Winifred Hodge Rose
Background reading: The articles on my website titled “Dances with Daemons: The Mod Soul;” “Hunting the Wild Hugr;” “Who is Hugr?,” and “The Occult Activities of the Hugr, Part 1 and Part 2.”
Primary runes in this bindrune: Uruz, Wunjo, Raidho, Othala, Nauthiz, Kenaz.
Will and Wish are the two fundamental reaching-out forces of Mod and Hugr, the magnetic lines which connect these souls with domains of action in the Worlds. These concepts are so powerful in the older Germanic languages that we can find them as personifications. Odin’s brother’s name, Vili or Wiljon, means “Will”. In Grimm’s Teutonic Mythology (p. 144ff) there are several long pages of examples from German poetry and aphorisms of the 12th and 13th centuries, showing Wish as a powerful, creative, godlike being. One of Odin’s bynames in Norse is Oski or ‘wish’. Both of these words, will and wish, had broader and deeper meanings in the old German languages.
Will and Wish are powers inherent in each of us, rooted in our souls, that can be developed, trained and directed to shape our actions and our life as a whole. Among other things, this is the aim of many esoteric, magical and mystical paths. When Will and Wish exist in us as subconscious, entirely self-focused, repressed or distorted forces, they can wreck our life and the lives of those whom we touch.
Here I will focus on the will and wish powers of Mod and Hugr, as they are such fundamental aspects of these two souls. Keep these two points in mind, though. One is that most of our other souls also have wills of their own, often going off in quite different directions. The other is that the wills and wishes of Mod and Hugr are not singular—they are complex, contradictory and tangled. In the discussion and exercises here, I’ve treated them as though they were simple and straightforward, because we have to start somewhere! I’m only discussing the ideas and the basic approaches here, which you can use as a basis for deeper exploration if you wish.
Will
In the old German languages, willio or willo meant ‘will, intention, purpose, mentality, disposition, character, way of thinking, viewpoint, opinion.’ It was also used in the sense of ‘goodwill’: it meant graciousness, benevolence, kindness, patronage, favor / favorable attitude. (Becker p. 22.) “Before Christianization, Willio must have been an important word that was full of life and rich with meaning” (Becker p. 166). (The reason he refers to pre-Christianization is that after Christianization, the focus in the writings of that time was to direct the will toward their God, and away from ‘sinful’, but lively and important, worldly matters and daily affairs.)
All of these things are among the characteristics of our Mod soul, and overlap strongly with Hugr as well. In the old German writings, the expression “Mod’s will” and combinations like muat-willo were frequently used.
Let’s look at the God Wiljon or Vili for a moment. He and his brothers Odin / Wodanaz and Ve / Wihaz are the sons of Bor (Edda p. 11) and were the ones who brought the trees or logs to life as the first humans, Ask and Embla (Edda p. 13). Odin’s name comes from Oðr or Wode, which we explored in Study Guide 3, meaning breath / spirit / inspiration / ecstatic states of various kinds. Ve’s name comes from the word for ‘sacred’, ve or wih. Bringing humans into being and filling them with spirit was a sacred act, indeed, but we can see that a motive force was necessary to bring such a deed about. Vili supplied that motive force, that Will, in both necessary ways: his was the power of will that directed this creative action, and in the process, his own power of will took root in the new human couple. This power urged the humans to take a firm grip on their gifts of life, body, souls, and made them determined to survive and thrive in this challenging world of Midgard.
Wish
Grimm defines the old meaning of Wish (German Wunsch) as “the sum total of well-being and blessedness, the fulness of all graces”. It is probably derived from wunja, related to German Wonne = bliss, to the rune-name Wunjo, and to older words wunisc, wunsc, meaning Perfection or the Ideal. Here’s a quotation from Grimm: “der Wunsch was an ir garwe.” He translates it as “the wish was in her complete,” but I would give it slightly differently. The word garwe meant clothing (garb), but is also related to ‘gear’ or equipment. I would give the meaning as “Wish, in her, was fully equipped (with everything that could be wished for).” In other words, she was considered a perfect representation of everything that one could wish for. “In dem wunsche sweben” means literally “to dream within (the) Wish”, a state of bliss. A magic wand was called a wunschiligerta or ‘wishing-rod.’ Grimm interprets the name Oski as “he who makes men partakers of Wish, of the highest gift.” (All in Grimm p. 138.) “With Wish’s might the old man blessed her” (p. 142).
