Laurie Asra Sottilaro
Source: the first breath of a child, from the Gods and Goddesses; Vé gifted ability of Wode to Ask & Embla
Type: Life-soul, shape-soul
Keywords: Breath, gastgehygd, gastgemynd,
Other Language Synonyms: Gast (Anglo-Saxon); Gest (Old Saxon); Geist, Gheist, Keist (Old High German)
Spheres: Wisdom, thought, memory, intellect, mind, spirit, spiritual energy
Afterlife: With the Gods, Hel; broken open and dissipated back to Ginnungagap
Patrons: whoever would be associated with Ghost’s various projects and interests
Care and feeding: nurture our creative, intellectual, and spiritual powers; breathing exercises, meditation, contemplation
Foothold: Breath, lungs, diaphragm; Ghost-Mind interpenetrates brain
Interface: Overshadows physical brain
Concerns: The Ghost tends to be interested in what the Ghost is interested in, and disregards what is outside that interest. Spiritual starvation can be a problem when not allowed to express itself.
Runes / Bindrune for Ghost with Wode: Dagaz, Sowilo, Eihwaz, Hagalaz, Gebo, Kenaz
Awareness: its interests, connection with Ahma
Notes and References:
What is Ghost?
Ghost is the hama, or container, for an individual’s Ahma. It is itself made from the shaped or distilled mist of Ginnungagap, and forms a cover for the Ahma of a given individual. It provides a bridge between the infinite and the individual. It may help to imagine a Ghost as the upper end of a spindle, upon which our Lich and all our other souls save one are wound; that remaining soul is Saiwalo, which forms the lower end of the spindle.
“Our Ghost is honestly not very body-friendly, nor is it usually all that interested in the concerns of Midgard except as an arena where its talents can shine. The stronger our own Ghost is, the more likely it is that we neglect the care of our Lich-hama, or even reject the Lich altogether, unless our other souls such as our Hama, Ferah, and Mod are strong enough to balance the Ghost” (Rose 2021 121). “Experiences of our Ghost are reflected in our Lich, often as symptoms that today are regarded as illnesses. The discipline and focus required to live a wode-filled life, while still functioning in Midgard and maintaining health and sanity, may shape a life that is quite different from the ordinary, sometimes painfully so.” (Rose 2021 113)
“What lies in common between the idea of an immaterial human ghost, versus a non-human wight which might be quite physical?…The common factor between them is that all – both human Ghosts and non-human wights – are native to worlds other than Midgard” (Rose 2021 117). “When any being native to one World moves into a different World this being will appear as a ghost in the World it is visiting” (Rose 2021 120). This is why “Gods appear as their own Ghosts to people.” (Rose 2021 118)
Ghosts and gods
“Although Ghost comes from the spirit-steam hovering over Ginnungagap, once it is shaped into the Ghost it has a different life and fate, with natural ties to the Gods and Goddesses if we choose to pursue and honor them” (Rose 2021 94-5). “Our Ghost … corresponds to our Gods and Goddesses as personal, individualized entities. Our Ghost relates to our Ahma in the same way that the Holy Ones relate to the Source within Ginnungagap. They are one in substance, but have different characteristics; or rather, the Ghosts and Gods have characteristics, while the Ahma and Ginnungagap cannot be defined by characteristics” (Rose 2021 94). “The difference I see between us and the Deities is that their Ahma is not tightly enclosed within their Ghosts: their Ghosts are porous, elastic, and expansive. The Deities can shift with ease between a state of unbounded Ahma-Spirit and a state of being a Ghost, a personal spirit being” (Rose 2022 94).
A Ghost can also be formed autonomously, with no connection to the gods. This may be the case for people who are not drawn to any particular deities, or theism in general. There can be another path for them: to dissolve the ghost, and return to Ahma. Attempts to reach nirvana, and similar practices, are basically about this process.
