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

Consecration
The Red World: Fire

Galina: Above all else, fire consecrates. It makes things holy and removes taint. Our ancestors knew this. Sacrifices may be consigned to fire. Fire renders them sacred. Anglo-Saxon Heathens carried fire around their holy places to consecrate them, and contemporary Heathens still sometimes do this today. I often keep some sort of fire, usually just a couple of candles, burning when I divine for clients. Fire is not only one of my allies and therefore might help me in my divination, but it can devour any negative energy the client may bring in and help to protect me. I’ve used fire directly to cleanse blockages in people, but that technique is well beyond the scope of this book and needs to be taught directly. Handling fire takes skill, proper teaching, and a great deal of courage and respect. It is, however, an amazingly powerful way of cleansing people and opening them up energetically. A skilled Fire master can reach into a fire pit or a bowl of flame, lift out the fire, and use it to wash over the client’s head or blocked energy point. Fire working, by the way, isn’t without peril. If you grow lax or lazy, or otherwise neglect protocol (even from ignorance of that protocol), you will get burned. It doesn’t matter the precautions you take; fire will burn sense into you. I’ve also discovered as a fire worker that I require fire to maintain my own internal energetic balance. If I go too long without working fire, too long without taking its medicine into me in the ways that I have been taught, it negatively affects my health. Fire is vitality, after all.

Raven: There are three primary fire runes: Kenaz (the forge, which reminds us of striking flint and steel), Nauthiz (the fire bow), and Cweorth (the fire twirl). It is this last rune, whose meaning is “purification,” that reflects the nature of this exercise. I use fire most often to cleanse houses, a priestly/shamanic job that I’m often called on professionally to do. I begin in the lowest part of the house and work up to the top, going around each room (and sometimes each closet) with saltwater, mugwort smoke, and a lit candle. While this is cleansing with all the elements, Fire is the real workhorse here. Even the cleansing nature of the herbs cannot be released without Fire. Saltwater cleans up the mess, but Fire consecrates the space. That’s more than just cleansing. It is bringing vital energy back to the space. I often sing the Cweorth rune as I make my way up. (We’ll go into galdr, or shaman-song, in the next chapter.) When I reach the top of the house, I open the windows and let the wind, finally, blow the candle out and take Fire into the sky.

Exercise: Cleansing with Flame

Before a ritual, light a large candle. Greet the fire and ask for its blessings. Ask it to cleanse your ritual space of any negativity or malignant or stagnant energy. Ask it to render it sacred space. Then, as you carry the candle around the perimeter of your working space, ask Fire to ward it against all ill-wishing spirits, all negative energy, all those who would do you ill. Thank Fire and leave the candle burning for your ritual. You may also run Fire over objects to cleanse them (a candle works well for this). Be careful, though, as you want to cleanse the auric field, not set the items on fire!