What is a Volva, Seidr & Norse Practices
What is a Volva, Seidr & Norse Practices
Thoughts on "Shamanic" Ethics and Honouring....
When I use the word shamanism, it is not meant to be disrespectful to any culture, indigenous peoples or beliefs. Nor to commit any cultural appropriation.
There have been controversial conversations on the subject of the word shamanism and who it belongs to. In my understandings, shamanism is a blanket term used to describe the "healing" practices in a people's community or culture. The word shamanism is not exclusive and is not something that can be owned. It is in fact one of the ways to describe the oldest forms of spiritual practices documented and is seen in many, if not all cultures if you go back far enough and recognize the definition of the word.
"Shamanism" in it's definition according to Websters Dictionary is as follows; "Is a religion practiced by indigenous peoples of far Northern Europe and Siberia that is characterized by belief in an unseen world of gods, demons, and ancestral spirits responsive only to the shamans."
According to Wikipedia it is as follows; "Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner who is believed to interact with a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct these spirits or spiritual energies into the physical world, for healing or another purpose."
The word shaman comes from a term learned by early archeologists of the time to describe the peoples who practice these traditions, the word is sourced from the Siberian culture and language which means "One who sees in the dark" or "the hidden realms" and widely refers to those people who have this ability in their own tribe/community.
Shamanism, known as a practice, is human, as the definition implies.
Those who are called shamans (again, a blanket term) can have many different duties (some specialised) within a community and can be called different names and titles depending on their gifts and the culture they come from. Terms such as story teller, saint, medicine man/woman, priest, painter, maestro, volva and seer are just a few examples to describe an integral person and persons inside of a tribe or community. Many of these, if not all, including Volva & Seidr have been currently thrown into a general description of a more well known name of "shaman", which is not entirely correct.
These people and their gifts, where a part of how we lived with the old ways, before religous indoctrination, conventional medicine and hospitals, we lived a more natural earth based, animistic existance and we went to these people in our tribes and communities for healing, support and guidance. It was the way of a tribe/community to gain the information and healing required for their personal needs, community health and survival.
The contraversy lies with the reality that we have lost those and many traditional earth based spiritual practices inside of western culture, but now many of us are waking up too and searching for our roots, recognising that current forms of relationships, lifestyles and medications are not working. That's good, the problem is that many of the only sources of knowledge of the old ways still in existence are held within the indigenous peoples cultures, from far and wide, in many regions and countries all over the world, these indigenous people and their ways have been annihilated, brutalized, appropriated and exploited over time.
It is no surpise that some of them want to hold their spiritual practices close, to protect themselves, their children and their children's children from more hurt and devastation.
Please acknowledge their generational wounding and honour them by respecting their healing process as individuals and as a culture.
Only request teachings from those who offer their traditional knowledge & practices openly.
With this in mind, I prefer to refer to myself simply as a practitioner of Earth Medicine, Animism and Volva. I am open to share the teachings offered to me with the permissions granted to teach others. To clarify, I have recieved teachings from cultures that are mine to embody, but not to teach and I honour those wisdom keepers by leaving their cultural traditions for them to share as they see fit..
In my opinion, it is time to honour our own and each others abilities, traditions and roots in all cultures. To honour our human foundations, recognise that we are all connected, all one consciousness, strengthen inside of that knowledge and then continue to grow, from the roots up into the future. By honouring each other, or past, being accountable, letting go of what no longer supports us and trusting in change, we can continue to evolve organically in alignment with nature as a collective consciousness, in a healthy way.
Ethics and the Natural World
In todays world, this movement of earth based and animistic learnings come with the perceived needs and wants to have the herbs, bones, stones, leathers, crystals, woods, drums etc. that come with the traditions we are practicing. With the world so small now, the ability to buy things from across the world through online offerings is easy. Unfortunately, some businesses see a market, then exploit the products wanted, this takes us out of balance with the natural world once again. Hundreds of thousands of humans, animals and lands are being effected.
Some animals are abused & slaughtered unethically, some mining is in unsustainable land, often land taken from indigenous peoples, even medicine plants and trees are becoming wiped out and then eventually farmed to sustain the consumerism. The devastation left behind mining and other "farming" needs to be acknowledged and avoided in my opinion.
