#norse shaman drum

[gifts-of-heimdall-runes]

Source:

Яблоки Идунн [VK.com]

[jpblom]

Journey Down The World Tree

(Shamanic Journey) Ancient Tree Doorway Reveals Shamanic Secrets Of Your True Authentic Self Embark on a shamanic journey through an ancient tree doorway to reveal the secrets of your true authentic self. Explore the mystical world of shamanism in this transformative experience. Click To Schedule a Rune Reading

[xphaiea]

SPIRIT WALKER Handcrafted textile art doll. Complete with wooden display stand, beaded drum, staff, deer headdress and ritual regalia. Made from recycled/vintage materials. One of a kind. Doll can be removed from stand and is fixed in place with a hemp string around it's waist. www.xphaiea.bigcartel.com ••• #xphaiea #artdoll #textileartdoll #shaman #shamanism #shamanic #textileart #artist #doll #dollmakersofinstagram #handmade #ooak #esoteric #occult #druidry #pagan #pagansofinstagram #folklore #norse #viking #magick #spirit #fantasy #folkart https://www.instagram.com/p/Cne4PrCrwhg/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[emotionalexpressions]

Watch "Shamanic Norse Music - Viking Dark Folk - Meditation & Ritual - Deep Drumming And Throat Singing" on YouTube

[xartus]

Lists

Things That Are New Age/Alternative Medicine:

Crystals

Essential oils

"Energy"

"Vibrations"

"Frequencies"

"Spirit guides"

"The Universe" (as a vague theism)

Manifestation

Things That Have Been Appropriated Beyond Recognition by The West:

Sage/Smudging

Palo Santo

Chakras

Shamanism/ almost any kind of spiritual mediator

Drum circles

Virtually all entheogens

They're coming for animism too, I've seen it

Things That Are Neopagan:

Everything Wiccan which includes:

Divine masculine/feminine

The God/goddess

Triple Goddess

Entire Wheel of the Year

Emphasis on seasonal fertility cycles

Druidry

All Norse Paganism I'm sorry y'all

Things That Are Victorian Occultism:

Mediums

Psychics

"The veil"

Tarot (as a magical system, techinically starts in the 18th century)

Things That Are Ceremonial, Not Folk Magic:

Casting a circle

Capturing spirits/demons

Grimoires

Demonology

Things That Are Just Not Accurate Historically:

Focus on pan regional deities

Christian-like personal worship of deities

Insistence on mythology is literal

Insistence on folklore as literal

Anyone saying any of this is at all centralized or standardized

Orthodoxy honestly. Orthopraxy was more important in public cult

Runes

Things Y'all Are Currently Fucking Up & Being Weird About:

Anything Nordic. It's getting weird. Please chill. I know it's popular because it's an "exotic other" that has been deemed okay to ream culturally by spiritually empty Americans because they're also white but like, its getting fucking weird. And it's just Nordic stuff, no one gives a fuck about the rest of Germanic culture.

The exact same with the Celts, though this has been happening for much longer than the weirdness with Nordic beliefs. Same idea, an "exotic other" that's okay to suck the soul out of because they're white people. We hardly know anything about what the historical Celts did or practiced and almost all of the information about it online is not correct.

I'm begging you to learn about regional practices, either in the area you're in or of your family. This is aimed specifically at white pagans and witches since we (yes, I've been complicit in this in the past) are by far the most problematic currently and what I have experience on. Just because something is open, doesn't mean that you personally get to absolutely fuck it's entire history and social context to feel something inside. Any tradition deserves research and respect.

[vixenberkana]

Joik Before the implantation of christianity throughout Saamiland (between 1600s and 1700s), the Joik, a traditional form of song of the Sámi people, was an integral element in Shamanic ritual, performed by the Shaman (Noaidi) to self-induce a state of trance, often with drumming. For centuries, Joiking was outlawed when Nordic countries attempted to christianize the Sámi. Today, however, the Sámi have regained many of their rights.

[mythologicafolk]

Illuriah released a new single, titled Surtr, which will be featured on its upcoming second album.

https://mythologica.com.br/en/news/illuriah-reveals-single-surtr/

[wanderingoneeye]

Runic Petroglyphs

Here are a few more petroglyphs found among the Sami and Rus tribes in the area before (long long before) runes and rune staves were a thing.

