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

Need Fire
The Red World: Fire

Galina: I haven’t learned how to use a fire bow yet, largely due to lack of opportunity to learn. I’m sure it’s just a matter of time, however. In using a fire bow, we’re tapping in to the medicine of the rune Nauthiz: grueling, desperate need. I can’t speak about the fire bow from experience, but I can speak about Nauthiz. This rune’s power is all about necessity, the horrible, severe necessity that overrides any moral impetus in favor of survival. It is endurance in its most brutal form. It is a fire kindled out of pure desperation. This is the crash survivor who must eat the bodies of his fellow dead in order to survive until rescue. It’s the refugee who endures countless horrors to get her children to freedom. It is that internal fortitude and resiliency beyond mere strength that we sometimes have to summon forth in times of great crisis. It is need, utter, implacable, undeniable, terrible need. This is the flame that devours, that rages like the forest fire tearing down and scouring clean everything in its path.

Raven: Two forms of firemaking are older than flint and steel: fire bow (also called bow drill), which is echoed in the shape of the rune Nauthiz, and the even older fire twirl, which is echoed in the shape of the rune Cweorth, the funeral pyre. Funeral fires were always lit with the older method, out of respect for the ancestors. And if you thought that the sense of elation you got from making fire with flint and steel was amazing, wait until you’ve quite literally rubbed sticks together and made fire.

This exercise is optional, and something of an advanced version of the last one, but fire made this way has a special nature that is different from matches or even flint and steel—it is lit and used for rituals addressing a dire need, an emergency; it’s the absolute last resort when you don’t know what to do. It is the way that you ask the spirit of Fire to burn away the obstacle when everything else has failed. You never know when you will be in that situation, so it might be worth it to learn this skill.

Exercise: Fire Bow and Fire Twirl

These two arts will take you a lot longer to learn than flint and steel. It may take up to a year of practice to get either of them right, and that’s why it’s best to be trained by someone knowledgeable. However, if you haven’t got anyone and you’re on your own, there’s no harm in trying it yourself.

First you need to find the right wood. It should be well dried and ideally wild gathered, not anything pressure treated from the lumberyard. You want a wood that will make good coals, such as willow, aspen, or balsam fir. The traditional bow-drill wood of the subarctic was spruce.

There are four parts to a fire bow. Most people refer to them as the Board, the Spindle, the Handhold, and the Bow. We call them the Earth, the Tree, the Sky, and the Wind. A fire twirl—the older version—has only the Earth and the Tree, with the hands spinning the upright piece in a hole in the horizontal piece until friction creates enough heat to make fire. If you are called to start out this way, you can do so, but it will take very strong hands and wrists and forearms, and a great deal of endurance. The fire bow allows people with less arm endurance to master the technique.

For the Earth, or Board, you want a branch about as thick as your wrist and cut to about a foot long. Use a section that is not full of knots or branches. Split it lengthwise three ways with an axe, and place the middle section—which should be split down to a small flattish board about an inch in width—out in the Sun to dry for a couple of weeks. Don’t let it get rained on or dampened. When it is dry, carve a very small gouge on the top side, about an inch from one end.

For the Tree, or Spindle, whittle down a stick to the diameter of the first knuckle of your thumb, and about half the length of the Earth board. Whittle the last inch of each end into a point.

For the Sky, or Handhold, take one of the other splits from making the Earth board and cut it to the length of your hand. Shave it smooth and sand it if necessary; the point is to make it as comfortable for the hand as possible. Spend some time just sitting and bearing down on it with your hand, and see if it feels all right. On the flat side where your hand won’t be pressing, gouge a hole about a half inch deep that exactly fits one end of your Tree.

For the Bow itself—which we call the Wind in this system—find a green branch as thick as your index finger and as long as your forearm. It should be flexible enough to bend slightly but not splinter or break. This may take some experimenting with different sticks to find the right wood. If it splinters, use a denser wood. If it won’t bend enough, you can carve away some of the wood on the inside of the bow. Finding a branch that is already slightly bent may help. The bowstring can be made of any natural fiber—cotton, hemp, jute, or rawhide, for instance. Synthetics such as nylon tend to melt under the heat and friction. Make two slight grooves encircling the ends of the bow so that the string won’t slip. Bend your Wind bow slightly, and tie it in place with the string.

Now you kneel to call down the lightning, holding the Wind bow in your dominant hand. For the sake of explanation, let’s say you’re right-handed. Place the Earth board in front of you, and say, “Earth to earth, hold fire for me.” Put your left foot on the end of the Earth board that doesn’t have the hole to hold the board in place, keeping your other knee on the ground.

Wrap the string of the Wind bow around the Tree once, holding the bow so that its shaft is on the outside of the Tree and its upper string loop is the one closest to your hand. Push the downward point of the Tree into the small gouge in the Earth board and say, “Rooted you are, and you will call the lightning.” Put tension toward you on the Tree with the Wind bow—it should feel like it wants to pull it out. Fit the Sky handhold on top of the Tree and say, “From Earth to Sky, the lightning dances.” Bear down on the Sky with your left hand. Point the bow slightly downward and away from you. Say, “Wind, feed the fire!”

Then begin stroking the Wind bow back and forth while keeping a firm weight on the Tree. The Tree should be turning enough that eventually you see a little smoke form, first at the lower Earth end and then at the higher Sky end. If both ends aren’t smoking, go faster and harder until they do. Then stop and take the Sky away, and carefully lift up the Tree without disengaging the Wind bow. Rub the Sky end against your face and nose, which should be sweating and greasy by now. This lubricates it with your natural body oils and will stop that end from smoking, letting you concentrate on the Earth end. It also marks the kit as your own, and lets Fire smell you. Recap the Tree and keep sawing away. Repeat this procedure two or three times until the Sky end of the Tree is shiny and hard.

By this time, the hole in the Earth board should be burned in. Stop and lay everything down, and carve a notch from your blackened hole out to the edge so that the accumulated powder has somewhere to go. The notch should take up about an eighth of the circle of your burned gouge, and should be sliced right out of the board to make a channel. Just cut two lines and cut away all the wood between them. Under the edge of the notch, put some tinder—char cloth and cotton balls are good, as is fresh birchbark or paper. The hot powder will accumulate there and hopefully ignite it.

Then reload, saying your prayers again, and drill slowly and with firm pressure until you see smoke on the bottom of the Tree. The powder should be accumulating in the hole—don’t speed up yet. It should be black; if it’s light brown you’re not pushing and sawing fast enough. When the notch is just about filled with powder, lighten up on the Sky and start drilling really fast. This should create heat and a whole lot of smoke, surrounding you. When you’ve got a lot of smoke, stop and pull up the Tree. If the smoke continues to come up from the pile of powder for more than a second, you’ve got a coal. (If the smoke goes out right away, replace and keep going.) If you think you have a coal, blow on it and see if it flares up. Then you feed it tinder and you’ve got fire.

It may take many rounds of practice before you can find the exact combination of the right wood, the right amount of pressure, and the right amount of sawing speed and tension. It took Raven months, in fact. Keep practicing, and keep up hope. (This is another good reason why you don’t want to be just learning this art fresh when you’re in that dire situation.)