Here is a link to the audio version, with many thanks to Laurie Inn for her beautiful reading!
https://soundcloud.com/heathen_audio/sets/soul-winding-a-meditative-ceremony-for-maze-walking
Winifred Hodge Rose
Here I offer a script and background reading, based on Heathen soul lore, that can be used to perform a walking meditation within a labyrinth or spiral. (I am, inaccurately but conveniently, using the word ‘maze’ here to refer to any kind of circular, structured walking-pattern.) The theme of the meditation is “soul-winding”. As we enter into the walking pattern, we hold the image in our minds of gathering up the strands of our souls, one by one, and wrapping them around us like a spindle. However, at the heart of the spindle is a still point, an unfilled space of potential. As we reach the center of the maze, we pause and contemplate the ways our souls connect us with other beings, other Worlds, with Gods and Goddesses, and we attune to Holiness. As we wind our way outward from the maze, we sense our souls, with their rich connections across the Worlds, weaving themselves into an intricate pattern, or singing a song in complex harmonies. The pattern or the song fills the space of potential within us, bringing into being our unique Self in this Midgard life.
Setup
If you’re fortunate enough to have access to an existing labyrinth, enjoy the experience! If you don’t, an easy approach is to use a rope or connect some garlands or streamers together into a long chain, and use it to outline a spiral shape on the floor of your home, or outdoors. Keep the pathway between the lines wide enough to walk comfortably, and leave a good-sized open space in the center. Here in the center, you can place a shielded candle on a dish, a bowl of water representing a Well (Wyrd’s or Mimir’s), or a sacred or meaningful object of any kind, as a little shrine to focus upon. If you wish, you can make the central area quite large and add a cushion or chair for longer meditation time. You can add a recording of music or nature sounds, and incense if you like, to enhance the ambience.
You’ll want to have some quiet space for this, but it doesn’t need to be hermetically sealed, if you live with others. Quite likely, even non-Heathen family members, including children, or housemates would enjoy using the maze in their own way….you may have to take turns! And of course, there is always the option of simply walking in a circle or spiral, with no physical structure, if that works best for you.
If I am walking the maze outdoors, my favorite time is twilight: evening or dawn, after the sun has set or before it rises, but while there is still some light to see by. Indoors, walking by candlelight adds to the ambience. As some final touches, if desired you can wear a meaningful token, amulet or religious symbol, and hold a candle as you walk. If you own a spindle, a nice touch is to carry it with you in the maze, and spin it gently as you walk.
Maze-enhancements:
You might like to set up ‘stations’ for each of your souls along the route of the maze, by placing some token or marker at even intervals throughout the maze. The markers can be symbols or runes for each of the souls, or can be a simple marker such as a ribbon tied around your rope, a stick laid across it, or an index card with the name of the soul, placed on your path for you to step over. If you are not listening to a reading as you walk, then the index cards are helpful as memory-aids! Here is the order to use, if you are following my meditation reading.
Outside, at the entrance to the maze, is the place to take a deep breath and center yourself, connecting with Ahma, the Breath of Life and Spirit. Place Saiwalo’s token or station just inside the entrance to the maze. Then Ferah, Hama, Aldr, Ghost, Hugr, Mod tokens or markers, at intervals. Place the Sefa token or marker in the center.
A nice touch is to place another token at the exit, which you will pick up and wear or take with you after you exit the maze and return to Midgard. A braided cord, with nine strands for the souls, works well for this, which you can drape around your neck or tie around your waist or your wrist. (The nine strands can be braided together in groups of three. Or you can make three braids of three strands each, then braid those three braids together.) Or you can use any other symbol that will represent the experience of the maze-walking for you. Later, you can keep this token on your altar or other place of mindfulness, or else continue to wear it, to promote soul-mindfulness.
If you have someone reading, or a recording, as you walk the maze, then pause at each soul’s station as the reading mentions that soul. Otherwise, use the stations to help you bring each soul to mind as you walk. If you are using your own or another different conception of Heathen souls, then adapt these stations and markers as appropriate.
Your Soul-Beliefs
Since the purpose of the meditation is to gather your souls, before you begin you need to do one of two things. Either decide you will go into the meditation with an open mind, receptive to your souls’ presentation of themselves to your awareness, as they choose and as you are ready. Or, decide what your basic understanding of your souls is, whether this consists of my Heathen soul lore concepts, or your own or other Heathen concepts, and prepare your mind to pursue this in an orderly way. The meditation I offer, below, is based on my own understanding of soul lore, but you can, of course, substitute your own meditation that reflects your understanding more accurately. I provide links, below, to two of my articles as background reading, if you wish to take my approach.
Reading the Meditation
I’ve written both a short version and a long version of the meditation. You can meditatively read either one beforehand, then lay it aside and walk through the maze, allowing thoughts from the reading to present themselves to you as you walk. You can also bring a printout of the shorter version with you as you walk, and read the relevant parts as you come to each soul-station in the maze. Alternatively, if you have written your own text or have your own ideas for the meditation, do the same with your text.
