Winifred Hodge Rose
Years ago, I came up with the term “Utgard Ranger” to describe what I like to do in my spiritual life: range outward beyond the customary boundaries of thoughts and concepts, exploring and experiencing, meeting challenges, seeking knowledge, wisdom, understanding, expanding my spiritual territory and my comfort zone. It’s an enjoyable and rewarding activity, and requires little to nothing in the way of physical gear! Mental and spiritual tools, however, are very useful! Here, I describe some conceptual skills or approaches that I find useful for shaping and understanding my relations with the Deities, and for setting my intentions when I fare forth on my Utgard Ranger expeditions. I structure these concepts in my mind by using analogies to the classical four elements: Earth, Water, Air and Fire, further subdividing Water into flowing versus still water, and Air into still air and wind.
The elemental modes that I discuss here are certainly not the only ways to pursue relationships with the Deities, but they do cover a lot of ground, some of which is likely to be very familiar to you; some, perhaps less so. In a nutshell: ‘Earth’ is the mode of bounded form. ‘Water’ is the mode of unbounded sensation. ‘Air’ is the mode of unbounded perception. ‘Wind’ relates to will and motivation. ‘Fire’ is the mode of transformation mediated by the Deities, which may involve transformation into another form, or involve paths into unboundedness.
None of these ways are ‘better’ or ‘more advanced’ than any of the others, nor am I proposing that we ‘should’ use all of these methods to relate to Deities, except to note that it is important to be well-grounded and experienced in Earth-mode first, before trying the others. This is our home-base, so to speak. I find it enriching to explore all of these modes; an enjoyable challenge and expansion of my spiritual life and experiences.
The focus of this article is on our relationships with the Deities, but there is much of relevance to soul lore and soul-working here, as well. I make only brief reference to the latter topic, simply mentioning which souls are best suited for working in different elemental environments, and will return to the subject in more depth in later articles.
At the end of each elemental section, I offer keywords and a list of souls that, in my experience, are most attuned to the way we relate to Deities through that element. I also offer a brief description of the ways that inner change usually occurs through our interactions with the Deities in that mode; these processes of change differ considerably, depending on our mode of interaction.
Now, on with our explorations!
The Mode of Earth
What Earth-mode is like and how we do it.
This is, I would say, our default mode of interaction with Deities and other Worlds, because it is the one most familiar to us. In Earth mode, though this generally happens in our imagination, we experience ourselves and the Deities as separate individuals, as three-dimensional beings who have seemingly physical characteristics: human-like appearance and expressions, engaging in familiar physical actions and behaviors. We communicate with words, speaking our own words to the Deities, and ‘hear’ their responses, in the sense that we intuit and interpret their responses as verbal concepts, even when we don’t actually hear them speak. Often, their responses take the form of actions rather than words. Our experience consists of exchanges, often verbally expressed, between ‘self’ and ‘other’—Deities, ancestral and other spirits, etc.
Our harrows, wihsteads, altars, temple-spaces, hallowed spaces and their furnishings are established in Earth-mode, composed of physical objects and spaces, and we physically enact our rituals and ceremonies there. We relate to the Deities through physical objects and spaces around us: our home, the landscape and our environment, our interactions with other people, the activities we engage in every day.
When we pursue otherworldly journeys and explorations in Earth mode, we perceive and experience these other places as having a basic similarity to Midgard-Earth, with landscapes, buildings, animals, trees and plants, populated with other seemingly physical beings. This makes it easier for us to engage with the otherworld experience, easier to navigate and orient ourselves, to interpret what is going on. We can have some confidence in our own ability to take appropriate action in this otherworld, because it has at least some similarity to our experience of our own World, though there are certainly important differences as well.
The physical appearance of whatever we perceive in other Worlds is likely to be heavily symbolic or mythic (including the appearances of the Deities), and may suddenly shift into something different. This sudden shifting includes not only the appearances of individual beings, but of landscapes, spatial dimensions, time, color, light, and other properties that we depend on, in Midgard, to maintain their stability. When this happens, it is an opportunity or a lesson, to begin learning that Earth-mode is simply one mode of perception and experience; it is not ‘the only reality.’
Challenges and ordeals
All of us in our lives face challenges and ordeals. In Heathenry, we generally consider that our Deities are somehow involved in these challenges and ordeals, and that we are expected to face them and deal with them in worthy ways, often through guidance from the Deities. The guidance, and the experiences, may not be gentle! But this is often how we learn and grow. The experience of challenges requires a perspective of ‘self’ and ‘other’, as we have in the Earth-mode. Our ‘self’ is experiencing and dealing with the challenges in our Midgard life; the ‘other’, the Deity, may be the instigator of the challenge, and may be guiding us in a certain direction through the challenge or ordeal.
This is one example of the useful and important perspective of Earth-mode relationships with Deities, though there are many other ways that Earth-mode can express itself in these relationships, as well. Examples are experiences of the Deities as companions, advisors, teachers, elders, benefactors, role models, defenders, and many other roles. I don’t mean to imply that all that happens in Earth-mode are ordeals or challenges; only that when challenges do happen, we generally deal with them through Earth-mode relationships with our Deities. Here is a personal example of an Earth-mode interaction and challenge with a Deity. (My souls that were most involved in this experience: Ferah, Aldr, Hama, Hugr, Mod.)
