The Viking Berserkers – Brave warriors or drug-addicted?

Nowadays we often use the word "Berserk" or "to go berserk" to label any person in a irrational state of mind, or a person who isn't able to control his/her actions because the rage is such, that the person enters a frenzy, lunatic state, a destructively person or frenetically violent. The word Berserker or Berserk, comes from the old Norse word "Berserkr", which means "a wild warrior or champion". These warriors wore hides of bears, which might explain the origin of the berserkr as a compound of "Bera" - Bear, and "Serkr" - shirt or coat. These were the fierce viking warriors who were known for battling in an incontrolable trance-like rage, and were alleged to be able to perform seemingly impossible super-human feats of strength, akin only to a wild beast.

In the medieval history and folklore, of both Norse and Germanic, the berserkers were described as members of an unruly warrior band/gang, whose main devine cult was the cult of Odin, the king of the Aesir tribe of gods. The berserkers were also commissioned to royal and noble courts as bodyguards and special elite troops, who would strike fear into all who encountered them.

It wasn't hard to struck fear into the hearts of the enemies, as the berserkers behaved like an animal, roaring, grunting and howling, entering in a state of uncontrollable rage. Most of them would leap towards the enemy, biting shields and gnawing upon the skin of their enemies. 

Dating back as far as the ninth century, the berserker Norse Warriors were said to be able to do things that normal humans could not. According to ancient legend, the berserkers were indestructible, and no weapon could break them from their trance.  They were described as being immune to fire and to the strike of a sword, continuing on their rampage despite injury.

Most anthropological and psychological studies indicate that the Berserkers simply worked themselves up into a self-induced hysteria before fighting, that was part of the cult to Odin, very violent. They would act like animals, abandoning their clothes and dress with animal pelts, an initiation process to leave behind the human condition and become an animal. Other researches indicate that the consumption of drugs or alcohol, or even mental illness, could be the key to understand their behaviour. Some botanists have claimed that berserker behaviour could have been caused by the ingestion of the plant known as bog myrtle, one of the main spices in Scandinavian alcoholic beverages.

Other more esoteric theories surround supernatural beliefs. For instance, some scholars have claimed that the Vikings believed in spirit possession and that berserkers were possessed by the animal spirits of wolves or bears. According to some theorists, berserkers learned to cultivate the ability to allow animal spirits to take over their body during a fight (an example of animal totemism) that also involved drinking the blood of the animal that they wished to be possessed by.
Speaking in a more esoteric term, there are some theories surrounded by supernatural beliefs.For instance, some scholars have claimed that the Vikings believed in spirit possession and that berserkers were possessed by the animal spirits of wolves or bears. According to some theorists, berserkers learned to cultivate the ability to allow animal spirits to take over their body during a fight, an ancient cult of animal totemism linked to shamanism, that also involved drinking the blood of the animal that they wished to be possessed by.

In 1015, Jarl Eiríkr Hákonarson of Norway outlawed berserkers. The Grágás, the medieval Icelandic law code, sentenced berserker warriors to outlawry. By the 12th century, organised berserker war-gangs had been completely disbanded.

Norse Warrior Magic and Shamanism

So the other day I wrote a post about shamanism practiced in the Norse culture and how Seiðr was the area of expertise for women and if men practiced such magics, that would be seen Ergi (unmanly) in the Norse society. I have also talked about other ways of spiritual magic that would be much more acceptable in society when dealing with male magic practices, and this is what I will be writing today and go deep into that subject.

There are different types of shamanic practices, and for men among the Norse society, there were ways to practice magic that would be more socially acceptable.
The Norse/Germanic society was very much warlike, and as such, there were always those elite group of warriors who practice shamanic magics that would help them in battle, this was such a way for men to practice magic in a way taht wouldn't be considered unmanly and people would accept it without judgment.

In earlier periods of history, the elite warriors were militia groups or warbands, but with time and during the Viking ages, these groups became more restricted, more closed and ritual practices would be done away from society. We know of such groups like the berserkers as I have written on another post, there weren't ordinary warriors, their initiation rituals, fighting techniques, and the spiritual practices were as complex as anyother shamanic magic practiced by any shaman, these warriors could be considered as Shaman-Warriors.
Such warriors would work their rage in trance before they went to battle, we know of these berserkers as being warriors who would run into battle, sometimes without any armour or any other type of clothing, shouting and howling, putting their shield away, most of the time they would even abandon their weapons. This was a sign of who they were, people knew a berserker in the battlefield, this was their mark and their presence alone would strike fear in the hearts of their enemies. The animal symbols of these warriors were often the wolf and the bear, and while in battle-trance, these warriors would call upon the strength of such animals, working with their spirit totems to invoke such powers. Now this is when we enter another subject related to these practices, the totemistic warriors.

