gullindagan

"There was a man called Svan, who lived on a farm called Svanhill in Bjarnarfjord, to the north of Steingrimsfjord. Svan was extremely skilled in witchcraft; he was Hallgerd's maternal uncle, and a very unpleasant person to have any dealings with." This is from Njal's Saga, page 57-58 (translated by Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Palsson) In the saga as a whole, Svan has a rather tiny part, but it was quite notable to me as someone with an interest in historical accounts of heathen magic. In the story, Svan is a renowned magician, who apparently has some power over the weather, as he causes a thick fog to settle in the path of his friend's  pursuers. His friend is Thjostolf, who is the foster father of Svan's niece Hallgerd, who's husband was killed by Thjostolf after hitting her. The account of the magic is rather interesting: "Svan took a goat-skin and swung is round his head, chanting: 'Let there be fog / And let there be phantoms, / Weird marvels / To baffle your hunters." (pg 61) Fog and darkness then enveloped Thjostolf's pursuers until they decided to go back home. This is where I might wish that I had an Icelandic version of the text, and a reading knowledge of Icelandic, because I would like to know what words these were translated from. But I don't, and it doesn't matter too much for this essay.

Now, it should be stated that the Icelandic sagas were written about 300 years after the events that they are said to record, many years after Iceland became Christian, so we cannot be sure that this is really a completely accurate portrayal of heathen magic. But, the time, place and culture of the saga writers are certainly much, much, closer to the pre-Christian period than we are. As Peter Hallberg says in The Icelandic Saga (translated by Paul Schach) "Judging from the contemporary document Sturlunga, the leaven of the new religion, even in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, had scarcely permeated the habitual manner of thinking of the Icelanders." (page 113) So, whether or not these are completely accurate portrayals, they're definitely not completely false, or completely useless to us, in fact, I think they can be very helpful, especially if read with the knowledge of a critical perspective.

Overall though, Svan's little ritual is a pretty small snippet. In another part of Njal's Saga Queen Gunnhild lays a spell on her lover Hrut, who has decided to leave Norway and go back home to his native Iceland, where he has betrothed. He lies to Gunnhild about this though, saying that he doesn't have a woman back home. Gunnhild gives Hrut a gold bracelet and tells him "If I have as much power over you as I think, the spell I now lay on you will prevent your ever enjoying the woman in Iceland on whom you have set your heart. With other women you may have your will, but never with her. And now you much suffer as well as I, since you did not trust me with the truth." (pg. 49) When he goes back home, he is never able to consummate his marriage, which ends in divorce.

Svan's act of magic was about protection from enemies, Gunnhild's a vindictive act towards a lover leaving her. Both of these fit in with a lot of magic practiced across the world, though one might consider both of these more "low" magic, if "high" magic means "theurgy" or "initation." The last place that Svan appears in Njal's Saga is when his fishing boat "encountered a fierce easterly gale that drove their boat ashore at Veidilaus with the loss of all lives. Some fishermen at Kaldbak thought they had seen Svan being warmly welcomed into the innermost depths of Kaldbakhorn Mountain; other people denied this and said that it was all lies. But no one could  deny that no trace of Svan was ever seen again, either living or dead." (pg 68) I was very intrigued when I read this, as I found two very different interpretations forthcoming in my thoughts. One one hand, it is very interesting that this wizard who used the weather to foil his enemies is destroyed by the weather. Were his wizardly powers so deficient that he could not foresee the gale or avert it? Was this a 'karmic' repercussion for using the weather to destroy his enemies? Or a magical reprisal from a different enemy? (there aren't many details of his life given, but I might remind the reader that he was "a very unpleasant person to have any dealings with.")  Or, was he such a great magician that he entered into the earth as an Initiate, as Elijah rode the chariot of fire into the heavens? Of course, we do not know. He may have been a real historical figure, he might have been a literary device. If he was a just a literary device, he also may have been based off of oral legends of heathen magicians. What is remarkable to me is that this ambivalence and ambiguity is preserved in this Christian-authored saga. Well, that and of course the image of the widely feared magician being welcomed as a guest of the great mountain.

Svan was a well-known wizard, and Gunnhild an infamous witch, but the sagas are chock full of more normal persons with psychic powers. Premonitory dreams, second sight, and fateful pronouncements seem to be rather common, even if they also fulfill many literary functions. It seems like these sorts of psychic powers were taken for granted amongst the audience of 13th century Iceland. This of course brings up to me the question of fate in Icelandic society. These psychic powers showed people their fates, their doom. And it seems to me that in many cases, the characters, being forewarned, acted as if they wanted to manifest their doom.

