Whispers of the Norse

Celtic-Norse Shaman

While several Roman and Greek authors recorded the existence of Druids throughout the Celtic world generations before the introduction of Christianity, there were several different cultural misunderstandings that occurred by the mistranslation of the warrior based culture of the Celts of Gaul. Most noted that the Druids were a class of Celt, who was “excused” from any war making exercises, and were looked up with a level of reverence. Celts were warriors first. All available men, women, and children were instructed in the art of combat from an early age for the defense of the tribe. This warrior mentality permeated every facet of Gaulish life.

In addition, there were those who had accumulated a higher level of intuitive vision, thereby giving them the ability to harness the energies of the physical plane to produce earthly magic. The Celtic great goddess Danu supported those who had this intuition and began to teach them to use the “earth magic”, in return these practitioners recognized the power of the sacred feminine. This recognition then began to manifest itself as the inclusion of magical properties within all aspects of Celtic life, which would have included war. Reading the later Norse sagas, we find where special classes of warriors included the use of the Landvætti (spirits of the lands) into acts of combat, this tells us that magic is not limited to any one group of people. This is where the bloodstream of modern humans would carry the magic of our cultural history.

A Druid or Shaman is designated by the spiritual entities around them in which to communicate with, and through, educating the physical humans in the community. In indigenous beliefs, there came individuals who were enlightened who could communicate with the spiritual realm, as well as the deities, and these men/women were known as Druids or Shamans (depending on where you were). These individuals typically receive a channel of communication from the spiritual entities who wish to teach the physical beings lessons of wisdom from the ages. These lessons were provided to the Shaman in their work crossing over between the physical and spiritual realms, then passed on to others. This was the Shaman of antiquity.

A Shaman, as per the definition I have been given by the spiritual entities I interact with every day is that of a person who has learned to trust their intuition, exposing themselves to communication with spiritual entities interfacing with the physical realm, then chooses to pass this knowledge and wisdom to others who are seeking. A Shaman is chosen by the spiritual entities, as they may, or may not, have any formal spiritual training. Typically this spiritual connection is through the individual’s ancestral channel, however, this is not always the case.

In my case, my personal ancestors have chosen to communicate with me, giving me the wisdom and knowledge that I am charged with passing on to my fellow physical beings (humans). Because of my Celtic-Norse heritage, I am authentic in my beliefs and or discussions. I have chosen to live my life authentically, by being congruent to what I have learned, and what I feel, is the right course of delivering this passed knowledge/wisdom onto my fellow physical form.

Being a Shaman is not a destination, but a journey. It is not one of those states we reach in life where we have passed some test and are certified as such. Becoming a Shaman opens one’s eyes to a much larger, more complex, natural world that humans simply interact with. Most Shamans understand the emotional connection that humans have with a spiritual realm that surrounds us all.

While many may debate the pedigree of a Shaman, most of us come to this realization unknowingly. We receive a channel of communications from our ancestors, as well as other spiritual entities, that educate and inform us of practices of old, as well as the wisdom and knowledge of all that is the spiritual realm. In much the same way, the discovery of a special set of abilities that we are given allows the Shaman to better assist their fellow physical beings with knowledge of what used to be called the “mysterious knowledge”, and the phenomenon of the natural world.

Over time, Shaman’s will internalize the knowledge and wisdom of interactivity with all lives of the physical and spiritual realms, familiarizing themselves with many things that are above the knowledge of scientists, and certainly that of the limited knowledge of the mainstream churches. Like the interpreters of human languages, we become the interpreter for the language of the spiritual realm.

As a practicing Shaman of the Celtic/Norse people of antiquity, I have several core beliefs that differ from others whom I have interacted with.

First and foremost, while I do not believe in a physical body to retain the spiritual energy of a deity level being, I do know that during the creation of “what is”, the entirety of the universe’s energy coagulated into two distinct entities, where each then became self-aware and gained a consciousness. These two energy collections became what we know as deities. I know these two deities as: Freyja (Mother Earth) or mother who represents the sacred feminine. The other collection contains the masculine characteristics, and is referred to as Odinn who is the father of the other deity level entities.
Each physical life form is a spiritual entity at its core. This spiritual entity at our center interacts with other spiritual entities all the time, while helping our physical body properly utilize the spiritual energy absorbed to provide healing and rejuvenation. Technically, the spiritual self (consciousness) is created prior to the conception of our physical form, and is bonded together prior to the assignment of dominant/recessive genes of our DNA. This bonding allows our spiritual self to select certain genes (choosing recessive instead of dominant) to produce a chemical/genetic combination to provide a different level of interactivity and interpretations to event experiences throughout the physical life time.
Each physical being is completely accurate in their interpretation of their spirituality. Whether they choose to acknowledge it or not is irrelevant, their most intrinsic relationship with spiritual entities will guide their spiritual understanding. By offering a different perspectives, we can begin to have a larger view of what we think we know. It is this willingness to expand our consciousness that will foster a better relationship with whatever we interpret as our deity.
There are multiple spiritual entities who interact with our spiritual self all the time. This entities are either: our personal ancestors, other physical being’s spiritual core, or the Landvætti (spirits of the lands). These entities pass on wisdom, knowledge, and healing energy to our spiritual self which then distributes this energy to different parts of our physical body as necessary. These entities are interacting with our spiritual self all the time, and some of the knowledge/wisdom passed to our spiritual self is then passed to our physical mind which may create a new synapse with some overarching experiences, thereby creating a level of “wisdom” within our physical mind.
My purpose for experiencing a physical life time is to garner enough knowledge about managing my emotional control thereby ensuring the knowledge and wisdom gained is accurate and can safely be secured within my consciousness. Knowing that emotions are simply the physical mind’s ability to translate a particular chemical reaction within the space surrounding the nerve endings throughout the body, allows me to learn how to control the release and management of these hormones into the bloodstream, thereby ensuring the knowledge retained does not have negative emotional charges associated, nor does it corrupt the memory stored.
While I may explain and demonstrate the path to an awakening, I have no responsibility for what others believe and/or practice. When I depart my physical body and ascend to join my ancestors, I will speak (via my aura) to any who seek me out, explaining the path to enlightenment, I have no responsibility to force anyone else to change their beliefs. I may show the way, but have no expectation of anyone changing their trajectory, unless they determine that an alteration needs to be made.
I do not subscribe to the doctrine of any of the mainstream religions. The concept or “heaven” or “hell” has no bearing on my life, or they way I choose to live it. These are simply descriptors of “states of mind” that are temporary and are not a final destination. I do not believe that I have to wait to leave my physical form to visit with my deities, as they are with me every minute of every day, therefore there is no final judgement on our lives.
I do believe that we have a choice as to whether we choose to visit the physical plane of existence again after leaving this physical form. The final objective of our physical existence is to gain the emotional (chemical reactions) control wisdom thereby gaining a more complete understanding of the influence that these “emotions” have on our knowledge.
I do not subscribe to the “only one way to God” taught by mainstream religion. I have no need to go to my gods, as they come to me. Whether they are passing on knowledge/wisdom, or healing energy, they are more than happy to be with me, regardless of what I’m doing.
Everything in my life has a purpose. Either it is teaching me, or fostering me teaching, the idea that coincidence has no merit and does not apply. There is a season for everything. We must look past our initial perception and find the bigger purpose for each experience we engage. While we (as physical beings) have so much to learn, or be reminded of, we must be willing to accept that life’s experiences bring us opportunities to realize a different perspective.
Everything within our lives is based on our current perspective. By being willing and able to change our perspective of each facet of our lives, we gain a larger, more in-depth understanding of our existence.