Wightridden, V

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V.

Finer Focus

Ascetic

165-220

p. 167 developing soul-memory

"Spiritual discipline has been likened to the soul-equivalent of developing body memory. ... Similarly, the psychic acts ..., if done often enough, can create a psychic astral-body memory that will run on automatic while your mind is freed up to notice other things. Spiritual disciplines do this same thing for the soul."

{There is no such thing as "body memory" of any sort. Howbeit, it is possible for the collective of deities to operate a collective countrepart of soul-memory, so as to "free up" an alleged "mind" (which is likewise unreal, being another collective operated by another set of deities) for other activities. Any variant of an alleged "self" is a fictitious composite only purportedly independent of divine collectives of skandha-s, which are divinely-sanctioned realities of supernatural communisms. [written June 25th 2014]}

{Any true "spiritual discipline" is a discipline of recognizing (and willingly submitting to) the natural and supernatural hegemony of some universal communality/communism of a mutually telepathic reality.}

p. 169 mindfulness

"Mental disciplines can ... be ... a form of mindfulness. One example of this would be ... speaking only absolutely truthful things, or speaking only absolutely necessary things, or not using specific words ... .

{Such-like mental disciplines ought to be practiced as nearly perpetually as possible, with possible temporary lapses from them only when they may feel mentally exhausting. They should also be discussed with, and encouraged among, one's peers, to the best thoroughness of one's ability. [written June 25th 2014]}

One person ... spent a good deal of time not using the "I" pronoun, ... mindfully restructuring sentences so as not to refer directly to himself."

{So long as the subordination of ahamkara ('egoity') to all evident divine communality be willingly and humbly acknowledged, then the artificial "ich/ego/aham" pronoun may be provisionally employed as a shorthand substitute for more accurate phraseology of actual divine collectivities -- but with the proviso of reverting to evadence of such pronoun whenever a sense of metaphysical guilt for its unwarranted usage may arise. There is little reason to impose a situation of unnecessary collective guilt. [written June 25th 2014]}

p. 170 Path of Mu`spells-heimr

"Sauna meditation ... Combining ... with the Path of Breath ... can be highly effective. This is the path of Muspellheim, and if you have spiritual questions about it that can't be answered by human beings, ask the dwellers in the Land of Fire."

{This is already much practiced among AmerIndians of North America (in their "Sweat Lodge"), wherefore they may be acknowledged amongst kindred devotees of Uralic and of Norse extractions.}

p. 174 abstention from seeds {Abstention from the "5 grains/cereals" is a Taoist regimen.}

"try abstaining from anything made of grain, beans or seeds for three days leading up to Lammas! ... (The full description of the Ancestor Fast is ... at http://www.cauldronfarm.com/asphodel/articles/feast_and_fast.html .)"

"I'm hypoglycemic, and can't go without

a certain amount of protein

{N.B. Vegetable proteins need to be reduced to amino-acids by means of food-enzymes (such as, in chili-peppers) before becoming usable to the body.}

for more than 12 hours". [cf. p. 182 "I have not fasted ... due to hypoglycemia".]

p. 176 fasting for the Vanir

"Fasting, as a tool of consciousness, is associated with Vanaheim and the Vanir. ... If you have spiritual questions about fasting ..., speak to the Vanir about them, especially Nerthus."

p. 184 herbs sacred to particular deities

herb

its deity

milk-thistle

Sigy`n

burdock

Farbauti

dandelion

Sunna

cleavers

Gert

parsley

O`dinn

marshmallow

Eir the healeress

slippery-elm

Embla the 1st woman

mullein

Loki

agrimony

Angrboda

garlic

To`rr

juniper berries

the Dvergar of the 4 directions

pp. 185-194 sensory deprivation

p. 185

"Isolation is the first technique. ... Yet another step might be a vow of silence for the duration ... . ...

{Seclusion and/or silence may be practiced (whether for "a period of days" or merely hours or minutes) whenever they may feel appropriate. They are largely needed for any meditation/contemplation to be proprely spirit-guided.}

p. 186

Of course, using this technique may find you forced to be alone with your own thoughts ... . ...

{At such a juncture, one may do well to contemplate the fact that one is never truly alone : that praeternatural entities are always following one's thoughts, and will help to guide those thoughts if they be requaested to do so with the requisite humility on one's part.}

p. 187

That's why sensory deprivation is used for psychic work; if you close off enough of the sense, the nonphysical ones may start to pick up the slack ... . ...

