Ullr's Hidden Cave

This will be a post only to talk about my latest spiritual journey and share it with all of you, a spiritual journey that I thought to be interesting and I really would like to discuss this with all of you.
 
I am not a Shaman but I do practice Norse Shamanism, the difference between a shamanic practitioner and a shaman is complicated, but summarizing that subject, lets just say that a practitioner of shamanism doesn't experience half of what a Shaman does, and a practitioner of such a spiritual work, never makes his/her spiritual journeys when, how or where he/she wants, and has much less work and trouble than a shaman who makes this his own job, and his life and the lives of others depend on it. Basically for a practitioner of shamanism, every spiritual  journey is a fortune and a blessing, it doesn't happen a lot of times, so every time with get this chance, we have to absorb as much knowledge as we can.

Now going back to the main subject of this post, my latest spiritual journey was quite strange because the other spiritual journeys I had,  I experienced things that I already knew from the lore or with conversations with others, or after I had such experiences I went to search for them in the lore and there they were, so I managed to prove to myself that many things, places, beings, deities etc from the lore are real. But the last spiritual journey I had wasn't such a case, as a matter of fact what I have experienced is something that I have never found in the lore, and so far others that do such journeys haven't managed to find the same thing I did, so hold tight to your chair and if you have experienced something similar, please share with me, so here it goes:

I was at Asgard, a place iIhave been a few times, and when I mean few, I seldom have that chance. The place where I was, was far from Gladsheim, I went to a mountain chain, I think the direction was northeast, this zone itself was a rocky ground, of a very dark stone, resembled granite, but in a nearly black color, very slippery, filled with ice and some parts with snow. The god *Ullr came to me, he was at the junction of two mountains, at a high level, because I was in a valley between mountains. This was the first time I met this deity, and he came to me. In that valley he showed me a gap on the ground, large enough for a grown man to go through, it wasn't dark, I could see the floor, it went deeper, decreasing, covered with snow, I went with him till the end, until we were near a wooden house, only the front to my right, and still the roof  was that long gap, the light entered this zone, a pale light, it was daylight but the sun was covered by the mists of the mountains, and everything in this place had a mixture of colors of light blue and tones of grey, and that dark stone was everywhere, some of it wasn't covered by snow. Ullr showed me the entrance to that wooden house, it was built inside the dark rock, there was some people doing some chores outside, and Ullr stayed there with them. I went inside, alone, in here the only light was the light of candles and torches, a lot of people were sleeping in beds made of straw, covered with an old brownish rag. In front of me there were two wooden doors, one to the left and one to the right, both led to two different caves, there was nothing inside those caves that was manmade, only those wooden doors, the rest of the caves where just... caves, dark and wet, both led to a chamber and I got the impression that beyond the caves, there was another corridor on each one of them that led deeper into those caves. But in these chambers, on the cave to the right, more people slept in there, but this time, all of them slept like animals, naked, on the rocky floor, in the darkness, most of them facing down, there was a glimmer of a fire in the middle of the chamber, the fire almost extinguished... there they were snoring like bears or wolves, the sound echoed in the cave. Now.. when I was at this cave, I heard sounds coming from the other cave, similar sounds to the cave in the right, but louder, stronger and more beastlike, so I got out of this cave and stepped right in front of the wooden door that led to the cave in the left, someone told me that that cave was dangerous, and I had to be very careful, if I was to go in, I would do so by my own account and if something bad happened, no one would intervene. So I just opened the the door, and I saw that the cave was similar to the one in the right, but what was sleeping there gave me a chill down my spine, humanlike beasts, big and stout, hairy, actually.. with fur, and claws, similar to werewolves. Now I knew what that place was, some kind of cult, training place, or even a school, to learn how to shapeshift into wolflike beasts, and the head of this school or whatever, was Ullr himself. As far as i know Ullr isn't a shapeshifter, but it is true that few things are known about him and the lore doesn't say much about him, that is my problem... but what it does say, is that he is a very important god, and he is like a diplomat of the Aesir tribe of gods, such as Bragi, but with much more importance, sent in very hard diplomatic affairs, most of the time into Jötunheim. This is what is known about him, and what I can take from this, is that... as far as the lore tells us and what shamans have experienced, in Jötunheim there is a large woodland called Ironwood, where the tribes of the Jotnar live, a place where Angrboda reigns, this is the only place in the Nine realms, known so far, to have werewolves, I just call them werewolves, so you might have an idea, because they do resemble such myth creatures, so probably Ullr learnt some kind of magic or shapeshifting technique and gathered people to teach them this, hidden in the mountains of Asgard, and it doesn't seem to me that this is a secret to the Aesir gods, they probably know, at least a few of them or maybe just Odin, but to others, this might be a huge secret I don't know, nor do I know by writing this experience I had, if this will bring any trouble... but Ullr showed me this and I don't think he expected me to be quiet about it or maintain the secret. So this isn't probably a secret, but at least, no one that I know of, knows about this, so please, if any of you out there knows about something similar to this, share with me.

