gullindagan

In a previous thread, a commenter (shout out to JP again!) brought up the idea of Germanic Soul Lore in relation to the Planes of Western Occultism. According to traditional occultism, which I have received from JMG and Dion Fortune, we have roughly 5 planes with corresponding bodies. The physical, etheric, astral, mental and spiritual.  The physical plane is the plane of, well, the physical body... The etheric is the plane of subtle energy, like "chi". You can feel the etheric body slightly move out of synch with the physical when you go "wheee" over a quick hill in a car. Also, this seems to be the body that survives for a little while after death, but which vampires keep alive through etheric feeding. This is also the "etheric double" which can bilocate, or which can maybe go into battle as a wolf or a bear... The "astral" plane is literally the plane of the Stars, and is the plane of fate and karma as well as images, thoughts and feelings. This is the plane we enter while dreaming, while scrying, thinking or imagining. The "mental" plane is the plane of Meaning. We are just now developing the mental body, we only have a "mental sheath". Above, or behind, within, or otherwise past the mental plane is the "spiritual plane". This is the realm of the spiritual forces which we can only comprehend through the astral and the mental planes, but cannot perceive directly from our current stage. However, it is my understanding that the "divine spark" which is actually the core, or essence of our being, "exists" (the spiritual plane is ineffable, and "exists" isn't really the right word, but there is no right word) on the spiritual plane. The way that I see it, one of the main goals of spiritual work is to develop the lower bodies to the point where the divine spark and the ego are in conscious relation. This work can be helped along by guiding spirits, such as the Holy Guardian Angel, Angel of the Nativity, or other such entities.

The ancient Germanic peoples also had a complicated understanding of what makes up an "individual" (not so unable-to-be-divided after all, eh?) From what I understand about that complex, which I have received mainly from Flowers/Thorsson,  there are multiple bodies that don't exactly correspond to the occult "planes". There the "lyke" or "lich" which does pretty much correspond to the physical body exactly. The "hyde" is the etheric energy, the "ond" (the gift given by Odin in the Voluspa, which means "breath of life") I would also definitely place in the "etheric" plane, but it is in a way connected directly to the Spiritual.  The word "spirit" comes from the Latin for "breath", and I see "Ond" as basically the same as the Hindu "prana." The "hugh" or "hugr" and myne or "minni", or, thought and memory (the same as "Huginn" and "Muninn") to me are two parts of the "astral" body. The "wode" is inspiration, frenzy, and I might consider this a part that reaches between the Astral and Mental, maybe something like the "mental sheath." I think the "Fetch/Fylgia" is a guardian spirit, like the HGA, "Hamingja" is basically "personal power" or "charisma" or "personal magnatism" and "Wyrd/Orlog" is obviously related to "Fate", "Destiny" and "Karma" - though that will have to be another post.

In general, I am still trying to fit these together, but they are like two different artists, one using watercolors and one using oil paint, to paint a portrait. I'd be quite happy to discuss these ideas further in the comments and in future posts. It seems like the Germanic peoples had a much more developed sense of the etheric realms and etheric/spiritual tech than we do now. It might also be interesting to compare Maria Kvilhaug's idea of the initiations hidden in the Norse myths, where the hero faces the internal, female, sun-like higher self, to the idea of the Divine Spark. That might merit it's own post though...

Also, I found this explanation of the Old Saxon ideas of the soul-complex which might be interesting to folks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23aaWeTwnuU

A reader, (shoutout to JP!) asked that I write " a post where you discuss in more depth your preferred sources for magic and religion, especially the Germanic ones." so, here goes.

Firstly, I'd like to state that I am at least as much of an "occultist" as I am a "heathen", though I will write a future post on what "heathenry" means to me. I am also a bit idiosyncratic in general.  I have tried multiple paths over my years seeking Beauty, Power, Wisdom, and Truth, and have learned from each of them. This mixture of heathenry and Golden Dawn magic that I am currently working on seems to finally fit just right, at least for now (though I am fully committed to mastering this system before I move onto anything else anyway.)

