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

Well
The Blue World: Water

Raven: There are two wells in the basement of my house. One is a modern pump drilled far into the bedrock aquifer, like every other house in my rural town. It provides most of our water, but has little in the way of magical presence—perhaps it has not yet gained a spirit. The other is the old well that was dug when the original builders laid the fieldstone foundation of our house in the early nineteenth century, and it is—like many old wells—very much a gate to the Underworld. Like the story of Frau Holle, in which a young girl falls down a well and finds herself in a strange world, our old well is a pit that was once dug by hand, shovelful by shovelful. Within its dark depths a murky spirit dwells. I give it coins and candy, and scoop out the occasional drowned mouse or rat. (It seems to like to lure in small animals and drown them.) I ask it to be a drain for all the dark and negative things that may build up in my house, to suck them down its depths and give them back to the Earth. In return, I will never close up its dangerous hole, and I will respect its dark pull and leave that corner of the basement to the Well spirit.

Galina: As a child I was fascinated by old wells—and a little scared too. They’re potential doorways into other realms, and many have very strong and ancient spirits associated with them. They are powerful places through which to send messages to other realms. They can also provide a sinkhole for negative energies, which they carry away and transmute (though to do this, you really need to have a working relationship with the Well spirit). I’ve also found that their spirits are usually willing to communicate with humans and to carry messages, but in return, I always leave offerings and occasionally small gifts. I don’t have a well on my property now, but for those of you who do, it’s an excellent place to begin exploring the spirits of Water precisely because Well spirits are often fairly well-disposed toward people.

Springs were the first natural source of water that our ancestors built their villages around, and there are many old Celtic and Norse demigoddesses of natural springs, including hot springs or baths. The Greeks called them nereids, the guardian of springs. Wells have a long history of magical associations and holiness, which still hang on in the form of the wishing well, which accepts offerings of pennies in exchange for granting requests. Supposedly, creatures as diverse as nymphs, naiads, brownies, trolls, and frog spirits lived in wells and could either cause trouble (breaking buckets and the like) or give blessings. Goddesses frequently associated with wells were the Norse goddess Hela (as they were seen as doors into her Underworld), the Roman Sulis Minerva, the Germanic Alateivia, and the Irish Brigid, whose holy well at Glastonbury still pours out “red waters” rich in iron. The sacred water of the Glastonbury well was recommended for all sorts of ailments; one wonders if anemia was common in those days.

All wells have a spirit. A new well may have to wait a while to gain its guardian spirit, but if you move into a place with an existing well, it behooves you to make friends with the Well spirit by giving it a gift, traditionally a glass marble. Don’t put in any marbles with the iridescent coating on them; it’s not good for drinking water. Ask the Well spirit to be plentiful and clean and give your family its life-giving waters.

Exercise: Well Divination

Well divination is a traditional form of divination with water. It’s also one of those “magical” things that require the aid of the Well spirit to work at all. If you tried it without first contacting or propitiating the Well spirit and it worked, it was probably because the spirit decided that it liked you. Instead of hoping blindly, introduce yourself and be a real spirit worker, not merely a superstitious peasant.

If there is a well on your property or on property near to where you live that you have access to and that you will be living around for a while, go to the well and contact the spirit. Start with a few marbles, and wait for a feeling of pleasure to emanate from the well. Once you’ve got that, throw in a little food and drink, and then wait a couple of days. Then ask the Well spirit to answer a question for you, generally a “Will I get this?” question. Wait for some communication that tells you that it is acquiescing, and then throw in a small object that symbolizes what you want to come into your life. Toss down a bucket and get a bucketful of water, and check for the item. If it didn’t come up with the bucket, try again the next day. If you don’t get it back in three days of bucketing, you’re not getting what you wanted.