You can already see some of the symbolism we use currently developing and what they meant before christiandom spread like the plague it is and infected the North.

The first few are just "people" of various types but near the bottom where you see the little circles they represent the shamans. The ones with circles "around" the person and above them are those who are under a magickal spell of some type.

The little "cup" piece we use in Galdrastafir now was actually the hammer used to bang the drum (yes shamanic drumming was a huge thing, this is how you go to the underworld and the world of spirits)

You can see other symbols used in the vegvisir and ægishjalmur in the elks near the bottom. These were the magical symbols of prehistoric norsemen (not the vikings, think more caveman) I have hundreds of these and will be uploading more as I get time.

[balkanaffairsofficial]

The piece of beautiful material that have yet to make pretty videos. Wulflund is honestly amazing, go check them out, they make stunning and out of this world quality things. Not just instruments, but clothing, decor, etc!

[witchrog]

The person behind Earthborn Art, dirty old heathen, witchbitch par exellence :P 

This was taken at a beatiful river source, which pours out of a bottom of a canyon wall, surrounded by arching pines, lush oaks and mesmerizing willows. In the image I am drumming on a shamanic frame drum, (which  I’ve recieved from a Mongolian shaman, in Siberian and Mongolian cultures the shamanic drum is reffered to as the ‘’The Shamans Horse’’, their spirit helper which aids them in traveling through the Otherworld, beyond the Veil),

I’m greeting the elves and the giants....Howling at the Moon through the night with my dear friends :) 

Stormen stilnar, hugen fer              (The storm is stilled, the mind flies)

Hovslagtromma takten slær           (The drum of hoofs lay the beat)

Hjartet fylgjer, tveim blir ein            (The heart follows, two becomes one)

Rir meg fri med raske bein             (Sets me loose with speedy feet)

Ridande                                          (Riding)

Raido                                           ( Raido )

Part of ‘’Raido’’  by Einar Selvik (Wardruna)

[svartabergetart]

Troll shaman på vandring or troll shaman on a wandering. Behöver jag säga att denna ochså kommer att dyka upp i mina animationer, bland tomtar och troll. Saga och verklighet. Svartaberget Art på Youtube och Facebook. Titta är ett måste. #troll #shaman #wandering #shamanism #drums #skulls #horns #illustration #digitalart #darkfantasy #fantasyart #sketchbookpro #sketchbookapp #jonfjell #svartabergetart #norse #sweden #folklore #myth #rpg #tomtarochtroll https://www.instagram.com/p/CFUocUoFbZO/?igshid=fzdf0638pgsi

[thursarn]

Where drums roar.. 

Heilung at Midgardsblót 2017.

© Ásta Harbo / Instagram / Tumblr / Facebook

[samwisethewitch]

Pathworking and Astral Travel

In spirit work, we often connect with the spirits that have crossed over and are present in the physical world. However, there are also ways to cross over into the spirit world and connect with spirits in their home environment.

Pathworking

As I mentioned in a previous post, a pathworking is a specific type of meditation where you go on a psychic journey, but are still anchored to your physical body. It’s sort of like dipping your toes into the spirit world.

There are two important elements to a pathworking: a clear entrance/exit point and a way to retrace your steps. Pathworking journeys are typically cyclical — there is both a journey out and a return where you go back the way you came. This makes it easier to fully return your consciousness to your body, and failing to do so can cause you to feel disoriented upon the return.

Your entry/exit point can be absolutely anything, but common examples include a door, a gateway, a tree (or sometimes The World Tree), a cave/tunnel, or a natural landmark like a beach or mountaintop. What’s important is that it’s recognizable and easy to find your way back to.

If you want to try pathworking, make a rough “road map” of your journey beforehand. This doesn’t have to be super specific, but it should contain the following: a goal for the pathworking (such as to connect with a certain spirit), an entry/exit point, and a general idea for the route you’re going to take. If you’re worried about getting lost, author Thea Sabin recommends using “the Theseus trick.” Like in the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, you can tie a golden thread or rope to your entry point and the other end to your astral body. If you get lost, you can follow the thread back.

Pathworking is fairly beginner friendly, and I highly, highly, highly recommend starting with pathworking and becoming comfortable with this method before trying astral travel. Even for more advanced witches, pathworking is often a better option than astral travel because it’s less involved and requires a little bit less effort. I personally prefer pathworking for most situations.

