first glance, these films
seem to have nothing in common,
except an approximate release
date, they all actually feature a
human protagonist, who
experiences success through the
intervention of a being - a spirit -
from the other world. In the films,
an artist is inspired to paint; a
producer puts on a great show;
and a writer is able to weave a tale.
Those familiar with Greek
mythology will remember examples
of intercourse between the gods and
mankind, for example, when Zeus -
the high god - fathered Heracles
with the mortal Alcimene, or when
Zeus seduced Leda, the Queen of
Sparta, using the guise of a swan.
The Norse myths likewise
recount similar miracles from deity-
human interactions. Heimdall, the
god who watches over Bifrost the
rainbow bridge, entered the human
realm disguised as a man called
Rig. He moved among peasants
and the well-to-do alike accepting
hospitality. As a gift of gratitude, he
left those hosting couples with the
gift of sons. Spirits and humans
have been connecting in intimate,
even sexual ways for a long time.
In the traditional world of the
shaman too, we also find partnering
between humans and spirits.
When one reads accounts by
the early C20th Russian
anthropologist Lev Shternberg, we
enter the dreams of a Siberian
Gol’dy [Nanai] man, who is told by
a spirit woman; “You must become
a shaman and heal; I love you, and
you must be my husband.”
The man ultimately agrees, and
his wife in the spirit world becomes
his tutelary spirit helper. During times
of healing, he recounted that she
entered him ‘like smoke or steam,’
and his actions became hers.

Shternberg’s work deals with
divine election, one means by
which an individual is called to the
vocation of the shaman. In his
discourse on the topic, he
mentions groups besides the
Gol’dy, in which individuals find
their way into the world of spiritual
work via the ‘significant other’ in
the spirit world. The Gol’dy have
the ayami, the name given to the
spirit who is the lover from the
other world. The Buryat around
Lake Baikal have the abasy.
In the case of the Buryat,
Shternberg reports that an
ancestor takes the soul of the
potential shaman to heaven for
instruction, and for the purpose of
making introductions to the abasy, Above: Zeus
that is, ‘various ladies and seducing Leda
daughters of the gods, in order to Cesare da Sesto.
select a celestial spouse. When the After a painting
most solemn moment of the final by Leonardo
engagement - constituting nothing da Vinci
more or less than the wedding of 1510-1515
the shaman and his heavenly wife,
had arrived - only then did he
become a true shaman.’

