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

Staff
The Gray World: Craft

Raven: My staff is made of a piece of broken birchwood that came off in my hand when I was hiking. The top of it was naturally shaped like an ugly old man. I gave him a bit of carded wool for a fluff of hair and kept him that way, as a reminder that one day I, too, would be an ugly old man, and power should not be judged by beauty. I sanded the wood and wrapped it with cords of different colors, hung tiny wicker baskets off of it, had my wife carve runes into it, added tiny bells. I use it for standing utiseta. I plant it in the Earth like the tree it once was, and ask the energy of Yggdrasil, the World Tree, to come up through it. The staff becomes the Pole from Earth to Sky, like the Maypole and the Irminsul, the World Tree from Earth to Sky. I brace myself against it with knee, hip, sternum, and cheek, then close my eyes and sway. Its energy holds me upright, even though if I let it go it would fall. It connects me to the Earth as well. It’s not always easy to ground standing, so I ground the staff first and then ground myself through it. To “dance” with the staff this way is to go into a trance straight into the World Tree, which appears in so many mythologies around the world.

Galina: I have two staves. One was given to me in the first year of my training; I had just committed to serving the Gods, and I asked for a sign that my vows had been accepted, that I was truly on the right path. I lived in New York City at the time, and I was walking home; I looked down and in the gutter in the East Village there lay a lovely white birch staff. I snatched her up and took her home, and it was from her that I learned to work with spirits of plants and trees. That was her gift to me, that and the answer to a prayer. I needed her gentleness greatly in those early years, for the beginning of my training was hard and demanded many sacrifices, and I did not yet know the measure of my strength. My other staff, and the one that I work with most often now, is a large spear given to me by a dear friend. It too has a living spirit. Her normal resting place is behind my front door, where she contributes to warding my living space. I dance with her, recalling ancient dances of Northern warriors. The spear is a sacred tool to one owned by Odin, and I use it to connect to him as Warleader and Victory Father, with me in my role as his valkyrie. I also have a wand that is burned with runes, and I use it to tap on the ground and call the ancestral spirits.

Making a staff is a craft that should wait until you’ve learned something about tree spirits. First work your way through the Green World chapter to the sections with trees, and get to know a few of them. It doesn’t even have to be the trees mentioned in this book, but it will be a tree spirit who tells you what tree your staff should be cut from. Will it be strong Oak or gentle Birch who will make that sacrifice for you? Mysterious Apple or sturdy Pine? Will it be a green tree cut in its youth or an already dead standing warrior? It won’t be you who decides, but the tree spirit.

In his book The Viking Way: Religion and War in the Later Iron Age of Scandinavia, Neil Price compares a number of graves in Scandinavia that were theorized to contain the remains of sorceresses or spirit workers of some sort, marked out by—among other things—their magical “staffs.” It seems that they were actually the length of a cane and used as walking sticks, as opposed to the tall Gandalf-style stave favored by many people today. On the other hand, some Siberian shamans use tall staves, usually carved with a horse head to symbolize that it was their steed to ride while in a trance. The tall staff can be utilized as Raven suggests, holding it while in a standing trance; the short staff can be used like a wand to channel energy and will pass in public as an ordinary (or elaborate) cane. Also consider that coming back from journey work or a deep trance can be disorienting, and a staff is a very practical way of holding oneself upright.

Woodcarving is an art best learned from people who know how to do it, but you can start on your own by whittling small things. Carve runes into sticks and scrap wood. Even simple carving requires the time and effort necessary for infusing your Intent into the piece. If you’re more into Fire as an element, you might try woodburning instead of carving.

Exercise: Making a Staff

Start by going through the woods with a handsaw and asking the spirits to show you the right tree. Make sure that you have permission to be cutting wood on that property. If necessary, pay the owners. This wood should be acquired fairly. Bring something to offer to the land spirit (perhaps some food and drink) and something to offer to the tree spirit (perhaps some coins). Take your time—it’s no shame if you have to come back more than once. These things cannot and should not be hurried. When you have found and cut your tree and made your offerings, take it home and debark it. If the wood is dead already, just sand it; if it’s still green, it will need to sit in a warm place and age for a few months.

Then you carve it or burn it or whatever you decide. You don’t need to do it all at once. Each design or symbol can go on with proper meditation; then wait for the spirits to tell you what the next one will be. Do consider what you’ll put on the bottom end—will it be a spike for hiking, or a metal end for sturdiness, or a rubber crutch tip to make it a real cane? You can add ribbons, bells, or anything else that calls to you. You can also feed its spirit by making proper offerings: alcohol, smoke, perhaps blood. Once you form a bond with a tool, don’t neglect it.

When you are done, go stand on a high place to do some utiseta. Plant the end of your staff in the Earth and ground it, imagining it as a World Tree or World Pillar in your mind. If it’s a tall staff, lean against it. If it’s short, lean on top of it and let your own height meld to its energetic tree. Close your eyes and sway, just a little. Hum if you need to. Your consciousness should move upward, possibly as fast as a bird flies. Utiseta with a staff is a much more upward-focused activity than when it’s done seated, and as such is good for communing with tall tree spirits, mountain spirits, and sky/wind spirits—anything whose movement is focused upward.