Winifred Hodge Rose
Assigned reading: The section on Wode, in Chapter 5 of Book I, or in the web article “Ghost Rider: Athom, Ghost and Wode in Action.”
https://heathensoullore.net/ghost-rider-athom-ghost-and-wode-in-action/
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Ghost and Wode bindrune:
Primary runes in this bindrune: Dagaz, Ehwaz, Sowilo, Eihwaz, Kenaz, Hagalaz, Gebo.
Now, here we are on the subject of “Wode / Oðr”. Unlike most of the soul topics that I cover here, I am not going to offer guidance into experiential learning of full-on Wode! It is too powerful, too potentially unbalancing, to pursue without solid training, and ideally with in-person guidance. If you have such a background, you can work on the ideas I discuss here on your own. But here we’ll talk more about a general understanding of Wode and its effects and uses, how it can be trained, and I’ll offer some suggested references for further learning. A lot of what I have to say about Wode is in the background reading listed above, and I won’t repeat that material here.
Wode / Oðr is a form of inspiration. We can look at inspiration as a spectrum of energy, running from very slight, humdrum forms of inspiration like ‘hey, let’s go out for a walk now’, to inspiration that is so intense and overwhelming that it runs into actual insanity, even though it is ‘genius-level insanity.’ There are any number of famous artists and other geniuses who are known to have ranged from mildly eccentric, to unhinged, to suicidally insane.
“Wode” describes the degree of inspiration at the higher end of this spectrum: a level of inspiration that can have profound impacts on our mental and physical health, our behavior and our conduct of life, depending on how it is controlled and directed.
Dysfunctions and Imbalances of the Ghost
All of our souls, except for Ahma, have potentially dysfunctional characteristics, as I mentioned about Ferah with its possible hyper-alertness, hyper-reactivity, hypersensitivity, fears and phobias, and negative coping mechanisms that arise from these, such as deceptiveness, cruelty, or withdrawal. For Ghost, its potential dysfunctions stem from excessive Wode, and / or from an inability to handle Wode. Severe problems that result from this can include mania and manic states, schizophrenia, psychosis, hallucinations, hysteria, obsessiveness. Seizures and other neurological dysfunctions, such as dizziness and fainting, can result from powerful wode that ‘blows the circuits’ of the nervous system, which is unable to handle that much spirit-power flowing through it.
Another potential dysfunction arises from the personality disorder that in old Norse lands was called ‘berserker’ personality, and referred to as oðr, or wode. I distinguish two forms of berserker behavior. One is the warrior’s trance that leads to outstanding performance in battle, and resistance to injury and fear, at least until the battle is over. People in other very intense situations, such as life-saving rescue attempts or their own life-threatening circumstances, can enter this same kind of super-energized trance, as well. This type of berserker phenomenon can be of great benefit, as long as it is limited to temporary circumstances where that kind of ability is needed, and the wode ‘stands down’ when no longer needed. This is warrior-wode under control, loosed only under the appropriate circumstances.
But the sagas also tell of always-on berserkers, physically powerful and brutal people who were perpetually on the very edge of battle-rage, and how dangerous, predatory and exploitive these people were toward their own communities. This is clearly a form of sociopathy, devoid of empathy and respect toward cultural norms and ethical behavior. This is a state of perpetual berserker-wode-ness, with little or no personal attempt to control or direct it toward beneficial purposes.
These are extreme cases of an overabundance of uncontrolled wode. Much more commonly, all of us, I think, are subject to mild fixations of our Ghost-focus, very mild forms of wode. This happens when we get stuck in head-space, in our own little worlds, and don’t want to leave: cyber-space, book-space, TV-space, game-space, hobby-space, creative space, sports-space, getting stuck on certain ideas or preoccupations. Someone tries to interrupt us, our duties and responsibilities intrude, and we get annoyed.
These are mini-wodes: minor fixations of Ghost’s focus that it doesn’t want to get out of, and minor reactions of irritation and impatience when we are nevertheless pulled out. Unfortunately, some people react with more than a mini-wode, spilling over into anger, blaming, harmful behavior, even rage and abuse, instead of mild irritation and annoyance.