Ghost and Breath
When we breathe, Ghost breathes with us, although it doesn’t breathe air. Instead, it rests in Ginnungagap, where “Ghost pulsates within this Ahma-field, drawing Ahma, the steam from Ginnungagap, into and out of its skin in a nourishing bath of spirit power: this is what keeps it strong and living, and sustains the vital ties between our Ahma-soul and its hama, our Ghost-soul. When our body, our Lich, breathes, it is mirroring the pulsations of our Ghost” (Rose 2021 96).
Breathing can indicate problems as well: “When the Lich is not fully connected with the Ghost, breathing becomes very slow, and consciousness, which is tied to the Ghost, is located elsewhere in an out-of-body experience. … In a Lich which is slowly dying, the Ghost is simply drawing more and more distant from the Lich, taking with it both breath and consciousness” (Rose 2021 97). You may have seen photographs in which a mother has her hands over her children’s mouths and has her head turned away. Similarly, there has long been a trend of people covering their mouths when they sneeze, even before they knew about microbes, even when alone. In those cases, covering the mouth when sneezing was “meant to prevent the inadvertent breathing out of the Ghost when yawning or sneezing, as well as avoid breathing in any Ghosts that are floating around ‘out there'” (Rose 2021 98).
“…the opposite action of speeding and exciting the breath is also effective [at activating the Ghost]… [In out-of-control hyperventilation] our Ghost s is temporarily shocked loose from our Lich. Depending on the severity of the shock and the degree of loosening, our reactions range from panicky breathing and gasping (when we gasp, we are instinctively trying to draw our Ghost back into our body, before we faint) to fainting or coma” (Rose 2021 98).
What Ghost loves to do
“Inspiration comes from Ahma into Ghost, is shaped by Ghost-mind, then expressed directly from Ghost-mind until the Lichama, our living body” (Rose 2022 113). A key aspect of balance within one’s soular-system is to keep a healthy Ghost occupied. Ghost “loves to work and play with intellect, inspiration, mind” (Rose 2022 112). “Ghost’s love of ‘mystery’ is another big area, that can cover anything from fictional or real-life crime mystery, to philosophical pondering, to scientific research into unexplained phenomena, to esoteric studies, to enjoying puzzles, riddles and mental games” (Rose 2022 113).
Essentially, “Ghost is an intellectual hobbyist, it likes to sit and tinker for hours with some abstract idea or thought or learning, detached from practical demands of everyday life. Give your Ghost some time for doing this, whenever you can” (Rose 2022 116). Especially encourage children to do this. If your Ghost wants to work with the deities, or if your ghost would rather stay impersonal, go with it. But be warned: “Ghost likes to focus on its own interests, and it tends to be careless about competing matters” (Rose 2022 124) such as eating, sleeping, and bathing, among other things. For this reason among others, it is much healthier for Ghost to remain balanced with the other souls, rather than allowing it to take over.
The Occult Ghost
In the Anglo-Saxon days, there were two terms current that are appropriate to our modern-day study: gastgyhygd and gastgemynd. “We can think of our Gast-gehygd, our Ghost-Huginn, as the one who ‘thinks forward’ in time and intentionality, while our Gast-gemynd, our Ghost-Muninn, ‘thinks backward’ in time and reflective memory. Both of these functions tie in with the ecstatic visionary and prophetic states of mind that the Ghost is capable of when inspired by Wode…” (Rose 2021 81)
While the ghost is not a wander-soul, it can become disjointed from the Lich. “When we ‘lose consciousness’ through fainting or coma, our Ghost loosens its connection with our body, including its connection with our brain and the physical awareness that happens through our brain and its interface with our other souls. Sometimes this condition leads to out-of-body and near-death experiences, experiences where we are aware and observant of what is around us (whether in the physical world, or elsewhere), while our brain and body are not showing signs that this awareness is happening, or even physically possible. The one who is aware in this ‘physically impossible way’ is our Ghost …
Ghost is also the soul who travels during shamanic journeys or other trance-working that involves very deep trance with full loss of consciousness … When we are in a lighter trance, seeking knowledge, spaeworking or soul-faring, this is not likely to involve Ghost travel: when our Ghost fares fourth, we do lose consciousness, we faint and collapse. Obviously, in a light trance our Ghost is still involved through our consciousness, but it is not actively traveling away from our body. The lighter trance experiences, without full loss of consciousness, involve faring-forth of other souls, generally our Hugr, or if it involves shapeshifting our Ellor-Hama (alternate Hama) as well” (Rose 2022 99). “In summary, our Ghost can extend itself outside the body, as long as there is still an Athom-tie between it and the body” (Rose 2021 102).
