Irminsul Ættir

An Example of Nordic Magic Healing

 Discovering and "galdoring" the mystical Origin of the sickness

©1998 by Yves Kodratoff. All rights reserved.

What kind of magic to study?

 I deal with what has been seen as a very special kind of magic, magical healing. In fact, I do not make much of a difference between magic healing or magic anything else. All magic comes from the same place, slightly twisting our physical reality in order to allow something magical to creep out (at least, to the extent of my moderate strength, this how I feel it !). I will detail in this paper how to perform this magical act for two specific steps of Nordic healing, the ones I recognized as the third and forth steps of physical healing , that is, discovering the deep cause of the sickness and addressing a galdr to it. We need to master all the well-known techniques of Nordic magic in order to perform this feat: seidr, rune magic, and galdr (called " galdor " in Old English, hence my invention of the verb " to galdor " as in the title of this paper).

I only recognize one kind of magic, but I would be blind not to acknowledge the existence of two opposed attitudes when learning magic. One is for the increase of the magician's power and knowledge over others (including healing which can be just a subtle way of asserting our power over other humans), the other one is for the increase of the magician's power and knowledge over himself or herself. [note : in order to avoid heavy speech, in the rest of this paper, the patient will always be called " he ", and the healer " she "]. The first one is often called " white magic, " and the second one " black magic ". Even though I use these words for the sake of simplicity, I must warn against the blind belief that white magic is good, and black magic is evil. I must warn against this sharp difference between Good and Evil. For centuries, christianity has been hammering the belief in this sharp difference, and it is very difficult for us to think otherwise nowadays.

Therefore, I do not claim I am practicing " good white " magic, I claim I am practicing a form of Nordic Magic Healing which is more devoted to the increase of my self-control and knowledge, than to the increase of my power upon other people. As a consequence of this choice, I am unable to provide healing as a caterer provides food. I do not believe I am, strictly speaking, able to magically heal other people. I can help them, the Spirits or the Gods can heal them if they listen to the pleas that both healer and patient address to them. As a matter of fact, this kind of humility in front of the Gods is perhaps the main feature I see in the Nordic healer. She does not boast of being powerful, she boasts of being able to address the Gods, in a manner nearer to the one of a priest(ess) than the one of a warrior.

Runes for healing

 Why use runes for healing at all? Most modern rune users use them as a kind of elaborate tea leaves or tarot cards, in order to foresee the future. I do not want to criticize this choice here [see at my web site a thorough discussion of all the ancient texts dealing with this topic: Nordic Magic Healing ],

I simply want to cite two unexpected allies: the terrible Dominicans, Kramer and Sprenger, who wrote the " Malleus Maleficarum " around 1490, a book which later became the manual for witch hunting. As good christians, Kramer and Sprenger believed in the difference between holy and malicious magic, and they describe the use of runes for healing as non demoniac, if unlawful. In Summers' translation, part 1, question 2, they say : " ... if they superstitiously employ natural things, as, for example, by writing down certain characters or unknown names of some kind, and that then they use these runes for restoring a person to health, or for inducing friendship, or with some useful end, and not at all for doing any damage or harm, in such cases, it may be granted, I say, that there is no express invocation of demons ; nevertheless it cannot be that these spells are employed without a tacit invocation, wherefore all such charms must be judged to be wholly unlawful. " This text has been written in Latin which has a non ambiguous word for "runes". As a side issue, this text shows that, since I recommend explicit invocation of the Nordic Gods, I would have been burned by the two good monks. But the main issue here is to show that persons of Germanic culture (they were born in the Rhine valley) were still aware at the end of the 15th century that runes could be used for healing.


The Kalevala and the steps for healing

 The Kalevala is a collection of legends and songs gathered from the beginning of the 19th century, in Finland and in the region of Saint Petersburg, by a Finish doctor, Elias Lönnrot. In it, I found several healing cases which constitute in my opinion the last trace of an ancient healing methodology. I will not go into any details about this methodology here since it is already described in my forthcoming book on Nordic Magic Healing. Lönnrot collected many folk songs while completing his field work in Finland, but instead of publishing them as they were, he put them together into a coherent epic. Hence, the ordering of the steps is not an image of ancient medical knowledge, but an image of Lönnrot's good sense. Inversely, even modern ethnologists acknowledge Lönnrot's respect for the content of the songs he gathered. We can therefore believe that each of the poems linked to each step, irrelevant of the ordering of the steps, reflects ancient Nordic medical knowledge.