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Right: Nani
(Gol’dy) shaman
and his assistant
Photo early-mid
C20th
Divine election through the
acquisition of a ‘spirit-mate’ isn’t
limited to the Old World. There is
an account of a Nahuatl curandero
from Mexico City called Don
Soltero, who was kidnapped by the
dwarf-sized weather deities, called
enanitos, and taken to their cave.
There he was told that he would
become a curandero, but when he
refused, he was beaten until he
Below: acquiesced. Upon agreeing, he
Indonesian Bissu was returned home with three
prepare for curing tools: a staff, three curing
a ceremony stones, and a wife.
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Connecting with spirit through
the ‘spirit-mate’ is apparent and
observable in ordinary reality to
varying degrees.
For someone like Don Soltero,
his committed relationship to his
spirit wife involved focusing all of
his sexual energies on her, to the
detriment of his human wife. As he
reported, his spirit wife was
jealous. For others, having a spirit
spouse demands more extensive
and visible displays of commitment.
This commitment to this calling is
often demonstrated through gender
reversal. To understand this more
clearly, it would be perhaps useful to
try to define gender, and its use in
healing, in a couple of ways.
Operating in the world is ‘the
principle of gender;’ that is,
everything manifests with both
masculine and feminine elements.
Think of the Yin-Yang symbol; each
contains a bit of the other. Gender
is in everything; everything has its
Masculine and Feminine Principles.
Gender manifests on all planes. In
relation to the shaman, male and
female forces can be used,
balanced, adapted, and transformed
by those who are skilled enough to
handle their power.
This underscores a way of being
for the shaman - who operates as
a kind of power-broker, handling
forces in such a way as to bring
healing to the world, to be a
generator of change, and to be a
provider of hidden information.
Given the various points of view
about gender, it is best to look at
each society as having an
expression of gender or gender
culture. The American academic
and Professor of Political Science,
Sabrina Petra Ramet defines this
as: ‘a society’s understanding of
what is possible, proper, and
perverse in gender-linked behaviour,
and more specifically, that set of
values, mores, and assumptions
which establishes which behaviours
are to be seen as gender-linked,
with which gender or genders they
are seen as linked, what is the
society’s understanding of gender in
the first place, and, consequently,
how many genders there are.
Thus, gender and gender-
defined behaviour are part of an
effort by society to exert social
control, and different societies
construct meaning for gender in
different ways.’
By way of an example, in
Sulawesi, Indonesia, there are five
recognised genders for the Bugis
people (an ethnic group of the
region) - makkunrai [woman],
oroané [man], and three other
genders, calabai, calalai, and bissu 1
- each with a role in society.
The merging of the Gol’dy with
his ayami - the spirit who enters
‘like smoke or steam’ - is a kind of
inspirational possession, in which
the shaman actively invites the
spirit to enter into them for a
limited duration, in order to
effectuate healing work.
But in cultures like the Siberian
Chukchi and Koryak, shamans take
on so much of the personality of their
spirit-mate that they literally change
gender. While anatomy doesn’t
change, the gender behaviour - such
as dress, hair style, language and
work - all shift to the gender of the
spirit-mate. These individuals marry
from the gender in which they live,
thus a man living the gender
behaviour of his female spirit-mate,
will marry a man, and a female living
in the gender behaviour of her male
spirit-mate will marry a woman.
Gender reversal is not limited to
Siberia. The Mapuche of Chile
become machi [shamans], acting as
intermediaries for humans to bring
health and balance. Regardless of
anatomy, each machi connects with
the power of forest spirits through
the foki [vines], and with the filew
[sky spirits]. For each machi, the
filew is the machi’s personal,
possessing spirit husband.
Part of the initiation for each
practitioner is to become bridely
and seductive during the initiation
ceremony. Thus, regardless of sex,
all machi are brides. As spiritual
brides, machi participate in the
cosmic process of fertility and
reproduction, which holds priority
over conflicts with their personal
sexual and reproductive lives.
While as initiates, the machi view
themselves as feminine and bridely,
they also embody the masculine
element. Once they have seduced
their spirit husbands, they climb the
rewe, a step-notched pole, which is
the altar for their spirits.
Climbing the rewe is like
mounting a horse to ride to the sky.
Equestrian activities are masculine
in Mapuche gender culture, and
the machi view themselves as
masculine mounted warriors, who
defeat evil, illness, and suffering.
While these reports may seem
distant in time and place from
modern practitioners, many who
begin the journey on the path of
the shamanic practitioner report
encountering helping spirits who
approach with an almost tangible
sexual energy, although when this
happens, novices sometimes think
that they’ve done something
wrong, or that it’s wrong to have
this kind of experience.
Our work with the ‘spirit-mate’
has been undertaken to alleviate
some of that confusion, and to
validate the possibility of a ‘spirit-
mate relationship.’
The Spirit-Mate Principles:
• The two poles at play in the spirit-
mate relationship are: masculine-
feminine and human-divine.
• These poles sexualise and
spiritualise the relationship and are
the source of the empowerment
encapsulated by the relationship.
• The identity of the spirit-mate is
in most cases represented by a
cross-gendered spirit - that is, a
being from non-ordinary reality -
sometimes known as a god or
goddess - who appears to the
human partner in the opposite sex.
• A spirit-mate can shape-shift,
depending on the lesson of the
moment. The form of the spirit-mate
can be anything from an object to an
animal - wrathful or peaceful.
• The role of this spirit can be, but
is not limited to, that of companion,
teacher, guide, angel, inspirer,
muse, lover, spouse and consort.
• Through the relationship with the
spirit-mate, there is a potential for
the transformation of the human
partner. This includes opening to
greater personal authenticity and
enriched creativity, which further
includes a greater capacity to be of
service to others.
• The spirit-mate is not all
knowing, but rather all
compassionate.
• The spirit-mate may be
encountered in an altered state of
consciousness - the shamanic
journey, a dream, meditation or
reverie - and can also manifest in
Ordinary Reality.
• The relationship one has with a
spirit-mate may culminate in a
marriage. This marriage represents
a spiritual commitment to live fully
in authenticity and service. It is a
call and a commitment to a higher
order of being.
• The essential goal of work with a
spirit-mate is that of the mystic
seeking union with the divine.
What we have learned from our
work exploring the concept of the
spirit-mate has been a greater
understanding of the potential for
growth and support the spirit-mate
relationship gives those involved in
shamanism. Exploring the spirit-
mate relationship is a fertile ground
for shamanic practitioners, as they Below: machi
step into service, and as they delve shamans with a
into the personal shadow. rewe pole on
which they climb
Philip Dana Robinson has been sharing his Mapuche People
love for, and knowledge of, shamanism for Chile and
several decades, including leading over
600 workshops for the Foundation for Argentina
Shamanic Studies since 1986.
His personal memoir is titled ‘A Shamanic
Altar,’ and highlights lessons learned, and
recalled, via objects on his personal altar.
Shana Robinson’s studies in anthropology
and archaeology led her to a love of
places and landscapes around the world.
Shana considers herself a seeker and a
catalyst, and she supports Dana in his
facilitation of Foundation workshops.
She is the author of ‘Terra Signs: Finding
Personal Meaning and Significance
Through Landscapes.’
Together they offer workshops to explore
the topic of the spirit-mate as a means to
loosen the reins on limited thinking and
expectations, and authored the book
‘Shamanism and The Spirit Mate.’ See the
review in this issue of Sacred Hoop.
Their next Spirit Mate workshop is in early
2019.
www.shamantracks.com
Shana: gbravehearthawks@goeaston.net
Dana: danacougar@goeaston.net
NOTES:
1: Calalai are assigned female at birth but
take on the roles of heterosexual males.
They dress and present themselves as
men, hold masculine jobs and typically live
with female partners to adopt children.
Calabai are false women and so are
generally assigned male at birth but take
on the role of heterosexual females. Their
fashions and gender expression are
distinctly feminine but do not match that
of ‘typical’ makkunrai (women).
Bissu are androgynous shamans.
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Study A The work began in the usual
in Soul
Retrieval
Cheryl Bearman Maddock
I have been practising soul retrieval
with clients for around 25 years,
and the magic of it never ceases to
amaze me.
Quite early on in my practice, a
young man - whom I will call Phillip
- came to me with a physical
disability, which he had been born
with. The disability was a form of
dwarfism; and although his physical
health was good, he was very
weary and tired of carrying this
Phillip knew that a soul retrieval could not change his
physical stature, but he knew that he wasn’t living his life
to his full potential, and that he was feeling increasingly
bitter and resentful every passing day. He had heard
about soul retrievals, and wanted his life to change
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disability, Phillip was married and in
his early thirties.
Of course, Phillip knew that a
soul retrieval could not change his
physical stature, but he knew that
he wasn’t living his life to his full
potential, and that he was feeling
increasingly bitter and resentful
every passing day. He had heard
about soul retrievals, and wanted
his life to change, so he came to
see me.
We talked for a little while, and I
determined he would indeed
benefit from a soul retrieval, and so
I began to prepare by drumming,
calling in my spirits, and asked for
permission and assistance for this
work.
way I was used to, but then it
suddenly changed. I found myself
being hurtled through a long
squeezy narrow tunnel; and I could
feel the strength, the power and
force of an energy propelling me. It
was very rapid, and all the time I
was focusing on bringing home the
missing soul parts of Phillip.
I came at last to the end of the
tunnel, and when I did, I found
myself floating in a void. There
were floating sparks and matter all
around me, and I ‘knew’ that I
should begin to gather them up.
Never had I experienced a retrieval
like this one before.
I gathered all the sparks and
matter, and then, after looking
around to make sure nothing was
left, I began to make my way back
along the tunnel, bringing with me
all the pieces that I had collected.
Usually I am quite specific as to
the ages and reason for soul loss
of the ‘soul parts’ I bring back;
however these pieces seemed to
not have a determinable age at all
and having quite a different feel
and energy about them.
I continued the usual process
with Phillip, blowing, rattling and
singing these beautiful parts back
into his body, and then I gave
myself a little time to collect my
thoughts and feelings, to try and
make sense of what had
happened, so I could explain to
Phillip what this journey was all
about and how it related to him. I
wanted clarity for him and to offer
sacred space in which we could
work through this amazing soul
retrieval together. .
I told him that it felt as if the
sparks and matter I had gathered
were from the exact moment of his
conception, and with that
information he burst into tears and
told me that he had researched his
form of dwarfism, and yes, it
happened at the point of
conception.
I continued the soul retrieval
process in my usual loving and
compassionate way, by listening,
nurturing, and supporting him, and
holding sacred space for him, while
Phillip adjusted to the new energy
that had now returned home to him.
We discussed the many
different ways of integrating these
special soul parts in his existing
life. It was wonderful to see this
man smiling.
I always make sure that when
people come to me for a healing
session they are well and truly
grounded before they leave me and
that support is put in place, also
that they are safe and never need
be alone.
After Phillip left, I realised that I
was in what I can only describe as
a state of shock. What had just
happened? What was I doing? How
did I ‘see’ so much?
I spent the next couple of days
somewhat disorientated and stunned
by the enormity of the healing
session on many levels. I was left
wondering who I could talk to, who
could I discuss this case with?
I had read two excellent books,
written by a specialist physician who
was part of a palliative care team in
Australia. He was highly thought of
by his peers, and a very spiritual
man. So, I wrote to him, using the
contact information at the back of
one of his books. I really felt I
needed some sort of guidance as to
the work I had done for Phillip.
About a week later, at 4.30am, I
heard my fax machine printing. I
walked into my office, and there on
the fax, was a letter from the
physician.
His letter confirmed the fact
that this type of disability happens
at the point of conception, and he
wrote that he was thrilled that I was
able to do this work for Phillip,
encouraging me to keep going with
my work, as it was very special and
a true gift indeed.
The advice he gave me was to
make sure that I nurtured myself,
and gave to myself the same
amount of love that I worked with
for others and if he could support
me in any way then he would be
honoured. He also said to ask
Spirit to work, and be, alongside
me throughout my life.
So from that time on I have
done this - although at times not as
much as I could have - and I have
grown into my work, knowing that
love and support are all around me
spiritually and in many other ways.
Two months later Phillip came At this stage, I introduce them, one
back to see me again. He wanted at a time, to the soul ages which I