Frau Holle
Almost thirty years ago I had a dream that set me solidly on the Heathen path. In the deep woods at midnight an enormous wild sow approached me, her lean shoulders higher than my head. Her bristly fur was silver, shining with its own light like the moon, a luminous and numinous Presence, yet a fearsome one too, looming huge and powerful in the night. She came up next to me and nudged my shoulder gently but inexorably, changing my direction onto a new path. There was no withstanding her weight and strength. As we walked along together, she took my hand into her fearsomely-tusked maw and held it there. Somehow, she bit off my hand and swallowed it, and at the same time did not bite it off, but left it attached to me, still holding it in her mouth.
Though she appeared in the form of a wild sow, I knew her name was Holle: a mysterious, deep-woods / underworld being who guides folk through the dark and the unknown, challenging our willingness to follow and our willingness to understand, without being told, what she wants of us.
Frau Holle still walks beside me in this form, though I interact with her in human form, as well. Her dark presence at my shoulder and toothy grip on my hand is her challenge. She keeps me on the path, and, as I gradually learned over the years, her possession of my hand is both her challenge and her fierce blessing that calls me toward writing as the main expression of my Heathen path.
This scenario is an example of Earth-mode, physical-world perceptions and experiences with a Deity, the most common way for us to interact with them. They most certainly do not always involve challenges or ordeals; depending on how often we ‘visit’, most of the time this won’t happen. But we need to realize that such things could happen, any time we visit with our Deities. It’s not necessarily up to us, and our Deities are good at picking up opportunities to advance their purposes with us!
Another note on Earth-mode: In this mode, ‘gender’ is ‘a thing’. Physical gender, gender identity, preferred gender, gender-perceptions and stereotypes, all inevitably arise when we interact with each other and with Deities in ‘body’ form, having images of physical bodies both in our mind’s-eye, and in our physical world.
An interesting thing about the other (non-Earth) elemental modes of relating to Deities, is that gender is not an issue, because we are not relating through any images or experiences of solid, physical bodies and their functions, when working in the other modes, particularly Water and Air. If matters of gender are an issue for you in any way, you may find that exploring the other modes of relating to the Deities, not using human images of them, is a very freeing experience. You may find a burden being lifted from your heart, as you walk these paths of exploration.
Characteristics of Earth-mode:
Keywords: Identity, individuality, self-and-other, autonomy, structure, process, foundation.
Souls with particular affinity for Earth-mode: Ferah, Mod, Hugr, Sefa, Hama.
How inner change usually happens: In an evolutionary or cumulative way: gradual, organic, step by step, punctuated with forward, backwards, sideways movement. Through discussion, argument, resistance, reaction, experiment, reassessment, decision, determination. Through challenges: mental, emotional, physical, and our responses to them.
The Modes of Flowing and Still Water
The Water-mode of perception and experience comes in two forms: flowing or surging water, and deep, still water. I’ll begin with flowing water, the mode I use most often.
Flowing Water
Flowing Water is different from Earth-mode in many ways, and the first of them is that we are only minimally distinct from the Deity and the World that we are interacting with. Our perceived ‘body’ and body-senses, sensed through our Hama, Ferah, and Aldr souls, blend with the Deity and the World the Deity is in, and our Sefa soul focuses on perceptiveness toward the Deity. Our strongly rational, individualistic, personality-based and self-conscious souls, those who are strongest in Earth-mode, recede and remain in the background for Water-mode.
Caution
In Water-mode, we are joining our energy-flows with the energy-flows of ‘something’, and sharing how that ‘something’ experiences its being and its environment. Because of this degree of intimacy, and the power that is shared, I think it is wise to do this only with a Deity, whom you know and trust through long personal experience.
I recommend against trying it with non-Godly spirits or other beings, and also recommend against trying to explore a World through this mode on your own, rather than riding along with a Deity to experience the World. It doesn’t require much imagination to realize how easily we can become lost, overwhelmed, subsumed by the experience of Water-flow, unless we are doing it with a powerful being who cares about us, protects us, and is willing to share a beneficial experience with us.
Procedure
The way I proceed with this is to lie down comfortably in a quiet place (in bed before falling asleep is good; I just turn off the light early so I have some extra time). You can try other meditation-positions if you prefer, but because this is a full-body, full-sensory experience that involves our soul-bodies and soul-senses, I find it’s helpful not to be concerned with the physical body, such as the subtle actions needed to stay sitting upright without slumping or falling over. It’s easier just to lie down and let go of the Lich.
I call on a Deity I am close to, whose energy, experience, and connection with this or other Worlds I would like to share for a time. Basically, I’m asking for a ride with the Deity, and so far they’ve always been willing. The Deity arrives in a rushing flow of power, like a fast-flowing river or ocean current, and I dive in, through my awareness, as though merging into a stream of traffic. (Actually, the Deities don’t ‘arrive’; they are always flowing energetically through the Worlds, and it is only my perception that opens up to the conjunction of myself with this power, which seems like an ‘arrival’.)
Sometimes I envision myself as a water animal like a dolphin, otter, or fish, playing in the flows or waves of water, but more often I just feel myself merged with the flow of ‘water’, which is actually the essence of the Deity. It is easiest to describe this through some examples of my experiences. (My souls that were most involved in these experiences: Ferah, Aldr, Hama, Sefa.)