Totemistic Warriors

Totemism in groups was very often related to the military in ancient Norse/Germanic society. Many of these military societies had an animal as a totem, a wolf or a bear as I have written previously. Shamanicaly, these warriors would work with the spirits of these animals in order to possess the ferocity and strength of them when they entered into battle.

Initiation rites for new members of these totemic groups would start by living for a while in the wilds, in which the means of obtaining food would be by hunting or stealing from the near by villages. A link with the wild had to be made, the warrior would have to live such as wolves or bears, even learning to kill to survive. This link with the natural world was important because these warriors had to adopt the way of life of their totemic animal. There was a clear distinction of realities, the mortal world or the world of the society where rules were applied with the aim of maintain order, and the other reality which was the wild world, dark and magical, where chaos reigned and the only law was the law of the strongest. There is a clear distinction here as it is in Norse cosmology, which tells us that the forces of order are always in battle against the forces of chaos.
With the progress of these rituals, the individual would identify himself with the animal and was spiritually united with it. the Initiation ended in group when the individual was accepted by the "pack", wearing the skin of his totemic animal, the wolf or the bear, which would be a marking that claimed the position of this individual as someone who went beyond the limits of humanity and became something more, something more beastlike, more ferocious. People knew this, and there wasn't anything more frightening to encounter in battle than these kind of warriors.
These rituals were something more than just symbolic, this included having the behavior of the animal due to the individual being possessed by his totemic animal.

During the Viking Age society two totemic groups' names are often heard (and it seems they have been the most powerful and the ones that left more marks of terror in their enemies' hearts) the Berserkers / Berserkir which means "bear-shirts" and the úlfheðnar "Wolf-Hides" and it isn't that hard to know which animal was the totem of which group.

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The Powerful Bear in the Northern Tradition

As the other day i wrote about the Boar as a very powerful symbol in the old European Traditions, i wouldn't want to left another powerful animal behind, which is the Bear, strongly worshiped by both Europeans and the indigenous inhabitants of northern America and Alaska.
For many cultures, Bears were the kings and queens of beasts, the rulers of the wild, the animal on the top of the food chain, for animals such as lions or other fearsome large felines didn't exist in these areas, well in truth they did but it was so long ago and for a short period of time in the early human lives, that people gave more importance to the Bear, for that animal accompanied the lives of human beings for much longer The Bear was also considered to be the old, wise and wild brother of us humans, as Bears can stand upright like we do and walk if only for short periods. For this reason, the Bear was thought to be the mediator between us humans with the spirits, and there was much respect for this animal, caves were found, containing arranged Bear skulls, in honor to these creatures, as altars from the Paleolithic era, a cult to the Bear that dates from at least twenty thousand years ago (20.000).
Bears used to be all over Europe, from the far shores of the Mediterranean Iberian Peninsula, all the way up to the North of Scotland, to Scandinavia and the Eastern regions of Siberia, unfortunately nowadays we can only find these creatures in the cold north regions, and the tales about bears from the people living in those regions are many especially from the Finns, Saami and the Siberian tribes.
 
The bear wasn't just a sacred animal to these people, it was also the source of food, even to the Saami before they had learnt to have reindeer herds, but the respect for this animal wasn't less just because of that, as a matter of fact most animals that were sacred were also eaten and there was always respect for these creatures and there was always special rituals to hunt an animal, to honor the spirit, the life and to thank them for their purpose. In the case of hunting a bear, it was always done during the hibernation of the animal but it was always awakened first, because killing a bear during their sleep, was considered to be dishonorable for both the hunters and the bear, and cowardice for the hunters, after the successful killing of the animal, the hunter or the hunters had to pass through many rituals in order to be safe for the hunters to get in the village, so people could be saved from the spirit of whom the hunters had killed, to keep the spirit from having its revenge upon the tribe, or to keep the spirit of the Bear King or Queen from having its revenge for killing one of its children. During the time of the rituals, no one could look the hunters in the eyes nor talk to them, only the hunters could butcher and cook the body and no one else could come near it before it was ready to be eaten. Before the feast began, a speech of apology and thankfulness was given to the bear, and afterwards the bonés of the animal were buried in a sacred place. These king of acts are still very common amoung shamanic tribes that still exist today, the so called taboos among the shamans and their families, and everyone must respect that and the spirit of the animals in order to safeguard the families and have prosperity and happiness.