to let me know how his life had have retrieved for them, whereby
changed. He felt he could now they face and hold that soul part,
have eye contact with people - while visualising the soul part
something he had found difficult in slipping back into their heart and
the past - and could join in, and soul. I always ask the person to
feel equal to those about him. But welcome that soul part back, and
most of all, he wanted to tell me thank it for coming home. This
that he was having fun with process is repeated until all the
children. He told me that they now soul parts have been welcomed
played hide and seek in the library back by the person. This is
or supermarket with him, and that powerful, profound and can be
children did not make fun of him quite emotional for the person.
and appeared not to be frightened
of him any more. I then give them a little time in
This was a very important aspect this special place of theirs, while I
for Phillip, as he is unable to father generally sing, in order to hold them
his own children due to his gently in this visualised sacred
disability. Now things have changed space. For me, I find this simple
for him, and he feels balanced in, meditation process helps to ‘seal’
and with, his own world. the process. Once it is all completed,
Two months later Phillip came back to see me again.
He wanted to let me know how his life had changed,
he could now have eye contact with people -
something he had found difficult in the past - and
could join in, and feel equal to those about him.
But most of all, he wanted to tell me he was having fun
with children, they now played hide and seek in the
library or supermarket with him, and did not make fun of
him and appeared not to be frightened of him any more
As I have continued my soul I gently call them back into the room
retrieval work over the years, I have and out of the guided meditation.
often felt that people have I feel so humble and it is such
sometimes gone away thinking an honour and privilege to be part
‘Wow what an amazing session’, of this healing process.
and sometimes even ‘what an
amazing woman.’
I never want this to be the case; Cheryl Bearman Maddock has been doing
the healing session is always about healing work for over 40 years. She spent
the person who has come for the ten years working with the Tasmanian
healing. I was concerned about Aboriginal community and continues to
have special contact with them.
this, so I asked Spirit how I could She foundered the ‘Australian Centre for
change it when it happened, and Shamanic Studies’ in 1998, and has
was given a way to complete a soul worked with, and trained, many students
retrieval session, which I would like through the centre.
Cheryl has appeared on Australian
to share here. television and radio, and is a member of
the World Parliament for Religions and
After the session has been Spirituality for Peace. She is continually
completed, I ask if the person involved in numerous lectures in many
would be comfortable with closing different formats.
She lives in a little cottage by the sea in
their eyes and going with the Dodges Ferry, Tasmania, with her husband
sound of my drum. I then lead Mike, working from home and assisting
them - in a simple, guided Mike make shamanic drums from
meditation - to a special, safe Tasmanian native timbers and kangaroo
skins. Bearman is Cheryl’s Grandmother’s
place, which only they know about. family name.
When they are there, I ask them www.kindreddrums.com
to look around to see what is there. cherylandmike@bigpond.com
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Shamanic interventions
for forming healthy
energetic and personal
boundaries
Mara Bishop
Extra
Sensory
Overload
and
Addiction
Our biggest challenges in life can
also be our biggest strengths. We
are often drawn to work in a given
field, not only because of an innate
ability, but because we can deepen
our understanding of ourselves in
the process.
I’ve had to deal with the
challenges of being ‘energetically
sensitive.’ Early on, I didn’t realise
what caused certain reactions in me,
but knew I was affected in ways
which not everyone seemed to be.
This took its toll on my body, mind
and spirit, and perhaps, because this
has been true in my personal and
professional life, I often work to help
clients see that pattern more readily
in their own lives.
I remember as a teenager, being
in church with my family. My
attention was drawn toward the
front of the church, to a man I
didn’t know. But although I didn’t
know him, I knew he was in pain -
although there weren’t any external
indications of his suffering.
Nevertheless, I hurt myself;
somehow feeling his sadness,
almost as if it were my own.
Later I learned this was what
can be called ‘an empathic
reaction,’ a moment where I
seemed to transcend my personal
boundaries, and sensed, or even
felt, another’s emotion. I had taken
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on his sadness, as if it were my
own, without intention or any self-
control on my part.
This was a pivotal moment for
me, one, which at the same
moment, was disturbing, tender,
and revelatory.
Other experiences I had, as a
young person, made me question
the nature of reality, and how we
relate beyond the physical; and that
exploration - and particularly how
we use that understanding to help
alleviate suffering in others -
became the focus of my
professional path.
Practicing shamanic journeying
and healing, and other spiritually-
oriented modalities, helped me
engage with the world with a new
sense of awareness.
Years of practice, and some
wonderful teachers, have allowed
me to become more adept at
opening and closing my energetic
and personal boundaries as I
choose. I’ll always have heightened
sensitivity for other conscious
beings and my surroundings, but
generally those perceptions inform
my world for the better now, rather
than overwhelming me.
TACKLING SENSORY OVERLOAD
If you have what could be called a
‘naturally porous energetic
personality type,’ habitually
absorbing energy from people,
places and situations, sensory
overload can take its toll on you.
However, working consciously with
the heightened perceptions, which
often accompany this, can be a gift.
I work with clients to share what
I’ve learned, and I find it incredible
to see the shifts which often
happen for people when they
experience a combination of
looking at their old patterns in new
ways, experience healing work that
directly addresses problematic
situations, and make changes in
their personal lives, outside of our
healing sessions.
One client I worked with
absorbed what wasn’t hers from a
young age, and this was not
healthy. This contributed to her
suffering physical issues (chronic
throat issues, headaches,
gastrointestinal issues), and
corresponding emotional and
interpersonal issues - she felt an
inability to speak up for herself,
coupled with a lack of self worth
and an inability to trust others.
I started working with her by
clearing intrusive energy, and next
sought to restore her innate
energy, which had leached out over
time, or been disconnected though
trauma she had experienced. This
caused her to suffer a lack of
personal power, and often an
overreaction to outside stimuli.
After several sessions, she
reported a significant decrease in
headaches and a reduction in her
throat issues, and reported that
she was speaking more effectively
on her own behalf.
Often sensitive people, who are
raised in households with
unpredictable or unsupportive care-
givers - such as those who grew up
in the presence of alcoholism or
emotional abuse - struggle with their
energetic boundaries. They are
frequently reacting to - or trying to
predict - someone else’s mood, as a
means to helping themselves be
emotionally or physically safe. They
become hypervigilant, which is one of
the mechanisms in the development
of extraordinary sensitivity.
In situations like this, often the
feedback people receive about
their self-worth is negative, and the
appropriate care-giving dynamic is
skewed. This initial experience
colours future interpersonal
dynamics.
I think addressing this from a
purely physical or psychological
level can only go so far, but by
working directly on an energetic
level - in parallel with medical or
psychological care as needed - it is
possible to make significant shifts.
As it’s important to have
discernment over our levels of
physical and emotional intimacy, it’s
important that we make deliberate
choices about levels of energetic
intimacy too.
Without this discernment and
ability to choose, we are left
vulnerable in relationships when we
are unable to say “No” to an
intrusion on our energetic space.
Our bodies can become
overloaded, and respond physically
with chronic pain or overblown
immune responses. Cognitively we
can become ‘foggy’ in our thinking
and out of focus when we’ve
absorbed too much, and
emotionally we can become
anxious or depressed.
Specific methods address these
effects. Many of my clients report a
decrease in troubling symptoms,
and a greater ability to help
themselves independently, after
just a few sessions.
ADDICTIONS AND OVERLOAD
Addictions take many forms and
begin for many reasons, and -
given the complexity of this issue -
I’m only going to focus on two
patterns, ones which I see most
often in my practice, rather than
looking at addictions as a whole.
People who are born with high
levels of sensitivity, or develop
them through life events, generally
suffer if they do not have healthy
ways to moderate and manage
their sensory intake.
Without understanding the
mechanisms of empathy, or the
dynamics of absorbing energy and
information from other people and
their surroundings, highly sensitive
people can easily find life
overwhelming.
One way to cope with an
overload of input is to try to
desensitise the mechanism that is
receiving it. For some people,
alcohol and tobacco help to turn
down the volume of the many
sources of input they receive
through these energetic sensory
receptors. It’s not the healthiest
strategy, but it can seem like a
quick fix at first.
Being sensitive is not a bad
thing in itself, but like most
qualities, it has its benefits and its
potential pitfalls.
The upside of sensitivity is that
if you work with it consciously, it
becomes a powerful strength.
Highly intuitive people can ‘read’ a
person, or a situation, to get
information which is not available to
those who are less perceptive.
Information is available all the
time, but like stations on a radio,
we need to choose when, and to
what, we listen. When our
sensitivity is out of our control, it’s
as if multiple radio stations are
playing at full blast simultaneously,
and this is uncomfortable.
By working deliberately with our
energetic boundaries to decide
when to tune in, and when to turn
the volume down, sensitive people
can create a healthier and more
sustainable way to avoid
uncomfortable levels of input.
Often sensitive people, raised
in households with unpredictable
or unsupportive care-givers -
such as those who grew up in
the presence of alcoholism or
emotional abuse - struggle
with their energetic boundaries.
They are frequently reacting to -
or trying to predict - someone
else’s mood, as a means to helping
themselves be emotionally or
physically safe. They become
hypervigilant, which is one of the
mechanisms in the development of
extraordinary sensitivity
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 A good place to start is by
taking classes, or seeking
individual instruction, in order to
become better aware of, and in
better control of, our energy body,
our energetic relation to others,
and our ability to regulate our
energetic porousness.
Clearing energy that is not
natively yours is often a helpful part
of this process.
SPIRITUAL DETACHMENT
Another common symptom I see in
people suffering from addiction is a
disconnect from Spirit.
This can be thought of as ‘soul
loss’ in shamanic terminology, and
it generally manifests as a sense
that something is missing, and that
we are not fully rooted in our body
or present in our life.
From a spiritual perspective, one
of the ways we endure trauma is to
detach on an energetic level. It’s an
effective survival mechanism. As we
instinctively move away from physical
pain to protect the physical body, we
do the same thing spiritually.
Very often, the part of our energy
which disconnected comes back
when the crisis is over and there are
no lasting repercussions. However,
when the disconnect lingers,
chronic symptoms can develop and
addictions can be one of them.
present and address uncomfortable
situations, rather than creating an
energetic absence which leaves us
more vulnerable.
Clients I have worked with who
have experienced a soul retrieval
often report that they feel a
renewed sense of empowerment,
increased clarity and a deeper
engagement with their lives. They
gain an inspiration to be healthy,
and a deeper connection to their
intuition and purpose.
Both highly sensitive people and
people who have disconnected
energetically - because of past
traumas - often benefit from a
variety of shamanic energy
medicine practices: clearing what
doesn’t belong, re-engaging soul
parts which have fled, and in the
process establishing healthy and
flexible boundaries.
While everyone has an individual
path, it helps to work with a
practitioner who has travelled some
of the same territory, and has
personal understanding of the
dynamics of energetic sensitivity.
Shamanism has been
invaluable to me. One of my great
joys is sharing that journey with
others; literally, with the specific
technique of shamanic journeying,
and more broadly in helping others
on their journey to create healthy,
vibrant lives.
Mara Bishop M.S., Th.M., C.S.C is a
shamanic practitioner, intuitive consultant,
teacher, author, and artist.
In her practice in she combines shamanic
healing, intuitive consultations, and
energetic healing. She works with clients
locally, nationally, and internationally.
She is the author of Inner Divinity: Crafting
Your Life with Sacred Intelligence, and a
companion series of guided meditations.
She holds master’s degrees in Energy
Medicine and Theology, a bachelor’s
degree in Art and Communications, and is
a graduate of the Foundation for
Shamanic Studies Three–Year Program in
Advanced Shamanism and Shamanic
Healing, Sandra Ingerman’s Shamanic
Teacher Training program, and has
received advanced training with Betsy
Bergstrom.
She lives in Durham, North Carolina, USA.
www.WholeSpirit.com
mara@wholespirit.com