We can do our part to minimize this imbalance by recognising that Spirit only needs our awareness, heart and intent to work with us.
By creating "medicine" tools yourself, picking and working with the plants indigenous to our own lands. If you do buy from an outside sources, checking into the practices of those who you are buying from is important.
Working with tools not made of animal skins like purchasing a remo drum (synthetic) and doing ceremony with it or making conscious decisions of need rather than collecting, are just some examples. These are ways we can bring balance into our own practices to work ethicly and make a difference in the world.
I invite us all to explore that intent more thoroughly.
The old ways held an honouring, a wisdom and a connection to nature and our ancestors that has been lost in the western world.
In my opinion, there is much struggle today because many have forgotten that connection to what and who supports, heals and empowers us.
Lets continue the Remembering in an Ethical way !
Volva, Seidr and Norse Practices
Seidr which can be pronounced as (say-thr), depending on the dialect you use, is the name of a spiritual working used in Norse practices. It can also be a term to describe someone who does the workings of that magic in my own indigenious tradition of Norway.
The term Volva, is actually more correct in describing one refered to as the wise one, sorceress, rather than Seidr to describe this traditional practitioner. To narrow it down to a easy understanding, there are 4 aspects of Norse spiritual workings in which a Volva may provide. They are galdr, rune magic, seidr and utiseta.
Today, we are continuing to reconstruct some of our Norse traditions, which means the written original sources that we have are few and far between, the study continues in order to fill in the missing pieces of an ancient way of life and magic.
Written sources are the Edda-Poems and Sagas from late viking age and early middle ages, some however influenced by Christian theology. Many traditions and teachings where prodimantly shared though verbal or song story telling, along with the Rune workings and Grimoires, but these where hidden, lost, and almost completely wiped out when Christianity took hold and forced the belief system out.
Still, traditions and knowledge did survived, the runes and their meanings, including connections to the Gods & Goddesses being some of them. With archaeologists discoveries also bringing clarity and confirmation, this helps us to honour what we do know, what has been handed down and so we continue the truest journey possible with the practices that have served us for centuries.
Academic research points to the fact that Seidr or trance work itself, might originate in the Iron Age, fertility cults and ancient types of nature based beliefs, making it much older than the written sources and the viking age itself. This is likely possible but how it evolved into the belief structure of the Norse people is specific and holds a code of ethics important to the Norse traditions and culture.
There’s similarities to the Siberian, Swedish and the Sami divining techniques and the Volva singing and or drumming, showing they could have influenced each another for centuries as well. The relationship and communication with nature, healing and connection with the spirit world points to a deeply natural animistic way of life and practice, which is characteristic for many hunter-gatherer cultures.
As a Volva, my connection is with all that is seen and unseen by the human eye, a seidr practice uses Seat, Song and Staff to move into an altered state of consciousness to access "the hidden reality" and communicate with allies in the other realms for the purposes of bringing back guidance, support and healing.
A Volva works to restore balance and wholeness by addressing a request or a problem in the unseen realms and then brings the knowledge and healing to the enquirers or seen realms. As writen by one of my mentors & teacher, Imelda Almqvist “Volva, was the official title for a woman who practiced seidr professionally. We do not know if there were more or different sorts of practitioners of Seidr, but we do know that the title of a fully-fledged female practitioner with a proper standing in society was called a Volva. The title is derived from the word vol, meaning wand or staff."
These where mostly women (some men) who traveled to support there communities through spiritual workings.
Norse "shamanism" can loosely be described as a practice that may or may not use seidr techniques along with other tools, herbs and magickal practices to assist in eveyday life. Many different methods and techniques are used in healing depending on your intention and the one you work with, including pathworking, divination, nature/weather communication, connection to spiritual allies, removal of unwanted energies, soul remembering, ancestral work and psychopomp (helping the deceased to cross over).
Volva practitioners never work alone, preferably with a group to sing, but wether in a gathering or solitary, it is always in conjunction with spiritual allies, gods, goddesses and animal allies, who guide them in providing what is needed for people, animals, communities and our world.
In my practice, my place is to be a safe, clear and open channel for Spirit/Nature communication, healing and guidance for the client and or group.