Performing a Pathworking

Before you begin, establish a clear goal for your pathworking and write out a rough “road map.” At the very least, you should know what your purpose is, where your entry point is, and how to find your way back.

Begin in a dark, quiet room. Cleanse the room by burning incense, diffusing or spraying essential oils, or using a ritual broom to sweep out old energy.

Find a comfortable place to sit or lie down and begin meditating. You may want to play meditation music, practice breathing techniques, or use some other method to help you reach a meditative state.

Once you reach a meditative state (you should know what this feels like if you have experience with meditation), see yourself standing at your entry point. This is your entrance to the astral realm.

Set out on your pathworking.

When you are ready to leave the astral realm, you will need to find your way back to your entry point. Once you reach your entry point, it should be fairly easy to return to your body.

Once you’re fully present in your physical body, use your favorite method to ground yourself.

Write down everything you experienced during your pathworking in a journal.

Astral Travel

If pathworking is dipping your toes into the spirit world, astral travel is diving in the deep end. Also called spirit flight and hedge riding, astral travel includes actually sending your soul/consciousness out of your body and into the spirit world. As you might guess, this is more complicated and requires more effort than pathworking. For this reason, astral travel is not beginner-friendly. If you are completely new to meditation, witchcraft, and spirit work, it’s best to learn to pathwork before you attempt astral travel.

A word of warning: you may want to avoid astral travel at times when you’re in a very vulnerable or volatile emotional state. Some days you just aren’t up for it, and that’s okay. On those days, a pathworking or another form of spirit work may be a better option.

Triggering Spirit Flight

In astral travel, a trigger of some kind is used to help disconnect the soul from the physical body. Common triggers include drumming, special music, shaking a rattle, chanting, and dancing.

You can find shamanic drumming tracks on YouTube that can help you achieve astral travel. If you find that repetitive motion helps you trance out, you may look into getting a small drum or rattle to play.

Animal Guides

In many cultures, those who travel into the spirit world do so with the guidance and protection of an animal spirit. From the Norse fylgja, to the shamanic power animal, to the witch’s familiar, history is full of examples of these types of guides.

Before you begin astral travel, do a pathworking to meet your animal guide. It’s important to note that you aren’t choosing an animal guide — only meeting one that has always been with you. Your guide may be an animal that you like or identify with, or it may not. When I first began experimenting with astral travel, my guide was a coyote — an animal I had never identified with before, but who I learned was deeply connected to my inner self.

It’s important to always have your animal guide with you when going on astral journeys, as they are an important source of protection and power. They may also literally guide you to the things you need to see and the spirits you need to meet.

Flying Ointments

Historical accounts describe witches using “flying ointment” to help them achieve spirit flight. These traditional flying ointments contained toxic and/or hallucinogenic plants like belladonna, datura, henbane, mandrake, and opium poppies. For obvious reasons, most modern witches do not use these herbs.

Please do not try to create your own flying ointment with poisonous plants. If you’re a true traditionalist and feel like you just have to try a historically accurate flying ointment, Bane Folk Apothecary sells several. Bane Folk is run by Sarah Anne Lawless, a kickass witch who knows her stuff and produces safe, medicinal products inspired by traditional flying ointment formulas. I am usually very pro-DIY, especially when it comes to witchcraft, but this is one case where it really is best to defer to a professional.

To create a modern, non-toxic flying ointment: heat eight ounces (or one cup) of poppy seed oil over low heat on the stove. Once the oil is warm, add 2 ounces (or 1/4 cup) of beeswax into the oil. (Use carnauba wax for a vegan alternative.) Take the mixture off the heat, and allow it to cool off a bit. Once it has cooled (but before it’s begun to solidify), add nine drops each of mugwort essential oil, star anise essential oil, and peppermint essential oil. Pour the mixture into a mason jar and seal tightly. To extend your ointment’s shelf life, add a few drops of Vitamin E oil and store in the refrigerator. If you don’t have access to essential oils or prefer a more traditional method, you can buy dry herbs and infuse them into your oil instead — to do this, crush up 2.5 ounces (or 1/3 cup) each of dried mugwort, star anise, and peppermint and add them to a mason jar; add enough oil to the jar to cover the herbs completely, with about an inch of oil above them; seal the jar and place it in a sunny window for 2-3 weeks to infuse; and finally, strain the herbs out of the oil with a mesh sieve or a cheesecloth. You can then add your Vitamin E oil and beeswax to create an ointment.

