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

East Wind
The White World: Air

Raven: Winds are changeable, and spirits of the Wind age and change gender—in some tales they are male, in some, female. From my observations, I’ve developed a theory that the major players, the Four Winds, age throughout the year and are actually at the height of their power when they are at their oldest—then they become youthful again and start over with the aging cycle. While the North Wind is at his most powerful in winter, and appears as an old man at that time, the East Wind is a hoary blowing old man later, during the turbulent spring. In summer, the East Wind is a young ambling breeze, while the South Wind is a fierce, wrinkled, warlike crone who bakes the earth with her hot, dry waves. I first met the North Wind in spring as a young man—that’s when he does his courting—and I first met the East Wind in the summer in the same way. He was pleasant and diffident, although certainly capable of havoc like any other wind, but one expected to see glasses perched on his nose and his face buried in a book. Indeed, I once caught the East Wind reading over my shoulder while I sat outside in my garden, trying to turn the pages in his impatience.

Galina: I was born in the spring, and I connect very strongly to the East Wind through his mercurial thirst for adventure, knowledge, and movement. He’s impatient to get things done, but not particularly aggressive. He has an irrepressible interest in a thousand different things. I’ve found him very willing to hash over ideas for creative projects, and he has helped me past writer’s block a time or two. He has also taught me a bit about keeping myself energetically clean. As a classicist in training, I’ve petitioned his help when I was the most frustrated and worn down with my multiple language studies. Bluntly put, in his kindness, he refreshes my brain and helps me gain some needed perspective and clarity. I associate him very strongly with April and find it easiest to connect to him in the spring.

The East Wind is male in this spiritual tradition, although, as we’ve said, the Four Winds change at their whim. He is sharp and cool, with less of a temper than the North Wind, although spring seems to be his time for losing his cool and letting it all blow out. The East Wind is especially important to propitiate if you live on the eastern side of a continent, because if unusual or sudden weather rolls in, it will probably be from the east, and it will be him changing things up for his own amusement or because he thinks it is necessary. He seems to be the most intellectual of all the winds and the most involved with travel and messages. He can be called on to guard letters that must arrive and to protect travelers who must fly through his medium.

The East Wind’s gift is words of power, and powerful speech. He understands that some words are more powerful than others and are better used for magic than others. Usually these words have strong imagery and emotional connotations. When they are combined with other words in specific ways, they hold power of their own that reverberates through the Universe when spoken, altering the workings of reality in subtle or unsubtle ways. The East Wind teaches us how to do this, especially for spoken charms, but also for speeches and other public communication. He is very insistent on the precise use of language. It’s as if language is a vast tapestry, each thread connecting in precise order to every other. It’s vibrant, alive, and redolent with power. It’s also delicately balanced. Every word chosen, whether in speech, in poetry, in song, or in spell, must be the right word, the word that cannot be replaced with any other. He demands exactitude and care. Sloppiness of effort or study will not get you far with the East Wind.

One of the most powerful word-energy tools in our language is alliteration. (That’s repeating sounds in the same line, such as Ellen, Ellen, Lady Ellhorn, eldest Moon and magic made). In the earliest Anglo-Saxon (and Norse) poetry, it was alliteration, not rhyming, that was the mark of poetry and the bardic art. Rhyming came in later, with the French of the Norman Conquest—a Romance language that mixed with Old English until the two were fused. Romance (Latinate-derived) languages tend to have many of the same endings on words, so that the struggle to find rhyme is much easier than in Old Germanic-derived languages. While rhyming can hold energy in a series of words because of the infusion of Norman French and Church Latin (as rhyming is the magical word-tool of Romance languages), it’s really only effective for short kindergarten-style rhymes. This is not to put down the efficacy of kindergarten rhymes, which can bring our minds back to a more open time in our lives and thus be quite powerful as words of power. However, for longer and more complex concepts, the best way to lock power into a series of phrases is to go back to the original Germanic art of alliteration. It has fallen out of fashion, but you’d be surprised at how effective it is for English-language power “songs” (which don’t have to be sung, of course). For this reason, the spoken invocation to the East Wind presented below is alliterative in nature.

Exercise: Words of Power

The East Wind loves words of all sorts, so one of the best propitiations for him is to go out on a windy day when he’s blowing and read him poetry. He also loves scents, so burning nice incense is a good offering. If you want to wear or hang ribbons to blow in his breeze, his colors are pale—pastel blue, light yellow, sunrise pink, white. He likes small bells, perhaps because of their rhythm. They make nice offerings to him, as do coffee and strong teas. We’ve found that many of the frost giants like good, high-quality teas and coffee, which are perhaps difficult for them to acquire. He does not seem to be much interested in food (unlike the North Wind, who likes his hearty meals), but enjoys a fizzy beverage flung bubbling into the air.

The East Wind has a wonderfully clarifying feel to his energy. You breathe him in, and your eyes and mind are suddenly very clear and lucid, and everything seems much brighter. That’s one of the ways you can tell that he’s present. His invocation is as follows:

I stand in East

And stake my claim,

I hail the howling

Hallowed one,

Dawn Treader dare

My tangled tongue,

May I wield my words,

May I work my will,

May wind of morning

Mists awake,

To East I call,

This claim I stake.

We’ll assume that you’ve gone out on a day when the wind is from the east, and you’ve made your offerings and read him poetry. If he comes and you can feel his presence, both energetically and as a highly personal touch of the wind, ask him if he will help you learn the way of channeling power through the spoken word. This is a subtler art than channeling power through singing. Part of the power still comes through the voice, but it comes through in cadence and tone rather than sheer sustaining power. The rest comes through the Words of Power, and the best way to learn which words are powerful for you is to say them to him, and he will tell you if you are tapping into their ancient energy. Strive to delight him with your words, and let them be well chosen. He has more of a sense of humor than the other Wind spirits, as well as brilliance in thought, word knowledge, and speech craft that can be dazzling to experience.

Working with the East Wind is an ongoing project, and it may require a good deal of orating out in a field somewhere. Remember to thank him for his aid and leave him offerings of incense when possible.