In The Icelandic Saga, Peter Hallberg argues that "If one were to try by some sort of magic performance or incantation to exert an influence on his destiny, that would in fact mean that one did not really regard that destiny as destiny in the strict meaning of the word." (pg 88) That must mean though, that when Sven wrapped a goat skin around his head and made an incantation to confuse his enemies, he was destined to do so. Or, that he didn't really believe in destiny in the "strict meaning of the word." Hallberg later states that "Even the greatest hero was unable to influence fate as such. What he did have control over was his own bearing and attitude toward fate" (pg 99) This may have been what the viking age heroes believed, it certainly seems like that when one considered the Voluspa, but this may also have been just what the later saga writers believed. This level of fatalism seems absurd to me though, and it seems like something that you can't prove one way or another. I prefer to act as if I have free will, whether or not I do, or how much of it I have.

To me, it makes sense that every action that one performs is etched on their character, and the grooves that are produced by these actions determine one's future possible actions. It is possible to change the grooves, but only by much time and effort. Magical ritual is one way to work towards changing the grooves towards what one wants to become. At this point though, one must ask, what do I want to become? And why do I want to become that? The perspective that one has of the world, and one's place in the world, is of vast importance in the answering of these questions.

Here it might be useful to recite JMG's recent contribution to definitions of magic: "magic is the art and science of participation in the spiritual forces of the cosmos" Using this definition, we can see ourselves as a node in a massive, living, interrelated cosmos. A cosmos with beings much greater than we are, ones we can ask for help. But also beings who might use us for their own ends, as so many innocent (and not so innocent) characters were used by those more conniving in the sagas. So what do we do? Keep working, treat others well, keep seeking towards a higher and deeper understanding. Or at least, that's what I'll be doing.

As a preface, I'd like to state that these posts are a way for me to understand my own thinking better. To take my readings, meditations and experiences and order them, so that I might see more clearly what is really going on. In past posts and in future posts, I deal directly with the content that I'm absorbing, wrestling with authors to separate the gold from the dross. Words seem to me to be a very brute way of understanding something, they are both blunt and slippery. In a way, we are all barbarians to our inner selves, muttering "bar bar bar" to each other and pointing at rocks, pointing at the sun, and misunderstanding most things any more abstract. Definitions are slippery, and meanings are constantly shifting, and I am constantly learning. So this essay is a trial, an attempt, an assail at meaning. And I am quite positive that my understanding will change as I grow and learn further. But, the actual action of me putting these thoughts to screen is a part of that growing and learning.

So what is a "heathen"? Or, what does it mean to me? It seems like everybody who calls themselves "heathen", or, is called "heathen" has a slightly different take on it. There are Norse Pagans, Heathens, Odinists, Asatru, Vanatru, even Rokkatru, those who follow the "Northern Tradition," hard polytheists, soft polytheists, pantheists, etc etc. For me, "heathen" also means different things. One definition, that probably has the best tension between general and specific, is: "somebody who follows the old gods of Northern Europe." So does this mean that they should be followed exclusively? Not necessarily. Certainly, many folks will just honor one pantheon, or set of pantheons (Aesir and Vanir for instance.) But I see polytheism as an inherent part of Heathenry, and if one makes offerings to both Norse gods and Hindu gods, to me, that one is Heathen. And also maybe Hindu! There are records of historical heathens worshiping both the old gods and Jesus, for instance King Raedwald of East Anglia who kept an alter to Jesus in his pagan temple.

As a word, "heathen" means "dweller of the heath" or, the wilderness, the country. "Pagan" means something similar. but the people of Northern Europe didn't even have a name for their "religion" before the Christians started calling them heathens and pagans. Christianity was largely a urban phenomenon, and country people clung to their old ways for many centuries after they were nominally "christian." Apparently, they would even pray to gods though the image of a saint. For instance, Thor was prayed and petitioned to under the name of St. Olaf! It's rather interesting that now Christianity is mostly followed in the hinterlands, but I guess that's how things go.

I, personally, as somebody who lives in the country and comes from country folk (though I was educated in a small city) like that aspect of the term. I identify with the woods, the mountains, the streams and lakes. To me, this is in many ways just as important as honoring the deities. The spirits of the land, the ancestors, the elves, these are all important spirits to come into right relationship with.

Maria Kvilhaug has an essay about this topic too, and she brings up the point that the Norse word for heathen is related to the word for "shining" and "enlightenment". The name of the volva from the Voluspa, Heidr, comes from that same root word. The shining heath, the bright clearing in the woods. the brilliant sky, the light of spiritual illumination. I think this is a valid way of using meaning, and I like the way this meaning stretches the possibilities of the term.