Once soul loss occurs and there

is a sense of longing, or a sense of
something missing, there is a natural
reflex to take action to feel full.
Again, substances can seem like a
quick fix. If we eat or drink it seems
logical that we’d be filling ourselves,
but we cannot fill the absence of
spirit with anything but spirit.
Efforts to feel whole by taking in
more can actually compound the
problem, especially when these
behaviours become excessive or
One of the ways we
compulsive. Addictive behaviours endure trauma is to detach
are also traumatising in and of
themselves, and can actually be on an energetic level.
the cause of soul loss.
It’s an effective survival
Creating true spiritual mechanism, we instinctively
wholeness is part of the effective
path of addressing the root causes move away from physical
of addiction. pain to protect the
The classic shamanic technique
of soul retrieval works to counter physical body,
the effects of trauma, reconnecting
people with ‘soul parts’ which are we do the same
not seated in our bodies. Further thing spiritually
work integrating these parts helps
provide additional tools to stay

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 . . . . . . . . . . . REVIEWS
NORDIC RAGA THE ROUGH GUIDE
Jyotsna Srikanth, Mats Edén, TO WORLD MUSIC
Dan Svensson and Pär Moberg Various Artists
CD or Download: 39.11 mins. CD or Download: 70.57 mins.
Riverboat Records: TUGCD1108 Rough Guide Records RGNET1370DD
Reviewer: Nicholas Breeze Wood Reviewer: Nicholas Breeze Wood