Ghost likes to focus on its own interests, and it tends to be careless about competing matters, like our body’s need for sleep and exercise, our family’s (and our own) need for healthy family meals and time together, our job and home responsibilities, our social life, and the desires of our other souls. Ghost would like nothing better than to be allowed to focus where it wants and do its own thing, all the time! (I speak from long experience here…)
There are many factors in our lives that compete with this desire of Ghost, and in the long run, it is in Ghost’s own best interests to live a well-balanced and disciplined life. This is Ghost’s best defense against eventually becoming overwhelmed and seriously unbalanced by wode, while at the same time allowing a reasonable amount of time in our life for Ghost’s interests, and its own growth into its mature powers. Ghost is a powerful and brilliant soul, with many gifts to give to us and to the world. But it should not be in sole charge of how we live our life as a whole; it very much needs to be counterbalanced by our Lichama and all our other souls.
A note on creative Wode and substance abuse
(My response to a study group discussion on recovery.) The use of mind-altering substances, in all cultures, is one way that people access the energy of wode and the insight and creativity it can lead to. The problem, at least within our own modern culture, is that this particular pathway is so easily abused and has a whole lot of problems associated with it, problems that far outweigh, and eventually overwhelm, any creative flow that might be associated with it. And one of the problems is that people on this path become unconsciously trained to assume that this is the only way to reach, control, or shape their creativity. Then, when they step off that path and become clean, they feel they’ve lost that connection, or that route for wode to flow into their lives.
This is basically a good thing, because wode flowing in this way too easily turns into very negative forms, like frenzy, fury, mania, or dissociation from the everyday world. The use of substances, at least as it is currently done in our culture, blocks a person from being able to control and direct wode, and so it runs wild within us. But the last thing we want, is to apparently lose our creativity in the process of recovering from substance abuse.
For a person in recovery, it’s entirely up to you, how much creative wode-flow you might want to invite into your life, and what form you’d like it to take. I would suggest: nurture your curiosity. Ghost can shape the inflowing wode in many different ways, and ‘creative’ projects in the form of arts or crafts is only one of those ways. Another big way is intellectual activity. Encourage your own curiosity by exploring new things, new areas of knowledge. Learn things! Things that fit in with the way your mind thinks. Maybe history? Some areas of science, where you can learn a bit about chemistry or astronomy or the science of weather, just for the sake of interest? Maybe problem-solving? Writing, just for yourself? Music? You might enjoy puzzles and brain games, or working with craft kits.
You don’t need to soar off on wild flights of imagination if that’s not your way. A quiet sense of satisfaction because you’ve solved some puzzling thing, or put something together, or learned some interesting new thing, works just as well to energize your Ghost and the flow of Wode that is right for who you are, at this time in your life.
The main thing is this: never assume that the full and beautiful creative expression of your Ghost depends on the use of any substances. Rather, it depends on getting to know your Ghost and its own healthy desires for creative expression.
Controlled development and use of Wode
Some of us seem to be mentally and neurologically prone to wode-ness, or drawn toward activities that involve wode-states. I mentioned earlier about artists and other creative or intellectual geniuses who sometimes cross the bounds of sanity, and about berserker-wode in its uncontrolled and its controlled states. There is also the form of wode that can lead to trance-working, altered states of consciousness, spirit-possession, second sight and prophecy, which again can happen in uncontrolled or in controlled ways. And the final form of intense wode that I’m aware of involves mystical experiences and ecstatic spiritual states, transcendent experiences of the God-Realms, the fields of Ahma, and profound explorations of phenomena that lie outside of Time and Space. All of these things I list here can offer priceless gifts to humanity, but can come at a high price to the individual giving it, being driven by wode up to, and at times over, the edge of sanity or of balanced living.
The solution for such individuals is not to reject or turn against their wode-inspired Ghost, which seriously backfires in most cases, anyway. The solution is to train themselves to manage wode, to nurture and develop their Ghost appropriately, and to live a healthy, well-balanced life that respects the needs of their Lichama and their other souls as well. This applies also to those of us whose Ghost is not overwhelmed with genius-level wode, but who want to develop our own Ghost-abilities to the highest level that works for us, without unbalancing the rest of our life.
I want to note something important here: if there isn’t much of a flow of wode into our Ghost, our Ghost is going to be all over the map, not focused on excellence in one or a few areas, but just roaming around as a dilletante, having a taste of this and that, here and there. If there is too much wode flowing in, meaning more than we personally are able to handle, then Ghost becomes fixated and goes off the deep end. It’s good to seek a happy medium. Let Ghost relax and have fun with its hobbies and interests, but also allow and encourage it to seek excellence in some area so it can develop its full powers, which requires training, experience, and a well-managed flow of wode.