Ing-Frey
I most often interact with Ing-Frey not through the image of person-to-person contact such as a dialog, but rather as a mighty current of energy which I can join through my sensations. I hear him as the beating Heart of the World, as a baby hears the powerful beat of her father’s heart when she lies on his chest. This beating of Veraldr-God’s Heart surrounds, penetrates and vitalizes everything in the world, including my own beating heart. I feel Frey’s power like a mighty, all-encompassing ocean current flowing through the Worlds: swift, frothy, joyful, salty with nourishment and flavor, the perfect blend of coolness and warmth. His power is immense, but not overwhelming; it nourishes and vitalizes all that is. Like a playful dolphin or otter, I flow along within this mighty current and pulsation of life-giving power and joy: the heart and soul of Veraldr-God.
Idunn
While I sense Frey as a powerful, rapidly surging ocean current, I sense Idunn as a gentler, softer flow, a meandering stream through fertile meadows and orchards, sunlight sparkling through the crystal water. Her benison and blessing spread from the water outward over the landscape, giving a rich glow to all colors, a resonant richness to all scents. Her water-flow brings the power of life and growth, felt as a tingling or gentle buzzing sensation in the water, tasting tart and sweet, like apples.
Magni
I’ve recently started working with Thor’s son Magni through the flowing-water mode, and this has a different feel than other Deities I’ve worked with this way. Instead of ‘me’ flowing into and along with the Deity’s energy and sensation, it feels like Magni is flowing through me. It’s like I’m a little spot in the river of power that is Magni, and as he flows along in his mighty river, my own being is one of the many ‘places’ that he passes through. As he flows through me, I feel his megin or maegen power magnetizing my own energy, waking and stirring it up. It feels like all my hair is standing on end, a buzzing, invigorating bath of power.
As this happens, I feel many little bits of grit within myself, ‘sand in the works’, becoming magnetized, too, and drawn out of me toward Magni-magnet. They don’t bother him at all, but within me, they ‘gum up the works’ on different levels of my being, hindering my energy and wellbeing, confusing my Will. Magni draws all this grit along with him, leaving me feeling energized and renewed. Now I am like a little eddy of my own power, within Magni’s greater river.
Another way that my experience with Magni is different, is that he is so little-known among us. I have no Earth-mode image of him, no picture in my mind, I haven’t interacted with him in Earth or other modes at all, but only in Water-mode. This makes it easier, in a way, because I don’t have to get past the images and Earth-mode relationships and history that I have with other Deities, such as Frey and Idunn. I don’t have to make myself stop perceiving them in human form so that I can interact with them in Water-mode, energy-mode. I can just plunge in and brace myself for Magni’s surging, magnetic flow!
Among the most rewarding Deities with whom to share such experience are those whose activities are associated with seasonal tides of Midgard: Eostre / Ostara, Walburga, Frau Holle as she is celebrated in Urglaawe, Idunn, Frey, Freya, the Yuletide processions of the German Goddesses. (I would be extremely cautious about the Wild Hunt, though!) At certain times of year, their powers flow especially strongly through Midgard, and it is invigorating and joyful to join in with them!
Another great one to ride along with is Thor during a thunderstorm, either an earthly, physical thunderstorm, or an otherworldly one. But indeed, all the Deities have their own unique patterns and experiences of flow, and we can join them if they are willing. We definitely want to request their permission, and make sure they know we are there so they can be mindful of our safety.
Purpose
As you may have noticed, another difference between this Water-mode and the Earth-mode is that with Water, there is no specific purpose for undertaking the experience, other than the experience itself. In Earth-mode, we often have a specific purpose in mind: a prayer for help or guidance, for example, or the celebration of an event or a holy day, the pursuit of a magical intention, a discussion with the Deity, or a thanks-giving. In Water-mode, none of these considerations are present or relevant to us; it’s a matter of simply sharing Being, Essence, experience, sensations, between us, the Deity, and the World(s) the Deity’s power is flowing through.
It really feels like powerful, fast-flowing Water, sparkling with flashes of sunlight / moonlight / earthlight, imbued with subtle flavors, pressing and flowing against our skin, surging and tossing us up and down, as we pass through subtle changes in temperature, light, flavor and color. We stay as long as we feel like it, and re-emerge from the flow feeling refreshed and invigorated, with our connection to the Deity, and to the World(s) we flowed through, having been deepened and strengthened.
Further cautions
We don’t want to do this with a Deity with whom we are uncomfortable, whose energy we find jarring or ill-fitting to our nature, at least not until our relationship with that Deity has reshaped or matured. This mode requires that we temporarily let go of controlling our own experience, and join with the experience of another being whom we know and trust.
Water-mode isn’t a ‘challenge’ between us and the Deity the way Earth and Fire modes can sometimes be. Water-mode can be too overwhelming, and it penetrates too far into our own being; it is too intimate and blended, to work well as a challenge. Challenges depend on the perception of separate beings, a perspective of “me and my experience” versus “them and their influence”, and that is incompatible with the Water-mode of relating to Deities.
On the other hand, a Water-mode experience can serve as a spiritual ordeal, especially if we fear water-related symbols and experiences. We must face and overcome that fear, to succeed in the ordeal and gain the spiritual might and main, and the enhanced Deity-relationships, that result from it. This kind of ordeal should be one we choose to undergo, when we feel ready, and one that we approach with the support of a Deity. It can be done in gradual stages, or all at once, depending on our choice.
