This part of the rune lore course will explore the aspects of the soul and the body and the subtle energies that flow with in them.
There are several other aspects connected to the traditional conceptions of the soul which will not be explored in this text. These include the idea of the personal Norn (sometimes referred to as one of the Disir or as a Valkyrja) - a kind of 'guardian angel' or 'fairy godmother'; the Hamingja which can be seen as an individual or family's collective soul, luck and destiny; the kin-fylgja i.e. the totem animal of one's family line and first ancestor rather than just of the self; the concept of death and rebirth and thus the notions of Hel, Valhalla etc.; as well as many other matters which may become relevant as the runes become more familiar.
To return to sitting-out, bodily safety (which must, sadly, include not only dehydration and exposure but the risk of being mugged or worse) is one thing, but there is another problem with traditional Útiseta. If you are fortunate enough to own your own island or mountain then perhaps you can cut yourself off from the distractions of the everyday world relatively easily, if not, you might find the job quite difficult (I remember one instance when I and some friends were about to perform a ceremony half way up a wooded mountain in Wales, only to discover a group of back-packers hiking over the horizon). I lived for many years in East Anglia and spent quite a lot of time in the countryside of Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex and Bedfordshire and I am not honestly able to say that even once did I find an area of countryside where, if I listened carefully, I could not hear traffic in the distance. Even up on the Yorkshire Dales, miles from human inhabitation, the night sky is periodically dotted with car headlights.
For those individuals who are used to internal meditation techniques, progressively closing off the senses to focus internally rather than on the outside world, such distractions are of little concern. However, while in Stáv we also focus internally, Útiseta also involves opening oneself up to the natural world, which quite frankly, is a bit of a problem when you can't hear the drone of a bumble bee because of the drone of a motorway. Don't be put off, all that is really needed is a greater level of focus, but it should be obvious that generally an average person cannot find the place or time to use traditional techniques unless they have already made a real commitment to do so, and even then, they would only choose to undertake a three-day Útiseta with good reason and if no other option is open. In modern Stáv, we use a 'simplified' version (see later). In my opinion, performing Útiseta to break down the boundaries of the material and non-material worlds and thus contact one's fylgja is really a form of Seiðr, even if it is actually only the starting point of Seiðr practice. Most people would only undertake this kind of search-for-knowledge once or so in their life, for example upon becoming an adult. The average person may go and perform Útiseta for an hour or so, to 'commune with nature', to relax and revitalise themselves but generally they would not use the technique for very much more than this. Those who specialise in Útiseta on a more regular or extended basis are generally involved in specific aspects of training which are more in line with Seiðr than Galdr e.g. actively seeking to travel to the other worlds for one reason or another. The more modern technique we generally employ is really a blending of Seiðr and Galdr, basically it is a way of achieving a Seiðr effect in a Galdr manner, and uses the runes as a focus for meditation and travel through the worlds. This technique is especially valuable nowadays as most people are for one reason or another unable to undertake a three-day sitting out and we generally feel it would be unreasonable to expect a beginner to do so.
In traditional society, where knowledge of the gods, the myths, the runes, the natural world, plants, animals and so on was part of an everyday life, much of the 'tradition' was not taught but rather simply absorbed almost by osmosis as a part of growing up. This was how my teacher 'learnt' much of the tradition, in conversations at the dinner table or on a walk through the countryside. In modern society, things are different. Most of us can't simply ask a favourite uncle about a god we are interested in but rather have to go to a library and get a second-hand impression from someone who themselves has read a manuscript, not someone who has recently had a chat with the god. My teacher, Ivar Hafskjold, has chosen only to teach four people outside his family, one for each of the classes (as well as teaching a few other people on occasions, but not as personal students in the same way), as he felt that he would prefer to pass on the tradition through a similar means - by conversation, questions and answers, discussion, debate, personal practice and so on. This is obviously not a viable way of passing on the tradition to hundreds of people - life is simply too short, but if each person “teaches” a few others (and so on), then the tradition can be passed on “traditionally”. In the meantime, we do feel that it is in some sense only right to make the traditional teachings as available as possible to as wide a number of people as we can and this is the main reason for this course. In Stáv, we are not evangelistic in any way, we have no desire to establish an organised religion, a political party or some such to 'convert' the masses to our way of thinking. The specific tradition we practise is that of the Hafskjold family, not the whole of Europe or the world at large, and as such is the heritage or 'property' of only the Hafskjold's and those the family may choose to teach. However, as the tradition seems to be one of the only repositories of living practices, many of which were once common across Northern Europe, some of us do feel a certain responsibility to make the tradition available where and when we can. 'Making the tradition available' does not mean converting others, but rather letting others know where they can find information, if they really want to. The reader is reminded again that this course is designed to offer first and foremost the traditional teachings of the Hafskjold system, and secondly, an interpretation of the teachings which may act as a starting point for further study. However, responsibility for development within Stáv must be a personal thing. It is up to you to accept or reject the views of your teacher, form your own arguments, opinions and questions and then explore these. Your teacher will aid you in this but can never simply give you the 'answer'. Perhaps more than this it is necessary to realise that for an individual, for YOU, to fully utilise Stav, it must become more than just the Hafskjold tradition, it must become YOUR tradition. This involves a lot of work and study, and both the understanding of traditional principles and the creation of ones own personal interpretation and application of Stav. Without this being a personal process you will only study the thoughts, opinions and traditions of others. If it is a personal voyage you will reach your own interpretations and applications for Stav - and then Stav will be your tradition also.
