The above is a glimpse to what we will be offering. Here is some more information:
A full Immersion into The Northern Spirit House
This course will be an immersion into a rich living tradition in Scandinavia, both ancient and modern. In this course we will weave the deep waters of magic and mythic tradition with practices of earth intimacy and belonging to place. We will explore what it can me to be tenders of the Northern Anima Universalis: the Tree of Life, named Yggdrasil.
In this year course, there will be a varied content, including:
Runic Divination
Exploring the rich tradition of the runes with castings, spreads, rune-readings and bind-runes.
Summary: Understanding the difference between a sign and a symbol, between fantasy and the imagination. This will also introduce us to the "oracular" language and what it means to speak and to hear it. We will learn about the concepts of "Orlog" and the "Wyrd" and the idea of fate and destiny presided over by the three Norns: the past, present and future.
An Introduction to the thousand-year history of the runes
Summary: Going over the historical periods and influences of the rune scripts and rune-rows over the last thousand years up to modern times.
Practical session: Making Runes - how to send, how to pray, how to bless?
Summary: approaching the oracle and learning how to access the "unbidden" image from the runes. Understanding on how to make a rune set.
Ceremony and rune reading - What is rune reading and how do we approach it?
Summary: when seeing symbols as animistic and alive, then what does ritual mean and what is its function in a rune reading? What are the main differences between Tarot and Runes.
The Seven Souls - The Soul Perception of Northern Europe and the idea of a Poly-Sensorial Psyche
Summary: The polytheistic mindset of Northern Europe had perceptions of self which was closer to the idea of "psyche," which is a nuanced, complex and poly-sensory notion of the self. The notion of self-hood in the folktales had many different aspects to the self, we will learn about these concepts that we see in the folkloric material which makes for some fascinating insights.
Magical Talismans
Summary: Join us to explore the Runic Magical Talismans and all that they can tell us today about making them and working with them
Inner Journey through the Tree of Life
Summary: This will be a guided shamanic (for lack of better word) journey where we explore the seven worlds and also the Tree as a living organism that is continuously growing and where new worlds can be found, new inspirations and new roots.
Lost Star Constellations
Summary: The lost star constellations disappeared with the incoming of latin, some constellations we can still view today and with comparative research, some constellations are being made visible again. We will look at the deer constellations and the constellations of the Gods and Goddesses.
Ceremony as Inner Engineering - The Blot Ritual
Summary: The ritual and inner engineering, how can we conduct rituals in today's world that can bring reconciliation and transform our spirits to benefit our local communities?
Galder and Making Poetic Spell Metres
Summary: Discovering the word-power of the Galdralag metre and how to write in this word structure; we will find out how to use the Galdralag to strengthen our creative and oracular voices and find out how this relates closely to the work with the runes.
All are welcome to join regardless of experience, sexuality, and cultural/spiritual background: the spirit is warm and always enthusiastically inclusive.
Council of All Beings
Lean into speaking with the tongues of the more-than-human, what beings are longing to speak through you? Let this not be a flirtation with some animal-plant spirit but instead the opening of a year long apprenticeship to the furred, flowering and capped ones.
Drinking the Blood of Dragons ~ Speaking the Language of the Birds
Language is an organ of perception. The way we speak and are spoken to across species informs what and how we see the world. Story-tellers, and praise givers of Old could speak words that re-tuned the eye to a world of blessing. Tune yourself to the earth speech by paying attention to the pattern language of place through Bird Language, animal tracking, species inventories, and following synchronicity.
The Dream of Reconciliation~ Watering the World Tree
Following the provocation of the the Old gods come together with your grief, your ailments, and your ills. By grieving together in community for the personal and the global we can bring forth Wisdom (Kvasir) into these troubled and troubling times. Together we will gather around the Odrerrir and make Mead together that just might feed the world.
Crafting and Kinship
Pottery, Beadmaking, Buckskin, carving, whittling, fire-by-friction. Pick and pathway and encode your journey into the labyrinth of soul into something of beauty to offer to the world.