Winifred Hodge Rose
Here is an optional ceremony to perform as you begin your study of the Ahma soul. If you have a general soul-token that you hallowed during your first ceremony, you can wear that or have it near you during this ceremony. If you have a separate Ahma soul-token prepared, then keep it near you and follow the instructions for it during this ceremony.
Here is a link for more information about soul-tokens: https://heathensoullore.net/soul-tokens-for-working-with-heathen-soul-lore/
Preparation
Here are the items and preparation you will need.
– Soul-token(s) or materials for making soul-token(s), if you are planning to use this.
– Your altar. Set up your altar with three items near the front: a small bowl of ice (cubes, or water frozen in a bowl), a lit candle, and incense or a small fire-pot. The candle and the ice should be on opposite sides of your altar. In between them place the incense or a small fire-pot with charcoal or twigs to burn, and aromatic herbs or incense sprinkled over them. You could use pine needles or a few dry leaves, or cooking herbs, or a few drops of aromatherapy oil. Decide for yourself on which sides, left or right, to place the candle (Fire) and the Ice. If you are imagining any or all of these items, prepare this view in your imagination before you begin. Alternatively, prepare in advance by getting photographs, drawings, or other symbols of Fire, Ice, and Mist or smoke, and placing them as described on your altar.
– Candle in a candlestick that you can hold. If it is a votive or tea-light, place it on a dish so you can carry it without burning yourself. Matches or lighter.
– Thor’s Hammer, or other item that you use for Hallowing.
– Whatever kind of ceremonial drink you wish to use, and your drinking horn, goblet, or other vessel. This is referred to as the ‘horn’ in the ceremony guidelines.
– A bowl with a little water in it for the blessing-bowl, and a leafy twig for sprinkling. You can use your fingers to sprinkle with, if you don’t have a twig.
– Have your Daybook handy to write any notes, questions, experiences, ideas that occur to you during your meditation and at the end of the ceremony.
* * * * *
The Ceremony
Hallowing:
Circle the sacred space, or turn around in place, with a lighted candle, holding a Thor’s Hammer in your other hand. Speak these words, or your own preferred words, and raise the Hammer when you say “Thor hallow”.
Fire I bear around this frithyard,
And bid all here keep frith;
Flame I bear to enclose,
Bidding bale-wights flee away.
Thor hallow, Thor hallow, Thor hallow this holy stead.
Set candle and Thor’s Hammer on your altar.
Calling:
Hear me, all you hallowed folk,
Both high and low of Heimdall’s kin!
I hail you, Holy Ones of all the Worlds that are!
Ever shall frith and faith hold firm
Between myself and you:
The wellsprings of my souls.
Raise horn and drink; pour a little into the blessing-bowl.
Eldfathers, eldmothers, kindred of old,
Rooted in might, holding troth with your own,
Behold the new roots, the green shoots from your boughs,
And bless me: the fruit of your branches.
Raise horn and drink; pour a little into the blessing-bowl.
Landwights blessed, land’s life-givers,
Holy hold this stead, all harm withstand.
Be welcome here, all good wights,
And share the blessings with me.
Raise horn and drink; pour a little into the blessing-bowl.
Fire, Ice, and Mist: Ahma Initiation
Face your altar and light your incense, herbs or twigs, if you are using them. If you are doing this in imagination or using symbols, picture or feel a fire-source on one side, an ice-formation on the other, and between them, rising mist and smoke, aromatic with sacred herbs.
Use the misty smoke to cleanse and bless yourself, your token, and the space you are in, as you recite three times:
Hallowed herbs, all ill dispel,
As fuel on the fire, as smoke on the wind.
Now hold your hands over your real or imagined sources of fire and ice: one hand over fire, one over ice, with your face hovering above the mist / smoke / incense in the center. Spend a few minutes in meditation in this position, attuning yourself to the primal powers of Fire and Ice, and the Ahma-Mist that arises in the space where they meet each other.
When you are ready, pick up your Ahma token if you have one, hold it over the incense / mist, and take three breaths while saying or galdoring:
First breath: Ahma, Ond, Athom: awaken my Being!
Second breath: Ahma, Ond, Athom: fill my Being!
Third breath: Ahma, Ond, Athom: move through my Being into Midgard!
Pause briefly to let the power of Ahma settle into your Being. If you are initiating an Ahma token, hold it over the smoke—the mist rising from Ginnungagap—and breathe on it three times to initiate it with your Ahma-breath. If you want to name your Ahma token, do so now. If it is something you wear, then you may wear it now.
If you have no token, you can raise your cupped palms or put your hands to your heart to honor your Ahma.
(If you have a real fire-pot and it is too smoky, you can quench it now, using the ice or a cup of water.)
Spend a few moments in silent meditation on your Ahma soul; write in your Daybook if you wish.
Hail your Quest
Raise your ‘drinking horn’ and offer good words to your Ahma soul as you begin this mighty quest. Offer prayers to whichever Holy Ones you wish, for their help and Gods-speed on your exploration of Ahma. Sip from your ‘horn’ after each speaking. When you are finished, pour the rest of the drink into the blessing-bowl.
Blessing
Use the twig or your fingers to sprinkle liquid from the blessing-bowl around your altar, yourself, and your soul-token(s) if you have any.
Thanks-Giving and Closing
All-holy Gods and Goddesses, ancestors, good wights of this place, I offer thanks for your blessing and help with this new adventure I am undertaking: the exploration of my souls, and exploration of my soul-connections with the souls and spirits of other beings, including yourselves.
I take joy in my kinship with you, and with the Feorhcynn: with all that lives. May the frith among us all strengthen and deepen day by day, as I pursue the wisdom of my own souls, and share in the wisdom of others.
This rite is ended. I go forth now in frith, and bear gifts of wisdom and blessing with me, always!
If possible, pour the remaining liquid in the blessing-bowl out in a suitable place outside. If that’s not possible, you could pour it into the pot of a house-plant, or drink it all. If you must pour it down the drain, first say a prayer to the Earth-mother, asking her to accept this offering however it reaches her, and saying that you mean no disrespect to her by pouring it down the drain.
If you have an Ahma token, have a suitable container to store it in when you are not wearing or using it: a cloth bag or wrapper, a small bowl, jar, or box. Keep the container on your altar or other meaningful place.