What is Megin? Tied to the concept of the Primal Elements, and the five elements, is Megin. Megin is an old Norse word which does not translate easily into modern English. We could best think of it as energy. Everything in the world has Megin, in fact the world is Megin. This Megin can take many forms; it can be the air that we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink. Megin can be found in matter and also be separate from it. Megin can have positive or negative effects on us. Our own bodies rely on Megin to keep us alive, it is our intrinsic energy, life itself. For the purposes of healing and health, it is a good idea to think of our Megin as governing our immune system, although this does not explain Megin itself. If we are ill, then our Megin is affected. A disease has Megin, just as we do. When we try to "fight off" a disease, then our Megin comes into conflict with the Megin of that illness. The battle can basically be fought in one of two ways. Either we can simply attack the disease's Megin, which may in turn weaken our own, or we can strengthen our Megin to make it so powerful that the disease cannot compete. This is almost always the best way. Herbs and remedies which strengthen our Megin, especially if they can also attack the Megin of the disease, are our best allies in this battle. This may seem to be a simple metaphor, but in fact we really are seeking to make an ally of the plant, herb or root that we use. Over a period of time, science has made us forget this symbiotic relationship that we share with the world around us, believing that artificial chemicals can do the job better. Most modern drugs are based on natural substances; Antibiotics (e.g. penicillin) are based on mould, heart drugs on digitalis (foxglove), the birth control pill contains chemicals found in yams, Aspirin is contained in willow tree-bark (and was apparently used by the Druids) and so on. The difference is that a herb has its own natural Megin which can be allied to our own, whereas the Megin of an artificial chemical is quite likely to actually damage us. This is because one is a part of nature and the other is unnatural. Something which is unnatural may seem good, and even help us in the short term, but, like Loki, can never be fully trusted and will probably turn against us in the end. "Good" and "bad" tend to be relative concepts. Natural and unnatural are perhaps better ways of looking at things. Megin is a basic concept that can be found the world over. It is known variously as Qi, Chi, Ki, Prana, Kundalini, Pneuma etc. Western science has come close to identifying it as the "Quantum field" which ultimately exists outside time and simultaneously surrounds and permeates all things. If the universe is simply energy and matter (which are more or less one and the same) then we could see Megin as that which both forms this and binds it together. One of the reasons that we perform the runic stances and the Galder incantations is that this increases our supply of Megin. This is the first real step to health. You can be fit but still not have much Megin; very often athletes can be very strong yet prone to infections. can begin to change this. Many things in life deplete our Megin. Apart from actual disease, stress can make us weak because it saps our Megin. If we perform the rune-stances we can learn to relax and this encourages our Megin to flow and increase. An increase in Megin has many benefits in martial arts; if you have great levels of Megin then you simply become more alive, and this can make you very difficult to kill. Likewise, in everyday life, the more healthy you are, the more energy you have, the longer you will live and the better you feel. At times of great need, humans can often perform feats that they would never normally be able to achieve. This can be explained by a focusing of the Megin into a single activity. Megin is the basis for health, and being healthy is the first step to being a healer. If you wish to heal others you will often find that when doing so, you yourself become weakened (a bit like giving blood). If you are healthy with a good supply of Megin (or blood), then this is not too great a problem. If you have little Megin (or are anaemic), then it can seriously harm you. It is always a good idea to have a good look at anyone who is going to try to heal you; if they seem less healthy than you, then the chances are it's simply not a good idea. There is an expression which says "If you are bleeding, look for someone with scars". The figure of the shaman has often been described as a "wounded-healer" because of the ordeals they have survived. Often, people who have been ill but gone on to recover and become fully healthy can be the best healers - they have had personal experience. But the expression does not say "If you are bleeding, find some other bleeding person to help you". Real help comes from the self and from those with experience and wisdom. Coming to terms with your self and thereby increasing your Megin is the first step to helping others, whether physically, psychologically, financially or spiritually (etc.). What we eat or drink effects our Megin. The same is true of what and how we breathe. This is one reason we practise the rune-stances. In the myths, Óðínn, Vili and Vé gave three gifts of life to humans. Óðínn's gift was breath. Learning to make the most of your gifts is what Stáv (and life) is all about.