{The "nonphysical senses" are those which sense immaterial worlds, and which are operated by subtle collectives of immaterial (or especially bodiless) entities. The immaterial bodiless entities "pick up the slack" by operating our "nonphysical senses" for us, when we requaest them with adequate and persistent humility, prayerfully beseeching them for the sake of their mighty communist collectives of universal import.}

p. 188

The classic witches' cradle consists of ... stopping the ears and eyes, and suspending the person from a gantry to swing. ... The low-tech traditional equivalent to this was the practice of "going under the cloak", for both Celts and Norse/Germanic peoples."

p. 189

[by L.H.] "Going under the cloak can be done ... . ... You want to have a ground crew for this ... . ... Warding is good if they can do it ... . ... The experience ... is weird ... . ... you get ...

p. 190

panic attacks and weird sensations ... . ... In contrast, float tanks are great, but that's very high comfort."


"Simply spending a period of time limiting a single sense ... can be done in a way that can be combined with ... daily activities. One might wear gloves on one's hands, or keep one's face and head covered, or not raise one's arms above the heart."

p. 191

[by J.M.] "Goddess Hela instructed me ... I would be observing a "sound fast" ..., abstaining from ... phone conversations, and speaking to others, including ... the cat. While on this fast, Hela told me to wear a special ring, keep a dark veil over my head, and to display the rune necklace I wear {usually inside of clothing} outside the clothing {during the "sound fast"}; I was uncomfortable wearing my necklace where others could see, but it struck me as appropriate ... . ...

p. 192

I had also agreed to face paint at a local Witch's Ball ... . Hela accepted these obligations ..., so long as I didn't add to this schedule ... . ...

It was Frigga who taught me to spin ... in the Otherworld ..., and it's an activity that continues to yield insight to myself, to my Gods, and to magical and spiritual principles. ...

p. 193

Days passed ... and I spent the night speaking with my Gods about the progress I had made. ... I woke up ... and was allowed to enter the world again.


There's no way I can describe the vibrance I encountered, or how different everything appeared ... . ...

{This is the sensation usually ascribed to bodhi (awakenment to divine nature of reality, enlightenment).}


It's my understanding now that ... I

p. 194

found a comfortable spot between the worlds of the living and dead. ...


Being veiled and keeping silent ... changed me at levels so deep that ... I felt like had wandered a very long way and had been gone for a very long time."

{With cloistred nuns (and with Muslim women) who are perpetually veiled, this can be a continually ongoing effect.}

pp. 195-200 [by G.K.] the nature of silence

p. 195

"Silence has its own sound, as paradoxical as that may seem.

{There are books entitled The Sound of Silence (one, e.g., by authoress A.K., on silence in unmarried women).}


It has pattern, texture, rhythm and to some people, even color. ...

After years of teaching esoteric arts, I've come to realize that most people avoid complete ... silence within ... . ...

p. 196

The embrace of silence forces a person to confront all those inner thoughts ... that we are customarily taught to hide, even from ourselves. There's nothing to use for distraction, nothing to use as a fac,ade when confronted solely with silence. ... The power of silence ... cuts away illusion and brings clarity. ...

It is very easy in this culture to squander our words. ... We're often so busy that we waste the power of our voice. ... There is a Hausa proverb : "Even silence speaks." ... Learning to withstand and even embrace quietude leads to a greater awareness and appreciation of the power of our words ... . This is a very powerful truism in magic. ...

p. 197

This is perhaps the reason that mystics the world over in many different religious traditions, have sought out extended periods of both silence and solitude to deepen their spirituality and their connection to the Gods. ... It is a process of readying oneself for opening -- to the Gods, to the flow of {praeternatural} power, to greater knowledge of oneself. ...

See how many individual sounds you can pick out of the aural {/auricular/, or rather /auditory/} jumble. When you listen to music, try to follow one instrument throughout. ...

p. 198

As an aside ..., learning to play a musical instrument can increase one's sensitivity to the interplay of sound and silence dramatically as can learning to sing. These things are beneficial to magical practice because ... understanding rhythm and flow helps one better sense and understand natural energy flows. Everything is connected in this way. One pattern of flow mirrors another. ... Or

p. 199

how often do you respond to platitudes of affection with similar comments of your own


out of a feeling of social obligation? ...

{The response ought to be motivated by a wish to please the deities by so responding (rather than perversely due to artificial

"social obligation" amongst mere mortals).}


The place where magic begins and gathers lies in silence. ... The silent fast is a powerful meditation ... . ... Spend those days meditating, praying, and writing. ... Above all else don't speak {except for, perhaps, in prayers}. ... Be sure to record your responses, thought, feelings and any other inspirations that come to yon throughout this time.

p. 200

Not only is this beneficial to the budding magician, but it is especially beneficial to the spiritual devotee. Spending ... weeks in prayer, meditation and interaction with the Gods can be an amazingly opening experience. You may even want to try silent rituals, a ritual utilizing only gesture".