Ghost-training is demanding and takes time; I can’t cover it here in a few pages, nor do I have the necessary expertise to cover it fully. But I will offer suggestions for how you can go about it. The suggestions are pretty obvious, and the emphasis is on training and self-discipline. The purpose of this is not only to develop a specific ability—artistic, intellectual, esoteric, whatever—but to control and channel the wode that pours into your Ghost, ensuring that there is enough but not too much. Both focuses of training are equally important: skills, and wode-management. Skills are how you manage wode, while wode inspires you toward high achievement with whatever skills you work to develop. My suggestions here will also, I hope, be useful for parents and grandparents who are considering ways to foster the healthy development of their children’s souls. Here are domains of action in Midgard life where Ghost and Wode play major roles.
Artistic Wode: This covers all forms of art: representational, literary, movement arts, music, drama, craft-work, etc. The key here is to pursue disciplined training in your art, whether through classes, apprenticeship, or self-training using resources provided by experts. Daily practice, even for brief periods, will have a cumulative and beneficial impact on your Ghost’s abilities and your control of your wode.
Warrior-Wode: Considering how dangerous this is when uncontrolled, if you have a tendency in this direction, it’s essential for you to pursue some kind of martial arts training that emphasizes not only martial skill, but also character development, ethical action, self-control, and if at all possible, management of spirit-energy such as Qi / ki / chi. (This is even more crucial for children, to develop their ethical sense and self-control right along with their physical abilities.)
As far as I know, the Eastern martial arts have more prospects for this type of enhanced training than other kinds, but I’m not very knowledgeable in this area anymore. (I did reach the highest level below black belt in Korean karate, but that was many years ago! But the class did offer ethical guidance and training in management of ki, very useful, and I enrolled my young, boxing-mad son in such classes as well, which did him a lot of good.)
Also in this category is the practice of turning warrior-wode energy toward the skills needed for emergency response and rescue, where physical ability, targeted skills, and laser-focus are essential. As you undergo training and experience in this area, consider the role of wode in powering and focusing your abilities on the job, and harness that wode to increase your effectiveness in a controlled way.
Intellectual Wode: Enhancing your Ghost’s intellect may or may not result in any productive output. It isn’t necessary that it do so, though it’s fine if it does. Here you are developing the skills of abstract thinking, whether through rune-lore, various forms of philosophy, development of theories and ideas, scientific pursuits, history, languages, mathematics, mental challenges, or whatever route your Ghost takes.
You are training your skills just as much as an athlete does, but the results may or may not be very visible to others. You might write, teach, lecture, have a career in research, and these are very good ways to stimulate your Ghost and share your knowledge with others. But some people have jobs or careers that are not strongly focused on intellectual matters, yet they still love to learn and explore ideas unrelated to their employment. If that’s you, then challenge yourself to become an expert in some area of knowledge you’re interested in, just because you are interested. Like me, with Heathen soul lore! You don’t have to have a paid job or career in some area, to become satisfyingly knowledgeable in it.
Esoteric Wode: I include here trancework and altered states of consciousness, seidh-work, oracular and rune work, magic of various kinds, and other types of wode-enhanced mind-states that are used in esoteric and magical contexts. There are a number of dangers and pitfalls inherent in this kind of work. We need to start slowly and carefully, pay heed to expert guidance, and be sensitive to our own reactions and the effects our work is having on ourselves and on others.
Here, I’d like to recommend several books that offer very useful training in this regard, the first two by Diana L. Paxson. My primary recommendation is Trance-Portation: Learning to Navigate the Inner World. This is in the form of step-by-step lessons; it offers precautions and excellent guidance, and I recommend it for training your Ghost and wode in matters of altered consciousness. Diana’s The Way of the Oracle: Recovering the Practices of the Past to Find the Answers of Today is likewise an enlightening book. Another very relevant and useful reference for developing and directing esoteric wode is Cat Heath’s Elves, Witches & Gods: Spinning Old Heathen Magic in the Modern Day. Josephine McCarthy’s Magical Healing has good advice for maintaining and restoring physical and psychic health during strenuous esoteric work, as does her series on Magical Knowledge.
Mystical Wode: Finally we come to mystical wode, which bears some similarities to what I call Esoteric Wode, and some differences. The methods of both types of endeavor may be very similar, but there may be some differences in the aims. Mystical Wode is focused on direct personal contact with spiritual realities: Deities and their Realms, Ahma / unconstrained Spirit, spiritual beings such as ancestors, Landwights, and others, as well as with fundamental cosmogonic processes outside of our familiar Time and Space. The latter includes phenomena that in our belief are pictured as Ginnungagap, the Wells of Wyrd and Mimir, Hvergelmir, Ragnarök, how things happen in mythic Time and Space, the World-Tree / Yggdrasil, processes of wyrd and ørlög, the mystical roots of myth, and similar spiritual explorations.