In this section I will try to briefly outline the concept of Örlög, which is not an easy task. I have earlier stated that Megin is the name we give to intrinsic energy and that Megin is the same as Qi or Prana. In the same way, the sun is still the sun no matter if it is viewed in Britain, India or China. However, the sun may well be viewed differently in each place, not only being given a different name but being thought of differently and utilised differently - to grow different crops, to set different time patterns and so on. While the sun stays the same, human thought will come to different conclusions about its behaviour from place to place and time to time - and who, in truth, can say they fully understand the sun itself rather than just its apparent, localised, effects upon the world? Just as in India the energy known as Kundalini may be alikened to a serpent or in China Qi may be linked to the eight-states or Ba-Gua, or in Northern Europe we may speak of Fire and Ice as forming Megin, yet still at the same time we may all find ourselves discussing the same thing, differently, so the same is true when we come to discussing Örlög.
We could say that Örlög is the name the Gothonic peoples gave to Karma or Fate, and in a limited sense this would be true - Örlög, Karma and Fate are all one and the same. However, the ways in which the Indians see Karma or the Greeks saw Fate are not identical to the Gothonic conceptions of Örlög, even if all are depictions of the same thing. Likewise, in India there are many teachings concerning the nature of Karma, and in Greece there were many philosophies concerning Fate - and by no means did all of these agree. So, in the Gothonic regions and in contemporary Stáv, there may have been many different understandings of Örlög. What I present here is simply my own interpretation of traditional teaching, not a Gospel or the one true understanding. Hopefully, the reader may find it useful in reaching their own conclusions.
The word 'Örlög' is comprised of two separate words - 'Or' and 'Log'. Without going too far into the etymology of these words, 'Or' stems from the same root as Urðr, the name of the Norn of the 'past' and is linked to words such as 'origin' and 'ore', while ‘Log' relates to terms such as ‘layer', ‘record' (as in a “Captain's log”) and ‘law'.
The term Örlög could therefore be translated variously as ‘Primal Layer', “First Principle”, or “Natural Law”.
But it is important to realise that the ‘Original Law' is not the same concept as 'law' in human terms, but rather is more akin to natural 'laws' such as the 'law' of gravity. If a person breaks a human 'law' then they may be punished by other humans (or they may get away with it) but this has little to do with Örlög in the most exact sense, it is simply a result of limited, localised effect. If an apple drops from a tree, it will fall downward - which has a lot to do with Örlög and very little to do with human concepts such as reward, punishment or morality - the apple will fall no matter whether it is thought to be a 'good' or a 'bad' apple.
So, Örlög is the law of the universe and its effects are felt by humans as the result of their place within the universe or the 'web' of Örlög, which binds all things together.
The Web of Orlog
Perhaps the biggest difference between the notion of Örlög and that of Karma is that generally Karma is seen as being linked in some way to morality - for example, if you lead a good life then in your next incarnation you may be rewarded whereas if you lead a bad life then next time round you will be less well off. The concept of Örlög has nothing to do with morality, and there is no belief within Stáv that an act of kindness is repaid, or cruelty punished, at a cosmic level. These are basically only concerns within the human realm and have little if anything to do with nature. If gravity drops an apple on someone's head causing an injury, then we might call this a bad thing but if the apple dropped into a hungry child's hand we might call it a good thing, but these are only concerns of the subjective individual - it hardly matters to the apple, which would probably decide whether its falling was good or bad based upon whether or not its seeds could germinate. The 'good' or 'bad' reaction is not Örlög, simply a subjective response to the effects of Örlög. The falling of the apple is the work of Örlög, the law of the universe. Now, the reader may be thinking at this point that Stáv therefore advocates complete carelessness of behaviour toward others - why should you be kind to someone if you will not be rewarded? Why should you not harm someone if you will not be punished? Basically, things are not quite this simple. There are causes and effects, actions and reactions and each must be weighed against the other - but this is still not the same as a concept of a 'moral' universe. Örlög can be seen in many ways, and training in Stav allows one to try to learn strategies for understanding Örlög through its manifestations as the runes.
