Wyrdwalkers, III.8-III.9

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III.8

Repair of the Soul

289-313

pp. 289-90 components of the soul

p. 289

"According to Sarangerel, the Siberian tribal conception of

p. 290

the soul is tripartite :

the ami (the "body soul" which reincarnates),

the suns (the carrier of past life memories, which goes to the Underworld after death), and

the suld (the link to ... the Gods ...). ... In some traditions, such as that of the Altaic kam,


the shaman-soul

{actually, shamanic praeternatural power (to be exercised on the same planet while residing on that planet, and to be relinquished at death, very unlike one's soul which is never relinquished), better not designated "shaman-soul"}


was a piece that had traveled from one shaman to the next on the advent of the first one's death, usually transmitted through family lines.


So the idea of souls as complex things which could lose are damage parts is not unusual".

{False! This absurdity is a grossly erratic misuse of the term "soul" for inheritable shamanic power, quite different one's own inalienable soul.}

{Ami = one's own soul; suns = memory, collective or otherwise, including the memory of the past lives of any other soul(s) (not necessary including one's own soul) whereto one may temporarily have access; suld = luck etc. wherewith one may be temporarily invested by deities.}

p. 290 variety of soul-retrieval techniques practiced by contemporary soul-retrieval practitioners

"I researched a large number of practitioners who list "soul retrieval" as one of the services they offer, and ...

much of their language was carefully calculated not to force clients to actually believe in spirits {spirits other than spirits/souls of mortals} or Otherworlds {worlds not evidently homologous with the material world}; there was a lot of talk about "non-ordinary reality" and such.

{It may be adequate, in order that a client's luck or health be retrieved, that the client simply understand that there exist such "non-ordinary reality" features as separable luck and/or health, and separable spirits of mortals (living and/or dead). The practitioner, however, might be expected to have and to hold (privately) more specific and detailed knowlege.}

Some of the descriptions of the practitioner's methods included journeying to some other place and finding

the piece of the soul

{the client's separable luck and/or health, not any suppositious "piece of the soul"}

in the hands of various creatures {entities}, or just wandering about lost, and it was recaptured and breathed back into the client.

Others described putting the client into a light trance and talking them through "finding" the piece of lost soul themselves."

p. 291 arrogation of one's luck by other persons; its retrieval

"Another possible way that people could lose

a piece of their soul,

{not, indeed, "a piece of their soul", but rather their peace of mind, their composure and tranquillity, and perhaps their luck}

according to this body of knowledge, was giving it to another person (usually a lover, although occasionally a child who[m] they might want to protect) or having it stolen by another person (usually an ex-lover).

Practitioners were willing to discuss the process of getting the person to take back the piece of their soul, but reluctant to talk about what to do if the "thief" (or recipient) refused to give it up. It was stressed in these descriptions that people['s] trading soul-pieces is never good, as they won't be "usable" to the recipient.

(I assume that these folks would be horrified at the customs of the Altaic kam[-]s.)

{Nay! The Turkic transmission from kam to kam is quite different, being primarily of empowerment to shamanhood (shamanic soul-curative practionership), more so than of personal composure/tranquillity or even of personal luck.}

In my experience, other people's soul-pieces are unfortunately quite usable by some individuals, for a great number of purposes."

{Perhaps about the only way wherein stolen detachable serenity/luck could be of use to robbers/plunderers thereof, is if their system actually be huge and antique, entailing a vast network of chaplains praying ritualistically to a host of praeternatural entities. Only the antiquity-rooted royalties/nobilities, with their political parties, would have such a system. R.K. may be alluding to political reactionaries who are membre-agents of such system. [written Feb 27 2014]}

pp. 293-4 [by L.H.] circumstances of praeternatural entities' seizing one's soul

p. 293

"I have seen ... cases where some nasty black magician has come and taken your soul away and turned you into a zombie ... . There are plenty of entities out there who do that ... .

{Such "nasty ... magician" would be a capitalist weapons-manufacturers' hireling; the minor praeternatural entities involved would be divinities praesiding over explosives, napalm, chlorine-gas and phosgene-gas.}


Unless taking you out is really, really worth it to them, it's too much of a bother ... .

