Visiting:
The Beltane Rituals of Glastonbury - By lunadea
I
had the distinct pleasure and privilege of attending one of Linda Wormhoudt’s special theme days; this one on oracle techniques in relation to the Seidr. As you have been able to read in the interview, Shamanistic rites, rituals and religions from Northwestern Europe are Linda’s specialty. During this theme day, Linda shared with us, a group of eight, some of the wisdom she has gathered and combined into her Dutch book, Seidr, het Noordse pad. We were, or course, treated to Linda Wormhoudt has been involved with Shamanism for 28 years. She studied under Maria Moonlion en Daan van Kampenhout, Linda’s books can be found here: http://tiny.cc/A3Boeken Her website: http://tiny.cc/Soulritual Coming classes:
http://tiny.cc/LindaWormhoudt
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theory. I have to admit this is always my favorite part but I won’t convey everything here. After all, Linda wrote a wonderful book where anyone who would like to learn more about Norse Shamanism can learn anything they’d ever wanted to know. I will explain that this type of Shamanism is different from the wild and fiery Native American Shamanism. This type of Shamanism is more subdued, more powered by the will. It’s heavily connected to ancestor worship and the Tree of Life. It works with a pantheon where Gods are not gentile beings and magical work is not to be taken lightly. Linda’s workshop started at 10.30 AM and lasted until 5 PM. A full day for anyone but for me, as someone who originated from the Wiccan school of thought, simply exhausting. Exhausting in a good way. If you have never been into contact with Shamanism before, Linda’s classes are a great starting point. She’ll introduce you, gently, to the intuitive touch that powers Shamanism and even if you can’t let go completely—like
me—you are guaranteed to learn. In her theme day, Linda broached a multitude of oracle techniques from the mundane and simple to the ancestral and involved. One of the major divination techniques we broached was ‘under the mantle’ divination. A Vala, a wise woman, would go to a burial mount and sit on it, covered by a cloak and try to commune with the dead in order to get answers. Bards would go to burial mounts of other Bards for inspiration. We tried this ourselves as Linda played the drum. It was an unique and confronting experience, hidden under the mantle. Other divination methods involved brass rings which acted like gateways between here and now and the other worlds and other times. We also did a very simple divination with objects found in nature. This very basic technique I’ll most definitely be using more often. We held a group meditation on the rune Perthro where we sang and came together beautifully. All in all, it was a fantastic day that has given me much food for thought!