Deep, Still Water
This mode is most useful, in my experience, for learning about the otherworldly Wells and other water-bodies of other Worlds, though some Deities can also be approached in this way. Most Deities, I believe, are more involved with flow and movement through the Worlds, less involved with profound stillness. The Wells include those of Urdh / Wyrd, Mimir, and Frau Holle. Other examples of deep, still water include the wetlands of Hel, the fens and marshes around Frigg’s and Saga’s Halls, and the ocean-depths in various Worlds.
Cautions
This is a mode to use only with great caution, and after much experience with otherworldly travel and the beings one encounters there. The risk lies in becoming stuck in immobility, and having difficulty emerging from it, which can also spread into daily life. The deep, still Water-mode can act as a ‘strange attractor’ as is seen in nonlinear dynamics, where a dynamic system is drawn toward a low energy, entropic state, losing its energy and its opportunity to evolve in a different direction. Once the energy is lost, the system cannot emerge from the trap of the strange attractor. The only possible way out is for energy to be brought in from outside the system. This phenomenon can occur with our soul-bodies as energy-systems.
Procedure
There are ways around this risk, though, if you decide you want to try this mode. One is to make a firm agreement with a trusted Deity or Power, to guide you into and out of the experience, and commit to following their guidance. You will need to commit your Will to this agreement, and use it along with the Deity’s guidance and power, so as to have the energy to emerge from the ‘strange attractor’ phenomenon, in the event that you experience such a thing. You might not, but it pays to be prepared!
The Well as a passageway
The other way to handle this risk is similar: you approach the deep, still water as a passageway rather than an end in itself, again working with a Deity. The most typical example of this is falling or passing through Holle’s Well, as is told in fairy tales. People ‘fall through her well’ as a metaphor for death, and land in her green, underworld land of otherworldly life. Likewise, Holle draws the souls of new babies from her well or pond: they pass from her underworld land of soul-incubation, through the waters of the Well between the Worlds, and into Midgard to ensoul a newly-conceived or newborn child. An agreement can be made with Frau Holle to explore or experience her Well as a passageway or transition-experience, rather than an end in itself. This is especially meaningful for a re-birthing experience.
I’ll wrap up this section and transition to the next, by showing how, in my experience, Mimir’s Well can also be approached as a passageway. Mimir’s Well is called the well of memory and inspiration, and is well worth exploring, if one is prepared and approaches it the right way. Most often, I think, when we approach Mimir’s Well, we wish only for a sip, or to gaze into it, and even these experiences can come with a high price, as Odin knows! (Though I think many of us understand Odin’s eye in Mimir’s Well as a bargain or a pledge, rather than a ‘payment’ per se. We see that the eye in the Well feeds occult knowledge, perception, insight, back to Odin, rather than being lost to him in the depths of the Well.)
It is possible, however, to experience Mimir’s Well as a passageway, in this case, a passage between the Water-mode of experience, and the Air-mode. Here is an example from my experience. (My souls most involved in this experience: beginning with Ferah and Aldr, transitioning to Ahma.)
Mimir’s Well
I sink down into wavelets of water, stirred by my passage, then falling still again. Above me, for awhile, is dim, filtered light, but it fades. Stillness, silence, timelessness, under the weight and darkness of the water. Yet, underneath that, a sense of hidden potential, of something that will appear in its own time. Gradually, a directionless light begins to infuse the water. Sensation changes from the skin-feeling of the water, to the scent of something fresh and clear. The film of water clears from my eyes. I can’t pinpoint when it happens, but now instead of resting in deep water, I am wafting gently through fresh air, surrounded by wisps of cloud and movements of air-currents.
I have moved into what I perceive as World-Mind: the realm of Thought, Memory, Inspiration, created by the sacrifice of Mimir’s head and its placement in his Well. Just as the sacrifice of the giant Ymir was the basis for forming the physical World of Midgard, so I believe that Mimir’s execution by the Vanir was in fact a sacrifice that resulted in World-Mind coming into being, where all Thought and mental activity take place as our individual minds access, operate and interact within that realm. Through Mimir’s deep well of Water, I now have access to explore the Airy realm of World-Mind.
Here, we are moving away from Water as sensation / feeling, and entering the mode of Air as awareness, perception and mental activity.
Characteristics of Water-Mode:
Keywords: Flow, sensation, energy, vigor, refreshment, immersion, blending, sharing, absorbing, deep awareness, renewal, trans-being.
Souls with particular affinity for flowing Water-mode: Ferah, Aldr, Hama, Sefa, Ahma.
For deep, still Water-mode: Saiwalo, Ahma.
How inner change usually happens: Through alteration of energy and essence, below the level of conscious awareness, caused by direct exposure to God-energies and World-energies. The change gradually floats up into our awareness as though it had always been there, while whatever was changed is washed away, irrelevant, almost forgotten.
The Modes of Air and Wind
Comparisons
When we relate in Earth-mode, we are sharing metaphysical, but structured, subject-object space with the Deities: we and they are clearly separate from each other. In Water-mode, the focus is on sharing sensation, the sense-experience of floating and surging within a Deity’s natural flows of energy and experience of Being, and absorbing some of those energies.
Air-Mode
In the mode of Air, we are again floating within a Deity’s energy-Being, but rather than sensation-experience, the focus is on mental awareness. I would not dare to claim that we enter the core of the Deity’s Mind, nor that we can know all their thoughts. But in Air-mode, we do hover on the fringes and glimpse something of the Deity’s own perceptions and world-view, as they choose to share them with us.