{It would not be too much of a bother to capitalist war-mongers' entities to disrupt pacifist activists in this fashion.}


And if they do ... disconnect their soul from their body -- ... Another soul might come to inhabit it ... . ...

p. 294

For me, whenever I see this, I ask their patron deity or guiding spirit what to do."

p. 298 repairing damaged li`tr

"If someone else is draining their litr , its likely to be a lover -- unlike other parts of the soul, ... generally only lovers will have that kind of access.

In any case, that's a relationship issue that needs to be worked out between them.

{In such a case, the "relationship issue" involved will surely prove to be a difference in socio-political orientation.}

Giving the lover access to the genitals while blocking the litr from them will only succeed in blocking it from the owner of those genitals as well, and ... make things worse.

Suggest a relationship reading, and a confrontation if necessary."

pp. 299-300 healing damaged vili

p. 299

"Healing the vili requires using it constantly, day in and day out ... . It can be exhausting. ... Unlike healing other parts of the soul, making the vili stronger is very much a solitary task. ... This is something that you should be acutely aware of. ...


Confronting ... the authority figure, with that anger is a step in the right direction; don't punish their attempts at willfulness ... .

{The authority-figure to be confronted with righteous indignation is the capitalist-stooge politician, and especially the praeternatural imp-fiend working for such politician. [written June 22 2014]}

p. 300

Instead, acknowledge it, tell them that they have the right to be angry,

{All membres of the working-class have every right to be indignant at praeternatural imps who are abetting dominance by capitalism. [written June 22 2014]}


and encourage them to aim that in a constructive direction."

{The constructive direction is to build socialism (industrial unionism) and commun[al]ism, with extraterrestrial assistance. }

pp. 300-2 healing or recovering damaged or lost mo`d

p. 300

"The mod is the thing most often dealt with by neo-shamans ..., and it is also the most likely to be helped by the kind of ... guided meditation that many of them perform. ...

p. 301

The best medicine for healing a damaged mod is ... care for animals, many of whom will be fairly unconditional in their love if treated well."

p. 302

"In the event that a piece of the mod has flown of its own accord ... ask the Gods where to look for it, and follow their advice."

pp. 306-7 recovering missing fylgja

p. 306

"for the few who do have a conscious, active fylgja, it might well turn up missing. ... The creator {of an alliance with} the fylgja gains the ability to send out a messenger to find out information that might be dangerous to the consciousness, and a guide and scout for faring forth, but in return creates a serious vulnerability ... . It is no accident that the Siberian shamans hid and protected their wandering animal-souls {theriomorphic spirit-helpers}; the Yakut shamans tell about how their yekyua is hidden in a safe place where no one can find it. ...

p. 307

Fylgjar can get into bad trouble if they're not wise yet, which is why the best advice for someone with an animal fylgja is to ask the Grandfather spirit of that type of animal to

take their fylgja on as a sort of apprentice, and teach them to be more skillful."

p. 307 "semi-separate entity"

"The act of splitting off a piece of oneself is not an easy one ... . How convenient to just take them one remove further from the soul-complex, making a fylgja out of them ...! The problem with this, of course, is that you've just made a "helper spirit" which contains everything ... about yourself, ... to partner with.

{Actually, although the deities who may be responsive to one's suggestions are (according to Taoist theology) resident within one's body, they are more of the nature of instances of universe-wide aspects of the bodily organs as microcosmic reflections of macrocosmic features of the universe, than anything more individualistically personal; so that the "splitting off" is merely an individualization (exemplication) of a cosmic universal than anything more strictly personal. The totality of such aeternal cosmic deities is the source (according to Vajra-yana theology) of the illusion (maya) of selfhood (atmatva), which (in Taoist as in Bauddha and in Veda-anta cosmic psychology) is the principal delusion to be overcome in achieving transcendent enlightenment (paramita-bodhi).}

(The Yakut shamans, when listing off the types of animal yekyua, tell about the predator yekyua -- dogs, wolves, and such -- who constantly torment their owners with gnawing and demanding hunger,

{These praedator-deities may be eagre to devour, immediately and without delay, the class-enemy.}

as opposed to "placid" yekyua like cows or rabbits.

