Sweden's 11,000-year-old relics

Earlier this year (2014) a unique discovery in the Baltic Sea was made. Stone Age artefacts left behind by the Swedish nomads, dating back to 11.000 years ago. Some call it the Swedish Atlantis, as such, this is the oldest settlement in Sweden. But first of all, this as nothing to do with Atlantis, nor does it resemble and old city, not even a small village. But it is exciting nonetheless.

While excavations are still underway, so far, they have uncovered a number of remnants that are believed to have been discarded in the water by Swedes in the Stone Age. Objects which have been preserved thanks to the lack of oxygen and the abundance of gyttja sediment, which is sediment rich in organic matter at the bottom of a eutrophic lake. It is extremely rare to find evidence from the Stone Age so unspoiled.

Buried 16 metres below the surface, Nilsson wood was uncovered as well as flint tools, animal horns and ropes. Among the most notable items found, it includes a harpoon carving made from an animal bone, and the bones of an ancient animal called aurochs, the ancestor of domestic cattle, the last of which died off in the early 1600s.

Such objects were thrown in there, probably because around 11.000 years ago there was a build up in that area, and all the tree and bone pieces are preserved. If the settlement was on dry land, there would probably have been only stone-based things, nothing organic.

However, unlike the stories of Atlantis, the remains do not come from a great city or even a village because the people were nomadic at the time.

Archaeologists are continuing the underwater excavations, and are now particularly interested to see whether there is also an ancient burial site in the region.

Working With The Gods: Heid

Heid is not the only Norse goddess who is seldom heard, as such, people tend to work with other deities and pay little attention to some deities. Heid is as important as any other deity, especially in her field of expertise of course. When she is called upon and comes to work with the spiritual-worker, she appears as a little old woman, it's her disguise. If you want to make an altar for her, don't forget to add her favorite colours, which are: Black and gold. Usually Heid doesn't work with a single person unlike Gerda. Heid prefers to come to a group, a circle or seidr-workers, in order to give them advice and training. She works with both genders, but both men and women should be older, middle-aged at the least. Those who work with her should/must be seidr-workers, otherwise she will not come, it is unlikely that she will.

Working With The Gods : Gerda

Gerda is a Vanir goddess and the wife of the fertility god Freyr. Gerda is of giant blood, an etin woman. She is quiet and introverted. She is not the type of deity that likes to gather a lot of people, nor does she like a crowd of followers. She will likely to work only with a very small group of people, sometimes even just one single person. So if a group of people wants to call upon her, she will not come so willingly. She is a goddess linked to the earth, as such, she prefers colours that remind her of her beloved land. Greens and browns are a favorite colours, but also greys and purples. If you want to make an offer to her or when calling upon her to make spiritual work, don't forget to have near by freshly-cut herbs. Also burn or boil a few, the scent will certainly catch her attention.

Gerda Will only appear to you when there is no need at all, when you have probably got over the problems you were facing and those might have been the reason why you called upon her in the first place. When she comes, she will advise you and give you a certain amount of information that you probably needed to hear. Gerda is also the patron of the women who make abortions, because that is a very difficult thing to be handled and it might bring complications to the body. If that is your problem or the problem of the person you want to help, bath yourself or the woman you are trying to help, in salt water first, before calling upon Gerda. Also add some herbs to the bath. Gerda will certainly seem calm to you, very quiet. Be respectful when she comes. I should point that she doesn't work with male spirit workers, only female.

The Home of the Celts

Even nowadays with the turning of the century, the Celts do not cease to amaze us, and we are still digging up the truth about these European peoples who shared a similar culture, beliefs and traditions. For the last century, historians believed that the homeland of the Celtic-speaking peoples lay in central Europe, thus, from there they spread across the European continent in several waves of migration. Spreading their language, culture, traditions and way of living to almost every corner of ancient European landmass. It is told that the Celts originated during the late bronze and early iron ages, in communities of southern Germany and northern Austria, and such knowledge became the default reading of early Celtic and indeed early European history.

However, we often encounter problems in these so called historical facts. Amongst the professional academic cerclis, this theory is suspected to be wrong, and many state that it is wrong indeed, and for decades they know about it.

The homelands of the Celtic-speaking peoples were never in central Europe it seems. They were in the one place where Celtic-speakers have always been known to exist and where some still do exist, the north-western and western Europe. The modern nations and territories of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, Cornwall, England, Brittany, western France, Spain and Portugal form the historic heartland of the Celts and their ancient place of origin. It was thought that the Celts came from Nowadays Germany and Austria into the western lands, but in truth they originated in the Atlantic regions, went to central Europe and then their migrations in mass started from there and came back (some never left) to the Atlantic regions, to their ancestral lands.