This modern recipe does not contain hallucinogens, but it does contain plants that are commonly used in magic to increase psychic abilities and aid in astral travel. You can say an incantation over this ointment while making it to add some extra magical potency. Applying the flying ointment can also become a sort of ritual that prepares you for spirit flight by helping you slip into a more spiritual head space.

Performing Astral Travel/Spirit Flight

Before you begin, know why you are journeying to the spirit world. You should always have a clear goal for your astral journeys.

Begin in a dark, quiet room. Cleanse the room by burning incense (mugwort incense aids in astral travel), diffusing or spraying essential oils, or using a ritual broom to sweep out old energy.

Use your favorite method to ground yourself.

If you are choosing to use a flying ointment, rub it on your skin now.

Hold a protective item in one of your hands. I like physical items for protection during spirit flight, because they can ground you and help you find your way back to your body. Examples of protective items include a sprig of rue, a piece of iron, or a protective crystal like black tourmaline. If you ever feel scared or uncomfortable during your journey, you can bring this object into the astral realm to protect you. It will also keep your body safe while your consciousness is occupied.

Start up your trigger, whether this is drumming, rattling, dancing, etc.

Allow yourself to drift into a trance state, and then to disconnect from your body.

Call your animal guide to you.

Set out on your journey in the spirit world.

When you are ready, feel yourself returning to your physical body. Allow yourself to come back slowly — don’t rush it.

Ground yourself. One good way to ground after astral travel is by eating a snack.

Write down your experiences in a journal.

Resources:

Wicca for Beginners by Thea Sabin

Southern Cunning: Folkloric Witchcraft in the American South by Aaron Oberon

Hedge Riding by Harmonia Saille

“How to Make Herb-Infused Oils for Culinary & Body Care Use” and “How to Make Herbal Salves” from the Mountain Rose Herbs blog

[freyjuseggr]

Seiðr Sources Masterpost 2021

Here is an updated list of all of the books and papers I recommend for the study of seiðr

The Viking Way - Neil Price

Shamanism in Norse Myth and Magic - Clive Tolley

The Archeology of Seiðr: Circumpolar Traditions in Viking Pre-Christian Religion - Neil Price 

Old Norse Religion in Long Term Perspectives: Spinning Seiðr - Eldar Heide

A Biography of Seiðr-staffs - Leszek Gardela

Shamanism in the Old Norse Tradition: A Theory Between Ideological Camps - Stefanie v. Schnurbein

A Sourcebook of Seið - Stephen Flowers (there are a lot of problems with this guy but its just a collection of every mention of seiðr in the sagas and Eddas)

The Hunting of the Vétt: in Search of the Old Norse Shamanic Drum - Clive Tolley

Remnants of Seiðr: Charms and Incantations in the German Diasporas - Nóel Braucher

The Image of Seiðr in Old Icelandic Literature: Consistency or Variation- Lyonel D. Perabo

Seiðr & Shamans: Defining the Myth of Ritual Specialists in pre-Christian Scandinavia - Sebastian Klein

The Chicanery of Seiðr 

Out of the Waters Beneath the Tree - Catherine Heath

On Shamanic Traditions

SHAMAN An International Journal  for Shamanistic Research

ECSTATIC RELIGION A Study of Shamanism and Spirit Possession 

SHAMANISM Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy - Mircea Eliade

On Spirits

Spirits Through Respiratory Passages -Eldar Heide

The heroized dead. People, animals, and materiality in Scandinavian death rituals, AD 200-1000 - Kristina Jennbert

Vorðr and Gandr: Helping Spirits in Norse Magic - Clive Tolley

On Shapeshifting and Soul-parts

Shapeshifting in Old Norse-Icelandic Literature - Lyonel D. Perabo

Road to Hel- H R Ellis Davidson

Initiation Rituals in Old Norse Texts and their Relationship to Finno Karelian Bear Cult Rituals

Related Topics

ETHICAL WORLD CONCEPTION OF THE NORSE PEOPLE - ANDREW PETER FORS

The Religious Roles in pre-Christian Scandinavia

BALDR’S DRAUMAR (BALDUR’S DREAMS) 

Viking Worlds Things, Spaces and Movement

The Well and the Tree: World and Time in Early Germanic Culture - Paul C. Bauschatz 

[thorraborinn]

Do you have any information about taufr? What little I've found are people who make talismans, usually with bindrunes, but I can't find much historical information.