{These non-praedator-deities may be more willing to tolerate a temporary peaceful co-existence with the class-enemy.}

One wonders if these are the result of splitting off ... of the soul qualities ... .)"

{Otherwise (and aequivalently) stated, such differences are simply inhaerent in variant features of cosmic universals.}

pp. 309-10 lost or damaged ve`

p. 309

"I have seen cases of a lost ve occasionally, and in every case I was dealing with a ... spirit-worker who had gotten into trouble with the Gods and wights, and they had yanked the ve until further notice. Generally this was due to having broken a deal {covenant} with one of them, usually the patron deity. ... In these cases, the only thing to do is to keep the bargain, no matter how difficult ... it is. There may be interest {usury} due as well."


"A damaged ve is also a job hazard of the functioning spirit-worker. ... For spirit-workers, the ve is used and pushed far more than it is for most people, and it can get broken through misuse. ... You can increase "carrying capacity" to a certain extent, slowly and gradually through ... energy disciplines. This

p. 310

will only take you to the limits of what your hame will naturally stretch to. Aything further will have to be modified by a deity or major wight. If they refuse to do so, it means that you're not meant to handle anything heavier."

p. 311 damaged wo`d

"If the wod is damaged, it's due to ... spirit-workers who are "free agents" [instead of being god-teow] and have difficulty in enforcing limits on those {extraneous spirits} who possess them ... . Symptoms of a damaged wod include the inability to sense or hear the Gods and wights, although if the ve is still intact the ability to move energy will remain accessible. A damaged wod is a sign that the spirit-worker needs to stop doing this {becoming possessed by unidentified spirits not so authorized by the spirit-worker's own patron-deity} until they can get better protection."

pp. 311-2 lost maegen

p. 311

"While breaking your word to anyone will lose maegen, ... if you break oath with a God/dess, it is within their power to strip you of those things which make you more than mundane ... .

{Explication : Although the immortal deities be supremely indulgent to mortals, the means of identification of mortals (necessary to the deities' continuous supplying of the mortals with "more than mundane" results) depend upon those mortals' continually fulfilling agreed-upon conditions, so that breaking of troth on mortals' parts is cause of deities' losing track of those mortals. [written June 22 2014]}


In most cases, someone who has lost all their {his or her} maegen ... had better start making their apologies and

p. 312

finding out what can be done to help the matter. ...


To get it back, you have to start from stratch and build it up all over again".

{One's identification credentials (for one's identity in the divine world) may require to be reconstituted.}

p. 313 wholemaking

"Some northern-tradition spirit-workers refer to the art of soul repair as "wholemaking" ... . ... Having had several clients with

actual multiple personality disorder -- ...

{aequivalent to intransigently holding several mutually contradictory philosophies simultaneously without recognizing the mutual contradictions}

and having had everything I did for them get undone by sabotaging from various parts warring with each other,

{This could happen if they are attempting to favor mysticism and capitalism simultaneously, for capitalist materialism is incompatible with any genuine religion.}

I have learned that it is some people's orlog to stay unwhole until they have worked some things through."

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III.9

Ham-rammr

314-34

p. 314 from the Ynglinga-Saga [chapter 7 : HHKN, p. 10]

"Odin [O`dinn] could change his hame, and his body would lie there as if asleep or dead, while he himself was a bird or an animal {mammal}, a fish or a snake, and would travel in an instant to far-off lands on his errands or on those of other men."

HHKN = Snorri Sturluson (transl. by Lee M. Hollander) : Heimskrilinga : History of the Kings of Norway. 1964. Univ of TX Pr for American-Scandinavian Foundation.

pp. 314-5 ham-rammr & ham-bleyna

p. 314

"The word hamrammr -- skin-strong or shape-strong -- refers to having a talent for for


shapeshifting, turning oneself into an animal. ...