Gorgeous album of wild and wonderful A low-cost sampler of some gems of

music, which is a mix of Nordic and South Indian folk music,
featuring Jyotsna Srikanth - one of the world's foremost Indian
violinists - and Swedish fiddler Mats Edén who plays the
traditional Swedish Hardanger fiddle, which has sympathetic
strings - like a sitar - which give it a lot of resonance.
The music is largely improvisatory, and the fiddles are
accompanied by a rich array of drums - from frame drums to
tablas - the Nordic Sälgflöjt or willow flute, a very ancient musical
instrument, and occasional vocals as a rhythmic instrument.
The album is atmospheric, intricate and passionate, the two
sound worlds combine very well, although I’d have to say the
album was perhaps more Nordic in sound than Indian. It must
have been huge fun to play on.
Available from Amazon and iTunes etc.
On Spotify
www.buffysainte-marie.com
www.indianviolin.eu
OÐAL
Nytt Land
CD or Download: 58.08 mins.
Cold Spring CSR249CD
Reviewer: Nicholas Breeze Wood
This is not cheerful music... We of
course associate the Vikings, and all
matters Norse, with Scandinavia, and with British culture because
of the involvement the Vikings had in our history. But it’s
important to remember the Vikings were a far-travelling people,
and influenced many cultures to the East as well as to the West -
in fact the very name ‘Russia’ is a based on the old Norse word
for ‘rowing a boat.’
So, bearing all that in mind, this is an album of ambient,
dark, brooding folk rock music - with Viking themes - by a
Siberian band, who specialise in what they call ‘dark shamanic
Nordic folk.... acoustic ritual metal and the traditional folk of
Northern Europe, born in the heart of Siberia.’
It’s not a pretty album, it’s menacing, it’s eerie, it’s full of
dark drones, demonic fiddles, drums and otherworldly growling
vocals - would you really want to play it on headphones in a
dark old house, or in a deep dark wood I ask myself?
Distinctive and authentically untamed, somewhat reminiscent
of Hedningarna - a bit like elves on acid - I love it.... but it’s not
cheerful, and I dare any New Age ‘bing-bong’ shop to play it.
Available from Amazon and iTunes etc.
On Spotify
On YouTube
www.coldspring.co.uk/artists/nytt-land
world music from Europe, China, Africa and beyond. There is
some fantastic stuff on this album, including several artists we’ve
reviewed in Hoop over the years - artists like Shanren from
China, Kries from Croatia, Kristi Stassinopoulou and Stathis
Kalyviotis from Greece and the desert blues of Etran Finatawa. A
cracking album, one well worth opening your ears to.
Available from Amazon and iTunes etc.
On Spotify
FORN
Kaunan
CD or Download: 49.54 mins. Album
ByNorse Music BNM006 of the
Reviewer: Nicholas Breeze Wood Issue
Kaunah - who take their name from the
‘k’ rune of the younger futhark runes -
are a German, Austrian and Swedish three-piece, focusing on
Nordic folk music and playing a wide range of traditional
acoustic and electronic. This is their debut album.
Musically it’s very interesting, a mix of traditional songs and
dance tunes, the type of Nordic music the melody of which dips
and weaves in a dizzying way, often played on a soaring
hardanger fiddle, rich with drones underneath. It’s a light, open,
but also deeply atmospheric album, delicate and earthy, played
with great skill and dexterity - enchanting and invigorating.
Available from Amazon and iTunes etc.
On Spotify • On Youtube
www.kaunan.bandcamp.com
www.kaunan.eu
KHYMEIA
Emian
CD or Download: 75.40 mins.
I Make Records IMR011
Reviewer: Nicholas Breeze Wood
Emian are an Italian band, who
describe themselves as ‘pagan-folk’,
playing a mix of Nordic and pan-european neo-medieval,
sometimes gentle, sometimes wilder, acoustic folk pop.
Enjoyable, skillfully done, good to listen to melodic music.
Available from Amazon and iTunes etc.
On Spotify • On Youtube
www.emianpaganfolk.bandcamp.com
www.emianpaganfolk.wixsite.com