In regards to magic in general, John Michael Greer is my main go to. I've read a lot of his books, and many of the other books on magic that I've read have been recommended by him. Dion Fortune is big for me, I've read almost all of her books (maybe 75%). I've also read a wide variety of other authors, including folks like Israel Regardie, Mark Stavish, Christopher Warnock, Gordon White, R.J. Stewart, Jason Miller, Franz Hartmann, Mouni Sadhu, as well as classics like Levi, Ficino, Picatrix, Agrippa, etc and many more, but JMG and Dion Fortune have been the ones I've dived the furthest into. I've also listened in depth to many podcasts, including Glitch Bottle, Rune Soup, The Secret History of Western Esotericism, Plant Cunning Podcast, and many others.

As with most things, my style of learning is to take in a wide swath, going deep into what interests me the most, and synthesizing up my own mind by taking into account all the information, weighed against my own experience and ideas.

With Germanic religion and magic, this is essential. There really isn't that much known about it, so there are a lot of opinions. I have read a lot of Edred Thorsson/Stephen Flowers, as well as books by Maria Kvilhaug, Nigel Pennick, Thomas Karlssson,  Alaric Albertson, Diana Paxson, Stephen Pollington, Galina Krasskova and Raven Kaldera. I've also watched a lot of Jackson Crawford's youtube videos and have a translation of his. Now this is just a fraction of the authors who have written on the subject, and if there are books that any of you dear readers have found especially useful, please let me know!

The main thing though, is to read the primary sources. I like to read multiple translations of the eddas and look at the actual old Norse and see what the words are signifying. Reading and meditating on the eddas is essential to understanding them, and to getting the mythic framework deep into the subconscious. Same thing with the runes. Meditating on the runes and learning the rune poems is essential. The sagas, Tacitus, etc, are also important to read, as well as a general reading of history, especially the time period from the fall of the western Roman empire til the high middle ages. In this regard, Pagan Europe by Nigel Pennick and Prudence Jones is good, so is The Barbarian Conversion by Richard Fletcher, as well as The Last Apocalypse: Europe at the year 1000 A.D. by James Reston.

In regards to my opinions of the Germanic magicians that I've listed, none of them do I agree with 100%. But then again, there aren't many people who I agree with that much. Reading all of them as foils against each other, getting rid of the dross and keeping the gold has been a good strategy. That being said, Thorsson/Flowers is a very competent, well educated, and successful mage in any regard, let alone in the Germanic/Heathen milieu. His book Futhark was my first introduction to the world of Heathenry and Germanic magic, and it was a good intro. His book ALU: An Advanced Guide to Operative Runology is likewise a very solid advanced book. Some of his others are hit or miss, and he has some obvious problems (I'm just not into satanism,setianism, the Left Hand Path or Traditionalism... very meh to me) but he's the standard that I compare other Germanic occultists to. I also really liked Maria Kvilaug's Seed of Yggdrasil. It's big, sprawling, large, not well edited, and it kinda seems like she wrote half of it on mushrooms, but I really did love it and it gives a very interesting perspective on the myths from somebody who was raised with them and studied them at an advanced academic level.

In regards to religion, books, blogs and videos by Galina Krasskova and Raven Kaldera have been very helpful, but again, I take each of them with several grains of salt.

Also, Jackson Crawford is about the furthest thing from an occultist that you can get, but that's kinda nice, and it's nice to compare things to his perspective.

All in all, I'm basically using a framework that I developed by reading Greer, Fortune, bits from Thorsson, and then going directly to the myths and other primary material.


Hope that helps, and if anybody has any other books they think would be useful for me to read, please let me know! And of course I'm down to continue this conversation in the comments and in future blog posts if you want clarification or there's a fun tangent to explore.