It’s notable that the old meaning of Wish focuses on a state of achievement, of ‘perfection’ in the sense of ‘completion’: first something was longed-for, then it was achieved or obtained: the wish was completed and perfected. Wish was a Being, and also a state-of-being that came about through contact with, or action by, the Wish-being or Wish-power. Wish itself is power, in this view.
Nowadays, there’s a subtle but important difference in the meaning of ‘wish’: it implies a longing for something that we are unlikely to get, although it is remotely possible: “I wish I could win the lottery;” “I wish everyone could just get along,” etc. Beginning a sentence with the words “I wish…” is, if you think about it, an expression of powerlessness and possibly even of hopelessness. I ‘wish’ for something because I don’t know what else to do about the situation or the longing that I have. There is no real action implied here. There is none of the creative power to make things happen, that the old words wusc, wunisc, etc., implied, and that powerful beings called Wish, wusc-frea (wish-lord), or Oski could bring about.
Love as Wish Fulfilled
There is a close connection between the old meaning of Wish, and the things that bring the greatest happiness to Hugr. I wrote in my article Who is Hugr? about how closely Hugr is connected to the heart and to the Sefa soul, and how it is involved in the experience of love. While Sefa’s expressions of love, affection, compassion, are spread broadly across all kinds of relationships and interactions, Hugr’s love and attraction are more focused on the most intimate forms: romantic love, sexual desire, and also the heart-to-heart intimacy of our closest friendships. Keep in mind that our closest friendships may, if we are fortunate, include those with our family members such as siblings, cousins, or parents and adult children, who are close heart-friends and have a lifetime of shared experiences and family culture to draw on.
It is of the greatest importance for Hugr to be able share its deepest thoughts and feelings with a few true and trusted loved ones. When we are fortunate enough to have such relationships, this provides the completion, the fullness, the satisfaction of our yearnings and longings that we spoke of earlier. This is Wish in its wholeness, comprised of both the longing, and the satisfaction of the longing: the ‘wish come true.’ If we succeed in achieving such relationships, it is thanks to our own efforts to make the wish come true, the dedication of our Hugr and Sefa to nurturing and treasuring such relationships. There is little that is more powerful in human life than this; here we can begin to grasp the profounder meanings of the old conception of Wish.
Dynamic Tension of Will and Wish
I view Will and Wish as closely related, but not identical forms of energy or power. The primary difference I see is that Will or determination is a ‘push’ coming forth from inside ourself, while Wish or longing is a ‘pull’ toward something outside ourself. This difference may not matter if we are looking at these meanings in an intellectual or generalized way. They do matter, however, when we try to sense how their energies are embodied within our own being, our soul-body complex, which is how I am trying to guide much of our practical soul work here. When we combine these energies of push and pull together, going in the same direction, the sum total of the two is of course more powerful than either acting alone. If they are working at cross purposes from each other, they subtract from each others’ power, or fail to amplify it.
Exercise 11-1: Finding Will within you
In Exercise 9-6, Study Guide 9, I asked you to find the location, within your soul-body complex, where your courage is located, and asked you to explore how courage feels as it rises and sinks within you. Now let’s extend that exercise into the domain of Will, closely related to courage.
First, seek within you for the core energy and the sensation of Will. I suggest that you may find it around the same location as your wellspring of courage, though it may extend even farther throughout your soul-body complex. In many ways, Will is located within every cell in our body—this is what motivates them to take all the actions that are natural to them, thus supporting our life here in Midgard. During healing and protective work, exploring this more expanded locus of Will is important.
