(HSL stands for Heathen Soul Lore)
Winifred Hodge Rose
Saiwalo is a very different soul from all the others, as is its dwelling-place of Hel, and there is a lot of reading about it if you choose to tackle it all! But if you feel uncomfortable with this soul, it is fine to pass over the study, exercises, and ceremony for now. You may be able to return to it later on, after your awareness of your other souls, and their integration with each other, has solidified and you are comfortable with this worldview.
Reading
There is a lot of background reading for Saiwalo-Dwimor:
Read Book I (Heathen Soul Lore Foundations), Chapter 13: “Hel-Dweller,” and Chapter 14: “The Soul and the Sea,” or the website articles of the same name. A historical analysis is provided in Chapter 15: “What Happened to Heathen Saiwalo?” or the website article of the same name. All of these will give you general, research-based information about Saiwalo.
https://heathensoullore.net/hel-dweller-the-saiwalo-soul-part-1/
https://heathensoullore.net/the-soul-and-the-sea/
https://heathensoullore.net/what-happened-to-heathen-saiwalo-soul/
Supplementary material of an esoteric nature is provided in Chapter 16: “The Alchemy of Hel.” This appears on my website as a six-part series of articles listed underneath the menu header “The Alchemy of Hel.”
https://heathensoullore.net/alchemy-and-ecology-of-hel/
Read Book II (A Personal Approach) Chapter 14: “Saiwalo-Dwimor and the Sea of Images,” or Study Guide 14 of the same name on this website, and work through those exercises in your Daybook or Workbook.
https://heathensoullore.net/study-guide-14-saiwalo-dwimor-and-the-sea-of-images/
Practice Notes
You will notice as you go through these exercises that I don’t suggest you actually go to visit your Saiwalo in Hel, although the initiation ceremony for Saiwalo does have you place your awareness into Saiwalo in Hel. You may well choose not to pursue that particular meditation; think carefully about it as you consider holding a Saiwalo ceremony. But the exercises here are focused on becoming more aware of images and the important roles they play in your consciousness and your life, including the use of images in prayer and in magic.
Bindrunes
I have designed bindrunes that express some of my perceptions of each of the souls, shown in Book II and in the Study Guides on my website. If you have some familiarity with rune-lore, I encourage you to use my Saiwalo-Dwimor bindrune for meditation, and / or create your own Saiwalo bindrune and use that one. If you are not up for creating a bindrune right now, you’re also welcome to meditate on single runes that seem related to your Saiwalo soul.
Work with your soul-tokens, if you are using them
When you are doing the reading, writing the exercises, meditating, communing with the Deities and spirits, using divination or spaeworking, and working with bindrunes or single runes, keep any token(s) that you made during the previous Steps with you. If you want a specific Saiwalo token or Saiwalo-part of an overall soul-token such as a strand for a braided cord, create it during this Step.
Divination and spaeworking
If you like to use runes or another system of divination, by all means use them to explore more questions and insights about your Saiwalo-Dwimor and record them in your Daybook. Likewise, if you are experienced with spaeworking, seidhcraft, or similar esoteric or magical work, these are excellent ways to explore the souls, but should not be pursued before learning proper methods and precautions as I discussed in the Introduction. This is especially true when it comes to Hel-dwelling Saiwalo; traveling there is something that must be approached seriously and only after much learning and experience.
Initiation Ceremony
If you wish to perform a Saiwalo initiation ceremony, and hallow your Saiwalo token if you have one, the text for the Saiwalo ceremony is included at the end of this workbook. Perform the ceremony whenever you are ready, as you work through this Step for Saiwalo.