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REVIEWS . . . . . . . . . . .
RUNES: The Icelandic
Book of Fuþark
Icelandic Magic Company
PB: 168 pages. $39.00
Reviewer: Nicholas Breeze Wood
SORCERER’S SCREED:
The Icelandic Book
of Magic Spells
Icelandic Magic Company
PB: 181 pages. $32.00
ISBN: 978 9935 9089 8 8
Reviewer: Nicholas Breeze Wood
These are two well designed and
interesting books all about Icelandic
magic, and they are available directly
from the publisher in Iceland.
The ‘Book of Runes’ contains both the Elder and Younger
Fuþark and the Icelandic Fuþark. It is designed so that there is
one rune per page, with clearly written meanings (in English -
the whole book is in English) on the facing page. All of the runes
are gone through, for each of the three fuþark, and as the book
is so well laid out and designed it is a joy to leaf through and
excellent as a guide to working with the runes. It does not
include any ‘how-to’s’, with just a short introduction to the three
fuþark - a little of their history etc - and then straight on to the
runes themselves. I suspect this book will become my chief ‘go-
to’ for information it is such a delight to navigate.
The ‘Book of Screed’ is a spell book, full of the Icelandic
diagrammatic spells (see the article about icelandic magic in this
issue of Sacred Hoop). It is a reprint of a book of spell collected by
the antiquarian and scholar Jochum Magnús Eggertsson - who
went by the name of Skuggi - in 1940. He collected the spells,
some ancient and some less ancient, from various sources and
compiled them into a book of white magic. The entire book is
published, with Skuggi’s own introduction and epilogue. it contains
almost 200 drawn spells, with runic inscriptions underneath and
instruction in English on many of them. Although said to be a book
of ‘white magic’ much of it is dubious, ethically. There are spells for
love magic, for winning legal cases, for making someone become
a thief, and even for raising the dead; although most of the
material is connected with protection from and for various things.
A really fascinating pair of books, and I think it’s really
important to realise a lot of the magical traditions of Iceland
were the same as the traditions found in Britain and Ireland; as
the population of both places travelled to a fro a great deal,
making close contact between branches of one culture. These
then are deeply connected to the ancient ways of the whole of
Northern Europe.
Available from www.icelandicmagic.com
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HOOP ISSUE 100 2018
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BRIDGES BETWEEN WORLDS:
Spirits and Spirit Work
In Northern iceland
Corinne G. Dempsey
Oxford University Press
PB: 181 pages. £17.99/$26.95
ISBN: 978 01906 250 30
Reviewer: Nicholas Breeze Wood
This well written and entertaining book
is based on extensive fieldwork
conducted in the small Northern Icelandic town of Akureyri. The
author - an expert on the spirituality of SE Asia - became so
fascinated by these Icelandic traditions that she even learned to
speak Icelandic herself in order to better communicate with the
people she interviewed.
It takes the form of conversations with the healers and those
who go into trance to bring forth the spirits, and the spirits
themselves, covering aspects such as what the ‘mediums’ think
is going on, the training of mediums and methods and
motivations for doing the ‘spirit work.’
This spirit work - known as andleg mál - is a mixture of Pre-
Christian traditions, folk magic, Christianity and influences from
Western spiritualism, and even native North American traditions
- there was a period in the last couple of hundred years where
some of the population of Iceland went to-and-fro to North
America, and there was a spiritual cultural exchange with the
native people there to some degree.
For those interested in how North European traditions such
as seiður mingled with Christianity and developed into a new
form, in an isolated community, in an isolated country, it’s a very
interesting read.
Available from Amazon etc.
NATURE BEINGS:
The Magic of Nature
Willy K. Pedersen
Reisen Innover Publishing
PB: 237 pages. £33.32/$45.00
ISBN: 978 8 26905 0
Reviewer: Nicholas Breeze Wood
Willy is a Norwegian photographer,
involved in shamanism, who takes photographs of various aspects
of nature - trees, rocks, clouds, landscapes etc - and works with
them to bring out the hidden spirit figures in them which he sees.
His work is creative, often spectacular and beautiful, and he
has an ability to find hidden features in nature which many would
walk straight by. These are then anthropomorphised digitally into
living beings, faces and personalities, which stare out of the pages
at us. Willy has a fine eye for finding these details and the finished
work is delightful. The human mind looks for patterns and faces in
nature, we are all aware of that, but Willy’s work gives it a big
helping hand to grand effect.
Available from Amazon etc.
 . . . . . . . . . . . REVIEWS
THE WAY OF
THE SACRED PIPE
Jim Tree
Blue Sky Publishing
PB: 108 pages. £12.00/$18.00
ISBN: 978 09777 820 00
Reviewer: Nicholas Breeze Wood
I always get a bit edgy about
information about the sacred pipe going
out into the world unchecked. There is
such a sacred etiquette about pipes, and although the
teachings are not ‘secret,’ they should not be put out where
they can be abused, or degraded. I’m very wary of people
‘grabbing’ a pipe and mixing some traditional ceremonial forms
with New Age freestyle self-created forms - and maybe
smoking ‘mind altering’ substances, which should never be
smoked in a sacred pipe. But, opposed to this, there is a real
need for the sacred and the way of the sacred path is a
beautiful sacred path which can do much good in the world.
I was pleased therefore, to see the book is dedicated to
Adam Fortunate Eagle, a very respected sacred pipe carver and
a man of integrity, and to read the authors own word - ‘Using a
sacred pipe without knowing its power or purpose is like
obtaining a weapon but not understanding what it is capable of.’
The author shares his own stories of the power of the pipe,
about where the tradition of the sacred pipe came from, about
different types of pipe - male and female, personal and
ceremonial etc - about the right way to care for the pipe and keep
it in a sacred manner, working with tobacco as a sacred plant,
blessing and awakening the pipe, and praying with the pipe.
If you follow the advice in this book - ideally also learning
from a living pipe carrier, because no amount of ‘book reading;
can really compensate for the lack of a human teacher - you
won’t go far wrong. A really heartfull, accurate and sacred
guide book to the sacred pipe.
Available from Amazon etc.
SHAMANISM AND
THE SPIRIT MATE
Shana Robinson and Dana Robinson
EWH Press
PB: 180 pages. £14.95/$19.95
ISBN: 978 09 834438 7 2
Reviewer: Nicholas Breeze Wood
Marriage, and sexual relationships
between the spirits and the shaman are
not something addressed much in the
West’s growing interest in shamanism, but it is a well understood
aspect in many traditional shamanic cultures. This fascinating
book expands on the article by the authors in this issue of
Sacred Hoop, and is a thoughtful exploration of the subject;
drawing from the experiences they have gained from teaching
workshops on the subject; with examples drawn from mythology
and traditional shamanism, as well as personal anecdotes.
Available from Amazon etc.
CRAZYWISE
Director: Phil Borges
CrazyWise Films
DVD and Online screening: 82 mins
Reviewer: Nicholas Breeze Wood
We have a real problem in our fractured - ‘dead-matter-
thinking’ - culture, we don’t understand mental illness, and
mostly all we do is feed people medications to suppress it,
instead of allowing it, going with it, and seeing what gifts are in
there for the self and the culture.
A link between the shaman and mental illness has been seen
by many people over the years, often this is very simplistic, like
saying if someone is a schizophrenic they are therefore a
shaman, or even - from the other end of the spectrum of thought
- a shaman is just a crazy schizophrenic. The reality is far more
complex than that, and yet there is, without a shadow of a doubt,
some relationship with shamanism and mental health.
Shamanic cultures talk about ‘shaman sickness;’ one comes
across it, time after time, in cultures all across the world. At a
young age, the shaman to be, loses their sense of self in some
way and enters into a period of crisis. Sometimes this is
physical but even when it is there is usually a psychological
aspect to it, and in most cases this psychological aspect is the
dominant one.
This film, beautifully and poignantly, sets out to look at this,
mirroring the stories of traditional shamans and medicine people
and that of young western people who are labelled mentally ill, but
who have similar initiatory experiences as the traditional shamans.
Because our culture only sees mental (and for that matter
physical) illness through the lens of a mechanistic world, where
nothing outside of a paradigm which says; ‘only what can be
measured are things that are real,’ we treat illness as a blight, as
something wrong, as something broken. And of course, if you
treat someone as a broken person, they will be a broken person.
Shamans are broken people too of course, because they
have been broken by the spirits, broken out of thier shell of
cultural normality and given a bigger picture, a bigger role.
Accepting and helping someone through a psychological crisis
is not going to make that crisis go away, but it’s going to help to
reframe it, turn it around from being broken like a discarded
useless object, into being broken like an eggshell - so a new
life can emerge. Bloody great film - do watch it.
www.crazywisefilm.com
HOOP ISSUE 100 2018
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 JUN 15-19: THE PATH OF THE JAGUAR
(GLASGOW) Soul retrieval practitioner’s training and
soul remembrance and activation of life purpose.
Fotoula Adrimi: (0141) 9467 568 (07969) 459 756
www.theisisschoolofholistichealth.com
JUN 16: PURIFICATION LODGE (SOMERSET)
Mixed community sweatlodge, run by the Pleasure of
Spirit Lodge. All welcome. No charge for ceremony,
but donations - giveaway - only. With Jean Rankin and
John Speirs. info@jeanrankin.com (01458) 241 831
Community and EVENTs JUN 17: PIPE CIRCLE (NORTH PEMBROKESHIRE)
June - September 2018 A chance to sit with the sacred pipe, a traditional
Native American prayer ceremony. With Nick Breeze
Wood. Nick@sacredhoop.org
J UNE
C ommunity and E VENTS