I noticed that the healing of the mind is very different from the healing of the body. The healing of the mind often opposes some modern schools of psychotherapeutic practice, while the healing of the body simply complements modern practice, almost without problems. This is why I choose to speak here of body healing, less a topic of disagreement and arguing. Among the twelve steps for obtaining a complete physical healing, the first two, namely attempting to self-heal and the finding of a healer, are very important. They should never be under-estimated. Nevertheless, they do not need work from the healers but from the sick, and this is why I do not feel too bad about skipping them here. The next step can be called 'finding the Origin or the Genesis of the sickness'. It calls for much rational talk between the healer and the patient, and it also asks for a more mystical contact through Nordic shamanic journeying, called seidr. Once this Origin has been discovered, the healer must address the sickness, in a fourth step, by clearly stating its Origin and name, and must ask it to leave the patient alone, with some good reasons. This fourth step is performed by composing a song to the sickness, by summarizing the song in a galdr, howling/singing the galdr, and finally writing the galdr on a piece of wood. Let us now see these steps in some more detail.

Finding the origin of the sickness

 Do not expect to find " the " Origin at once. You will at most find the Origin that the patient is able to acknowledge at present. This can evolve over time. The process must be done and repeated several times until the patient really feels that there is nothing more to add during the rational discussion, and until the healer gets an overwhelming feeling during the non-rational contact. It is almost funny to see people learning to heal in this manner, they are so surprised by the intensity of the feeling they get after repeating this process two or three times. The healer is then convinced that she has uncovered, if not the ultimate Origin of the sickness, at least one of its important steps, a step that needs healing.

What I call rational contact is a simple interrogation about the patient's feelings about the causes of his sickness. Do not believe that everything comes from the small childhood, it could well be that the deep origin is relatively recent, try to help the patient to be conscious of the possibly unexpected causes of his ailment.

What I call irrational contact, is a kind of shamanic journey. It is not done following the beat of a drum as is done classically, but it is done following the " beat of the patient's energy " as a Shiatsu practitioner would say, that is by feeling the life energy of the patient. During this seidr, the patient is explicitly asked to open his soul to the healer in order to allow a deep exchange between the two. The healer must also open her soul to the patient. This kind of non-sexual love exchange can be dangerous when practiced on very sick patients (it is as well dangerous for the patient when practiced by a very sick healer !). It is part of the healer's training to learn how to avoid being contaminated, and this cannot be explained in a paper. My experience is that this exchange happens very often, almost unconsciously, when people are practicing any kind of holistic healing (for instance, Shiatsu, Reiki, Hand Healing, massage, etc.), but it is much better to practice it consciously, and be aware of its danger.

Rational versus irrational attitudes

 This alternation of the rational and non-rational steps insures a good relationship between healer and patient. It also avoids the extremes of pure chatter, as when an only rational contact is established, and of crazy imaginations, possible when only a non-rational approach is used. This alternation is, in my opinion, the second essential feature of Nordic Magic: never forget the importance of the rational world (as happened to the magic of the Middle Ages until the 19th century), but never forget also the presence of the irrational world, as happens massively nowadays (this is not a specifically modern attitude, the pure rational attitude always had at least a few supporters).

I have to insist on this point because I know that many people of the mystical kind claim very strongly that " there is no difference between Science and mysticism ", which makes my point look almost trivial. I must say that, spending most of my time among strict scientists, I know very well their deep despise of anything non rational, and the way they scoff - discreetly when they are polite - at any statement relying on an irrational view of the world. I have thus two almost opposite recommendations to make. One is for the mystical kind. Do not believe that scientists have any respect for your position, and be intimately convinced that, in their eyes, you are nothing but intellectually retarded persons. There is a long long way to go to reconcile your position and theirs.

One is for the pure rational kind. Please question your blind belief in rationality, and see that it is nothing but yet another kind of religion you are propagating without knowing. There are things that rationality cannot explain, and it is irrational to behave, as you do, by simply closing your eyes to these realities.