You can use the lovely recording of the maze-reading available on this page, if you wish, Or, if more than one person is participating, then you can take turns reading as the other person walks the maze, or make your own recording if you want a different text. If you are not using a text and want an open-ended, unguided experience, then just go ahead!
The Ceremony
Prepare your maze-layout and the ambience of your space with music and lit candles, if you wish. Before beginning, clear the space around your maze in your customary way, through prayer and /or ritual, to open and maintain a safe and meditative space for yourself. Lighting your candles may be part of the ritual. Invite Deities, ancestors, landwights, and / or other spirit-beings to join you in this space, as you desire. If you will be using the meditation from memory, read it over to prepare your mind. If several people will be using the maze, then take turns without talking (except for the meditation-reader), without rushing or crowding others, to maintain the meditative atmosphere.
The Meditation, Short Version
This version is brief, simply key concepts, so that you can keep it in mind by reading before you walk, and then remember it as you go. Or, you can bring it with you, and read the cues as you reach each soul-station.
Winding inward, gathering your souls:
Pause at the entrance to the maze, breathe, center yourself, offer a prayer or set your intention.
As you walk into the center, focus on gathering your souls, wrapping them around the spindle of yourself:
~ Ahma, the Breath of Life and Spirit,
~ Hel-Dwelling Saiwalo with its Dwimor,
~ Ferah the Fire of Life,
~ Hama the Shaper, the power of your Lich-Hama,
~ Aldr the Nourisher, Time-Keeper, and Bearer of Orlog,
~ Ghost, your personal Spirit, which wraps your Ahma within it,
~ Hugr, your reincarnating, ancestral soul, bearing lifetimes of knowledge and wisdom,
~ Mod, the channel and shaper of powerful Midgard energies flowing into and out of your being.
Pausing in the center:
As you reach the center of the maze, pause and center yourself and your souls. Allow your awareness of your souls to take root in your conscious mind and your life. Sense the many connections between all your souls and the great Worlds on the Tree, along with all the beings who dwell within them. Attune your souls with the Holy Ones, the ancestors, the great Powers of Nature and the Worlds.
Winding outward, returning to Midgard:
Now begin the journey back to Midgard, heading out of the maze. As you walk, feel the space in the center of your gathered souls begin to fill with song, with pattern, with shape and fullness. This is your Sefa-Self arising, coming into being through the interaction of all your souls here in Midgard.
Feel your steps as you walk: deliberate, profound, shaping your path in life. Your gathered souls fill with power and blessing, generated as you walk this maze. As you walk back towards the gate of Midgard, allow power and blessing to arise within you like a mighty wellspring, filling you and spilling outward all around you. Feel your own sense, your own understanding, rising within you: “This is what it is to be Heathen. This is what powers Heathen life in Midgard.”
Closing the Ritual
As you exit the maze, take your cord or other token, if you have placed one there. Turn toward the center of the maze and offer thanks and honor to all who have accompanied you and blessed you on your journey: Holy Ones, ancestors, all good wights both great and small. Close the sacred space and respectfully return the space, yourself, and the items used in the maze to Midgard.
~~~
The Meditation, Longer Version, to read or record for walking:
Setting the stage, standing outside the maze.
There is Fire and there is Ice. They form the poles of Ginnungagap, the Gap of Magical Potential, the great void that holds all potential Being within itself. The polarities of heat and cold meet in the middle and form a vast space of roiling mist and steam: this is Mist-World or Niflheim. Here, all-that-might-be exists as wisps and shifting forms and energies, ever flowing and reshaping. Here is where Ahma arises, also called Ond and Athom: the sacred breath of Spirit that flows through all existence.
Standing at the entrance to the maze, take deep breaths and gather Ahma.
Through this space of Ginnungagap currents of enormous power flow, generated by the primal polarities, and in the center they meet and swirl into a gigantic, churning fountain of energy called Hvergelmir, the Roaring Cauldron. Up and out it bursts, perpetually re-creating space-time by its existence and motion. As Hvergelmir’s energy-fountain billows up, it begins its first stage of condensation, forming the World of Hel, the Womb of Souls. It is here that the potentialities of Mist-World, all the swirling Might-Be’s, take the first steps toward becoming beings in their own right.
Enter the maze, gather the souls:
Saiwalo: These beings, the Saiwalo souls, arise in Hel. They are formed, as everything is, from the Ahma-Mist, the Ond-Spirit-Breath, arising from Mist-Home. The currents of Hvergelmir and the mighty Elivagar, the cosmic fountain and rivers of power, stir these mists. The roots of the World-Tree stabilize them, Mimir’s Well feeds them, the primal Powers of the Worlds flow through them. And thus, our Saiwalo souls are stirred into being.