{performed (usually) in dreams}


When the magic-worker left their {his or her} body, they were {he or she was} said to be hambleyna -- "leaper out of the skin" -- and anyone who took on an unfamiliar shape was hamslauss -- "out of his skin". While we tend to use the term hamfarir as a general term for journeying out-of-body with the hame, its original meaning was specifically to leave the body in the shape of an animal. ... It might ... be due to the use of the fetch ...; since the fetch was frequently cast as a beast, the spirit-worker might choose to match its shape when it led them {him or her} forth."

p. 315

"there are numerous examples in lore -- Bodhvar Biarki fought in the shape of a bear while his body lay in trance ... . King Harald's hired shaman travels overseas as a whale".

pp. 316-7 wahr-wolf & werewolf

p. 316

"In medieval Lithuania, ... brotherhoods called Wahrwolf societies would transform into wolves and journey collectively to the land of the Dead to fight evil spirits for possession of the year's seed-corn. [cited by Carlo Ginzburg -- NPWM&D, vol. 5, p. 136] {Lithuanian terms for 'werewolf' are /vilkolakis/ and /vilkatlakis/.} ...


In Arcadia, werewolf legends have other legends alongside of them, claiming that there was

{Arkadian werewolves are mentioned by Plinius (Hist. Nat. 8:22), quoting Euanthes -- EB:W --, in connection with the ash-tree, whose sweet sap (characterizing the Golden Age of Kronos) is similar to the maple syrup of North America.}

p. 317

once a "brotherhood" of shapeshifters who were sworn to protect the people."

NPWM&D = Brian P. Levack (ed.) : New Perspectives on Witchcraft, Magic, and Demonology. Routledge, NY & London, 2001. http://books.google.com/books?id=70C3F9zlgYEC&pg=PA274&lpg=PA274&dq=

EB:W = Encyclopedia Britannica 1911, article "Werwolf". http://www.theodora.com/encyclopedia/w/werwolf.html

pp. 331-4 Angr-boda

p. 331

"I journeyed to Angrboda's hall in the Iron Wood.

{If 'Iron Wood' be a reference to "heartwood", then cf. goddess Euru-bie : " Eurybie ... has a heart of iron." (H:Th line 279)}


It's a huge hall, usually guarded by werewolves

{<arabi /kalb/ 'hound' as a pun on <arabi /qalb/ 'heart'?}


the size of small horses, hung with painted skins stretched on wooden hoops ... . The Hagia {'female saint'} of the Iron Wood was waiting for me. ... She brought me back to her hall and bade me sing ... . I'd written the various lines of verse that had come together to be my shaman song, I'd even embroidered them on my skirt, but I'd never sung them before. I sang them then, before all the wolves and trolls and giants and strange, deformed monsters in her hall. Afterwards, she pointed many of them out around the room, and described how their particular deformities were useful or beneficial ... for purposes of shapeshifting. ...

p. 332

The next day I went to the doctor's office in the very mundane world. The chronic illness that had dogged my life for decades was getting worse, and tests had been run. That day, the day after my visit with the Wolf-Mother, I was informed that I had lupus, the disease named after the Wolf."


spoken by Angr-boda :- I know that you already know how to shapeshift, how to move your hame around in different ways ... . ... What you must do is meet that animal spirit, face to face, and ask permission to take on its form. Then it will exchange forms with you, and run in your body on its own strange astral place. ... There must be an equal exchange, a gift for a gift. Some animal spirits will take a different thing in exchange, but many will want to take your form, and you must be comfortable with that. ...

p. 333

Would you want to be Wolf? ... Is here wolf in you? ...

But you know your name {Raven K.}, yes? What is the Raven in you? ...


The one who could speak the language of humans, if it wished ... but will not, out of contrariness? ...

{According to some AmerIndian tribes, all species of animals speak human language when there are no humans nigh; but feign inability to speak and to understand human language while humans are within earshot range.}


Then you go out to them ..., and you ask persmission to switch shapes. ... And they will be you, and you will see them like a fetch ... . You can run, fly ..., but as soon as you grow tired of

p. 334

it, it will end and switch back. ...

Could you become a tree, or a plant, this way? Yes, but it is much harder ... . They are more alien than you think. But it has been done, certainly; some wight-workers have done it. ...

The best thing you can do is to ... speak their language ... . You will need to learn their language, not to speak it while you are shifted -- that will come naturally -- but to remember later what was said to you during your time in the beast's hame. You will want that, eventually. ... There is nowhere for you to go but there or madness".

H:Th = Hesiodos : Theogonia. http://tbabrennan.weebly.com/uploads/9/0/3/2/9032808/2._theogony.pdf

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