The word taufr (or tǫfra; see also German Zauber) is a generic word for charms/magical object and secondarily for magic in general. Like, it's not like seiðr where it involves a particular sort of thought-world (which, even if we can't reconstruct it, know there was something that in theory could be known even if in a sort of fuzzy way).

If people are giving the impression that this is, like, a specific school of thought or set of traditions, don't fall for that. That would be treating Old Norse as a sort of arable resource for personal accumulation of clout-capital the same way they have done with vitki. On the other hand, calling something like a talisman or a charm a taufr isn't incorrect, so it's really only if they are giving the impression that there is a particular type of study that they have done, that authenticates or legitimizes their use of the word to the exception of others. The little bit of searching I did just now isn't really turning anything like that up, it's more like selling a helmet and calling it hjálmr to signify its Norseness, which I don't think is really a problem.

Anyway to actually answer the question (whether or not I have any information about magic and magic objects) -- I do. Though I don't think the evidence permits us to say more than this at this time, I suspect there may be some relatedness between what Julie Lund calls "animated objects" in her paper "Connectedness with things. Animated objects of Viking Age Scandinavia and early medieval Europe," and what Old Icelandic sources call taufr. It's not an exact match, but it might be a description of another part of the same set of beliefs that also included such charms and other objects.

Most of what I know, and perhaps most of what is knowable, involves runes. My go-to for the subject is Runes, Magic and Religion: A Sourcebook by John McKinnell, Rudolf Simek, and Klaus Düwel (link includes free preview chapter). There's also the better-known Runic Amulets and Magic Objects by Mindy MacLeod and Bernard Mees but be a little wary because despite the fact that both of them are very good and respectable scholars they really dropped the ball on presenting alternate interpretations (sometimes even the most widely-accepted ones) of some of the objects they observe. I also highly recommend the short paper "Runic Amulets from Medieval Denmark" by Rikke Steenholt Olesen published in the Futhark journal.

Somewhat related, see also the discussion of vitt in the beginning of the paper "The hunting of the vétt: in search of the Old Norse shamanic drum" by Clive Tolley. I don't have my copy handy, but I imagine that The Viking Way by Neil Price would also have some useful information, in particular some of the descriptions of objects found in burials of suspected vǫlur and other sorcerous people.

[kindorthorr]

Völva (Vǫlva) - a female shaman and seer in Norse religion.

Vǫlur practiced seiðr, spá and galdr, practices which included shamanism, sorcery, prophecy and similar forms of magic associated with women. Óðinn himself, consulted a vǫlva to learn what the future had in store for the gods and the account is preserved in the Völuspá, which mostly can be translated to "Prophecy of the Vǫlva". People were afraid of a vǫlva as she possessed a lot of power and the knowledge of magic. She would not always live a long life, the practice of magic was dangerous and moving back and forth between dimensions/realms, had many unforeseen consequences. But her death could also be caused by her own clan if they did not like her prophesies. 

A vǫlva could put herself into a trance, were she could to talk with the spirits around her, the vǫlva herself or someone else mostly young girls at the ritual would sing a song, for the spirits to the sound of drums, the purpose of the song was to lure or attract the spirits to their ritual. The song had to sung as beautiful as possible so the spirits would be pleased and therefore be more likely to help the vǫlva in her ritual. 

The vǫlva would either sit on a high chair or she would be lifted up, so she would be able to see into another realm. If the spirits were pleased with the song they would help the vǫlva in predicting the future or seeing the past. When the sound from the drums and song slowly began to fade, she would be between the realms of the living and spirits, the participants in the circle attending the ritual would now be able to go and ask her questions about their fate and their future, one by one. 

Vǫlur were also able to leave their own body and enter into an animal, it is uncertain how or why they would do that, but it might have been to travel great distances, for instance to another town or place to observe and gather knowledge.