Neolithic Shamanism: Spirit Work in the Norse Tradition - Raven Kaldera 2012

Salt
The Beginning Place: Earth

Raven: I collect salts—pink rock salts from Tibetan or South American mountains, sea salts from different continents that partake equally of the nature of Water and Earth, black lava salts that contain the energy of Fire, salts with sulfur in them that make the head rear back when they are smelled. Before I do a healing in which I might become contaminated by someone’s energetic parasites, I wash my hands and any part of the person that I am going to touch with saltwater. I take a mouthful of saltwater before I lay my mouth on any part of an individual to suck out the blackness. I clean my tools with saltwater, and anything that has been energetically contaminated goes into saltwater first, and if that doesn’t fix it, it is packed into a bucket of rock salt and ashes.

Galina: One of the things I’m afraid I had to learn the hard way about spirit work was the necessity of properly maintaining one’s space, in other words, warding it and keeping it clean before, during, and after esoteric work. It goes without saying that people doing this type of work should shield their homes thoroughly (again, I recommend Spiritual Protection, by Sophie Reicher, for an in-depth look on how to go about this), and that’s not too different from shielding oneself, which is Mountain work. Over and above shielding, however, is something called warding. For our purposes here, this is a (usually) temporary protection or consecration laid upon a place or space. I learned to do this as a priest because when doing any type of ritual work it’s of utmost importance to know how to create the sacred space, manage the sacred space, hold the sacred space, and bring people in and out of the sacred space—as well as keep everyone protected and safe while you’re doing so! Despite that rather daunting list, it’s not as difficult as it seems, but you can’t remain clean and open and safe in space that is cluttered, unprotected, and filthy. Psychic bottom feeders are attracted to that type of thing, as well as bigger entities that might be worse. We are not the center of the Universe. The Universe and all its many denizens are not here to take care of us. Many nasty things are out there that can indeed inflict real-world harm on a person, and as shamanic workers, we’re statistically more likely to put ourselves in positions where they may want to. Learning how to ward the places in which we work is a matter of common sense.

Exercise: Warding

There are, as Galina noted, two types of wards: wards that protect and wards that consecrate. Regardless of the type of ward you are working with, a couple of preliminaries must be attended to first, before evening thinking about casting a ward. First and foremost, physically clean your space. Cleaning is a way of energetically fighting entropy. Clutter attracts negative energy; it creates pools of stagnant energy, and it can turn your home into the energetic equivalent of a malaria-filled swamp. By regularly cleaning your house on a purely physical level, you will create a space in which negative or stagnant energy simply cannot thrive, thereby rendering it one step closer to being the type of workspace in which you can most effectively work. Get into the habit early on of cleaning your home regularly and keeping clutter to a minimum.

After you’ve physically cleaned your space, energetically clean it. There are several ways to do this. For us, the most common are as follows:

1. Smoke the room with a sacred herb. We call this recels (pronounced ray-kels), and the verb form is recaning (reek-an-ing), which is derived from old Anglo-Saxon, a cognate of our modern word reek. Just as Native Americans use white sage or sweet-grass to smudge a space, the traditional plants for recaning in this tradition are mugwort and juniper. We discuss them in depth in the Green World chapter.

2. Perhaps the most traditional way of energetically cleaning a space is to carry fire around that space, asking that the spirits of Fire drive out any negative energy or beings. Fire by its very nature cleanses, devours, and transmutes. That is what makes it such a powerful ally in the warding process, something we’ll learn about in the Red World chapter.

3. The simplest of all: sprinkle the space with saltwater. This combines the elements of Water and Earth, along with salt’s purifying properties. You can mark runes and sigils on the wall with saltwater—and also on windows, on mirrors (which are spirit windows), on door lintels, and on light fixtures so that light will shine through the purification. Saltwater is psychic purification on a very basic level. Essentially, it is psychic Betadine. If you are outside, carry some salt with you and sprinkle it in the four directions. If possible, sprinkle it on spots that are already barren so that foliage will not be harmed. While fancy salt has different variations on purification, ordinary table salt will do in a pinch and can be found in tiny portable packets in any fast food restaurant.