Anju Kawar : The Sound of Silence. AMERICAN UNIV STUDIES SER IV, ENGLISH LANGUAGE & LITERATURE (Bk 189). Peter Lang, 1999.

pp. 201-4 steam-sweatlodge

p. 201

"build a separate small building ... where you can heat things up ... . If you lay a supply of rocks into it, heat them, and throw water onto them, you get the cleansing steam that the Finns refer to as lo:yly. ... In northern Europe, the oldest ones were ... rather like ... the Native American sweat lodge. .... In the Eyrbyggja Saga, a Norse bathhouse is described that is a room dug into the ground ... . ...

p. 202

The word sauna is Saami [Lappish] ... . ... the modern words are more recent ..., such as the German Aufguss and the Russian banya (which was originally derived from the Italian word {namely, /bagnio/} for bath). ... During the Middle Ages, public bathhouses went ... to being busy centers of ... prostitution. ... .


... in Finland {spelled /Finnland/ in Hochdeutsch, /Finnlandt/ in Plattdeutsch} ... Women were brought into the sauna to give birth, and the dying often lived out their last days there. Once dead, their bodies were washed and wrapped in the sauna before removing them to their graves. It was also used for ... healing rituals of all sorts ... . ...

p. 203

Ancestor worship was also a function of the sauna; it was thought that the Dead would return to ... the bathhouse, and that


the lo:yly, or sacred steam, held {the affection of} their souls. ...

{According to Chinese lore, the c^>i (qi), literally 'steam', is able to energize the soul.}


(One cognate is the Ostyak word lil, which means "soul".)"

{Other cognates may be Sumerian /LIL/ 'wind' and <ibri^ /LayIL/, >aramaic /LE^Lya> 'night'.}


[by L.H. :] "The sauna is where all the transitions {between residing in this world and in other worlds} happen. People who are sick go there, women who are about to give birth go there, the midwives go there to pray before they bring out the pregnant woman."


"Herodotus wrote [4:73-5] about

p. 204

the people {specifically, the Skuthai} of the Black Sea region {now Ukraine}

{This name /SKUTH-/ must surely be intended to indicate /C^UD/, an Ugrian (and thus, Saami-related) people.}


making a making a felt-covered hut and throwing water onto red-hot stones {not literally : stones must be molten before they glow red} inside, creating a vapor ... bath. (He also relates that hempseed was thrown onto the stones for the purpose of visions and prophecy.)"

article "Sweat-House" in James Hastings (ed.) : Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, vol Su-Zw, pp. 127a-129a. http://books.google.com/books?id=UD8TAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA128&lpg=PA128&dq=

pp. 205-9 spirits of the steam-sweatlodge

p. 205

[by A.] "The use of the banya calls forth ... the leshii (forest spirits) in the birch trees, and the rusalki and voidianki (water spirits) in the water."

p. 206

"Russian Christians ... say that the bathhouse was full of devils ... .

{full of jnun, according to <arabian lore}


In general, Russian sorcerers (referred to as koldun) were said to go off to the banya when all ... Christians were going off to church. ... The banya was also a place for prophecy and divination, and as well as healing ... . According to folk belief, babies were born there because birthing women and newborns were terribly vulnerable to evil forces, and the guardian spirit of the banya was so strong that it kept all other spirits at bay. Bringing a child into the bathhouse would ... earn the favor of the domovoi and domikha, the male and female spirits of the house itself. One custom ... had the midwife ... naked and carrying the newborn child around the

p. 207

banya, chanting an invocation to the Morning Star ... . ...

Forty days after a funeral -- during which time water ... and towels were left in the banya for the dead soul -- the fire was lit and a feast prepared for them. Afterwards, the family walked out of the bathhouse and crossed the road, ceremonial sending the dead soul away {into the Otherworld}. ...

(... brides were sent to the bathhouse to have a pre-wedding steam bath the night before the nuptials, and ... the village sorcerer ... was in charge of such ceremonies.) ...

Tapping into the original spirit of the sauna/stofa ritual is honoring

p. 208

the powers of fire and water and stone, and ... the Ancestors. Without those, the wights will not come. ...

p. 209

One saying held that of the three sauna rounds, one was for men, one for women, and one for the faeries. ...

{In the Roman Empire, "Men and women bathing together was discouraged. Thus, women ... had different bathing hours. ... . ... women had the worst bathing hours (morning till noon)" ("RSBCR").} {"open to women from daybreak until about noon, and to men from about 2:00 pm until sunset" ("RB&B").}


However, ... we strongly encourage ... the problem of where to put the people who are neither male nor female ... ....

{Do they belong in the round for the fae:ries?}


The door to a traditional sauna should be shorter than a "normal" door; one should have to stoop to get into it, which shows reverence ... .

{Many Japanese portals are built short for this reason.}


In Russia, it was traditional to leave the banya backwards, bowing to the spirits.


Another of their traditions was burying a sacrificed black cock under the doorstep".