JUN 19: WOMEN’S WORK: ALIGNING WITH

June - September 2018

JUN 1-3 : THE PATH OF THE EARTH (GLASGOW) SOURCE (ASHEVILLE, NC. USA) Explore the
Shamanic Healing with spiritual light, with the radiance creative side of shamanic journeying to rediscover the
of your spirit and shamanic transfiguration to perform spark of your inspiration and the power of group
healing ceremonies and shamanic healing. Fotoula intention through ceremonial tool making. With Desiree
Adrimi: (0141) 9467 568 (07969) 459 756 DeMars: desireeddemars@gmail.com
www.theisisschoolofholistichealth.com desireedemars.com (312) 437 4325
JUN 2-3: INTRODUCTION TO SHAMANISM JUN 23-24: FIRE (DERBYSHIRE) Elements of
(ABERGAVENNY) An introduction to the shamanic Shamanism. Explore the elements in nature; learn
Journey; exploring with safety and support. With tools and techniques for alignment and balance;
Maxine Smillie. shamaniclife.co.uk (07845) 933 860 experience the transformative power of ceremony.
connect@shamaniclife.co.uk info@centreforshamanicarts.co.uk (01433) 651 769
JUN 5: WOMEN’S WORK: ALIGNING WITH JUN 28: FULL MOON PURIFICATION LODGE
SOURCE (ASHEVILLE, NC. USA) Explore the CEREMONY (DERBYSHIRE) open to all women.
creative side of shamanic journeying to rediscover the Contact Pamela. info@centreforshamanicarts.co.uk
spark of your inspiration and the power of group JUN 30: ECO SHAMANISM DAY WORKSHOP
intention through ceremonial tool making. With Desiree (GLOUCESTERSHIRE) An introduction to Eco
DeMars: desireeddemars@gmail.com Shamanism. With Mandy Pullen. Contact (01594) 541
desireedemars.com (312) 437 4325 850 or (07805) 800 313 www.mandypullen.co.uk
JUN 9: INTERSTELLA SHAMAN DAY info@mandypullen.co.uk
(NORTHAMPTON) Guided Journeys and ‘shamanic’
sound healing. Connecting with key tools to assist in
bringing in unity consciousness. Contact Elizabeth
J ULY
www.elizabethrudwickhealing.com JUL 12: NEW MOON PURIFICATION LODGE
belovethunder@yahoo.co.uk (07401) 231 333 CEREMONY (DERBYSHIRE) Open to all men.
JUN 10: 3 RIVERS SHAMANIC GROUP (N.E. Contact Pete. info@centreforshamanicarts.co.uk
ESSEX) A season of healing, blessings and joy. JUL 5-8: THE ART OF THE HEALING VOICE IN
Contact Julia www.3riversshamanicgroup.co.uk CELTIC SHAMANISM (GLOUCESTERSHIRE)
JUN 13: CREATE YOUR NEW STORY (ASHEVILLE, Explore the use of the voice in shamanic practice,
NC. USA) Through shamanic processes and simple toning and keening to access our inner worlds, explore
ceremony, explore your ancestral lineage and sacred chant to heal and unblock our energetic bodies. Based
symbols to design a new story for your life. With upon the three musical strains or modes of ancient
Desiree DeMars: desireeddemars@gmail.com Ireland. For the fluent journeyer. Cáit Branigan and
desireedemars.com (312) 437 4325 Caitlín Matthews. info@hawkwoodcollege.co.uk,
(01453) 759 034
Please send: JUL 7: SHAMANIC SUNDAYS (FOREST OF DEAN)
X No More than 5 ENTRIES per issue
Monthly journeying group on the first Sunday of each
X Dates for the Next Issue Only month10.30-1pm. With Mandy Pullen. Suitable for
PLEASE SEND US THEM LIKE THIS EXAMPLE:
beginners and those more experienced. Contact
(01594) 541 850 or (07805) 800313
Aug 22-23: Shamanic Hopscotch www.mandypullen.co.uk info@mandypullen.co.uk
SHAMANIC EVENTS DIARY (Kathmandu) A weekend of tantric
POP is open to all subscribers playground games and shamanic JUL 8: 3 RIVERS SHAMANIC GROUP (N.E. ESSEX)
of Sacred Hoop Magazine burping. With Archie Frogjumper. A season of healing, blessings and joy. Contact Julia
to use for Free. (01230) 567 891 www.Frogjumper.com www.3riversshamanicgroup.co.uk
If POP users are not subscribers to archie@Frogjumper.com
Hoop we request a small financial JUL 15: PIPE CIRCLE (NORTH PEMBROKESHIRE)
donation as an ‘energy exchange’ Email entries to Nick@sacredhoop.org A chance to sit with the sacred pipe, a traditional
to help us produce the POP pages. Please note: we reserve the right to edit entries and Native American prayer ceremony. With Nick Breeze
we cannot guarantee publication as space is limited
Donate easily with PayPal Wood. Nick@sacredhoop.org
Please send your payments to this email - NEXT DEADLINE - Aug 26th JUL 19-23: MEDICINE FOR THE EARTH (WYE
donation@sacredhoop.org for Sept - June Issue
VALLEY) Based on the beautiful work of Sandra

54
HOOP ISSUE 100 2018
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Ingerman. Our intention is to learn practices which
integrate our spiritual work into our daily lives
becoming the change we want to see in the world.
With Maxine Smillie. shamaniclife.co.uk (07845) 933
860 connect@shamaniclife.co.uk
JUN 24: INTERSTELLAR SHAMAN DAY (LONDON)
Guided Journeys and ‘shamanic’ sound healing.
Connecting with key tools to assist in bringing in unity
consciousness. Contact Elizabeth
www.elizabethrudwickhealing.com
belovethunder@yahoo.co.uk (07401) 231 333
JUL 29: SPA FOR THE SOUL (LONDON) Gong,
shamanic drumming sound bath with gentle yoga and
mantra for detox and release. Contact Elizabeth
www.elizabethrudwickhealing.com
belovethunder@yahoo.co.uk (07401) 231 333
Practitioner Profile....
Nicholas Breeze Wood
location: North Pembrokeshire, Wales
www.NicholasBreezeWood.me
‘
‘
Where did you
first meet
shamanism?
Since childhood
I’ve had an interest
in the spirit world,
and ancient
cultures, especially
their ritual objects. I used to see spirits a lot as a
child, which used to scare me. I got drawn to
creating ceremonies when I was in my early teens,
but I didn’t know what I was doing really, - and
scared myself even more. That was the mid 1970s,
pre-internet, pre New Age bookshops, and I didn’t
officially come in contact with shamanism until I was
27 and found my first human teacher. But now, when
I look back, it has always been there.
Which teachers and teachings
have influenced you the most?
My first precious teacher was Leo Rutherford. Back
then he was pretty much the only person in Britain
teaching and I learned a lot from him. Then gradually I
met more teachers and worked with them. I’ve always
been a maverick, I’ve never wanted to apprentice with
anyone, but I’ve met some remarkable shamans and
medicine people over the years and learned things
from each one. If I had to make a list of names, I
guess would be Leo, Sun Bear, Wallace Black Elk, Ed
McGaa, Hyemeyohsts Storm and Ngak'chang
Rinpoche, and probably above all, my dear friends
Jonathan Horwitz and Faith Nolton.
What makes your heart sing?
Without a doubt ritual objects, I absolutely adore
them. But there are many other things too; musical
instruments, Central Asian rugs, mountains and wild
places, learning about shamanism, good food, good
company, beautiful sacred art, Tibetan furniture,
ancient things, and the mystery of the ancestors.
What is the most bizarre situation that you
have found yourself in on your shamanic path
A UGUST
AUG 19: PIPE CIRCLE (NORTH
PEMBROKESHIRE) A chance to sit with the sacred
pipe, a traditional Native American prayer ceremony.
With Nick Breeze Wood. Nick@sacredhoop.org
AUG 24-27: ICONS OF THE HEART: PAINTING
OUR SACRED IMAGES (GLOUCESTERSHIRE) We
welcome people of all spiritual traditions, so you can
make the icon of your own sacred sources. Learn the
art of egg tempera to make our own sacred icon,
painting, praying, and mediating the sacred presences
that we have first met in our souls. With Caitlín
June - September 2018
C ommunity and E VENTS
Matthews and Felicity Wombwell.
info@hawkwoodcollege.co.uk (01453) 759 03
Singing a traditional Lakota prayer song, along with
Faith Nolton, just the two of us with our rattles, in the
vast echoing space of a large medieval British abbey
as part of a service being held there (lovely acoustics).
Where on earth do you feel most at home?
Pembrokeshire, and West Wales in general. I like
open spaces, and I love being with rocks. As a rule
of thumb if it has a population of over a hundred
people or so, it’s too big to gladden my heart.
What do you do for fun?
Creative things. Playing music, especially outside in
my garden. I have a small recording studio and I love
being in there. I love painting, and making things -
especially sacred objects. I also enjoy cooking, and
feeding people, and having good conversations.
What is your favourite food?
World food, it’s fun finding out about North African,
Mediterranean, Arabic, Indian and Central Asian
food, and exploring the tastes and ingredients.
What music do you like?
Medieval music before 1300; singer-songwriter and
world music mostly. It ranges from Cat Stevens to
Yes to the Dave Mathews Band to North African oud
to the medieval trobadors. I like music that stirs my
heart and my soul, with words that make me think.
Best book and film?
Books and films are not that important to me really, I
don’t read much - especially fiction - and I rarely
watch a film twice because tend to I remember what
happened last time.
What message would you give
to your 12-year-old self ?
It’s going to get really hard. Hold on, because there
are storms coming; but then it will get really good.
Believe in yourself, and in the spirits, and keep going.
A wish for the future?
That people truly see the sacredness in themselves,
others and the world around them, knowing they are
truly related and everything is alive and sacred.
a
HOOP ISSUE 100 2018
55
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 AUG 25 - 27: SONG OF THE ANCESTORS
(ANGLESEY, WALES) Women's workshops with
Brooke Medicine Eagle. Honour your feminine
ancestors, clear ancestral trauma and explore sacred
sites on the ancient and beautiful island of Ynys Môn.
Contact Claire info@northwalesretreats.com
www.northwalesretreats.com (07970) 409 724
AUG 26: FULL MOON PURIFICATION LODGE
CEREMONY (DERBYSHIRE) open to all women.
Contact Pamela. info@centreforshamanicarts.co.uk
S EPTEMBER
SEP 8: ECO SHAMANISM TASTER WORKSHOP
(BRISTOL) Taster half day introduction to Eco
Shamanism. With Mandy Pullen, Jane Embleton and
Freya Davies. Contact (01594) 541 850 or (07805) 800
313 www.mandypullen.co.uk info@mandypullen.co.uk
SEP 9: ECO SHAMANISM TASTER WORKSHOP
(BRISTOL) Taster half day in Landscape and Plant Eco
Shamanism. With Mandy Pullen, Jane Embleton and
Freya Davies. Contact (01594) 541850 or 07805 800
313 www.mandypullen.co.uk info@mandypullen.co.uk
SEP 22 : PLANT ECO SHAMANISM (FOREST OF
DEAN) Day working with Plant Perception and
Resonance. With Mandy Pullen and Freya Davies.
• SHAMANIC RESOURCES • SHAMANIC RESOURCES • SHAMANIC
GET YOURSELF
NOTICED
advertise in
Sacred Hoop
this size is
only £35
(that’s about $48us)
Contact us about
being in our next issue!
56
HOOP ISSUE 100 2018
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Contact (01594) 541 850 or (07805) 800 313
www.mandypullen.co.uk info@mandypullen.co.uk
SEP 22-23: THREE YEAR PRACTITIONER
COURSE (MONMOUTHSHIRE) By the end of the
journey you will be a confident practitioner, able to
undertake healing ceremonies for people, animals and
our land. Being confident and present, transmuting our
challenges with compassion, gentleness and sacred
humour. With:Maxine Smillie Contact: (07845) 933
860 Connect@shamaniclife.co.uk shamaniclife.co.uk
SEP 23: PIPE CIRCLE (NORTH PEMBROKESHIRE)
A chance to sit with the sacred pipe, a traditional
Native American prayer ceremony. With Nick Breeze
Wood. Nick@sacredhoop.org
SEP 25: FULL MOON PURIFICATION LODGE
CEREMONY (DERBYSHIRE) open to all women.
Contact Pamela. info@centreforshamanicarts.co.uk
SEP 29-30 : INTRODUCTION TO SHAMANISM
(ABERGAVENNY) Offering an introduction to the
shamanic journey, exploring with safety and support
from a very experience teacher. With: Maxine Smillie.
Contact: Connect@shamaniclife.co.uk
shamaniclife.co.uk (07845) 933 860
NEXT POP DEADLINE: AUG 26th
Books on Nordic Shamanism by Jörgen I Eriksson
www.norrshaman.net
 • SHAMANIC RESOURCES • SHAMANIC RESOURCES • SHAMANIC RESOURCES • SHAMANIC RESOURCES •