There is extensive teachings and a depth to this tradition that could keep you reading and learning for hours, months, years and likely lifetimes, so I will share this, if you are looking to learn more.
Begin your journey Spirit driven.
Then use your intuition and discernment if you are looking for a source to learn from.
Feel free to contact me for further information and resources.
My learnings about my culture, traditions and history continue as I rely upon not only the teachings from my human teachers but also strongly on the teachings received by my Ancestors, Gods, Goddesses and Animal Allies I work with in the other realms. Receiving information and then experiencing confirmation in the physical realms to solidify my integral relationship with Spirit has a magical reciprocity I am in great gratitude for and continue to trust in.
Other "Shamanic" Healing Practices & Teachings I may work with... Q'ero Inca / Maya'n Medicine Practice & Coaching Offerings
(Excerpts from Shaman Jose Santos Tamay's interview on People are Culture)
Q'ero Inka Teachings
In my travels many years ago, I also stepped into the offerings of the teachings of these powerful, loving and knowledgable peoples. I was initaiated then and I continue these understandings and feel grateful to do so.
"The keepers of the ancient knowledge are the "panos" from the Q'ero community, this community is now located near the mountains of Peru, in the Central Andes at a height of 4000-5000 metres, they say, where the sky kisses with the earth, where the man walks with the Puma and his mind flies as the Condor does, a place where the cosmic knowledge is still alive in their people and their medicine. The Q'ero people are more mystical than shamanic. They call their spiritual leaders "paqos", a term that may be translated as 'priest' or 'practitioner'. To generalize, there are 2 main different "specialties" of the preists and or practioners, one works with the mountain/earth, the other works with the stars/universe.
The Q'ero peoples believe in the living energy directed by the cosmos called Kawsay Pacha and the Mother earth, called Pachamama. These are the two main energy sources for them. Q’ero practitioners are masters in the practice of energetic healing. According to their tradition everything is connected. In their views illnesses, traumas and ancestral wounding for example, can attach themselves to the energetic field around our bodies (Luminous Egg). By cleansing this energetic field recovery can be accomplished and an illness can be healed before it manifests in the body. The basic assumption is that an illness or a defect means a disruption of balance within a person as well as in relationship to other people and the world around us. Restoring this balance can result in the recovery of all kinds of ailments, illnesses, unhealthy patterns and imbalances.
The Q'ero peoples also believe that this is the time of the Tarypay Pacha an ancient prophecy (Time of transformation and Union on the Earth) when the snow is beginning to melt on the mountain (global warming), this is the time to bring the teachings to the western world to bring the message, we need to grow in our spirituality, remember and come from Love, to be United by our Hearts with the same mission of transformation."
Maya'n Teachings
"The ancient Maya'n civilization is the highest cultural legacy of Mesoamerica. The Maya'n are believed to originate in the Yucatán around 2600 B.C. The Maya'n descendants are now found in Central America, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico. They developed the mathematical position of zero, along with a highly advanced understanding of many sciences including a unique mathematical system, impressive knowledge about the Cosmos, astronomy, an exact multi-calendar system, majestic architectural achievements, medicinal care including herbal healing, sacred holistic ceremonies, and a complex hieroglyphic writing combining phonetic suffixes, prefixes and detailed artistic symbols.
Ancient Maya had a spectacular and advanced architecture; many of the Mayan ancient cities and pyramids were based on Maya Cosmo-vision and in many instances served as temples to honor the Gods and the royal families. All ancient Mayan pyramids were made of hand-cut limestone blocks carefully aligned to form intricate architectural designs with impressive stone reliefs depicting many aspects of the Cosmos, life, death, warfare, mythology, and royal linage. The complexity of ancient Mayan architecture design and its majestic beauty speaks of the cultural and scientific achievements this civilization reached.
To the Maya'n people who continue to revere our Maya'n spiritual beliefs and Maya'n Cosmo-vision traditions, our planet Earth is an amazing expression of unfolding life in a continual creation of non-visible and visible energy forces. We, the Maya'n J’Men or wiseman, recognize the universe as a Cosmo-hologram of living consciousness, a primal spirit permeated with a vast creative intelligence. That spirit transforms energy in many manifestations of matter and non-matter. This is what we want the world to know. if they choose it, it could change everything. This is why our teachings are open, to inform and create a better life for us all, especially earth and the natural system of matter.