The Saiwalos are the first souls to begin the coalescence into individual being-ness. Each Saiwalo forms and feeds a phantom, a spiritual shape called a Dwimor, which reaches up from Hel into the world of Midgard. Dwimor is the soul-image of the person-to-be, flowing out from the Saiwalo soul into Midgard.
Ferah: What urge does Saiwalo feel, that moves it to form a Dwimor and send it forth into Midgard? A sacred spark is lit, a spiritual fire ignites, and its beauty and power draw the Dwimor forth from its Saiwalo-soul in Hel, pulling it up into Midgard. This sacred spark is our Ferah soul, ignited at the moment of our conception.
Ferah is the power of lightning and thunder, the power of earth and mountains, of sky and storm. It flows through Thor and his Mother Earth, and into humans, animals, trees, all the beings of Nature. As the lightning-strike of Ferah-life begins in the womb, the complex flows of Midgard-energy acting through the Dwimor cause each Ferah to become a unique individual, imprinted by the Dwimor-image and formed from the life-power of Earth and Sky. Thus Ferah-soul and Saiwalo-soul meet together, bridging the sacred energies between Midgard, the Home of Life, and Hel, the Womb of Souls.
Hama: The imprint of our soul-image that our Dwimor shares with Ferah-soul now flashes forth like lightning, giving forth an echo that coalesces into our Hama-soul. This is the soul which shapes our physical body, our Lich, with its ability to take action, to speak and behave as humans do, and take on human appearance. As our Hama-soul shapes our physical body, our Lich, the two of them blend together and become our Lich-Hama: our living, ensouled physical body.
Aldr: Now our living body, our Lich-Hama, is finishing its formation in the womb, and we approach the time of our birth. The Norns and Frau Holle draw forth from their Well our Aldr soul, and shape this soul to guide our life through the mysterious dimensions of Time and Wyrd. Aldr feeds us with spiritual nourishment and governs the span of our life.
Ghost: Now the wyrded moment comes, guided by the Holy Ones and by the stars, when we leave our mother’s womb and enter Midgard as a being in our own right. At this momentous instant, we draw in our first breath, and with this breath our Ghost rides in and roots itself within us. Ghost is shaped out of the Ond or Ahma, the Spirit-Mist that hovers timelessly over Ginnungagap. The Holy Ones attending our birth grasp a portion of Ahma or Ond, and wrap it in a soul-skin to give it shape, cohesion, personhood, and the spirit-likeness of our Lich.
There are two other souls, Daemon souls rooted in Midgard, who have been hovering over, and influencing, our conception, gestation and birth.
Hugr’s nature is rooted in Desire, Wish, Longing. It is open to love, and springs from deep wells of the human past. Hugr is an ancestral soul who reincarnates in the body to experience Midgard life, again and again. This is how Hugr grows mightily in knowledge, wisdom, power, subtlety.
Mod: As the spark of life begins, a Mod-soul, a nature-spirit or elemental who has evolved along with humans, brings its own power to bear. Mod’s powers are Strength, Will, and Determination, carried to a very high level. This hovering Mod-soul, seeking a physical body in Midgard, fills the new spark of life with strength and will to live and thrive, to grow to fulfill its full potential.
Mod and Hugr, these powerful Midgard souls, help us, the new person, to set deep roots into Midgard, rooting solidly into human life with all its complexity and richness.
Center:
As you reach the center of the maze, pause and center yourself and your souls. Allow your awareness of your souls to take root in your conscious mind and your life. Sense the many connections between all your souls and the great Worlds on the Tree, along with all the beings who dwell within them. Attune your souls with the Holy Ones, the ancestors, the greater and lesser powers of Nature and the Worlds.
Sefa: All of our souls, together, sing into being our Self, our Sefa-soul who arises from the interrelationships of all our souls, and focuses on our relationships with all other beings.
Winding out toward Midgard:
Now begin the journey back to Midgard, heading out of the maze. As you walk, feel the space in the center of your gathered souls begin to fill with song, with pattern, with shape and fullness. This is your Sefa-Self arising, coming into its power through the interaction of all your souls here in Midgard.
Feel your steps as you walk, as you pass again the stations of your souls. Your steps are deliberate, profound, shaping your path in life. Your gathered souls fill with power and blessing, generated as you walk this maze. As you walk back towards the gate of Midgard, allow power and blessing to arise within you like a mighty wellspring, filling you and spilling outward all around you. Feel your own sense, your own understanding, rising within you: “This is what it is to be Heathen. This is what powers Heathen life in Midgard.”
Closing the Ritual.
As you exit the maze, take your cord or other token, if you have placed one there. Turn toward the center of the maze and offer thanks and honor to all who have accompanied you and blessed you on your journey: Holy Ones, ancestors, all good wights both great and small. Close the sacred space and respectfully return the space, yourself, and the items used in the maze to Midgard.
Background reading: The Awakening of the Souls applies to the inward journey to the center of the maze. The Arising of the Self applies to the outbound journey back to Midgard.