4. Make a prayer to your spirits and ancestors, and ask for their protection.

Consecrating a space as sacred, a unique type of warding, is a means of clearly rendering the space free of taint and clearly creating a boundary between sacred time/space and profane or mundane time/space. In many esoteric traditions, this is done by honoring the four directions or elements (Earth, Air, Fire, Water) and then drawing energy up from the Earth, extruding it through the filter of the will, and physically inscribing the border of the space. We personally feel it’s best to do regular inside work in space that is properly shielded, for then warding would be redundant. However, because this isn’t always possible, to consecrate a space, light a candle in each of the directions, honoring the appropriate element: East/Air, South/Fire, West/Water, North/Earth. If you don’t have a candle, your words and respectful Intent will suffice. A consecrating ward is a means of creating a borderland where others, unprepared and untrained, can be brought in for very carefully crafted engagement with the sacred. While this is primarily priestcraft, there are times when a shamanic practitioner will have to do it too, so it’s good to know.

The other type of warding is not a consecration or creation of sacred space. It is a means of protecting the space wherein one is working. This is, more than the first type of ward mentioned, a temporary shield. There are several ways to do this. You may shield a space just as you would create a personal shield. The difference is in the way the shield draws its power and how long it’s designed to last. Most wards are designed to last only for the amount of time it takes the practitioner to go in, do what he or she needs to do, and go away again. With that in mind, it’s possible to utilize a number of useful charms—herbs, stones, or resins—to assist in keeping a space protected. (Galina highly recommends Cat Yronwode’s basic hoodoo and rootwork course available through correspondence at www.luckymojo.com.) It’s extremely useful to have a working knowledge of the esoteric properties of various natural substances: stones, herbs, flowers, trees, and so on. For instance, combinations of herbs—such as rue, agrimony, and sage—are particularly useful in cleansing and blocking negative spirit manifestation. (For an in-depth list of protective herbs used in this tradition, see Raven’s book The Northern Shamanic Herbal.) A good ward uses as little of your own personal energy as possible while getting the job done effectively. The cleaner your space is, physically and esoterically, the easier it’s going to be to ward.

Try casting a ward this way: Ground and center. Draw up energy from the Earth, allowing it to flow through you and out your hands. Visualize it, with Intent and mental focus, flowing around the perimeter of the space in which you’re going to work. Be sure to shield the ceiling and floor as well. Basically, encase the whole room in a little force field. As you do this, focus your Intent and “tell” this energy that its purpose is to protect the space from any unwanted incursions. Then “tie off” the energy flow (which we explain how to do in the next paragraph) and get to work. As you’re casting this, it may help to walk the perimeter of the room.

There are many traditional wards. Ceremonial magic has its Rite of the Lesser Banishing Pentagram. Heathenry has its Hammer Rite. (The former can be found in Spiritual Protection, by Sophie Reicher, the latter in The Nine Doors of Midgard or Futhark, by Edrid Thorsson.) It’s often helpful and energy efficient to use a stone or physical object as a focal point for the energy. You can actually charge a stone or other item with energy, patterned using the mind and will to form a ward when you need it. Then just sit that down in your space, focus on it, and feel the ward expand to fill and enclose your space. In this way, actually, you can create a more permanent ward: you can take a vessel and fill it with energy, really see or feel the energy sinking into the fabric of the box or jar. Pattern it to ward and contain and anchor that programming with special sigils—runes of protection work nicely. Then cut off the tie between yourself and the object. Do this by actually visualizing cutting a cord linking you both. In this way, you can ward a thing, create a warded vessel, or ward a room. It’s the same technique applied in slightly different scenarios. A ward is less stable than a shield and tends to be less powerful, which is something to keep in mind. Shields are much stronger and more self-sustaining. They’re intended to last, whereas a ward is usually only temporary. Essentially, the only way to learn to ward is to do it, to practice, practice, practice, and occasionally to make mistakes.