Neolithic Shamanism: Spirit Work in the Norse Tradition - Raven Kaldera 2012
Stone Knife
The Gray World: Craft
Raven: The stone blade was the first blade, the first tool that made the difference between tearing the meat off the bones with our teeth and taking it off using a much sharper tooth that was not attached to us, one that could sever all the things we needed severed in order to eat and build. Obviously, I don’t need to use stone blades for everyday work—although I did butcher a rabbit using an obsidian knife rather than a steel knife just to see how well it worked—but I do use them in shamanic work. People often come to me with something that needs to be cut off—usually an energetic bond with someone or something that they no longer want to be attached to, but can’t seem to shake off themselves. I find and isolate the bond and cut it with a blade that has been “energized” so that it has an energy body of its own, with a sharp edge that can cut the cord in question. Stone knives are even better for this job than metal ones, as they hold energy better. My black obsidian blade flashes, and then I smoke the area of the wound with sacred herbs to cauterize and begin the healing. The ancestors watch and nod in agreement.
Galina: I walk the warrior-shaman’s path, so while I appreciate the skill and power of a stone blade, almost all of my working blades are steel. Still, there is something immensely primal in making and working with a stone blade. Many may not realize that flintknapping was at one time a crucial craft. It takes precision and an understanding of stone. A well-made stone blade can be even sharper than a contemporary stainless steel scalpel.
Making a stone blade out of a piece of rock is an exercise in patience and also in carefulness. Knapping—the art of chipping stone blades out of flint, chert, obsidian, or manufactured glass—is a dangerous activity. Knappers who’ve been at it for a long time often have scars all over their hands. Some have wounded themselves badly, perhaps even severed tendons, if they got careless. People think of stone knives as being primitive and dull, but obsidian, a volcanic glass, can have a sharper edge than it is possible to forge with metal. The allure of metal knives over stone ones was not that metal was sharper, but that it was sturdier, significantly less likely to chip and shatter, and could be made into much larger shapes than stone. However, a well-made stone blade will cut quite cleanly as a tool. More to the point, it is a way to forge a bond with the ancestors—anyone’s ancestors. No matter who we are, we started with stone tools.
It takes a long time and a lot of effort to knap even a small blade. This gives you plenty of time to put your Intent into the work. For the beginner, Raven recommends the book Flintknapping: Making and Understanding Stone Tools, by John C. Whittaker. You’ll notice, as you read, that he puts a heavy emphasis on safety, to the point where he won’t teach a hands-on beginner’s class without gloves for everyone. While it is clumsier to work in gloves—and particularly large shards can go through even heavy glove leather—it’s worth it to take his suggestions on safety for the sake of your hands and their functioning. (We would also suggest wearing safety goggles. It takes only one tiny flying shard to injure an eye.) Work in a well-ventilated area, and if you’re using flint or chert, make sure to wet it periodically to keep from breathing in the dust. Also, knap in a deserted area or on a tarp that can be shaken off into the trash—even the tiny shards are deadly sharp.
Experts also suggest that before you try knapping on stone, go to the thrift store and buy a few large, cheap, and possibly ugly solid glass ashtrays and chip them as your starter pieces. Keep an eye out for them at yard sales—you may even be able to get them for free. (Drunken archaeologists have gotten their conferences banned from hotels by having knapping contests late at night and turning the hotel ashtrays into spearheads.) Then try flint or chert, then obsidian, the more expensive and difficult material to come by.
Exercise: Stone Shaman’s Knife
Practice knapping on your various materials until you are ready to make a stone blade. Start with arrowheads and small points; work your way up to knife blades. Remember that it doesn’t have to be large; it will be used mostly for energy work anyway. As you work, put your Intent into it: that it will have a soul that is also blade-shaped, that it will cut the energetic body the way its physical edge will cut flesh. That it will sever only what needs to be severed and cut nothing you do not intend. Ask for the blessing of the ancestors who used such blades; ask that your hand be steady and your reflexes keen. Thank the Earth from which the stone was cut for providing tools for both you and your ancestors over time.
Stone blades are traditionally hafted into antler, bone, or wood handles and tied on with sinew. Carving antler, bone, or wood is a separate art, but one that isn’t too difficult and is well worth learning. Tap the blade carefully into a tight slot at the end of the handle, and then wrap it with sinew at the notch carved on each side of the base. (Sinew can be bought from various mail-order companies online; don’t buy the artificial stuff.) Then use the blade for your shamanic work.
When someone has a link to someone or something that needs to be cut—and you’ve actually verified this with your energetic senses, not just taken the person’s word for it—take the energetic cord in your hand and pull it taut from their body. Then, quickly and economically, without large flourishes, cut it with your stone blade. (The cutting may or may not manifest as physical pain for the client.) Immediately thereafter light a recaning stick of mugwort and recan the area of the energetic wound. This cleanses the wound and also discourages the cord from reattaching—a sort of energetic cautery. Cleanse the blade with smoke as well to clean off any residue of the other person’s attachments. Your blade is one of your shamanic tools and should not be handled by other people except under supervision.
One note: Regardless of what type of blade you work with, keep it sharp. It is an offense to the ancestors, the blade itself, and every craftsperson who ever lived to consciously dull a blade. Take care not to put yourself and your blade into a situation where law enforcement personnel will feel compelled to take the edge off your blade or take it away. A dull knife is more dangerous anyway.