Skuld is often glibly said to represent the future, but this is simply not true. Skuld is everything that may yet be, every possibility that lies implicit within the Wyrd, including those which will never come into manifestation. She is perhaps better said to represent probability or continuation.
When the Initiate views the patterns of potential as Skuld views them, he gains the ability to manipulate those threads in the present which lead towards certain strands of the future, tying and knotting some to strengthen them and snipping or tangling others. It is possible, with awareness and determination, to steer your course by following the possibilities you prefer to come into manifestation.
Each Initiate should at this point devise a ritual of their own making (or three rituals, if you prefer), designed to access the consciousness and Understanding of Urdhr, Verdhandi and Skuld. Follow the guidelines given previously, incorporate suitable runes into your Working, and record the result. When you complete the Work of this chapter, go back and repeat your ritual, comparing the results to the first attempt in order to discover just how far your Understanding has advanced then, compared to how it is now.
Writing the Saga of Your Deeds
If you have been immersing yourself in Northern lore and legend to complement the practices offered in this book, you will probably have read more than one of the sagas. As opposed to the Eddas, which basically tell the various tales of the Gods, the sagas are very much more human, concerning themselves with the acts and noteworthy deeds of human heroes. The Saga of the Volsungs is really required reading for the Ægishjálmur curriculum, for reasons which surely shouldn't need to be explained. But there are other valuable tales too, such as Egils Saga, which tells the story of master rune magician Egil Skallagrimsson.
Now that you have achieved this level of Initiation and have tapped into the current of your own Destiny, awakened the Wode-Self and learned to follow the promptings of your Fetch, it is time to start writing your own saga, the tale of your life and deeds. I mean this quite literally. Take up a pen and paper (or more likely a computer keyboard in this day and age) and start writing your own story, beginning with your earliest memories. Don't be afraid to go back where appropriate and mention pertinent deeds of your ancestors that may have shaped you. Recount every memory that comes to you; each will have its own story to tell, its own way of shedding light on some facet of your being. Pay particular attention to magical events, of course, but do not ignore the mundane.
Not only will you find yourself telling a fascinating story – probably far more interesting and inspiring than your everyday recollections would ever suggest – but your saga will also grasp hold of the patterns of Wyrd in your life, tracing their unfoldment and their direction. The intention is that you will be able to ride these patterns into the past and future. This Work is the underlying focus of this present chapter.
Understanding the Need for Change -
Foretelling Ragnarok
All who have so much as glanced at the mythology of Northern Europe will know something of Ragnarok. This is the great battle between the Gods and the Giants, respectively the forces of consciousness and non-consciousness, laying waste to the world as it is. But life and consciousness survive to spring forth again in a new world, with a new race of Gods and men.
This is not some 'end of the world' myth like the Christian Revelation, however. It is not intended to keep the sheep fearful and in line. It is simply an expression of the essential and inevitable process of change – on all levels of reality, not just the physical – and the Remanifestation that must follow such upheavals.
The process of Ragnarok will be discussed fully in the next chapter. The purpose of mentioning it here is to ensure that the Initiate is aware that periods of stability will inevitably be followed by a time of drastic change and upheaval. This cannot be avoided and so must be prepared for beforehand. At this stage, the Initiate must begin casting his Work into the future, planting the seeds for the Remanifestation of his ideas as well as his own personal Remanifestation.
The Helm of Awe as a Tool For Time Travel
We have already established the use of the Ægishjálmur in operations of sorcery. Now we must use it for one of the most outlandish purposes yet. The Initiate will now seek to expand his consciousness beyond the barriers of the fourth dimension and travel in time itself.
I am not speaking here of physical time travel, but travel of the mind, a kind of out-of-body experience wherein the Initiate's consciousness travels backwards or forwards in time whilst his body sits at rest. He is then able to watch what happens in his chosen time zone and return to the present with the knowledge he has gained.
The first step in this process is to design an appropriate bind-rune in Helm form. It will be good to make the central core of the design the typical equilateral cross with each arm terminating in an elhaz rune. This will ensure the Initiate's safety whilst travelling. Other runes that should be incorporated into the Helm design are:
raidho, for travelling
gebo, for an exchange between that time and this
hagalaz, for returning to the primal patterns
isa, the stream of concentration
jera, the cycles of time
eihwaz, the span of life and death
dagaz, the polarity of then and now
A very serviceable bind-rune may be constructed in Helm-form from these component runes. I am going to leave the final design of this Helm to the genius of the individual Initiate. For one thing, anyone who has come this far should consider it an insult for me to continue designing your bind-runes for you. If you can't achieve it yet, you need to go back to the beginning and work through the previous chapters until you can as you are not yet ready for this Work. Secondly, this current material is still in the experimental stage for me, so I do not wish to mislead anybody by presenting what I feel to be a partly speculative and not fully proven design of my own making.
