Útiseta: The Norse Shaman’s Wilderness Quest
The Journey
The night is quiet, all other travellers tucked away, I am on the trackway, The Sky is dark with cloud and mood, I sit in light rain, wrapped up in my woollen cloak, Its such a gift to be able to walk gently North of The Bothy, picking up a track, that slipped through two hedges, a world within a world, once I rode the hedge, I popped out into a open field, still tracking North, I could see the Mighty Oak and a humble bench beneath it.
I dropped like a stone through water, I journeyed , my breath anchored me and fuelled the way, anchoring and immersing me into the fabric of the landscape , something I learnt a few years back on a “Woodland Immersion and Tracking” experience. “Sit Spots” and “Sitting Out” are so very similar yet Utesitta” Has a deeper thread for me..
I pass the 3 large pines as I make my way to Mighty Oak, he sits on the edge of a Blackthorn and Hawthorn Hedge, beside a natural gateway, alongside the Old County Border. A few minutes from the 5 Bar Gate , its quiet now, its empty at this time of night.
I took a deep breath of thanks, I closed my eyes once more, clutched my Mjollnir that sat around my neck, and I rested easy, letting the breath take me deeper.. , falling, tumbling down into the land, deep down I go, into the well, into the moment, into the twilight and into May Eve , through the gateway I go, I am aware of the mighty Oak above me, I am held , time dissolves, I am held for moments , minutes, its beyond time, I breathe and I resurface from the well, I gently open my eyes, its got a little darker now, and I watch 4 Crows fly Eastwards , I feel the Wyrd at work once more, the day is slipping into the place between places, in between day and night ,the transition point, The lantern a gift , lights the way, tools surround it, A Blowing Horn, Blot Bowl and 2 crystal beings one of heart and one of rooting.
Beloved Goddess, Freya, let our prayers come onto you.
The Old Ones are near… I hear an ancient song that's sweet like a lullaby .. I hear it my bones.. I feel my Kin, who once lived and died in this place.. I take my herbs of Mugwort , crafted and pitched.. I offer the Herbs and Mead up to the sky!! And I journey!!
The song carries through the air and as it does. it carries me also, into the birth of Summer.
Its words are simple yet they carry deep magic.
The song carries...
"Now we all are brought forth out of darkness and water
Brought into this world through blood and through pain
And deep in our bones, the old songs are wakening
So sing them with voices of thunder and rain."
In the centre of a circle under a mighty Oak I lay a wooden bur bowl, Runes burned and etched into its rim and in its heart is Vegvisir our Nordic compass, The word vegvisir means 'wayfinder' and 'sign post'.
Mead poured into the bowl and stirred clockwise 3 times, Blessed and raised and offered to the setting Sun, skywards to our All Father Odin, Gifts for Freya and Brigid. Oats and Honey for The Landwights, asking humbly for a good and healthy harvest within our lands and lives. Permission seeked to hold open rites and workings for community upon this land as the threads carry forwards. I cast and anchor and bless the bounds...
Reaching for the Runes I speak wild untamed words, a mixture of language and prayers.
A Rune is cast in honour of the new Medicine stories that are yet to come, today I stand alone, yet in 3 Moons time under the blessing of Mead Moon at Loaf Feast People will gather here once more. With story, song and heart.
I float and journey into the darkness, in between places I am riding the Hedge, Journeying, and then Beyond. It is a steady and gentle process. Some times I can tear myself form the fabric of this world .. yet tonight its calm and steady between breathing ,song and chant which I feel and hear from deep inside me.. Its a beautiful song sung by by Wyndreth its a s song that I know It's about a Witch, Volva /Seer howling at the