HEALING THROUG A RETURN

TO THE LAND : HARTWELL
Rites of passage, vision quest, movement into
eldership, soul and nature Since the 80s,
Annie Spencer has been creating ceremony
for healing, or celebration, and to bring
us back into right alignment with
our mother, the earth

To learn about her work visit

www.Hartwell.eu.com
HOOP ISSUE 99 2018
57
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• SHAMANIC RESOURCES • SHAMANIC RESOURCES • SHAMANIC RESOURCES • SHAMANIC RESOURCES •

The
World Leading Available at Nearipress.org or Amazon.com $24 USD
Shamanism Magazine From the author of Ancient Ways and Ancient Ethics,
Offering a doorway to Geral Blanchard offers his latest book which addresses
trauma recovery - or soul retrieval - using a blend of
Ancient Sacred Ways contemporary and indigenous-influenced approaches.
in every issue Transcending Trauma is a soulful embrace of trauma
viewing PTSD as a potential portal to post-traumatic
2018 - Celebrating its 100th issue growth (PTG). Once regarded as a certain gateway to
a breakdown, traumatic experiences are presented as
with 4 Extra Free Issues opportunities for significant relationship and spiritual
for Subscribers breakthroughs. Rather than attempting to merely bounce
back, PTG offers a solid formula to bounce forward.
Worldwide
Subscription
only £10 a year To subscribe, or for
(approx $14)
details please visit
www.sacredhoop.org

“One seldom uses the word ‘loving’ to describe a

book written for healers; here we have an exception.
Blanchard is one of a kind: intelligent, adventurous,
open, funny, respectful, infinitely curious, and articulate.
This book, like its author, is wise, helpful, encouraging
and deeply, deeply human.”
Mike Lew, author of ‘Victims No Longer’
“Thanks to Transcending Trauma, our society can
come to understand that PTSD need not be a
lifetime disability, but can become the start of an
even better life. The insights in Geral Blanchard’s
book are both compassionate and practical.”
Greg Becker, author of ‘The Post Traumatic Growth
of a Guardian Healer’
Available in paperback for $20 USD from safersociety.org
and on kindle from Amazon.com for $9.99 USD

58
HOOP ISSUE 100 2018
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 • SHAMANIC RESOURCES • SHAMANIC RESOURCES • SHAMANIC RESOURCES • SHAMANIC RESOURCES •
shamanicteachers.com
Embracing the
Earth Medicine

12th UK
Residential
Shamanic
Earthspirit
Centre Gathering
Nr Glastonbury With:
Somerset Carolyn Hillier • Nigel Shaw
England Anthar Kharana
Wed 5th - Sun 9th (Columbian Tribal Medicine Man)
September 2018 Eliana Harvey • Danu Forest
Jez Hughes and many others...

www. ukshamanicgathering.org.uk
info@ukshamanicgathering.org

Sacred Drums of Siberia

Making, Empowering and
Using Shamanic Drums
Nicholas Breeze Wood

Beautifully
illustrated in full
colour with many
photos of original
shaman’s drums,
many never
published in the
West before! An International Alliance
“An important of dedicated Shamanic Teachers
contribution to
the study of Trained to teach by Sandra Ingerman, teacher and author
shamanism!” of many well-known books on shamanic healing including:
Michael Harner ‘Soul Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self’
and ‘Medicine for the Earth’
who offer a variety of workshops on shamanic
journeying, healing, and planetary healing.
You can also find a local practitioner who can
perform shamanic healing work.
We are an alliance of teachers and
practitioners who work together
in the spirit of love and integrity.
$17.95US from:
www.bit.ly/3WorldsBooks www.shamanicteachers.com
HOOP ISSUE 100 2018 59
www.sacredhoop.org
 The back
cover of
Flowering Sacred Hoop
Tree illust
ration © F Issue One,
aith Nolto
n
Published in
April 1993