Having designed your bind-rune and correctly fashioned and charged it by carving, colouring, singing, etc., it is time to decide which time period you wish to visit. You may decide to look at a period in general, or you may wish to home in on a particular historical event. I say 'historical', because it is best if you explore the past to begin with and leave the future well alone. We have already established that the future is a nebulous and indeterminate concept in Northern belief. You will certainly want to extend your perception in that direction when you have some practice under your belt, but you will need considerable skill to navigate its multi-layered mirage of maybes. So begin with the past until you have amassed some considerable skill and a proven, reliable track record.
It is helpful if you can gather some items, pictures or music relating to the time or event you wish to see and use these to set the mood. Open a ritual and explain your wish clearly. Spend some moments in intense concentration upon your goal. Then relax your mind, stare at the bind-rune and think only of travelling. Let the rune's lines draw you in and send you on your way. After you have mentally seen and heard what you need to know from the past (remembering that to invite more than is freely given leads only to error and self-deceit), refocus your consciousness in the here and now and write up your results.
Test the veracity of anything you see or experience as best you are able, using the most reputable sources to do so. You can probably only expect to bring back three or four precise pieces of information with you to start with, increasing as you become more adept with the practice. Again, do not push for more than readily appears, because your subconscious will gladly paper over the cracks for you if you push it. You are looking for truth, not necessarily coherence. It will take time for things to gel.
Once you have a proven record of successfully travelling to the past, you can then start to look to the future, bearing in mind the caveats already given.
Of Elves, Dwarfs and Etins
As the Initiate begins to breach the dimensional barriers with his consciousness, time is not the only fo
e to fall. Space must also be conquered, enabling us to interact with the denizens of others worlds in ways that have not been possible in previous parts of the curriculum.
I am not talking here of Gods, the Æsir and Vanir, but of those entities and wights os a less than Divine status that dwell in the Nine Worlds upon Yggdrasil. Most specifically, I refer to the Elves, Dwarfs and Etins, who dwell in Llossalfheim, Svartalfheim and Jotunheim respectively.
Before we start looking at the practical aspects of this Work, let's refresh our memories of what these beings are.
The Elves are a people closely connected with the Vanir and the processes of cyclical time and generation. They are not bound to Midgard as we are, but have their dwelling in a brighter and more fruitful realm, under the Lordship of the God Frey, brother of Freyja, whose name means simply 'Lord'.
An Elf in Northern lore is a tall and shining being, quite unlike the depictions that have been inflicted upon us since the Victorians started producing pictures of them in storybooks. The way they have been represented in the recent Lord of the Rings movie trilogy has actually been a very fair one and may hopefully go some way toward redressing the balance. Tolkien, of course, knew his Germanic myth inside out, as evidenced by his own alliterative verse retelling of the Volsung saga and numerous other essays.
The Elves are custodians of deep wisdom and have a great knowledge of all the things beloved of the Vanir: the living, growing, organic substance of the world and its cycles. They are tellers of tales and teachers of secrets to those who approach them correctly.
The Dwarfs dwell in Svartalfheim, a name which calls them kindred to the Elves, but they are 'Black Elves'. This blackness refers to their subterranean realm, for the Dwarfs love the deep places of the world, and their abiding in low tunnels accounts for their short stature. They are as wise in their way as their Light cousins, but they are cunning in the lore of crafting and making things with their hands. They teach the use of tools and skill in shaping the raw materials of the earth (or the Self) into intricate and beautiful objects of great usefulness. They tend to be craftier in spirit than the Light Elves and drive a harder bargain, but their friendship is very worth the price.
There are accounts in the Eddas of many wonderful and magical treasures crafted by the Dwarfs for the Æsir, not least of which are the Brisingamen of Freyja and the Hammer of Thor.
The Etins, or Giants, live in Jotunheim (or at least those we are interested in here do. There are other Giants in other places, such as the Fire Giants of Surt who come from Muspellsheim, and the Giants of Utgard, who dwell outside the enclosures of the Nine Worlds in the Outside – these are expressions of the forces of the Void). But we are here interested in the Giants of Jotunheim, who are active within the structure of the worlds upon Yggdrasil.
The Etins possess great age, great strength, and often great size. They are creatures who are stuck in their ways and reactionary, and who are generally opposed to the changeful ways of the young Gods in Valhalla, and hold the Æsir as enemies. They are forces of stasis as opposed to the forces of consciousness and evolution embodied in the Gods.
It would be wrong to categorise all of the Etins as foes, however, matters are rarely as simple as that. They are certainly forces contrary to individuation and consciousness. But so may a mountain be: it is not a conscious thing, nor does it care anything of consciousness, and it may stand in the way of a man who wishes to get from one side to the other. But to say that a mountain is a bad thing or an enemy would be a gross over-simplification and a serious mistake. Mountains are actually very useful and rather beautiful, even if they are generally static and immovable.
In a similar way, the Etins can be very useful and even helpful in the right circumstances and with the right approach. We even read of some of the Gods consorting with Etin-wives in the mythology.