Now, however, let’s focus on the overlapping centers of Will and courage within. This is likely to be in your megingjorð area, that corresponds to the area of Thor’s body encompassed by his broad belt of power. Different bodies, including the bodies of different genders, shapes, and ages, will have this area in slightly different places. Note that in Traditional Chinese Medicine, the kidney-adrenals are responsible for generating courage and will. They are within the same broad horizontal band of the body as our solar plexus, covered by our imagined megingjorð or belt of power.
However, it’s important for you to find your own center of Will, and not just take it for granted that it’s in a given location. There’s a lot of courage and will in our Heart, as well, where Hugr hangs out! Our will-center may also move around, depending on the focus of our will in specific instances. One obvious example is when our will is focused on sexual activity to the exclusion of all else.
For this exercise, in your imagination (or memory) develop a scenario that involves the utmost determination and will within you. Perhaps it’s standing your ground for something you believe in, to the utmost. Perhaps it’s defending or rescuing someone you love with all your heart, especially a child or a beloved but frail elder, someone toward whom you feel tender and protective. It could be an animal, too, a pet or wild animal you are trying to save from death, danger or abuse. Perhaps it’s something you want to do or to achieve, more than anything else, in spite of all obstacles. Be aware of the strength that gathers in your body as you imagine this great Will building within you.
Now feel your Will as it gathers in your Will-center in response to the imagined challenge. How does it feel? Like a solid boulder, a volcano, a tidal wave, a star or sun? Is it rooted or surging, hot or cold, dense or expansive, heavy or rising-up? Imagine different kinds of scenarios, situations, intentions of will, and explore whether your will-sensation, and perhaps its location, change accordingly.
Then, explore how your Will exits yourself, pushing out toward the situation you’re facing in your imagination. Does it feel explosive, or slow and steady but inexorable? Does it take over the whole space around you, or send out a focused ray of power? Are there progressive ripples of Will extending out from you, or one big surge? Does it have color, sound, texture, shape? Do these characteristics vary, as your scenario varies? Or, does your Will-force fail to push out from you, or not exit far enough? Focus your awareness to fully understand the characteristics of your Will.
Once you’ve got a sense of what your Will-expressions are like, you can start thinking, and imagining, how these expressions might be improved. Are your expressions of will sometimes too strong and explosive, or too set in place and stubborn, for the situation you want to resolve? Are they too weak and peter out before your Will is accomplished? Does your Will need to be better focused—is it confused and all over the place? Is there anything that blocks or distorts its expression, preventing it from pushing out, or misshaping it against your conscious intention?
Can your Will be shaped so that it attracts cooperation and collaboration in appropriate circumstances, instead of running over people in pursuit of your goal? This has to do with the charisma (or the ‘luck’, in some traditional views) of our Will, a complex topic that I won’t pursue at this level of soul lore. But keep in mind that our Will and Wish both have potentially strong charisma that can attract other people to collaborate and cooperate; in some cases even to the point of them becoming our followers in some way. Such power carries opportunities for principled leadership, and for severe abuse. (If you’d like to see an analysis of the roles that the ‘luck’ and will of certain leaders played during the conversion era, you could read my article Webs of Luck and Wyrd: Interplays and Impacts on Events, on my website.)
It is also possible for Will and Wish to have negative charisma or bad luck, and repel others away, or else attract them for negative and harmful reasons. The latter is one of the factors underlying the subconscious behavioral dynamics between long-term, habitual abuser / victim pairs who are in denial. Clarifying and understanding these dynamics of Will and Wish can help to free one from such negative connections.
As we develop our souls through this soul lore study and practice, we always need to be aware of how all the powers of our souls are affecting other people and the world around us, and take responsibility for appropriate actions in response to our insights. As our souls become more powerful, more focused, more self-aware, our power to cause good or harm grows greater as well. So does our awareness of the more subtle patterns of our behaviors and the behaviors of those around us, and their impacts on the past, the present, and influence on the future. We become more aware of wyrd and ørlög, and of the close connections between personal power and personal responsibility.