The BBC has news on a new three-year project to trace the origins of the Celtic peoples, including an interview with Professor John Koch, who points out the failure of the old theories to explain the origin of the Celtic-speaking nations. Even myself, I have been studying about European cultures for the past 8 years, not only the Norse as you might think when reading my blog, but also the Celts. Amongst my colleagues of History and Archaeology, we too have found a lot of evidence that strongly supports this theory.

Yakut - The recognition of a pagan creed

Contradicting the trend against the official recognition of unusual religions, the neo-pagan faith Aar Aiyy won formal recognition in the Siberian republic of Sakha. Practicers of the religion have been waiting for this moment for at least 18 years.

This creed was native to the original Turkic-speaking population of Sakha, also known as Yakutia, but was forced out as Orthodox Christianity spread during Russia's 17th century colonization of the region. Even so, the Yakuts have preserved the creed and are now free to practice it. 

The Russian Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of belief, but while creating a "religious group" requires no formal permit, the relevant legislation sets strict limitations on the rights of such groups to proselytize and to carry out daily operations.

Registering an "organization" requires a minimum waiting period of 15 years and comes replete with exhausting inspections, including by the Federal Security Service, KGB's successor. The registration of Aar Aiyy was finalized in late April 2014.

The religion — whose name translates roughly from Yakut as "belief in higher deities" — teaches that the Universe, consisting of three worlds, possesses a Creator aided by 12 celestial helpers and is populated by numerous spirits. The creed comprises elements of shamanism, animism and Tengrianism, a religion unique to Central Asian and Siberian nations, which was followed by Ghengis Khan's Mongols.

It was unable to provide an estimate of the number of Aar Aiyy practitioners among a population of 950,000, including 467,000 ethnic Yakuts. But it is said that the group never had any run-ins with the powerful Christian church and does not expect trouble as it plans to limit its missionary activity to   — as such, anyone can join.

Many Yakut Shamans died during the Soviet period, but neo-pagan beliefs remain strongly rooted in Yakut culture. In the 1990s, neo-pagans were actually an opposition force to be reckoned with in Yakutia's parliament, though they lost all of their mandates during the 2000s.

Nevertheless, Yakut neo-paganism retains popularity, and its institutionalization cannot be stopped. This is a native folk tradition, which always was and hopefully will always exist.

Vampire burial in Poland

In Poland, a 16th - 17th century grave has been unearthed, showing evidence that the deceased was believed to be a vampire; a brick was found between his teeth, and his leg had been staked to the ground to prevent him rising from the dead and terrorising the living. According to the pagan beliefs in the area (typical slavic folklore), people who were considered bad during their lifetime might turn into vampires after death, unless of course certain rituals were held postmortem, including wedging open the jaw to prevent the vampire from feeding after death, and stabbing the deceased with an iron or wooden rod before being buried. People believed the rod would pin them down in their graves to prevent them from leaving at midnight and terrorising the wilderness. The legends formed an important part of Poland’s folklore, as well as other countries throughout Europe.

Hundreds of ‘vampire burials’ have already been found throughout Eastern Europe, including more than 100 in Bulgaria, all of them male and all prominent citizens. Incredibly, the ancient practice, which began at least as early as the 13th century, only stopped being practiced in Bulgaria 25 years ago. 

The latest discovery was made during excavations in the town of Kamien Pomorski, in north-western Poland. A brick had been so forcefully wedged in the deceased’s mouth that it knocked out the upper teeth. The remains also featured a large puncture in the leg, which suggests that the leg had been staked to the ground. It seems such vampire-slaying rituals were common in the region.

It has also been suggested that some of the beliefs about vampires stemmed from the characteristics of Black Death corpses. Mass graves were often reopened to bury corpses during epidemics, which sometimes displayed blood seeping out of the mouth and with a hole in the shroud used to cover their face. The people of the time believed that these ‘vampires’ spread the plague by chewing their way through their shrouds after death. Placing a brick in their mouths was believed to prevent this from happening.

