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

Steam
The Red World: Fire

Galina: Sauna is part of our heritage. It is part of the ancestral legacy of anyone who comes from northern European or Slavic lands. Our ancestors knew about the healing and cleansing properties of a good sweat, and in Finnish folklore, right up to the present day, the sauna is viewed as a holy place, a place of magic, and a liminal space. While I knew about saunas for years and years, I actually experienced one only a few years ago during my Nine Worlds ordeal cycle. For my Midgard ordeal, part of the process was cleansing using a sauna. What a powerful way of inducing a lightly altered state! It was incredibly relaxing and at the same time energizing. Part of the sauna involves being lightly struck with birch bundles to open the pores and liven the skin. I came out feeling incredibly clean, as though I had been cleansed from the inside out. Now when I find myself spiritually stuck, or exhausted from the work, or in need of energetic cleansing beyond what I normally do, I seek out a traditional sauna (Russian bath houses can be found in most big cities nowadays). Even if the only sauna you have access to is at your gym, you can still pay homage to the spirit of the sauna and enter the sauna itself in the proper, respectful mind-set.

Raven: Fire is the most purifying element, but it needs to be diluted and mixed with another element or it is not safe for human life. (This, by the way, is an object lesson about the nature of purity, which should be deeply pondered.) Steam in a sauna (or banya, the Russian word for it) or other steam bath is one way to accomplish that. It was the best way to keep clean in frigid northern climates, and it was often the place to give birth, to recover from illness, and to worship. In medieval Germany, saunas became associated with public baths and therefore prostitution, and they were eventually phased out by prudish public opinion. In Russia, banyas were associated with Pagan worship, and magicians were rumored to do their clandestine magic in these locations. In many ways, the little steam house was the last vestige of the Pagan temple, and still is in many ways. In Finland, the saying goes that “you should be in sauna as if you were in church.”

Exercise: Cleansing with Steam

Fire is capable of partnering with the other elements, and with Steam, we see the partnering of Fire and Water, with Fire dominant—which is why steam can burn and why water becomes light enough to float through the air. The steam created can seep into our pores, open us up, and cleanse out the gunk. This is the gift of fire and water, heat and steam: a tremendous internal cleansing on all levels. Check with your doctor or healthcare practitioner first before using a sauna, as it can be physically somewhat grueling. If you’re not sure if you can handle it physically, start with a short period of time in a mild sauna and work up from there until you notice heart palpitations or other problems, and then stop.

A full Northern Tradition sauna ritual is included in the book Wightridden: Paths of Northern-Tradition Shamanism, and the exercise here is a silent and solitary version of that. Start by placing the stones on the oven, and feel the shape of each one. Appreciate their stone-ness, and their earthiness, and ask the spirit of the Earth beneath your feet to bless them. Then touch the water in its bucket—you can add a bit of essential oil at this time if you like, perhaps birch or pine or rosemary—and ask the spirits of all the cold northern rivers and lakes to bless it.

Then light the fire, preferably with flint and steel or an even older method. As you do this, ask the fire to bless and cleanse you. Sing to it if you can, because it likes song. It can be a wordless or nonsense song, or a song of praise to Fire, one of our most ancient ancestors. Wait patiently and sing or meditate while the fire warms the room and the stones.

When it’s time, pour the first dipperful of blessed water over the stones, and in your mind, concentrate on the miracle of Fire melting the Ice that held the northern world in its grip, exposing the mountains and forming lakes, rivers, and hot springs. Our ancestral tradition remembers back to the melting of the Ice Age, a miracle that still survives in our creation myth. Whisper, just loud enough for you to hear, “From Fire and Stone, all creation.” With this, you call the spirit of the original Fire, the spirit who saved those long-ago Ice Age people huddling with their dogs and reindeer, people who would eventually spread across several continents.

Then you sit and breathe and periodically pour more water on the stones. Feel the steam caress you like a lover. Steam is a sensuous creature, gentler than you might think. It will eventually become hard to breathe in there, which forces you to concentrate on your breath. With each out breath, picture the toxins running out of your pores and down your body. Remember not to lick your own sweat—the concentrated toxins can give you a bellyache. Don’t leave your body—stay with the experience, breathe, sweat, recite the names of Gods or ancestors, pray, and when you’re done, walk out into the air. The relief on your skin and the feeling of cleanness is unsurpassed by almost any other sensation.

Make sure to end by washing the sweat off of your skin, and make sure that you thank the spirits of Steam and Stone before you put out the fire.