Returning to our exercise here, there are likely to be many possibilities for fine-tuning the expressions of your Will, once you become more familiar with these expressions. And it is much more fun to explore your will’s nature and the improvements you might make, in the imaginative and energetic ways I describe here, than it is to be lectured or to lecture yourself about these matters! Turn this effort toward self-understanding and self-improvement into a challenging and unique game, using your inner senses and imagination as I have described here, rather than engaging in yet another session of self-scolding, frustration and defeat!
Personal Example
When I first began working on this exercise, it did not go as smoothly as I may have implied, as I tried to describe the process above. It’s kind of like being in an anatomy class in school, where you’re supposed to dissect something. There are all these nice tidy images in the book or on the screen, showing the different parts and organs clearly. Then you begin the dissection, and everything is just a mess in there! What is that purple blob, anyway? I’m sure it’s not in the book….
This is kind of how I felt. I could feel a strong will located in the spine of my neck and upper back, extending into my brainstem; that’s what I felt first. I could feel another strong will in my solar plexus, another in my sacroiliac, and for goodness’ sake, also in the soles of my feet…they really want to go barefoot all the time, as a way of connecting to the world around me and absorbing mod-energy. This foot-will is frustrated a lot of the time in the physical world, but I depend on barefoot-senses and energy when exploring other Worlds in quasi-physical form.
None of these areas of Will seemed to be connected to each other; no fortifying or feeding into each other, which explained a lot to me. They are also areas that have various health or pain issues, perhaps not coincidentally. If I can connect these various different will-centers, will my body and my energy improve, as well as the exercise of my overall Will? And then, what about coordinating with the Wills of other souls as well? Are some of these Will-locations within me really the expressions of other souls’ Wills? (The answer turns out to be ‘yes’.)
I’m gradually working my way through these questions and indicators, with interesting results. The more we discover in soul lore, the more there is to explore!
Exercise 11-2: Working with Wish
In Exercise 10-1, Study Guide 10, I asked you to enter your Heart and Hugr, and explore your deepest longings. This exercise follows on that one. Choose one of your deepest longings, identified in your previous exercise, and explore this question: What would it take, for this longing within me to reach a sense of completion, of wholeness and fulfillment?
This is truly a profound exercise, because our deepest longing may be for something that is not possible to fully achieve in this World of Midgard. Perhaps it is, perhaps it isn’t.
If it is achievable, here are my suggestions. Work with a Deity, or other spirit such as an ancestor or landwight, who can embody the power of this Wish for you, the power of bringing your longing to a state of fulfillment. Swell and grow your own Hugr as a Wish-Being, a Will-Wind, who has the power to reach your goal, perhaps by using magic or other esoteric practices. (For more background about these Hugr-powers, refer to the articles about Hugr on my website.)
Work with your own Will, and with all your souls, focused on the fulfillment of your longing. If you have to make some adjustments to the details of your longed-for situation, in order to make it realistically achievable, accept that with a good heart and goodwill, and proceed accordingly. There is no room for pettiness, fretting, and false, picky perfectionism in this endeavor. This is a work of true Heart and Spirit, a work that will shape who you are from here on out, as you work to give shape to the longings of your Hugr and your Heart. Be patient, committed, flexible, keep your eyes on the goal, stay attuned to your Hugr and Mod and their true powers within you, and stay attuned to any spirit-beings, the embodiments of Wish, who may be guiding and helping you.
Dealing with the Unachievable Wish
Your deepest longing may, however, be something that really is not achievable even with some adjustments, but still remains within you as a powerful longing. For example, your longing may be for something like a world, or even a small part of the world, where environmental harms are healed, where people all accept one another peacefully, where social justice and personal freedom both prevail, where no one goes hungry or homeless, where species and cultures do not go untimely extinct, where sacred places and sacred ways are respected by all. Or something more personal: for someone you love to be healed or brought back from the edge of death, for example, when this really does not seem likely to happen. Another example is deeply wishing to change something about yourself or a loved one, that is not physically possible to change.
Of course, on one level you can work to do what you realistically can, to create a pocket of better circumstances according to your desire. But the deeper desire may remain unfulfilled within you, the desire for complete fulfillment or perfection of the longed-for situation. How do we put Wish to work, in this case? How do we keep Hugr’s Wish-power alive and vital, ready and willing to act where it can, in spite of unachievable longings?