*Ullr is the god of skiing, hunting, archery, skating and winter, a god of great importance it seems, for when Odin is out of Valhalla, it is Ullr that stands in his place and reigns over Asgard and all the Aesir gods.

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Hermod - The torch on dark roads

We know of some gods from differente cultures, that are the psychopomp archetype, the kind of gods more linked to the soul and to the shamanic journeys than others, specific gods to whom people turn to when there is the need of a spiritual journey to whatever realm of the spiritual world, especially when it comes to the underworld or the place where most mortal spirits rest.
In the Northern traditional paganism, Hermod is such a god, a god who guides people to and fro, between this world and the next, but he will guide you well if you have the need to visit the Underworld.

There are Norse tales that tells us of Hermod being the son of Odin, other tells us of him being one of Odin's squires, both might be true, for in ancient times, especially in the Norse countries, the younger sons of a King could indeed be his pageboys/squires and sent to other countries for diplomacy, call for help and call to arms, and usually they would serve as ransom, and would stay in a country away from his home land in token of peace and good will, as a prove that the King would keep his promise, if the case was some kind of a quest and people needed to go and help in the war or some importante battle, the King's son would stay in the country until the quest/war/battle was done and the people could return to their homeland, only after they arrive, the boy could return home. For the elder brothers of the King's young son, this wasn't something to be sad about, because in the Viking times brothers would fight to death to be the only heirs to the throne, and if anybrother was away, there was no need to kill him and the way to the throne was easier to get. But to the King, sending his younger son to another country as a squire, on an errand, was a way to protect him against his brothers.

Hermod is also one of the gods associated with the tale of the death of Baldr, for when he died and walked the road to Helheim, the goddess Frigga hoped that somehow there could be na exception for her youngest son to return to life and come back to live in Asgard Frigga asked among the Aesir if there was anyone there who wanted to gain all her love and favor, the only thing they needed to do, wa ridding to Helheim and ask the Queen of the dead, Hela, for mercy and if Baldr could return home. Hermod was the brave one who stepped forward to do the task, and Ódin lend him his steed, Sleipnir for the task. Hermod rode for nine days and nine nights and met the guardian goddess Mordgud at the river Gjoll. Mordgud gave him the news, that Baldr had already passed the bridge and went through Hel Gate the night before. Hermod entered the gate and knelt before the goddess of the Underworld, Hela, and asked for Baldr to become alive again. Hela told him that Baldr could be reborn if all creatures wept for him, by hearing this, Hermod returned to Asgard giving the news to Frigga. Baldr gave Hermod his ring Draupnir which had been burned with him on his funeral pyre, this was a token to prove that Hermod had spoken to Baldr. Nana, Baldr's wife, after taking suicide because of the grief of her husband's death, was also with him in Helheim, and gave to Hermod a linen robe for Frigga and a ring for Fulla. Frigga by hearing the news, asked to all creatures to weep for Baldr, and so they did, except a giantess who was Loki in disguise, and because of this, Baldr remained in Helheim and the journey of Hermod was wasted, but Hermod became a deity of guidance and since that time, he started to help people on the dark roads of Helheim to find their path into their last home of eternity. People can call upon him for guidance, and he can help when the road ahead seems dark and dreadful, for all of us need to choose our own paths, and some times the choise is hard but must be taken... Hermod can help you in taking the first step.

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