The Activated Ghost
High emotional states play a significant role in the way Ghost operates. “Ghost does not so much feel or cause emotions; rather, Ghost is activated and energized by strong, sudden emotions or physical states similar to the way that water molecules are energized into steam when heated” (Rose 2021 99). Grímnismál is an example of an excited Ghost in the spiritual initiation of young Agnar, as Odin is activated between the two fires into a very high emotional state. “Once we move into the realms of Ghost-excitation, we are dealing with the phenomenon of Wode…” (Rose 2021 103)
“‘Wode’ describes the degree of inspiration at the higher end of the 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” (Rose 2022 122). But what is the purpose of Wode? “I see oðr/Wode as a bridge between humans and Deities, a channel through which divine power can flow into humans and into Midgard, bringing inspiration and creativity into our own world through the Gods’ gifts. Wode…flows through our Ghost-soul, in my understanding, and triggers Ghost’s creative and prophetic abilities to their highest level” (Rose 2021 109). This is one of the many ways that the gods can work through us in the mundane world, for those sensitive to such things. An excellent example, however negative, of how Wode works can be found in the speeches of Hitler. He would work himself into a highly excited state, and thus use this power to influence an entire nation. Another example can be found in group musical performances, where each piece of the music seems to gain a life of its own and pull the musicians along.
“When our Ghost is in a full-blown state of Wode, our normal faculties of judgment, rationality, self-control, and so forth are not operational…By its nature, the Wode-filled Ghost is basically out of control” (Rose 2021 110-11) Wode can be dangerous; states of Wode can include anything from mania to schizophrenia to seizures. An extreme example of the two sides of wode would be the Norse berserker: he could either fall into a controlled warrior’s trance, or a wild battle rage. For most of us however, it’s a smaller, hyper focused state: not wanting to put down a book, quit a game, or turn the television off. “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” (Rose 2022 124).
Wode can be an extremely useful state for getting things done however, as it is also exemplified by a coder’s trance, or any time one is “in the zone,” and as such can be a highly sought phenomenon. Controlled substances can give access to wode, but our culture isn’t built to work with such things anymore. Unfortunately people can get fixated on such tools as the only path to wode, or alternately become overwhelmed by it. “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” (Rose 2022 125). We no longer have the knowledge of how to use such things appropriately.
Some people are especially prone to Wode. Wode-prone individuals need 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” (Rose 2022 127). The opposite end of the spectrum can happen as well, leaving one with very little access to the state. “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 dilettante, 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” (Rose 2022 127). Finding one’s “Goldilocks zone” can then be a very important task.
Special Topic: Wode
| Positive Wode types: – Artistic – Esoteric – Intellectual – Mystical – Warrior | Negative Wode types: – Berserker – Warriors trance – Battle-rage – Frenzy – Fury – Dissociation – Hallucinations – Hysteria -Mania -Neurological dysfunction -Obsession -Psychosis -Schizophrenia -Seizures |
Possible Traits:
| Abstract intellectual thought | Careless of Midgard life |
| Inspired | Detached |
| Profound artistic creativity | Obsession |
| Spiritual | Self-isolating |
| Wode | Wode |