Now, to both of them, I must ask to consider that magic, and, in my opinion especially Nordic magic, very seldom opposes rationality. I mean that purely magic happenings, similar to an explosion of irrationality, are extremely seldom, and are not to be expected in our lives. A magical healing, for instance, very seldom happens in the way of a Lourdes' miracle. The patient does not feel very changed after the magic healing, he simply feels he just lived very intense moments. Then, slowly, slightly unexpected things will happen to him, but none of those things radically violates normality. The healer can even be a bit put down at seeing that her treatment is fast forgotten by her patient who attributes his recovery to those " slightly unexpected things ". I claim that magic is then working at full strength. The patient does not attribute his recovery to the power of his healer, but to the good chances just happening now. This because it is always possible to explain without resorting to magic why the patient has been healing.

The rational mind will claim that I am simply imagining some hidden magic behind what is happening to the patient. The irrational mind will be disappointed that no clear magic is showing up. My only answer is that with magic there is no easy way, and accepting incredulity of many and disappointment of some is part of the job.

Writing a poem to the Origin of sickness

 Once it has been discovered, and strongly felt by the healer, a poem must be written that expresses as clearly as possible what this Origin is, and what the healer intends to do about it. It is even better if this poem is beautiful; here lies a good amount of the healer's power. If she is unable to poetically express her feelings, I strongly doubt that she will be able to call upon the Gods to help her patient. By " poetry " I do not mean inflated speech, but speech that is beautiful to the one treated, and that moves his feelings. There is thus no need to feel like being at a poetry competition since the only real judge is the patient. It is nevertheless obligatory that he should be deeply moved by the poem. I might be wrong, but I recommend in general that the best poetry is the one that uses the simplest words, and that says its message the most accurately. Nevertheless, this is a problem of relationship between the healer and her patient, and some people might need inflated sentences to feel moved by them. Again, all that is no easy task, and it calls for a large amount of inspiration from the healer. As an example, let us analyze a long poem written in runes, dating from the beginning of the fourteenth century, and found on the so-called Ribe stick:
Earth I pray guard

and the heaven above,

sun and Saint Mary

and himself the Lord God,

that he grants me hands to make whole

and healing tongue

to cure the Trembler

when treatment is needed.

From back and from breast, from trunk and from limb, from eyes and from ears; from every place where evil can enter. A stone is called swart; it stands out of the sea. On it lie nine Needs. They shall neither sleep sweet nor make warm until you are better of it; for whom I have caused runes to utter words. Amen. And so be it. [ends with a sign of cross].

The Trembler is the sickness we now call malaria. It identifies a sickness and addresses it poetically, but with simple words. This poem is obviously christian, and cannot be used by us as it stands. This is why I suggest that it can be " re-paganized " as follows (this is only an example) :
Earth I pray guard

and the heaven above,

the sun and shining Freya

And the sovereign couple.

that He and She grant me hands to make whole and healing tongue

to cure the Trembler when treatment is needed.

From back and from breast, from trunk and from limb, from eyes and from ears; from every place where evil can enter. A stone is called swart; it stands out of the sea. On it lie nine Needs. They shall neither sleep sweet nor make warm until you are better of it; for whom I have caused runes to utter words. Thor help - me! Thor hallow my charm! Thor protect [name the patient]! The words "amen, and so be it," and the cross were used as a way to hallow the whole charm, and this is why I call to Thor and to his hallowing hammer to end the charm.

This poem is then declaimed loudly to the patient who must understand and agree with each of its words.

Creating the galdr

 The healer now takes advantage of her deep understanding of the meaning of the runes, and associates some parts of the poem to some runes. The following is an example of what can be done with the above poem.

The Gods who are linked to the Earth are Frey (linked to the generosity of the Earth) and Frigg (who is able to command the elements of the earth), leading me therefore to use the runes Jeran and Pertho. The God of the sky is Tyr, associated to Tiwaz. Sowelo corresponds to the sun, and I replaced the evocation of Holy Mary with that of Freya, and therefore, I link it to Berkanan. God himself can correspond to Odin (Ansuz) or also, for me at least, to the sacred couple, Nerthus - Njörd (to whom I associate Uruz and Ingwaz). The tongue that heals is the one of the words that heal, which I associate to Ansuz. The Trembler is a sickness giving fever, so I will associate it to Kaunan. The reference to "nine Needs" calls of course for an evocation of Naudiz. [Note : why I associate each rune with this meaning or this God is discussed in detail in my forthcoming book : Howling, I gathered them. It would need pages to explain each of the choices done above.]