Procedure
This mode requires us to step temporarily away from all our own concerns, viewpoints, preoccupations; away from anything that is roiling the peace of our own being. Our mind needs to be as clear as the windy sky, as we send out a call, echoing and reverberating through space: a call to a Deity we are close to, a request to hover within the space of their mighty Mind. This is not about ourselves and our own concerns; this is about attempting to perceive, for a little while, Worlds and events and Beings as the Deity perceives and thinks about them. Sometimes, it is honestly refreshing and inspiring to relate to the Deities from their own perspectives, rather than from ours.
Here is an example of my experience with Air-Mode. Some of what I say here is enigmatic, just glimpses of something that I can’t describe in any detail; this is typical of my Air-mode perceptions of the Deities’ mental spaces. It’s often a struggle to describe what I perceive, knowing that all my perceptions and expressions are so limited, compared to the minds I seek to perceive. (My souls most involved in this experience: Ahma, Ghost, Sefa, Hugr.)
Vidar
Vidar is considered a God of Vengeance, whose cosmic task is to slay the Fenris-Wolf at Ragnarök. But he is also called the Silent God, and this is how I relate to him: as a God who enjoys the silence and solitude of Landvidi, his broad domain or God-home. To me, he is a patron of silence, solitude, of broad, quiet, natural lands stretching out into the distance. I often relate to him in Earth-mode, sitting across from him at a campfire, near a stream on a quiet night, with the stars spread out overhead and the owls calling, and the scent of pines around us.
But sometimes I try to approach him through Air-mode, and here is what that is like, for me. His Air-domain is broad and deep, as his God-home Landvidi is. The verse from Völuspá comes to mind, describing the peace that follows Ragnarök and the future of the younger Gods who survive it: “two brothers’ sons build a settlement in the wide wind-realm…” (vs. 60). Here is the wide wind-realm: here at home in Vidar’s mind, his long view of time and space. He pitches in when the other Deities and humans need him, but still he is detached, biding his time. Something is always withheld, his time is not yet. He stands back, waiting, observing, thinking in silence. His silence hides his power.
What is / will his time be like? Is his time the vengeance itself? Or is the vengeance on Fenris simply the gateway into his time? His true time does not contain the Wolf, it flows past the Wolf into other Worlds. Vidar is strong sunlight, but he is still obscured by the shadows of the world. In his true time he shines in the morning, riding the Worlds on new tides of time. A gleam of his light shows above the horizon even now, while on the other side of the sky, the quiet stars shine on.
Another person might have a very different Air-mode perception of Vidar’s awareness, and describe it in very different terms; certainly, I have not captured much of his warrior-aspect here. The Air-fields of World-Mind are vast; we can each perceive only small parts of them, and express even smaller parts in words! But the perceptions themselves are profoundly worthwhile.
Wind-Mode
Comparisons
Air is still; Wind moves, and there is a difference between them, just as there is between flowing and still Water. When we perceive in Air-mode, what we perceive ‘holds still’ for us, it allows us to take our time as we try to grasp and express it. It doesn’t actively influence us, but allows space for our observation and experience to take its own shape, in its own time. Wind is a different matter; it has motive force, and it influences us directly.
Wind-mode
We experience the Wind-mode of relating to the Deities when we feel the power of their Mind and Will creating a moving current within our being, as though they were blowing a great breath of air towards us and stirring things up within us. It could be a steady flow of power pushing us in a certain direction; it could be gentle or fierce gusts coming towards us from time to time, interspersed with periods of quiet. Sometimes it feels like eddies, circular or spiral flows, even a tornado. These turn us in circles and cause confusion and upheaval, bringing about changes in our outlook and our life. It’s my thought that most or all of us become Heathens because of this God-wind stirring up our inner Being and urging us in this direction.
Procedure
We can choose to work with these Wind-flows from the Deities, or resist them; either way, they will end up influencing us. Often, we try through divination methods, such as the runes, to discern the direction and purposes of these God-Winds, these flows of divine power and will, so that we can understand and work with them. The closer our relationships with the Deities, the more clearly we can perceive the nature of their Winds, and make our choices about how to respond.
Here are two examples of my perception of God-Winds. The first one didn’t necessarily require action on my part, except the mental action of understanding, though I did take action by writing a song about it, called “The Winds of Odin’s Will.” (My souls that were most involved in these experiences: Ghost, Hugr, Mod.)
Woden’s Will-Wind
I saw “reality” as though it were a huge blanket spread out over the landscape, with the ravens flying across. Then I saw Woden take up one edge of the “blanket” and shake it as though he were Frau Holle airing her celestial bedding! When Woden shook the blanket, a series of ripples spread across the landscape of the blanket–big ripples in the part closest to him, and eventually growing smaller and smaller as the blanket passed out of sight over the horizon.
From this sight, my understanding is that though Woden cannot—or perhaps chooses not to—change the entire fabric of reality according to his will, he nevertheless is prone to giving it a good shaking up and airing out! The “parts” of reality “closest” to him (the terms in quotation marks are not very accurate for describing this, but I can’t think of better ones) are of course the most affected, those farther away from his point of concentration, less so.
Then, I saw Woden’s Will itself as though it were a wind emanating from his being and keeping the ripples of the blanket in motion, flowing across the landscape of reality in the direction of his will, like ripples blowing across a lake in the wind. Huginn and Muninn ride the tides of this wind, which always takes them in the direction of Woden’s interest and involvement in reality and the ways he is working upon it.