For the moment let us leave the subjects of morality and ethics and delve into a different philosophy, that of physics. One of the reasons that the study of the martial aspects of Stáv is useful in coming to terms with Örlög is that the fighting arts teach an understanding of lines. For those readers with a knowledge of the martial art, no explanation of the use of lines is necessary here. For those who have not trained, no explanation is possible on paper alone but let us simply state a few basic points. If we try to cut something with a knife, a sword or an axe, some angles will allow our blade to pass cleanly through the object and some angles just don't work - the blade will rebound in our hand as it hits the object.
Likewise weaving is a matter of interlocking threads in a certain way. If done correctly then cloth can be made that will resist any amount of pulling, stretching etc. If the weaving is done badly, the cloth will tear, unravel, become knotted or simply fall apart. The same is true in architecture. Some shapes and angles will support a ton of stone on what seems to be a flimsy column, others will collapse under a few pounds of pressure even though they may look steady and sure. All of these are because of Örlög. Quite simply, the world fits together in a certain way. if we know how the lines of force work we can build up a structure, or knock one down quite easily simply because we are working with nature, not against it. Örlög is an extremely complex subject and is at the heart of all Stáv philosophy, whether it be in a physical craft such as wood carving, in the lines that are employed in the martial art, in consideration of ethics, in understanding the mythology, in reading the runes in divination or whatever else. This brief introduction is designed to do no more than introduce the concept of Örlög.
The natural 'lines of force' can be expressed as the rune-staves, whether as carved symbols on a piece of wood (carving the symbols itself teaches the way of Örlög); as the stances we form with the body; or in a variety of other ways. However, before we discuss the runes, which can be seen as a part of Örlög, let us concentrate upon a representation of Örlög itself.
In the Hávamál, a poem in the Elder or Poetic Edda, the god Óðínn is described as discovering the runes while hanging for nine days and nights upon the world tree Yggdrasil.
But for now let us concentrate upon just one feature. Óðinn is described as looking down and perceiving the runes. Now the question is “what did Óðinn see?” Naturally enough, we don't have Óðinn's perspective on things and so those of us searching for understanding with both out eyes open are likely to only see half the picture; but the tradition of Stáv has something to say on what Óðínn may have seen... as we shall discuss later.
Often people will argue over which runes or which futhark (runic alphabet) Odin saw while on Yggdrasil. In my opinion, one of the problems arises from people confusing the rune-staves of the various futharks with the runes themselves. When Óðínn gained his understanding of the runes, the mysteries of Örlög, he perceived and understood the nature of Örlög itself, not simply a few of the visual or sonic methods of representing these mysteries.
Perhaps Óðínn, or others, then invented the futhark or the individual symbols; perhaps these staves were already being used. Whatever the case, the staves themselves are not as important as most people imagine; they are like techniques in martial arts or specific herbs in healing - the technique or the herb is important but it is almost irrelevant when compared to the principles it relies upon. If a martial artist wishes to throw someone and knows sixteen different throws but cannot get into position to use them, then all these techniques are irrelevant. If a healer knows all the properties of twenty-four herbs but can't find any of them when a patient is ill, the knowledge is useless. However, if the martial artist understands the principles of controlling balance they can invent a new throw; if the healer understands the principles of healing such as increasing or reducing metabolic rate and so on, a substitute for the herb can be found. The same is true with the runes.
In Stáv we use the sixteen rune-staves of the 'younger' futhark.
These are the Runes of Stav :
Many people today are more familiar with the 24 rune 'elder' futhark, or some of the Anglo-Saxon 29 or 33 stave rune-rows. It would be easy to totally miss the point of Óðínn's discovery and argue over which futhark he 'saw' when on Yggdrasil. Personally I think he saw them all, and many others. This is because he perceived Örlög itself from which any and all of the futharks can be drawn - along with countless other runes that are not part of any futhark. The Stáv tradition has preserved a symbol to represent Örlög itself. In modern Stáv we often refer to this diagram as 'the web' and describe it as a representation of Örlög or Wyrd (Wyrd [modern English "Weird"] is the Anglo-Saxon term for Örlög).
This glyph is formed from nine lines and even a casual glance will show that it has seven Hagl runes within in. In addition any rune-stave from any futhark can be found within this diagram
The symbol can teach a lot more than this but, as stated earlier, it is best to see what can be discovered for the self first, and then discuss this afterwards. In the Hafskjold tradition, it is thought that the "web" symbol is what Odin "saw" when he perceived the runes during his ordeal on Yggdrasil.