So, as somebody who honors the old gods, revels in the wild, works to enter right relationship with the spirits of the land, and seeks after spiritual illumination, "heathen" is a fine word to label me, even if I don't really like to be labelled anything.

In order to become a Magician, one must at least try to understand what "magic" is. We are not making up "magic" out of whole cloth, but are given a tapestry woven by those Weird Sisters with which we might decipher, and learn, what "magic" means. "Meaning" itself is a tapestry, and is part of the tapestry; nothing means anything outside of it's relationship to everything else, at least, nothing meaningful . So we look to what has come before to understand the present and the future, and pull at golden threads till the treasure is revealed. Let's look at some definitions.

John Michael Greer often recites the definition given by Dion Fortune when asked what magic is. "Magic is the art and science of causing change in consciousness in accordance with the will." This is a riff on the definition of magic given by her elder contemporary, Aleister Crowley: " Magick is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will"... as you can plainly see, Fortune altered her definition to emphasize that part about it changing "consciousness" in accordance with will. This makes it a little more specific than Crowley's definition, but it also makes it more accessible to a modern, materialistic, post-Freudian society while also keeping the back door open to Mystery. Yes, the mass psychological spells of advertising and propaganda are magic. So is psychotherapy! And New Thought! Since your subjective experience of the world is malleable, by changing your consciousness, you can literally change your life!

But, if everything is Consciousness, as many sages say, then what can't magic do?

Edred Thorsson/Stephen Flowers, in his book ALU: An Advanced Guide to Operative Runology defines magic as "a technique by which the human being is able, by the power of volition expressed through symbols, to influence events in subjective and/or objective reality." Now Thorsson/Flowers is known mainly for his work with Runes, which is a magical language; they are symbols used to express the will of the Magician, thus affecting the change. So he's a bit focused on the symbolic side. Isn't there more to magic than manipulating symbols? 

Let's look at the main toolkit of the Golden Dawn magician: rituals. These also are constructed from symbols. The pentagrams, the divine names, the movements, all of these have meaning and that's the point. By repeating these rituals, you empower them with meaning, and you start affecting consciousness. Here it might be useful to remember a famous phrase from the psychoanalyst Jacque Lacan "The unconscious is structured like a language" Hmmm...

This still, seems rather limiting. Isn't there anything outside of language/symbols/meaning? Sure, lots. But how can you make sense of or describe "it"? In one way, this is what I see as the goal of the true Magician. To master their own consciousness, and to transcend it, or as JMG might say, to build the Mental body. The Spiritual realm is higher than the Mind realm though, and by connecting with the Divine, through symbols, one can connect to currents of power that are much farther beyond the human ken.

Most of the time, magic is about changing things in the world, look at all the folk magic traditions. Getting a lover, getting a job, healing illness, etc... In common terms, magic is about power. This is why the powerless look to magic, and why the powerful have their own kind to keep them in power. But power is worse than useless without wisdom. Without wisdom, power can actually be quite dangerous. Magic can rebound in unanticipated ways, can send the magician into spirals of malaise, can lead the one who wants to become more powerful into becoming a slave; to malicious spirits, to their own  fears and desires, or to ignorance and senility. Good thing that because magic is an art and science that takes discipline to master it can be rather hard to wield magic effectively without wisdom. You must master "concentration, visualization, and memorization" as Thorsson/Flowers writes in his book Icelandic Magic: Practical Secrets of the Northern Grimoires.  There are those though with inborn gifts, but I have heard as many stories of these souls burning out as becoming great Magicians.

This is why initiation is essential. Initiation aligns the magician with the divine forces of order in the universe, and helps the aspirant become more divine themselves.  As Thorsson/Flowers says in Icelandic Magic, "Most of magical effort should be spent in gaining knowledge, wisdom and self-transformation. Most of your woes will be healed when this process is successful." This is something that I have found to be very true. Often times, just by focusing on my own transformation, the problems I have in the world take care of themselves. This is different than the "spiritual bypassing" that one sees so often in spiritual circles, where people escape the problems in their lives by chanting mantras or practicing mind-numbing kinds of meditation, or doing lots and lots of ayahuasca. In self-transformation you must confront your problems head on as part of your process of initiation. Often this can happen by such mundane pursuits as journaling, inquiring into your motivations, intentions, and trauma, or just feeling the feelings that come up and acknowledging them. This can also take the form of spiritual retreats, theurgic ritual, meditation, and scrying. But by developing these skills: of discipline, concentration, visualization, and self-knowledge, the problems of the world become much easier to deal with.

Of course, there may be still things that require magical action to affect. And by using that power, initiation is also furthered.

What does magic mean to you?