This is a very personal endeavor; one’s experiences are sometimes difficult to communicate and share, and there isn’t much practical application for it, except that it eventually tends to reshape one’s whole life and understanding!
When wode strikes in this area, its strongest form presents as mystical rapture, which is a phenomenon known in all religions that I am aware of, both major and off-the-beaten-track religions. A person may fall unconscious, as their Ghost is ‘raptured’ away to the God-realms, and they may receive revelations. Some sects ‘speak in tongues.’ In some religions, physical phenomena may occur, such as stigmata among mystical Christians, where the wounds of Christ’s crucifixion appear on the body of the mystic, temporarily or permanently. Hindu yogis and Tibetan lamas are said to undergo paranormal physical phenomena, as are shamans, monks and nuns in many traditions. Inexplicable illnesses, often neurological in nature and sometimes including paranormal phenomena, often drive the inner growth of traditional shamans and mystics.
This degree of powerful wode flowing through mind and body is difficult for a person to handle, and sometimes occurs without their choice or wish for it. It’s like a rushing torrent too strong to stand against. Milder forms of this wode, undertaken voluntarily, serve as a pathway to the Deities rather than as a hurtling torrent. Both lead to the realms of Spirit, but their level of power, difficulty, and life-disruption varies! Diana Paxson has another book that offers useful insights for handling some kinds of mystical wode: The Essential Guide to Possession, Depossession, & Divine Relationships.
Most modern Heathens have a good deal of experience interacting with our Deities, though this may not involve a heavy state of rapture-wode, but rather a lighter state of altered consciousness. Some of our Deities, such as—obviously—Woden / Odin, may be into wode-based relationships with humans, more than other Deities. Really, the best way to constructively work with mystical wode in our faith, is to work with whichever Deity is sending it your way. It’s a personal thing between you and that Deity, and can be experienced in many different ways. An article of mine, Earth, Water, Wind and Fire: Elemental Modes for Relating to the Deities, offers some ideas for mystical explorations for our Ghost and our other souls as well.
It’s essential to follow all the usual guidelines for Ghost-health and overall healthy and balanced lifestyle as you pursue these Ghost activities. Maintain sound friendships with mature Heathens and others who can keep you grounded and in touch with Midgard. Pay attention to your other souls, your Lichama, your family and friends, your job, everyday life. Use self-discipline to ensure that your explorations into mystical wode are neither overwhelming the rest of your life, nor drifting off into shapeless airhead-land, taking your brain along, too. Making use of your Daybook is an essential method to keep you on track with this.
Exercise 5-1: Evaluating Wode in your life
Without throwing yourself headlong into a torrent of wode, consider whether and where wode has played any role in your life. In Chapter 4 / Study Guide 4, you explored areas of inspiration in your life, and thought about ways you’d like to follow a personal Ghost-practice. Now, think about the role of wode in those things.
Is wode something you want to get into, to encourage more of in your life? If so, in what direction do you want to encourage it to flow, and what training and discipline will help with that?
Or do you feel you have about the right amount flowing in? Even if so, do you still need to consider more about what direction it is flowing, and what training would shape and empower it further?
Or is a lot of wode flowing into you, and you have trouble managing it? If that’s the case, are there suggestions in this chapter, and in the recommended references, that might point you in a direction to manage it better?
Bookhoard / Bibliography
Heath, Cat. Elves, Witches & Gods: Spinning Old Heathen Magic in the Modern Day. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn, 2021.
Paxson, Diana L. Odin: Ecstasy, Runes & Norse Magic. Newburyport, MA: Weiser Books, 2017.
Ibid, Taking Up the Runes: A Complete Guide to Using Runes in Spells, Rituals, Divination, and Magic. York Beach, ME: Weiser Books, 2005.
Ibid, The Essential Guide to Possession, Depossession, and Divine Relationships. San Francisco, CA: Weiser Books, 2015.
Ibid, Trance-Portation: Learning to Navigate the Inner World. San Francisco, CA: Weiser Books, 2008.
Ibid, The Way of the Oracle: Recovering the Practices of the Past to Find the Answers of Today. San Francisco, CA: Weiser Books, 2012.