In order to be sure that this rather intellectual work is not just a rational building, its irrational foundations are checked by a seidr to the poem and the runes. It is then often the case that some runes are felt as not really appropriate to the patient and the sickness' Origin. It is necessary to delete them and to start thinking again. And once again, rational and irrational steps should alternate to reinforce each other several times.

In our example, suppose that no runes are deleted during the trance stage, then the galdr will be built up as follows:
Earth I pray guard

Jeran! Pertho!

and the heaven above,

Tiwaz! Tiwaz!

the sun and shining Freya

Sowelo! Berkanan!

And the sovereign couple.

Uruz! Ingwaz!

that He and She grant me hands to make whole and healing tongue

to cure the Trembler when treatment is needed.

Ansuz! Kaunan!

From back and from breast, from trunk and from limb, from eyes and from ears; from every place where evil can enter. A stone is called swart; it stands out of the sea. On it lie nine Needs. Naudiz! Naudiz! Naudiz! Naudiz! Naudiz! Naudiz! Naudiz! Naudiz! Naudiz! They shall neither sleep sweet nor make warm until you are better of it; for whom I have caused runes to utter words. Thor help - me! Thor hallow my charm! Thor protect [name the patient]!

Hence the text of the galdr, a sort of summary of the poem, could, for example, read :
Jeran! Pertho!

Tiwaz! Tiwaz!

Sowelo! Berkanan!

Uruz! Ingwaz!

Ansuz! Kaunan!

Naudiz! Naudiz! Naudiz! Naudiz! Naudiz! Naudiz! Naudiz! Naudiz! Naudiz!

Thor help - me! Thor hallow my charm! Thor protect [name the patient]!

This text is sung or howled to the patient (then it becomes exactly a galdr) who well understands the link between this galdr, the poem, and his sickness.

Activating the magic

 All these operations slowly increase the intensity of the relationship between the patient and the healer. Both of them slowly become less aware of the surrounding world, and at the end of the galdr, they reach a stage of mystical ecstasy which has been acknowledged as the one of the acting shamans. In my opinion, this opens the gates between the rational and the irrational world, as if ordinary reality would shift a little to leave a slight opening to magical reality.

The magic of the galdr still has to be made active.

The healer chooses a piece of wood, following her intuition, that will be the most appropriate for carving the runes of the galdr upon. Then the carving takes place.

This carving must be impregnated by the patient's blood to make the magic complete and active. This last step can be seen as horrible to the modern mind that is very shy in front of bloodletting. We must recall that at the time the runes were used, nobody cared so much at seeing oozing blood. For instance, a few centuries after rune using, bleeding a patient became the most efficient medical treatment.

Some patients may find it absolutely sissy to be so afraid of blood, and will casually welcome your request. For those, cut the fat of one of their fingers with a very sharp (and very clean !) knife. There is no need to cut more than 1 or 2 millimeters deep to get enough oozing blood to trace your runes. The patient's finger is put on its side on the wood, position your blade on his finger, and cut very fast. It will give no pain, and will heal very fast (don't forget disinfectant, however !).

Some other patients may hesitate or even recoil in horror from such a treatment. I then recommend to ask the patient to wear the piece of wood carrying the runes at all times, and to wait for the next time that they will hurt themselves and bleed. They should then put their flowing blood on the runes that the healer carved possibly long time ago. This seems to work equally well as the bloodier technique, even if the patient never gets hurt. The idea of blooding the runes is perhaps as much efficient as actually bloodying them.

Conclusion

 The healing is far from ended after these two steps, but they are very important and exemplify the main principles of magic that are: If you don't feel working magic is your way of honoring the Gods, forget about it, it's safer.

For a more complete study on runes and galdur please vist the author's web site, Nordic Magic Healing

© 1998 by Yves Kodratoff. All rights reserved.
Irminsul Ættir