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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Symbols in Shamanism

I have talked about some of the symbols used in shamanism, symbols that have been present in the human history for almost 40.000 years, with powerful meanings, and today some of them are still used and most people don't even know where those symbols came and what they stand for. Most of the Shamanic symbols have been so deep into the humans' everyday life, that is something "carved" in the DNA of each person, and we born drawing or painting those same symbols, without even knowing them, such as a spiral or circles with dots in the middle, the symbols for the sun and its rays etc. But today i will talk about Rock Art and the symbols that came to help us understanding the world, the first drawings and paintings in caves, their meanings, and how people lived with them.

All over the World, from Europe to Africa, the Americas and Asia, we can find lots of paintings in caves, on cliffs, under overhangs, etchings and boulders, pictures that span a great length of time, so far, the oldest of this painting that was found is dated about 35,000 years old. These symbols have inspired the cultures that they are related to, in a time before writing was developed, important information was passed on orally,  but our ancestors used symbolic representations of the aspects of their lives. By this way, paintings and drawings of hunting scenes, helped out ancestors to visualize these happanings, and to learn how to do it and succeed in the outcome of a hunt. Also these paintings were a record of an event, an important celebration, as well as honouring the animals and their importance. Paintings of crops, were also positive visualizations of good harvest as well as a recognition of the gifts that the Earth can give to us. Certain symbols, such as masks or totems, were boundary markers for a particular group of people or tribe.

Some rock art scenes show human figures with animal characteristics such as antlers and wings, these are representative of shapeshifting in shamanic journeys, where a shaman would adopt another form for learning, healing, or communication with the spirits or gods. As i have said, some cave paintings show the day-to-day activities such as hunting, fishing, working, cooking and praying. These paintings show the antiquity of shamanism. 

People have used symbols for millennia, as charms for luck, protection, health and inspiration. A symbol has its own energetic vibrations nad this is what influences the spirit. In the rock art of the ancestors, there are certain symbols that appear in many ancient places around the world, and from many different periods, indicating their fundamental unniversal importance for the human spirit. Among these powerful signs, are the spiral and the circle in their various forms.

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Of Fire and Mischief

NOTE: The Picture was taken by MissLoony, All Rights Reserverd.


I will talk about the Natural Elements and today the subject is the elemental fire and the importance it has even as a therapy.
The Fire is the source of all creation, it all began with it, i see fire as a living creature, that breathes to live and eats or consumes all arround, so it can grow, it moves, it pulses with life. Fire can be a cosy friend but also a terribel enemy, above all else, when working with it, we must have the utmost care and respect it.
The fire as a therapy is like magic upon our minds, try to sit or lay near a bonfire or a fireplace, in a chair or bed, close your eyes and listen the crackling of the fire, imagine yourself in a distante place, beautiful, dreamlike, near a river or in the mountains, the wind is cold, you feel inside your heart, the bliss , you feel warmer, or you can even think about a place inside a wooden house, snow outside with the sound of the wind blowing hard and the yelp of the wolves. You will fall asleep and have a great rest upon your pillow. Of course you can imagine thousands of situations at the sound of the crackling fire.
Just like the God Loki, he has an outstanding power and skills over fire, and he gained all this knowledge with the Giant Surt the black of Muspellheim, surffice to say, he is the lord of fire. But that is another story for an other post. And speaking of Loki, i avail what i have said, to speak about it, many people see him as the devil of the christian myths, i can tell you, that is a mistake often taken, in the Norse Mythology there are no evil gods, each one has his purpose, his own skills, powers and doings, Loki is the God of Mischief, fire, magic, shapeshifting and cunning, and all of us in our daily lifes, when working with other persons, we have to be cunning, eyes opened, or the society will "eat us alive", also we have to shapeshift, not like loki, but in a metaphorical way, play a bit, not with evil purposes, or to gain things we want and pass over others, but in a way so we can help others and ourselves, it is easy to make evil, and hard to do good, that is the true lesson and the real task.