Clearly, there is no real answer to this, in the sense of magically being able to achieve something that is not realistically achievable. There are various ways that people can sanely deal with this dilemma. One is to express your wish symbolically, with art in all its forms (including things like architecture, dance, music, books) being a primary form of this expression. Achieve this wish in your imagination, and express that image through artistic or other symbolic channels. This is the dynamic that has driven most of the great artistic creations of this world.
A related tactic, when your wish is not achievable for yourself, but may be achievable for someone else, is to generously work to promote the achievement of your wish for those others. Here, instead of expressing the achievement of your wish through a symbolic artistic form, you are expressing it through a human form, but not your own. Both ways are exercises in soul-deep creativity.
Another time-honored way to deal with a real inability to achieve your great wish, is to develop a deep, serene acceptance of the situation. This can take years of struggle, as part of your process of spiritual maturation, and has been the focus of spiritual striving in many religions and philosophical paths of life throughout the human span of existence.
It’s the way I’ve chosen, for some of my deepest unachievable longings, and I want to note this about it: acceptance of what cannot be changed may not be an endpoint, so much as an ongoing process in life. At least, that is how it is so far, with me. I cannot forget, put aside, ignore these deep wishes; there are always reminders, situations, lived consequences, that bring them back to mind again. When that happens, the exercise of active acceptance is again needed, though I will say that this becomes easier with time and practice. And it does build a type of very worthwhile spiritual strength, which is a particular blessing as we age, and realize more and more clearly that there are some wishes we will not achieve in this lifetime.
Do not forget this important point: Hugr is the soul who reincarnates. There may be ways that your Hugr can train and prepare itself during this life, that will place it in a better position for achieving its wishes in the next one. This is another tactic that I rely on for myself, and it gives me comfort and courage with which to counteract life’s disappointments. I will share a true Wish of my heart here: I think of my soul lore and other Heathen writings as seeds that I sow out into the world, with the hope that my Hugr in the next life will encounter them and be able to pick up from wherever I leave off in this life, instead of having to start all over again from scratch!
Another way to deal with the unachievable wish is to truly and honestly transform it into something that is achievable. This is not as straightforward as it might seem. It is easy to think we have transformed our wish, and to set to work achieving our transformed wish. But if we are not careful, we may then fall into the pit of being dissatisfied when we achieve the new wish, just because it isn’t the original wish, after all. This is very easy to do, and causes great feelings of resentment over all the effort we put into this achievement, and all the various costs to ourself and perhaps to others, all for something that is ultimately disappointing.
If we choose this path of wish-transformation, it has to be done with self-knowledge and soul-deep honesty about our motives, desires and goals. We need to make a bargain between our present-Hugr and our future-Hugr, that our future-Hugr will accept the decision and the efforts of our present-Hugr with goodwill and appreciation, and make the most of it. This effort takes place in the context of our Hugr’s framework of thought, and requires that we make changes in this framework to accommodate the transformation of our desires.
Exercise 11-3: Examining your difficult Wishes
Take a look at your own deepest longings that you earlier identified. Are there any that are probably unachievable? If so, how are you dealing with the potential disappointment and frustration that may arise from this situation? Does this approach work well for you, or might you want to consider other approaches?
In Closing
Will and Wish are enormously powerful forces that shape both our inner world, and the outer world we live in. They are profound expressions of our souls, and it is vital to understand, shape and direct them appropriately, for our own benefit and for the benefit of those around us.
Bookhoard
Becker, Gertraud. Geist und Seele im Altsächsischen und im Althochdeutschen: Der Sinnbereich des Seelischen und die Wörter gest-geist und seola-sela in den Denkmälern bis zum 11.Jahrhundert. Heidelberg, Germany: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, 1964.
Grimm, Jacob. Teutonic Mythology, transl. James Steven Stalleybrass. London, UK: George Bell and Sons, 1882.
Sturlason, Snorri. Edda. Translated and edited by Anthony Faulke. Rutland VT: Charles E. Tuttle Co. 1987.