Witchcraft and Shamanism

When we hear about shamanism, we immediately think about the type of shamanism from Siberia, or the Americas, spirituality connected to tribal rituals and traditions. When speaking of European shamanism, we have no clue what it is, or at least the first thing that comes to mind, is the type of shamanism practiced in the northern countries of Europe. However, there is an tremendous body of evidence, in anthropological and historical literature, that the historical european.style witchcraft was in fact a form of shamanism practiced by the different cultures of Europe.

Lets make it clear first, the definition of “shaman” in use here is an anthropological one. As I have written before, "shaman" is a word that originates from the Tungus language of Siberia, and has been somewhat misapplied to the religious beliefs and practices of Native Americans (which are quite diverse, some are certainly shamanistic, others not so much). 
 The shaman, in this context, is a magical practitioner who works with the help of spirits, usually on behalf of or to the benefit of his or her community, by means of healing, divination, and such. 
Shamanic experiences all over the world share some general characteristics. In the form of a traumatic personal experience and/or a visitation by spirits, the formation of a strong bond between the shaman and one or more helping spirits, and a working relationship with those spirits, frequently characterized by ritual invocation and spirit flight or trance states to achieve specific goals.

The pre-christian practices of the European peoples, had these characteristics. All the way from the Iberian Peninsula, to the far East and up into the cold North, the peoples of Europe had their own ways to communicate with the spiritual world and the natural world, which in most of the cases (speaking in such spiritual practices) are two worlds strongly connected. With time and the constant invasions of different cultures in each country, these European practices have been lost. However, during the medieval ages, these practices were very much alive and we can find it in most books that talk about the medieval times. People during that time still practiced the spiritual ways of their ancestors, it lived on in the most rural parts of each country, and it was often thought that this happened, because the people in the rural areas hadn't much access to what was going on in the city, and because these people were less educated, they continue to practice the old ways. None of this is true. In spite of each country have had a lot of invasions and the cultures changed, because people had been killed in masses, and temples have been destroyed and such, each invador kept alive the inhabitants that worked the fields and took care of the animals, because they needed people to work for them, people who already knew how to deal with the land, turning them into slaves for new masters. Those people kept the old ways and so they were passed on from generation to generation. During the medieval ages, these spiritual practices were still being held, but the christian faith was spreading fast, and people were accused of witchcraft and most people were killed. The last places to have these practices until the late medieval ages, were the peoples from the East and the northernmost parts of Scandinavia, because it was hard to get there, hard to spread the christian faith into those places.

Because of the mass executions held during the medieval times, most of the information we have about this subject, comes from trial records and interrogations. The accused were subject to torture, it can be hard to sift truth from confabulation. 
Several point out that the folkloric material was not what the interrogators were interested in, and in fact was considered a distraction, subjects of interrogation would be pressed to describe a formulaic encounter with the Devil wherein they traded magical power for their immortal souls. Instead, accused witches often described encounters with fairies and the dead. This is consistent with what we know about fairy beliefs, that Elphame or the realm of the Fair Folk was also the realm of the dead. External evidence for the folkloric material, including beliefs about fairies and specific beliefs to do with spirit flight, doubles, and familiars, combined with the fact that interrogators actively discouraged it, lend a degree of confidence to the picture they paint of what medieval witches were up to.

Witches during these times, worked alone, or in groups (but most of the time, alone). They often had named spirit helpers who appeared to them frequently, these spirits might be in the form of a cat, rat, toad, bird, a human being, or a non-natural creature. They also encountered other figures, including the King and Queen of Elphame, who sometimes presided over gatherings and sometimes helped them directly. They described leaving their homes and flying or going forth in the forms of animals, generally a cat or hare, which is also frequently mentioned in shamanic practices. Their interactions with spirits, flying, and other seemingly fantastic or impossible activities are described as straightforward experiences. They also performed numerous acts of witchcraft, ranging from healing or other beneficial spells without distinction between what we would now consider herbal medicine and what we would think of as “magic.” This is consistent with books of “home physic” from that time period and later, which often include both an herbal concoction and an incantation in a single cure.

This is absolutely similar with the way that shamans from other cultures describe their experiences as well, but is so far from current Western ideas as to be feared as pathological. Another thing to take into consideration is that becoming a witch fully is something that you can neither inherit nor study nor buy, but only receive as the gift of an ongoing relationship with the spiritual world from other beings, such as it happens with shamans. One does not simple becomes a shaman just because he/she wants it, a person becomes a shaman because it was chosen by beings, spirits, gods and so on, something out of the person's control. That has profound implications for how a witch seeking to be traditional will approach such things as training, teaching, and joining an initiatory lineage.