Neolithic Shamanism: Spirit Work in the Norse Tradition - Raven Kaldera 2012
Pottery
The Beginning Place: Earth
Raven: The clay piece that I use the most is a hand-thrown pottery dish that is actually the altar for a specific spirit. We often think of altars as tables of items or vertical dioramas, but it is an old tradition to make a spirit home out of a pot full of items. It’s not designed to be a feast for the human eye, but to be an energetic container that holds the aura of a periodically visiting entity. The objects placed in it are chosen by the spirit, and those preferences communicated to the spirit worker. The clay that surrounds them is as grounding as Earth, creating a small, safe world.
Galina: Craft is important to the spirituality of the Northern Tradition. There is a whole race of beings in our tradition, the Duergar, who specialize in various elements of craftsmanship. The ability to create art and beauty, to give life to inanimate objects through the skill of one’s hands, is very highly valued in this tradition. To truly understand the value of crafted objects in this tradition and the skills required to make them, objects and skills that are inspired by the Holy Powers, it is important to get hands-on experience. There is a beauty, a grace, a discipline, a wisdom that comes from engaging in a traditional craft that can be taught no other way. It is a means of connecting to our ancestors, a means of connecting to the spirit of craft and inspiration, a means of learning to understand skill, artistry, and value. These things are immensely precious to many of the beings with whom you will interact as a spirit worker. There is a unique type of magic and a unique type of grace that comes from the diligent study of craft. If you have the opportunity to do so, study something like pottery making, blade making, brewing, needleworking, carving, glassblowing, metalsmithing, leatherworking, or weaving. It is a powerful thing to bring to life an expression of that living genius, and that is what craft does: it harnesses the energies of creation and inspiration and gives them practical form. It’s a very holy thing. (While I have flirted with pottery, my personal passion insofar as craftwork goes is glassblowing, which I’ll describe in the Red World chapter.) Seek out the craft that appeals to you, and stick with it. It teaches you a certain elemental wisdom like nothing else.
Clay pots are the earliest items we know of that cross the border from simple tool to work of art. In fact, most of the oldest European cultures are named for the claywork they have left us. Most of those clay containers were simple everyday tools, but some of them were undoubtedly special and sacred, the forerunners of the archetypal Holy Grail or church chalice. Some might have held liquid that was passed ritually and poured out on the Earth as a libation; some might have held sacred objects or, in the era of shamans, spirit objects.
When the wheel turns, the inchoate mud becomes defined and beautiful. This is the theme of a hundred creation tales: the Creator takes the mud, the clay, the stuff of Earth and chaos, and makes with it a living beauty. This creation story would have been told only after the craft of pottery had been perfected, for the metaphor would not have been lost on the ancestors who worked that clay. The figure that is made the most often is the concave container—bowls, cups, flagons. It is Earth containing Water, as our flesh contains our blood. The cup is the symbol of Water in many cultures, but the cup itself is made of Earth.
To sculpt from clay is to reenact that myth of the creator God/dess and the human heart. Every container made from clay carries a little of that energy—Earth (stability) holding Water (feeling). This can also be seen as the heavy world of matter holding a small area of the fluid world of spirit, and that’s what this particular exercise will explore.
Exercise: Magic Pot
For this exercise, you’ll make a clay pot that will hold high-energy spirit items. This is good to have because while shamanic workers become accustomed over time to high levels of spirit energy, the average person doesn’t, and may find that being around objects imbued with this energy can unground them and make them jittery, headachey, or even sick. There is a certain “contamination” factor that happens as you progress in this work. Shamans especially become fairly “radioactive” on a psychic level, not in a bad way, but not in a comfortable way, either. Therefore it’s good to be mindful of one’s tools and have a safe place to store them.
A clay pot (or cup or flagon or whatever container shape you like) can be either pinch-molded with the hands or thrown on a wheel (a skill that will require some training, perhaps a class). Both have value in that the pinch-molded pot is closer to those made by the first ancestors and can be used to house spirit items close to them, while the potter’s wheel can symbolize the Wheel of the Year, or the ever-turning cycle of life that sculpts us all. Decide first which would work better for the nature of the spirit items involved.
Place the clay on the molding surface or wheel and say a prayer of thanks to the Earth from whence it came, the solid ground beneath our feet that nourishes us in so many ways. As you work the clay into a container, use your Intent to focus on making it a psychic container as well, one that can hold a tiny space of Otherworldly energy and not let it leak away. It should not feel like a prison or a trap or a cannon to shoot energy out of. It should feel like a home, a favorite chair, a place in which a spirit would want to make a part-time bed. It should be strong enough to contain his energy and not let it leak away. If you know what sort of spirit you want to invite into the pot, add that to your Intent. Continue holding the Intent through the shaping, the decorating, the painting—all of those things. When the pot goes into the fire, ask for Fire’s blessing on it. (Look for the Fire Blessing in the Red World chapter.) When the container comes out, refer to the Spirit Homes section in the Gray World chapter, which discusses how to sanctify them and invite spirits in.