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

Iron Knife
The Gray World: Craft

Galina: I have worked with blades for years. As a martial artist I’ve studied iaido (Japanese sword work) and defensive use of the knife. It was the first tool that called to me and remains the one that I’m most comfortable using. In my spirit work, I use a special knife with a handle of polished mammoth bone, made by an Inuit craftsman. I also have three katana, old, sharp, and imbued with living spirits. While I did not make them, I tended them, used them regularly in practice, and bled on them—usually accidentally! They have names, and they recognize me. They guard my house, and I have used them in protective work as well. They allow me to channel and direct energy far more effectively than any other tool that I possess.

Of course, I have many other blades, including several that serve a shamanic purpose. Unlike Raven, who walks the path of the shaman-king, my path is that of the warrior-shaman, and I have many taboos around weapons, particularly edged weapons. I am almost always armed in some way, and no matter where you walk in my home, at least one weapon is carefully tucked away within easy reach and arm’s length. I am sometimes obligated to buy weapons from people who aren’t treating them well or with respect, and weapons of all types tend to find their way into my home. Some lessons, I believe, can be learned only through study of the warrior’s arts, and some lessons only a blade can teach. Even if you aren’t on the warrior’s path, as a shamanic practitioner of any kind, people will come to you when they are in deepest need, when every other resource has failed them. Sometimes they will come to you needing protection. The blade is a protective tool, and nothing is better for ordering space and cutting away corruption, negative connections, and energetic cords. You will need the lessons in clarity and ruthless compassion that only working with the magic of a blade can teach.

Blacksmiths were considered to be just short of magic workers in many cultures. Their use of fire to extract metal from earth and their creation of tools with rhythmic pounding were nearly sorcery in the eyes of those who didn’t know their trade. In the early days, the blacksmith might be the most skilled tradesman in the village, and he would take on apprentices carefully, keeping the secrets of tempering to himself. The power of the smith is reflected in the multitude of smith Gods across Europe—Wayland/Volund, Hephaestus, Brigid, Goibniu, and Credne. Some speculate that the physical lameness of many smith Gods reflects either a vocation that was open to the disabled or the deliberate crippling of smiths (as in Wayland’s legend) in order to keep them from leaving the tribe with their valuable knowledge. (One may also consider that those denied beauty of form—which in the ancient world meant physical wholeness—more keenly recognized beauty in all its forms, and poured that into their work.) In ancient circumpolar Eurasia, certain sacred smiths had the power to forge shamanic items from metal—including, in parts of Siberia, the “skeletal” pieces necessary for the ceremonial coats of the shamans and their protective magical breastplates. Their spiritual powers not only allowed them to forge the shamanic items, but protected them from their power during the process. When the vocation of sacred smith declined, shamans reputedly had a terrible time acquiring the hand-forged sacred items as they earned them.

Today certain smiths (and machinists) are learning again the ways of sacred smithing. As with many of the more intricate crafts discussed in this book, we strongly advise the practitioner to get good training at the actual art before attempting to make sacred items. It’s important to be skilled enough that the hands do the work without the full attention, so that at least part of the consciousness can pay attention to the spirit and the Intent. Shamans and shamanic practitioners who learn blacksmithing themselves can fill in the gaps of the practice to a certain extent. This exercise assumes that the practitioner already has training from an experienced smith and knows the fundamentals of ironworking.

Exercise: Iron Shaman’s Knife

Cold iron was used in ancient times to turn away a number of potentially dangerous spirits, and it is still used that way today. Metal takes a psychic charge fairly well, especially if it is forged with the right Intent. To make your blade, first find the piece of iron that wants to be that blade. Running your hand over the options and letting one of them jump into it is a good technique. When the fire is made, say a blessing to the spirit of Fire. (Look in the Red World chapter for our blessing.) When pouring the water for quenching the metal, put a few drops of your blood into it and ask whatever Gods and spirits you work with to give you a good tool, one that will cleave both in the physical and spiritual dimensions, one that will be strong and never break, one that will rarely go dull and can be easily resharpened, one that will never turn on its owner.

Then forge the blade. You might want to have a series of words or very short phrases to channel your Intent or dedicate the blade to a specific purpose or spirit, and say one every time the hammer strikes the metal. When it goes back into the fire to reheat, have a slightly longer prayer to say. Repeat this until the work is done, then quench it in the water containing your blood. When it is cooled, repeat your mantra as you sharpen it. It goes without saying that this blade is now yours alone and should not be used by anyone else, or given away or sold. It will now have a spirit who you have called into it. Name it and keep it safe, and take good care of it.