(HSL stands for Heathen Soul Lore.)
Winifred Hodge Rose
In the previous Step you worked on learning more about both Ahma and Ghost, since they are closely related. In Step 5 we’ll be working with Ghost and seeking to understand something of the power of wode.
Reading:
First read Book I (Heathen Soul Lore Foundations), Chapter 5: “Ghost Rider: Athom, Ghost and Wode in Action” or the website article of the same name. This will give you general, research-based information about Ghost and Wode.
https://heathensoullore.net/ghost-rider-athom-ghost-and-wode-in-action/
Then read Book II (A Personal Approach) Chapter 5: “Ghost and Wode” and work through the exercises there, using your Daybook. Alternatively, you can use the Heathen Soul Lore Workbook, which has all the exercises printed there, with space to write your responses. This will help you learn more about your own Ferah soul. The assigned chapter is also available here as a study guide:
https://heathensoullore.net/study-guide-5-ghost-and-wode/
Practice Notes
Note that there is only one exercise in this Step. Wode is something that needs to be handled with care, especially when there is no knowledgeable person available to help if it gets out of hand. Therefore I have not included practical exercises with Ghost-Wode as I have with the other souls, but only a thoughtful exercise. The discussion and the exercise in this chapter, if followed consistently, can help prepare you, in gradual steps, to manage wode successfully.
Bindrunes
I have designed bindrunes that express some of my perceptions of each of the souls, shown in Book II and on the Ahma-Ghost study guide on this website. These are offered for you to meditate on. If you have some rune-lore of your own, I encourage you to create your own Ghost and Wode bindrune and use that for meditation. If you are not up for bindrunes right now, you’re also welcome to meditate on a single rune, or several, that seem related to your Ghost 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 your token(s) with you. If you are creating a specific Ghost token, such as a strand of yarn, cord, or thread that will eventually be braided or otherwise combined with tokens for your other souls, begin work on this now.
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 Ghost soul, 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. (There are two recommended books for this listed at the end.)
Ghost Initiation Ceremony
Here is the link if you’d like to conduct this ceremony:
https://heathensoullore.net/ghost-initiation-ceremony/
End-notes
If you want to pursue spaework, seidhcraft or other esoteric or magical methods as a means of soul exploration, I highly recommend it, but not without prior experience and training. One useful book for this purpose is:
Cat Heath, Elves, Witches & Gods: Spinning Old Heathen Magic in the Modern Day. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn, 2021.