Spirit flows in a continual dance of non-manifested and manifested expressions of living energy. Those who hold to the Maya'n spiritual beliefs understand such reality as the matrix of all that exists. All visible forms are conscious energy-field units of creative bio-physic intelligence manifested in numerous fields of life, in holistic communion with the living Cosmos. Thus, we live our earthly life with reverence to the planet, the material manifested world and the spiritual energy-fields that interact with it.
To the Maya'n people, a J’Men is a holistic healer and shaman. J’Men is the title given by the senior healers and priests to a respected medicine wiseman known for his understanding of holistic Maya'n healings and sacred healing rituals. Maya'n healing requires more than knowledge of medicinal plants and natural remedies. J’Men works with Maya'n healing rituals and sacred ceremonies, as well as with spiritual vision and insight to understand a person’s Chu’el, which means integral energies—soul, mind, body, emotions, aura, and non-physical bodies. A person’s Chu’el holistic harmony may be imbalanced due to internal or external factors that affect a person’s wholeness and can manifest in spiritual, mental, emotional, or/and physical ailments."
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As a practitioner, I am a facilitator of some of these practices of knowledge, working with prayer, healing techniques, trance journeys as well as ceremony and ritual. Supporting a person’s internal and external life journey. This process brings an understanding of their own unique psychology, character, spirit and life path.
As a practitioner I encourage self responsibility while assisting in discovering the inner & outer journey toward growth.
My intent is to provide offerings that inspire healing, growth to empower your life, guide you to self fulfillment and wholeness, with respect and honour of your own personal ways and timing. This is a partnership of discovery, engaged with self accountability and kindness.
How does a Practitioner do this?
- By using techniques & tools to foster powerful transformation.
- Supporting & fostering the movement of evolution in co-creation.
- Listening deeply & applying intuitive abilities & skills to see the path of least resistance (keeping it simple) for a balanced & inspiring process of growth.
- Providing the process of personal ceremonies and personal work outside of sessions for life application.
- Fostering personal growth, balance and assertiveness to foster healthy relationships to nature, family, friends and life as a whole.
- Remembering to laugh, the joy inherent to us all through humour, relaxation and self care.
- Holding space for experincing true empowerment, wether it be, physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and ancestral. Preferably all five !
Some Techniques used to Initiate Transformation
Drum Techniques
The Drum represents the heartbeat of Earth Mother. In natural earth based traditions, including my own ancestry, the drum is a fundamental tool. We use the drum and or song, to guide clients into an altered state of consciousness, in that altered state, a person is able to access their authentic truth/self, transcend belief systems they have adopted as their own but do not serve, as well as overcome the limitations that stand in the way of their self-fulfillment and growth.
Restoration Drum Journeys:
Self Restoration is useful when you:
- Suffer ongoing depression triggered by unconnected events
- Experience stress, anxiety and fear
- A pattern of ongoing personal sabotage
- Experience a lack of self-worth/self esteem
- Release guilt or shame or remorse.
- Feel incomplete or lost in life
- Have the need to reconcile with a person that can’t be done in person, living or passed.
- Release grief, pain and other strong emotions related to a person or event.
Past Life & Future Life Drum Journeys:
This journey is used to find a past life of power and or a future life of power, so you can bring this power into this body and use this knowledge in this lifetime.
It will aid you in recovering, remembering and pulling a life that holds the answer to the issue that is occurring in your life.
Drum Energy Techniques:
Drumming techniques can be used to move stuck energy in your chakras and auric field in order to restore balance and life force energy.
Drumming is also used to help open and heal the heart space, to fully ground a person, and to increase energy.
Crystal Healing & Just Some Other Techniques
Graduated Crystals:
These crystals are used when feeling out of balance internally, often resulting in external imbalances in the world around us.
Using this technique is to charge,
discharge and or balance the chakras and the auric field or luminous egg. This leaves you with a shiny, balanced and luminescent energy field, aiding you to walk in beauty and power along your soul walk.