Frige’s Will-Wind
Often when I am trying to explore new knowledge and ideas, seeking new directions for my mind-craft, I perceive the image of Frigg tossing her spindle into the distance. As the spindle flies through the air, thread unrolls from it and is wafted across the echoing spaces of World-Mind by Frigg’s Wind. My task is to keep this thread in sight, follow it across the mind-scapes of the worlds, and see what inspirations it leads me toward.
The Wind of the Hugr
Though I am saving an in-depth discussion of how our souls are involved in these modes for a future article, I want to point out here the particular affinity between our Hugr-soul and wind. One of the kennings or synonyms for the Hugr in Old Norse is “wind of the troll-wife”, describing how a powerful giantess or sorceress sends out her Hugr for magical action. DeVries writes that the Hugr could exit the body as breath or wind, and the stronger a person’s Hugr was, the more dangerous the wind. He compares this to the folk-belief, up until recent times, that witches travel around in a whirlwind (p. 221).
Our focus here is on interacting with the Deities, rather than with humans or other beings, but these few examples of the Hugr’s power point us back in that direction. The Deities have their own Hugrs, and Odin’s Hugr is especially powerfully developed, the exemplar of all Hugrs. When we feel Woden’s Will-Wind, we are feeling the power of his Hugr, setting in motion deeds that he desires to bring about. Frigg’s Hugr blows the thread from her spindle across World-Mind for me to follow, chasing inspiration and insights. Each of the Deities has a powerful Hugr who blows the winds of their Will across the worlds.
Characteristics of Air-Mode:
Keywords: Clarity, knowledge, openness, agility, confidence, alertness, change, expansion, direction, thought, will, impetus, inspiration, trans-being.
Souls with particular affinity for Air-mode: Ahma, Ghost, Hugr.
With affinity for Wind-mode: Hugr, Ghost, Mod.
How inner change usually happens:
Through Air: A sense that something has shifted, doors and windows have opened. New perspectives draw us toward changing our outlook and our framework of thought. A sense of mental refreshment, renewal. Meaningful new knowledge and understanding lie before us, just around the corner, and lure us onwards, waiting for our pursuit.
Through Wind: The God-Wind blows through us, blowing some things away, blowing new things in, pushing us in certain directions toward actions that change our lives, and perhaps the lives of others whom we influence, as well. This process may involve a good deal of turbulence and disruptive change, and may at times obscure our vision through storms of ‘dust and sand’, mental storms filled with all the myriad details and influences in our lives that blind and distract us from our truly-chosen path.
The Mode of Fire
Comparisons
Fire is known, in esoteric terms, as a process of transformation. As the transformation takes place, ‘the old’ is burned and consumed, making way for ‘the new’ that arises from transformation. This process is quite different from the other modes. Earth-mode is based on ‘what is’, on the shape and structure of ourself and the world that we grow and maintain during our lifetime. Water-mode and Air-mode, too, explore ‘what is’ in their own characteristic ways. Wind-mode moves into ‘what is becoming’; it is the impetus for actions and deeds that are rooted in what-is and have their beginning there, but are moving toward becoming something else. This is generally more of an incremental process; it may happen in fits and starts, move in various directions, spin around, backtrack and move forward again, evolve its nature and direction as the winds move the action along. It is generally a long, slow, complex process of ‘becoming’ or coming-into-being, though it can move very quickly in phases.
Fire-mode
Fire jumps outside of all this: it is not a long, slow, complex, organically-arising process. It is the sudden conflagration, consuming ‘what is’ and transforming it into something else entirely. I’ll give an example here of a fire transformation that happened to me, completely unexpectedly, as it usually does. (My souls most involved in this experience: Ghost, Hama, Hugr, Sefa.)
Woden and Frige
Many years ago, a few years after I began my Heathen path, I wanted to understand Woden better and establish a relationship with him, but I was definitely wary and uncertain about how to go about this. I found it difficult to trust him. However, I was close to Frigg / Frige and trusted her. I asked her to show me why she loves him, show me how she relates to him and perceives him; in effect, to introduce me to him as her spouse, so I could ease into this, slowly. Frige agreed, and I waited for the civilized, low-key ‘introduction’ that I (foolishly) expected. That was not how it happened…
Frige snatched me up one night, unprepared, just as I was falling asleep, and drew me into a place like outer space. I was a tiny mote, and Frige and Woden were the size and power of supernova suns, with me the tiny mote floating right between them. The two of them were just at that moment turning toward each other, with the thought of love in their minds. The power that flowed from their love and passion was literally awesome—power that generates worlds, even universes—Big Bang power.
I was there only a split second, and realized this was no place for a mortal to be. Even in that brief instant, I felt that all my hair had burned away, and my skin was blackening to a crisp. I left that place with the utmost rapidity! Then I got up and looked in the mirror, and though I had all my hair, my skin was indeed very red, as though I was badly sunburned. I asked Frige politely to remember, next time, that I am mortal and subject to mortal limitations, and to please be careful of me! But it was quite an experience, and it certainly did respond to my request to Frigg, to show me more of her relations with Woden! (“Be careful what you ask for: you might get it!”) So much for ‘easing into’ a relationship with Woden….
Analysis
This brief but powerful experience gave me a lot to think about, and it did, indeed, change my perception of Odin, but not through any process of ‘getting to know him’ gradually and cautiously. This was really not what I had thought I was asking for! (If there is one phrase I would use above all others to describe my dealings with our Deities, the one I would pick is “taken by surprise”!) The change in attitude that I was seeking for myself indeed happened, but not in the polite, reasonable, diplomatic way I thought I was orchestrating! No: I was engulfed in flame, and indeed my aversion and reluctance to relate to Woden was in that moment burned away and did not return, in spite of him being admittedly a daunting Deity to relate to.
