... oh my goddess...
This is just my opinion, by the way, mostly off the top of my head. ie, to be consumed with sodium chloride. It's looong too!
Seiðr: from the root "to seethe", like a bucket of eels or snakes. Pretty descriptive, no? Thank you all for your input, links, books. This thread means much to me, because this is what I do.
Thank you Barbelith.
I don't want to get into the hi/lo debate but, despite the ceremonial aspect, I doubt Seiðr would be classified as High Magick. More like primitive-low-shamanism. You see, it's woman magick... therefore regarded with disdain by patriarchial heterocracy. Shabby magic, girly magic, nothing to do with combat. This is what we want them to believe.
The real story [sorry... the rumour that echoes through the sagas and eddas] is that Seiðr is too dangerous for men, and to be kept among the womenfolk. This is why most of it has been lost, never allowed outside the women's lodge... only spoken or sung.
This is why Bengali in platform's question about synchronous menstruation in the Q&A finally goaded me into action.
In order for a man to learn in the women's lodge, he must become a woman. Ritual transvestism is an itegral part of even the patriarchal heterocracy - Thor dresses up as Freya to rescue his hammer from the giants, but he's only able to do it because quick-witted Loki comes along as a maidservant. Hmmm, a shape-shifter playing dress-up? There's more to it than that.
The other thing that let me know I had to write this essay was the Simpsons this week. "I Love Lisa", where she get's two tickets for Krusy's 29th Anniversary show:
Lisa: I'm not sure if I should go. I don't even like him.
Bart: You're right, Lis, you shouldn't go. It wouldn't be honest.
I'll go, disguised as you.
Lisa: But what if he wants to hold hands?
Bart: I'm prepared to make that sacrifice.
Lisa: What if he wants to kiss?
Bart: I'm prepared to make that sacrifice.
Lisa: What if...
Bart: You don't want to know how far I'll go.
[is it me, or is Bart Bugs? he does a great Mel Blanc in this episode: Unhand me, Yankee!]
This loosening of gender constriction is required on a deeper level than just dressing up. Think Lord Fanny - there you have it. Freya Aswynn has remarked that some of the best Seiðmen she has worked with are gay. See?
There are two main paths, in my opinion: Wise Frigg [distanced/oracular/High Priestess] vs Wanton Freya [intense/magickal/Empress]. When Odin gained the 24 shapes of the Elder Futhark through his ordeal, he had no idea how to use them. Who did he turn to?
Freya, [meaning "lady" - cognate with frau] goddess of magick and sensuality. She taught him well. I believe they may have developed the sex practises together, cuz finding out about them is next to impossible!
I know that cured reindeer phalli have been found among the leavings of shamanic cultures. I have absolutely no doubt that the female orgasm was one of the lodge's closely guarded secrets. Gnosis on tap! But sex has a price... or is a price, as the tale of Brisingamen shows us. Some may not like to hear this, but Freya is a slut. She is one of the few examples of the integration of Mother and Whore. Her daughter is known as "treasure/precious" - Hnoss. just checking the meaning of the name and was given this!... Hail Freya! lol
The key concept of Freya Seiðr is Raido. Riding/ridden. This is very much similar to voudon, inviting posession. There are the two modes: consciously directing or wild abandon. Rider and Horse. This is where the joke about E and M comes from. Recently, I accidentally invoked Anansi on the way into a club. The whole "tricked into saying it" thing makes it even more authentic. Thing is... I don't remember about six hours in which, witnesses tell me, I was walking, talking, handing out marijuana and causing mischief. Sometimes, they just don't wanna share!
And yeah I had been drinking. Goldschlager, for the first time. That only serves to back up my crackpot theory. I have purloined two terms from elsewhere and adopted them as explanations of what I do: sacramentality and rampant animism. Sacramentality treats all intoxicants as pathways, rampant animism says that all "things/objects/etc" have a spirit/deity/entity attatched - even the sacraments themselves. Beer cults vs mead cults - Quaffing for Thor vs The Sacred Mead of Inspiration - made from the blood of a being who was created by the mingling of spit. A deal struck and sealed between pantheons. mmmm honey wine, when the honey is being used to store psilocybe mushrooms. etc. etc. etc.
For me, tweak was before i was consciously magick... but MDMA blasts open doors like a very scary mad thing. It happened to me right about here... one might say the source of my current situation. The point is, whatever the substance, it's a key... the thing on the other side of the door might decide to kick it open as soon as they hear it turn. It's Gonzo Magicko... take the pinch of salt, lick it, down the worm and bite the lime.
Funny thing is, mine was blue.lol
After my first Barbe meet, after a damn good breakfast, and an even better discussion of magickal preferences, I was aksed "yeah... but what do you do with it?" That stumped me for a moment. I gave the only answer I could, "I live it".
- the ritual nevr ends. Pick set of runes/rules and stick to it. expand and adapt it. learn their vocabulary. I chose to live the Norse paradigm, but as an evolutionist rather than reconstructionist; writing new dll's for an old OS 
Disclaimer this all-out everything-in approach is not advisable for those who wish to:
a)hold down a well-paid conventional job
b)be seen as sane or rational
c)dislike the unexpected
d)have narrowminded friends
e)fly a plane for a living.
|