Shifting Crystal Wands:
These clear quartz crystal wands are called Grandfather Crystals and are used to move or remove energy in the body.
The shifting crystals may be a tool of choice when we are stuck in a mental or emotional rut and desire the ability to step outside ourselves to view things from a different perspective.
This offers us more choices, solutions and healing in our lives. They are useful for times when our physical body is reacting with pain and can aid in alleviating discomfort.
Karmic Cord Cutting:
Feeling drained of energy?
Where there is an imbalance of power, energetic attachments are created that keep a person operating inside a box of limitations or within a un-beneficial pattern that does not serve you or another.
Learn how to cut away and release negative karmic attachments so you can see beyond the pattern to a new way of being and experiencing. This will aid in creating healthier and more vibrant relationship with yourself and others.
Thought Form Recapitulation:
Would you like to silence internal dialogue ? This is a powerful technique of careful, mindful examination of the past, reconciling the causes of internal dialogue and unhooking oneself from memory tapes.
Thus freeing the mind from pre-thought thoughts and therefore future actions are not predictive, based on fears from the past. Oh what a relief !
Some Additional Techniques Available
- Reiki Healing Sessions
- Tuning Fork Body Balancing
- Assemblage Point Balancing
- Emotional Code Releasing/Techniques
- Self Forgiveness Techniques
- Cultivating Pleasure Techniques
- Breathwork
- Values Teachings and Processes
- Addiction Healing Processes
- Ceremonies & Rituals
- Rites of Passage Ceremonies
- Akashic Record/Past/Future Life Readings, Recovery & Sourcing
- Soul Retrieval & Extraction
- Guided Meditations, Journeys and Seidr Services
Honouring
It is important for me to speak of my respect for all local indigenous tribes and communities, as well as other worldly traditions.
I honour my teachers of different modalities by clearly defining them in my practice, as well, while mentoring & facilitating, only teaching what I have been given permission to do so.
Integrity and impeccability inside my "Mehdusn" (Medicine) and my Life is paramount.
I live is in the Foothills of Alberta, I have a great respect and honour for this land, the indigenious ancestors who walked here way before me and the gift of life that supports my body, my spirit, my family, my home and natural life at it's most simplest and best.
This business is located on the ancestral and traditional indigenous territories of the Blackfoot and the People of the Treaty 7 Region in Southern Alberta, which includes the Siksika, the Piikani, the Kainai, the Tsuu T'ina and the Îyârhe Nakoda First Nations. This Land is also home to the Metis Nation of Alberta, Region III.
I am a grateful settler, I acknowledge treaty relations have not been honoured. I hold heart and work to restore good relations, for this Region and for All Peoples.
Awareness
I would also like to bring an awareness of the careful process suggested to find someone to work with inside of Shamanism, Earth Medicine and or any other form of Spiritual practices. This is an important process, this person will be working with you on a Mental, Emotional, Physical and Spiritual level.
Soul work requires years of personal work, integrity, impeccability and depth.
There are many offerings out there now that may or may not be ethically congruent with your intentions to find a modality, healer, mentor or teacher.
Be sure to ask questions, find out how long they have been practicing, who are their teachers, influences and are they continuing their learning...there are some that have a weekend course and call themselves a shaman or medium or reiki master etc. This person may be talented, gifted even, but there is a depth to this work that needs to be known for a healthy experience for you both.
Consider getting a referral and if that is not possible make sure the person you are enquiring about either supplies on their website or speaks proudly of their mentors and teachers.
Be careful of people who give themselves titles like Master, Shaman, Exclusive Channeler etc.
there is no place for ego in Soul work.
Ask for an introductory meeting either by phone or online. This gives you the oppurtunity to see if this is a good fit and the person has the offerings you are looking for. If this is not offered by the person, be wary. There are those that are out there to make money, not honour the process of being of service.
If someone says to you, you only need to work with me and no other. Run for the hills and continue your search.
Allow Spirit to guide you, use your intuition and then follow up with enquires and discernment.
Remember, whoever or whatever is in our lives, long or short, there is a gift in it and you have the power to take what you need and leave the rest.
I hope this helps you on your Soul Walk !