An Etin is very old and has thus acquired great wisdom after its fashion. This wisdom must be carefully interpreted, as it is bound to the Etin's own narrow spectrum of experience, nevertheless it runs very deep. Care must also be taken because although Etins are not particularly smart, they are crafty and cunning after their fashion, misleading or trapping the careless.
So the wise Initiate may discover deep and timeless wisdom from an Etin, but must be careful to interpret it correctly.
There are two main ways to seek communication with Elves, Dwarfs and Etins. One way is to travel to them; the other way is to call them to you. In the first case, the Initiate will take a spirit journey as described in chapter five, faring out into the worlds along the rune-roads until he arrives at the appropriate realm: Ljossalfheim for the Elves; Svartalfheim for the Dwarfs; Jotunheim for the Etins. Once there, he may seek out and speak with a being of that type. The other way is to formulate a ritual to call the entity for illumination. In such a case, you will need to spell out the name of the invoked wight with runes, with a bind-rune of that name placed before you. Also, a sacrifice will be necessary: drink half of the ale or mead yourself, pouring the other half upon the ground as an offering to the spirit, refreshing it and welcoming it. You should then sense its presence and may communicate mentally with it, receiving its wisdom as flashes of inspiration either during the ritual or shortly thereafter.
Through working with these entities, many of the deep Mysteries of time and space may be revealed to you.
The Apples of Idunn
The Goddess Idunn is associated with youth and with apples. The apples She cultivates are the source of the rejuvenating powers enjoyed by the Gods, which grant them immortality. Her name is thought to mean 'ever young' or 'the rejuvenating one'. She is thus a Goddess of Remanifestation and of key interest to Draconian Initiates.
One of the myths concerning Idunn is very indicative of Her power. Loki is forced by an Etin named Thjazi to deceive Idunn and lead Her out of Asgard on a pretext, whereupon the Etin seizes Her, desiring Her apples of rejuvenation for himself. In consequence, the Gods begin to grow grey and to age, lacking the restorative power of Idunn's apples. It becomes apparent that Loki is responsible and He is forced to go out once more to rescue Idunn from Thjazi. He does this using His powers of transformation and Idunn is restored to the Æsir, who kill the pursuing Etin.
The following rite is intended to accomplish two things:
It should rejuvenate and reinvigorate the Initiate, reminding him of his immortal essence. It binds the parts of his soul more firmly, manifesting continuity of consciousness.
It reminds the Initiate of the parts of himself that lie beyond even Yggdrasil, pulsing with potential in Ginnungagap. Thus, it makes the temporal manipulations of this chapter's Work that little bit easier.
The Apples of Remanifestation
The Initiate should set up his tools in preparation for a ritual. The Grail should contain a potent cider (specifically an alcoholic cider – I am aware that non-alcoholic apple juice is sold under the name of cider in some places. Also, for rather obvious symbolic reasons, this must be a traditional apple cider, not pear cider or some other such variant.) An apple should also be present (if more than one person is celebrating this Working, there should be enough apples for everyone to have one.)
Open the ritual in your accustomed fashion.
Hold the apple in one hand and hold the palm of the other hand over the top of the Grail. Slowly sing the names of all the runes of the Futhark in proper order, feeling the qualities of the whole rune row entering the fruit and the drink, empowering them.
Say: “I am one who has awakened the sleeping Dragon, who has pursued the Heroic path, who has reached out his hand to the Valkyrie and has felt the Divine Mind. I am one who has opened the Eye in the Void and who has seen beyond the limits of time and space. As such, I claim the right to taste of the apples of Idunn, and to partake of their rejuvenating essence. The ecstasy of their sweetness shall bring forth my Remanifestation. I invite all Gods and favourable wights to bear witness and to partake with me.”
Hold aloft the Grail and sense it
filling with Divine force. Pour one half of the cider upon the bare earth (or into a bowl to be taken outside and poured upon the earth later if you are working indoors) as a sacrifice to the Gods, then drink the other half, feeling it refresh and renew you, filling your mortal frame with spiritual force.
Cut the apple in two and place one half upon the bare earth (or in the bowl for later) as an offering to the Gods. Eat the other half, feeling it nourish and renew you, flooding your body, mind and spirit with new energy.
Remove the pips from the half you ate. These should be buried later, to renew the Earth.
Close the ritual in your accustomed way. If you worked indoors, take the offerings outside and complete them accordingly.
The Tally of Selves
One of the most useful and important applications of the transdimensional techniques of this chapter is to look back along our own timeline in order to better understand ourselves in our completeness.
We have established the belief in rebirth and have investigated at some length the effects of the death process upon the various parts of the soul-body complex. We have also discovered Desire as the engine which drives the process of Remanifestation and which can facilitate the continuity of consciousness from one state of being to the next, allowing us to be reborn in our next life without losing all memories of this present one. But having made such provision for the future, we should now turn our minds to the past and seek out the Mysteries which are hidden there, buried deep within the layers of the unconscious. We need to find our previous selves, those shells which are now dead and gone, and we need to revivify them in our contemporary consciousness, restoring them to fullness of life.
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