Winifred Hodge Rose
Here I’ll share with you a simple exercise I’ve been doing regularly, that I find has a lot of beneficial effects for me. The main purposes are to enhance our awareness and experience of our souls, and coordinate them together so each can express themselves well in our daily life. This is an ‘advanced’ soul lore exercise, not because it’s difficult, but because it assumes you’ve learned about this approach to Heathen soul lore by reading through the articles listed under “Soul Lore,” and working through the “Soul Lore Study Guides” on this website, or reading my Soul Lore Books I and II. The terms and concepts won’t mean much to you unless you have the necessary background.
The imagery that I use here is a spindle shape, with thread-ends that extend upwards and downwards.
Daily Soul-Spindle Exercise
Stand or sit, as is comfortable for you, and take a moment to still and center yourself. Based on your feelings or instincts, you can begin this exercise from the ‘bottom’ or the ‘top’ of the spindle; it varies for me. I’ll start at the top here.
1. Sense your Ahma soul as high above as feels right to you, and extending down to your Lich-Hama in Midgard through a shining thread.
2. As this thread descends toward you in Midgard, still above you, it expands out into a shape like the upside-down cup of a flower on a stem. This is the top portion of the spindle, connected to the Ahma-thread, that takes shape over your head like an umbrella and extends down to cover the top of your head. This is your Ghost soul.
3. After sitting with this briefly, move to the lower end, and sense your Saiwalo soul as far down as feels right to you. It extends up toward you in Midgard like a shining thread, and along that thread flows your Dwimor.
4. As the Saiwalo-Dwimor thread approaches your Lich-Hama in Midgard, it expands into a matching cup-shape facing upwards: the bottom part of the spindle, mirroring your Ghost coming from above. This cupped area is your Hugr soul, supporting you from below. It supports all your stances in Midgard, and interfaces between Midgard and other worlds.
5. Now you have the top and bottom parts of the soul-spindle, and need to fill in the center region. There are four souls especially focused on your Midgard life and the energies that are expressed in Midgard: your Ferah, Aldr, Hama, and Mod. Each of them takes a position around you horizontally, forming the middle part of the spindle and completing it.
I have to say that for me, my quirky souls frequently like to vary their postions! Sometimes they like to orient themselves according to my body: Hama at my back, supporting me; Mod in front, connected to solar plexus and abdomen; Ferah at my dominant hand of action; Aldr at my receptive hand of nourishment. And sometimes other arrangements.
Other times, they like to orient themselves to the directions, or to whatever happens to lie outside myself in the directions at that moment in time. Like if I’m facing a tree, or have my back to one, Ferah wants to be there, and Aldr likes to be nearest water, while Hama often likes to see itself in a mirror (facing a mirror, even though my eyes are closed–go figure), or Mod wants to face in the direction a challenge is coming from, and so forth. Often one of them wants to face in the direction the wind is blowing from.
I think some of this quirkiness on their parts is their effort to make sure I’m actually paying attention to them, and to my surroundings (whether physical, or imagined), and not just going through an automatic routine. Which is a great idea, I think, and adds interest to the exercise! I suggest that you be receptive to the impulses of these souls, unless you feel strongly that they must be arranged in a certain way. It’s up to you!
6. So, Hama, Mod, Aldr and Ferah have arranged themselves around you horizontally, and your spindle is complete. Now envision or feel all your souls sending forth a shining thread into your center, creating a smaller spindle there that catches all the threads and winds them up together. Now you have a spindle within a spindle. This is Sefa, your sense of self in this life, and the core through which you relate to all your souls and everything outside yourself during life in Midgard.
7. You may like, at this point, to imagine that this outer spindle is spinning around you, creating an aura of sacred energy. Alternatively, envision or feel both the spindles gently expanding and contracting, like they are breathing or pulsating. These motions help consolidate the souls in their relationships to each other.
8. Spend some time sensing all these soul-beings and their strengths and connections. They may have much to communicate to your conscious mind, and to each other, as you all participate in this sacred space and time of mutual awareness. You may also wish to reach out to a God, Goddess, or other beneficial spirit-being from this position of soul-consolidation, and experience your relationship with them in a new and deeper way.
9. Consolidate and acknowledge all the gifts you’ve gained with this exercise, and offer your thanks. Return to your everyday life with enhanced energy, clarity, focus, and inner stability.
I think you will find that regular practice of this exercise will continue to strengthen its benefits, and that new benefits will appear, as well!