{cf. the French Book of the Black Pullet}

"RSBCR" = "Role of Social Bathing in Classical Rome" http://www.richeast.org/htwm/Greeks/Romans/bathing/bathing.html

"RB&B" = "Roman Baths and Bathing" http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/baths.html

pp. 209-11 attracting tutelary-spirits to the sauna

p. 209

"The first saunas were smoke saunas, referred to by the Finns as savusauna. ...

p. 210

Make sure that you ... properly smoke up the sauna ... . Appropriate activities during this time might be to sit outside and drum and sing. What you're trying to do is call a guardian spirit into the sauna. ...


Another sort of guardian spirit, popular in Finland, is the Sauna[-]tonttu, a little ... wizened fairy. ... The Sauna[-]tonttu ... seem to be ... the "little people", the ... nature sprites who live astrally in this world. ...

p. 211

In Russia, the guardian spirit of the banya was the Bannik, a spindly, hairy creature ... : "... In order to see the Bannik, you had to go alone at night, and


you had to sit with part of yourself {portion of thy body} in the banya and part out ... . ...

{"Lleu had one foot on the side of a bath tub and the other on the back of a goat" ("BM").}


If the banya made a purring sound, the Bannik was at home."

{implying Gronw Pebyr of Penllyn to be a feline bath-house spirit?}


He was sometimes known to appear to late-night wanderers as a village elder or dead ancestor, and it was important to leave the fourth steam round for him, and


to propitiate him with food ...,

{perhaps the "putrid meat and vermin" (MB) devoured by Maenawr Penardd's sow nigh Arvon}


and to refrain from bringing anything from the house into the banya and vice versa, as everything in the banya belonged to him (whereas the rest {residue} belonged to the domovoi [home-spirit]). If properly treated, he would protect his guests".

"BM" = http://www.welsh-mythsandlegends.walesdirectory.co.uk/Mabinogion/Blodeuwedd.html

MB = Myth of Blodeuwedd http://www.oocities.org/wiccantwinpaths/goddessstuff/blodeuwedd/blodeuweddmyth.htm

pp. 212, 214, 216-7 the 3 sauna-rounds

p. 212

"A sauna{-cycle} is divided into rounds, each called a gang in Finnish. ... The first gang ... is the Ancestor round ... . ...


The first round is the Perth round ... . ...

{named for Penardd?}

p. 214

There should be a bowl of water ...; it can have some kind of herb or essential oil ... . For the appropriate scents, I use pine needles for the first round ..., birch for the second round ... . ...

p. 216

The second gang is for weighty matters ... important issues that are besetting the community ..., people should frame their issues as hopes, stating what positive changes they would like to see happen in the future. ... This is the round where birch whisks are brought out, steamed ..., and used to flagellate each other. ... Birch is the tree of Frigga, ... the Lady of Frithkeeping {peacekeeping}. ...

p. 217

The third gang is done for the Gods, the Ansuz round".

p. 215 the 4 kinds of lo:yly

#

__ lo:yly

is a __

which __

1st

Maiden

"fiery lover"

"is exciting"

2nd

Lady

"loving wife"

"caresses you"

3rd

Mother

"sitting in ... lap"

"is so gentle"

4th

Grandmother

"sake of the Saunatonttu"

"is ... the sweetest of all"

pp. 218-20 [by L.H.] goddess Hel

p. 218

"As a personage, she shows up in my dreams. I notice her when I start to feel cold and get a creepy sensation up the back of my neck, and there she is. ... Understand that when you call upon Hela for aid, what will happen is that she will take things away from you -- things that were getting in the way ..., complicating your life ... . ... . ... if you ask her for help, and she says, "I will help you, but ..." that "but" is your last chance ... . Once she's spoken ..., there's no way to back out."

p. 219

spoken by Hel : "Make sure that that you tell people who need to hear it that you love them. Say it at the end of every phone call. ... This will lead to understanding what is really important. ...

Second, you must understand ... the purpose of life. If you look at the old texts around the world, they ... speak of ...


"perfect joy". ...

{that joy which cometh with perfectionism}

p. 220

So[,] that is my third lesson : doing without. There are things that you need, and things that you ... can ... do without. Remember, ... to be able to do without is power. ... For I am Loss, and ... if you willingly come to my altar of Loss ..., then ... you ... dragged here by force and chained to its ...


echoing space, it will not be so unfamiliar to you."

{This Norse goddess Hel may be is thus related to Hellenic echo-nymph EKHOi, the prospective wife of hero NARKissos, whose name in turn is etymologically aequivalent to /NARaKa/, name of the unborn god (according to the Puran.a) of Hell.}

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Raven Kaldera : Wightridden : Paths of Northern-Tradition Shamanism. Asphodel Pr, Hubbardston (MA), 2007.