Effects
Before this burning I was hesitant to commit; afterwards there was no question that I was committed, come what may. And this change was not anything I reasoned out, bargained for, decided on, or grew into. There was no rational or emotional process involved. It was a transformation: one minute I was hesitant; a split-second later, after being blasted with radiation, something had changed in me, and stayed changed, though it took awhile for me to fully realize and digest it. This is the mode of Fire.
This is an example, in many ways a small thing: a change in my attitude toward one among many Deities. It could have happened in many other ways. Why did Frige and Woden choose the mode of Fire to bring about the change I asked for? Fire is really the ‘big gun’ among the various ways we can relate to the Deities, and I use this analogy with weapons advisedly. Fire-mode can feel like a weapon, like an assault on us, a conflagration, an upheaval, a destruction. It may not always literally involve fire; it is a mode of sudden transformation, however that occurs. When it happens, it is often unexpected and maybe undesired by us. We may think we never asked for it, and perhaps we never did ask for Fire to be unleashed on us. But somehow, some way, some inner need or wish puts us in a space where the Deities who are close to us decide that Fire is the way to go, and there we are.
There is no reversal of Fire; the ashes of what is gone do not rise up and reconstitute. There is only the new thing that has come into being, and it may take us a good while to perceive, understand, accept, and learn to work and live with the new state of being, even when it seems a relatively small matter in the overall context of our life. I cannot go back to distrusting Woden; my distrust was burned away many years ago. He is what he is, I am what I am, our bond was forged in the Fire that he and Frige ignited, and that is that; we go on from there.
The issue of ‘consent’ in Fire-mode
Here is an important question: what role, if any, does our own consent, or denial of consent, play in an experience of Fire-mode? Let’s look at this in a broader context, for a moment. Every minute that passes in our lives can be seen as a spark of Fire-mode experience: it comes, it brings change, however great or tiny, then it is gone and does not come again. We do not go backward in time; change happens within time, and there is no reversal. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus famously said: “You can’t step into the same river twice.” By the time you go back for the second round, the water you previously stepped in has flowed by, the environment and yourself, however slightly, have changed from what they were.
In a nutshell: Fire-mode is change, change happens in time, time is not reversible. Thus, true Fire-mode experience is not reversible. This is the nature of time and entropy, governed by the laws of physics, and these laws exist regardless of our consent to them. Our lives are governed by time and change, whether we choose for this to happen, or not.
So, this is the general, philosophical point. Now, let’s take it to the personal level: the specifics of our own Fire-mode, transformative experiences with the Deities, and the role of our consent in these experiences. Here are my own thoughts and observations; you will have to decide whether what I say agrees with your experience, and if not, seek for your own answers to this important question.
I think it’s important, first, to distinguish between a ‘challenge / ordeal’ and a ‘Fire-mode experience.’ Challenges and ordeals happen in life. They are often orchestrated by our Deities to promote our growth and change. They also come about due to our own actions or lack thereof, our own choices or our failure to choose a path and act on our best judgement. Often, again, challenges occur through circumstances beyond our control. Generally, it is a combination of factors.
What turns these events into true Heathen ordeals and challenges, with the growth of spiritual might and main that they can bring, is our own attitude towards them, and the actions we take in response. The most terrible circumstances can be treated as Heathen ordeals and challenges; we can meet them with the strength and power gained from our Deities and our Heathen way of life, and transform them into opportunities for change, growth, generosity, honor, compassion, and other great values of human life.
It is here where Godly Fire-mode experience may enter in: here at the moment when we choose, however tentatively and subconsciously, to transform an obstacle, ordeal, challenge, or a flaw or weakness in ourself, rather than continue to drag that burden around. In my experience….I have to say, I don’t know how such transformation happens, or how to ‘make it work’. I don’t have any switch to flip, or magic wand to wave. I’m stuck in the situation, and I don’t know how to change it. Deep inside, a call goes out to a Deity for help, here. I want change, I want to transform the situation, and at some level I know that involves transforming myself.
This is the call, this is the consent to our Deities: we need some assistance and are willing to accept what they give. Again, these feelings may be confused and blurred within us, but the Deities have clear sight. What is beyond our choice and our consent, is how the Deities respond to our own need, to the situation we are in. That is their choice, not ours. They are not programmed, divine robots. I gave the example, earlier, of trying to orchestrate the progress of my relationship to Woden through Frige, and showed what came of that. It was my choice, wanting to get to know Woden better. But, despite what I may have thought, it was not my choice, how Woden and Frige responded! And they chose the transformation of Fire, for me at that time.
So, we can continue to wallow in problems, difficulties, states of mind or of being, that we don’t want but can’t figure out how to change, or maybe we know what needs to be done, but somehow can’t manage to do it. Or we may just want some big change, something brand-new in our lives. We all like it when we ask the Deities for help in some situation, and they bring about some change from outside ourselves, without requiring radical change within ourselves, because that feels like it’s easier, less disruptive. But things don’t happen that way very often; usually, the changes the Deities bring about involve a lot of inner upheaval.
