Winifred Hodge Rose
Here is an optional ceremony to perform as you begin your study of the Ahma and Ghost souls. 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 Ghost 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 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 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. Alternatively, you can imagine incense or a small fire.
– 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.
Ghost Meditation
Face your altar and light your incense, herbs or twigs, if you are using them. Use the smoke (real or imagined) 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 spend a few minutes in meditation on your Ghost soul:
Imagine that it is the moment of your birth; all the Holy Ones are gathered around to honor this sacred event.
Feel the boundlessness of your Ahma soul, residing in the realms of Ahma, the mist rising over Ginnungagap. Then a change comes over your Ahma: you sense Godly powers stirring around you, gently shaping and enclosing your Ahma with a breathable membrane, the shape of your Ghost.
As you open your mouth and take in your first breath, know that this breath comes from the Holy Ones, and your own Ghost, newly-formed, rides in upon this breath and takes root within you.
Feel the sacredness of this moment, its life-giving power, feel your Ghost’s connection to the Holy Ones, the realms of Ahma, the God-Homes, the flows of inspiration that move through the Worlds.
In your imagination or out loud, you release a great cry: your birth-cry, echoing through the Worlds as Odin’s own great cry did when he grasped the runes and fell from the Tree.
Two other cries echo forth here: your own Gast-Hyge and Gast-Mynd, your Ghost-ravens who guide your Ghost in its lifelong search for wisdom. This time of initiation is their birth-time as well.
Spend some time in meditation on these wonders and connections of your Ghost soul; write in your Daybook if you wish.
Finish by raising up your Ghost token, and naming it if you wish. 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 Ghost.
Hail your Quest
Raise your ‘drinking horn’ and offer good words to your Ghost 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 Ghost. 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 a Ghost 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.