Neolithic Shamanism: Spirit Work in the Norse Tradition - Raven Kaldera 2012
Mask
The Gray World: Craft
Raven: I put the mask on my head, blocking out the light. The cap settles on my head, fitting perfectly—my assistant knitted it with Intent to fit me—and the fringe swings rhythmically, hypnotically across my field of vision. I stand and walk across the grass—one step, two steps, three—and it begins. The little flashes of world that I can see between the swinging cords begin to fade out, and my inner vision opens up. The bells and coins clink a rhythm. I walk a few more steps, and then I can’t walk anymore. I feel my assistant’s hand gently easing a chair under me; as my ass drops into it I begin to rock back and forth. The world shrinks to myself and everything beyond the opening that begins in the back of my head. I whisper my question to the void, and the voice of the spirit I am seeking comes in loud and clear. It’s the best shamanic tool Neolithic technology can provide.
Galina: Just touching my fringed cap allows me to access the threads of wyrd far more deeply and quickly than I am otherwise able. It takes me away and down into those ever-changing threads of power, fate, and memory. Sometimes when I divine for people, I keep it in my lap; simply touching it opens me up. If I wear it, I run the risk of being taken by a god or goddess as an oracle—not possessed by the deity, but used as a mouthpiece. It is exhilarating and terrifying. I’ve also found that my fringed cap can help me unblock and stay clean if I feel energetically clogged for any reason.
One of the tools that we were told by the spirits to make was a mask, but not of the ordinary “false face” sort. The mask in question is a cap with long fringe that goes all the way around and hangs to the shoulders, and at the end of each piece of fringe is a coin or bell or key or other small bit of metal—things that clink and have enough weight to make the fringe hold together and sway. Raven got the message first, but didn’t understand what it would do. After it was made from a knitted cap with long yarn fringe, we realized that it was a surprisingly effective altered-state tool. We theorize that something about the mostly blocked vision, the swaying of the fringe, the slits of light, and the sound of the rhythmic jingling all conspire to trigger something in the brain into a trance state. We ended up making Galina one as well.
We researched and actually found pictures of similar masks in photos of circumpolar shamans—although not exactly the same; most involved dangling ribbons or leather fringe, attached to stiff hats rather than close-fitting knitted caps, but the idea seemed the same. It was written about by the scholars as a mask to “blot out distractions,” but it seems to do a lot more than that.
Besides, our masks were a good example of using thread as a way to create something with Intent. They were knitted by Raven’s assistant, and knitting is another rhythmic activity that involves, basically, making elaborate knots. Knot magic is discussed in the Blue World chapter in more detail, but knitting runs along the same lines. Each time you knit or purl, it “locks” the thread, and you can visualize locking certain energy into the piece. We refer to this as the energy of the shaman hat, the archetypal energy of thousands of years of spirit workers and their wisdom. The hat was energized to help us connect with their stored wisdom, and also as an antenna for better “signal clarity.”
Exercise: Shaman’s Mask
Learn to knit a simple hat that fits close to the head and comes down to about the middle of the forehead. Remember that the weights on the ends of the fringe will pull the edge down farther, and make allowances for that. As you knit, with every stitch, or “lock,” ask for the wisdom of the ancients and for a clear mind that hears the spirits easily. Don’t knit loosely; you want thick or doubled yarn, tightly knitted. The hat can also be made in another way—for example, out of cloth or leather—but it should be hand stitched and each stitch made with similar Intent. Another way to get the energy into it is to embroider the hat or to make a band of embroidery that surrounds it. Chain stitch is the best stitch for this job—it’s also a symbolic “lock” repeated over and over again.
When the basic hat is complete, cut three strands of yarn more than twice as long as you want the fringe to be, and attach the middle of each strand to the edge of the hat. (Because ours were knitted, we could simply loop the yarn through the edge.) Braid the six paired strands hanging down, and tie a coin or bell or other sort of jingle or clinker onto the end. Repeat as many times as necessary to put fringe around the whole edge of the hat—ours took sixty or seventy braids. Then go someplace quiet, ground and center, and put it on. Walk around a bit, or rock back and forth, and see how it works. It’s one of those tools that is better experienced than described.