To the Norse people the Bear was also a very powerful symbol very much attached to their beliefs and their warrior cults. People believed in many gods but there was always a group of people, a cult, dedicated to just one specific god, and in the Norse culture the warriors dedicated to Odin were called Berserkers, whose name comes from the word Bersark which means literally bearskin, which they wore for magical purposes and to honor the strength of the bear and become like him, fierce, strong, ferocious, violent in battle. These warriors would enter in an altered state of mind and call upon the spirit of the bear, becoming a bear themselves so they would not feel any pain during the battle, in order to keep the fight longer, roaring, putting fear upon their enemies. There are many accounts of this, of these warriors taking the amanita muscaria mushrooms, to enter in trance, and go completely crazy, becoming beasts ( this is from where and why the English word Berserker, or to go Berserker, came from ) wearing bear skins and nothing else, and sometimes even totally naked while going to battle and use their own hands and teeths to kill the enemies and tear off their armour and break their shields.

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The origins of Werewolves

We have always heard about werewolves, many tales from different places, most of them from European folklore and medieval stories... but do we actually know where it all began?

What i will write about, isn't to feed any fantasy into the hearts of those who read, rather i will tell about the origins of these creatures, the mystery behind it and in terms of history, how people came to fear, respect and honor it.

Beyond the borders of the villages and the boundaries of our familiar world, there lies vast wild and solitary landscapes, when night comes, those places become a scenery of dark and gloomy shadows. In the deep forests the famished wolves roam and hunt, howling at the cold winter nights in the moonless sky, their eyes glitter in the dark as if they burned with a foul fire.

The human being has always feared the unknown, and in ancient times, these landscapes beyond their villages, was a terrible place of both mystery and death, few were those who dared to venture in those places, so this became the scenery of many fantastic tales and the wolves were the symbol of terror and power, these animals were the wildest beings on land always searching for the kill, so it is perfectly natural that these natural facts led to so many folktales about werewolves and other mythical creatures. However, the tales of the werewolves and lycanthropy goes beyond the ancient Indo-European cultures, for exemple, the Indo-Iranian clans of the Haumavarka, which means, the wolves of Haoma who worshiped the wolves and acted like like them, Haoma is one of the names for the muchrooms called amanita muscaria, which is said to have a lot of psychotropic substances and it was used by the shamans since times long forgotten before any historical record, in a time when the human being still nomad and lived in caves. These muchrooms can lead people to enter in trance, and a shaman can travel into other places far beyond the limitations of the body, and can travel in the form of an animal. In many cultures, the best travel form was the wolf, fast and accustomed to run in several wild landscapes, so many clans and tribes worshiped the wolf, it was a sacred being. These teachings have gone through various generations, from place to place all over the world, such as the northern European lands, where people worshiped many gods, one of those was Odin who had two wolves called Geri and Freki, and of course one of the children of the god Loki, was Fenrir the bringer of destruction.

In the northern lands, the tales of wolves went further than the mythological tales, there was the existance of the elite warriors called Úlfhéðnar ( Ulfhednar ) people who went to war, dressed with the skins of wolves, and were also warriors with immense strength, who sometimes fought naked, without showing uncomfortable with the cold weather, they went to battle in some kind of a trance and did not have the need for weapons, they could kill with their bare hands or bite just as a wolf. In fact, that is what they were, people with the shapes of wolves, who thought that they were wolves themselves and act like them, this was because before battle, they consumed drugs, to be more precise, they consumed amanita muscaria, these people weren't in themselves, they were in trance, psychologically they could feel the difference, it is just like if someone asks you to lift a table, and you dont have the strength or the strength fails you and it is hard, but when you are angry who gain strength and you can lift and throw the table with no problem, people sometimes go beyond the limitations they know they have, when they are psychologically affected, when people are pushed into certain situations, the need of survival comes to the surface and the wild and savage feelings hidden in us, appear, almost feral, such as we were in ancient times and we born as such.

Such as the Ulfhednar there were also the warriors called Berserkers or Berserks, who fought nearly uncontrollable, with trance-like fury who also consumed these kind of drugs that led into a different psychological effect.

Also in the Northern lands, the outlaws, murderers, defilers of temples and thieves, were given the name of Vargr which means wolf. Such people weren't killed by their actions nor arrested, they had a worse fate ( at least for these times ), they were expelled from the community or the tribe and were left in the wild landscapes, as an animal who now needed to survive alone or in a group of people in equal circumstances, just as the wolves do. Everyone could kill them, hunt them on sight, with no penalty nor punishment, because the Vargr were animals now.

There were also tribes of shaman warriors, which could take the form of wolves in their trance journeys, and they acted like wolves, these shamanic mysteries were preserved as hereditary traditions among some families. These shamans at their initiation as a wolf warrior, would go into the swamps, and left their clothes behind, symbolically this is the abandonment of the human form and its identity as a member of a community, living now out of the civilized world and learning from the wilds. These people were called wolfmen or werewolves.

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