I think the Deities know which elemental mode will work best for us in a given situation, at a given point in our life, when we express our need, however confused, for their help. There’s a good chance they will present their help in the form of a challenge or an ordeal, that brings about inner change within us. The transformative ordeal may take the form of Fire, or it may work its way through one of the other elements I’ve discussed here, most likely Earth or Wind modes, but possibly a Water ordeal. It’s also quite possible to undergo a transformative challenge or ordeal through several successive modes, starting with Earth or Water, for example, then the final phase with Fire.
Wode
Wode or Odhr is a form of Fire. Its expression can range from a spark of inspiration or a steady flame of creativity, to a state of divinely-inspired prophetic madness or of battle-frenzy. Wode is a combination of Fire and Wind, where the Fire ignites us and the Wind propels us forward toward God-inspired action.
Divine Wode comes about through a God-Wind and a Godly Fire, and if we are able to ride this fiery wind then it carries us toward a state where we are able to surpass anything we thought we could do before. It burns away and blows through our self-limitations and carries us on a tide of divine Fire.
Once the Wode has achieved its intentions, if we are to maintain safety and sanity, we must leave the full-on grip of Wode and come down to earth again. But the Wode does not leave us unchanged; many inner aspects of our Self, especially our perception of our limitations, are changed by this experience.
A Wode-Fire experience often leaves behind embers, burning coals, which act as fire-seeds. They settle deep within us and keep our fires of creativity and action at a lower but steady level. Then a Wode-Wind may come along, blown by a God or by the winds of this world, and fire up these embers again to a high heat. In this way, Wode-Wind-Fire creates a repeating pattern within ourself, where a certain ability or tendency repeatedly arises. It’s important to work with our Deities to refine and control this expression of Wode within ourself, so that it takes the form we and our Deities desire for it, rather than running amok. (See my articles “Ghost Rider” and “Study Guide 3: Ahma and Ghost Souls” for more about Wode.)
Closing experience
I’ll close now with another personal experience, involving initiatory Wode which lit a fire within, and gave strong impetus and direction to my Heathen life. For years, I had wished to know Heimdal better, and often prayed politely for his attention, but didn’t get more than, in effect, a polite nod of acknowledgement. I had often encountered him through spaeworking for others, where he usually came forward as an initiator for someone seeking a clearer Heathen path, but he did not come for me personally. One day, during a personal spaeworking, he answered my prayer, and it was worth the wait. (My souls most involved with this experience: Hama and Ghost.)
Heimdal
Heimdal puts both his hands against the sides of my head, his lips against my brow. He hums strongly, filling me with vibrations. His humming turns to light, rainbow light, brighter and brighter, blinding. Rainbows everywhere, bewildering, shining forth from Heimdal’s chest. The light and humming vibrate fiercely, overwhelmingly, in my blood, re-tuning me to a different frequency and awakening connections through my blood, my ancestry, the callings of the ancient ones.
My blood is a rainbow fire within me, bubbling and buzzing in my veins, flashing out through my skin and eyes. I am a rainbow bridge, I bridge between Midgard and the God-Homes, between past and future, ancestors and those to come; between the spirit-world and the world of matter, between my souls and the souls of others: we all are connected together in the beauty and power of the rainbow light.
A distant echo of a horn. As the horn calls, the rainbows slowly gather to form a bridge across the air. Heimdal steps out onto it, passes into light too bright to see. His horn still echoes, all colors around me are supernaturally bright and vibrant, there is a sense of gladness everywhere, the air itself is golden. A God has walked here.
The horn still calls, singing of beginnings, not endings. Still it calls, even now; still my heart responds. If I never see Heimdall in person again, it matters not; his rainbow vibrations are imprinted in my flowing life-blood.
Though I use this as an example of Fire-mode, it can also be seen as Air-mode, venturing into Heimdal’s awareness, his nature and his innate powers, and as Wind-mode in the impetus it gave me toward my Heathen callings. It partakes of Water-mode in the sensations of my blood flowing with Heimdal’s energy, and of Earth-mode in my perception of myself and Heimdal, separate beings within a landscape. Transformation, awareness, sensation-experience, bodies and landscape: the modes are unified in this experience. The rainbow itself blends Fire, Air and Water, and connects earth to earth, World to World. It is a fitting image with which to close our exploration of the elemental modes which shape our relationships with the Holy Ones.
Characteristics of Fire-Mode
Keywords: Consuming, sudden transformation, no boundaries, Wode, state-shift or quantum shift, non-reversible.
Souls with particular affinity for Fire-mode: Ghost, Mod, Ferah, Ahma.
How inner change usually happens: Suddenly, directly, irreversibly. We jump from one state of being to another state, without intervening processes of thought, will, or emotion, and there is no returning to the previous state. It often comes as a stark shock or a blinding enlightenment, and our whole living-being or system of souls, mind, body, way of life, may take awhile to find a new equilibrium after this experience.
The Rainbow Bridge lays out the paths between us and the Holy Ones, formed of Fire, Air and Water, connecting Earth to Earth across the realms of the Life-Worlds. The horn-call of the Holy Ones, echoing across these Worlds, urges us to venture into the wide unknown. It sings of beginnings, and of endings that make room for new beginnings. And, may I say, it calls to the Utgard Ranger within us all!
Note: This article is included in my book, Wandering on Heathen Ways.
Bookhoard and Recommended Reading
DeVries, Jan. Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte. Band I. Berlin, Germany: Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1956.
Larrington, Carolyne, transl. The Poetic Edda. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2014.