Att vandra i skönhet i världen

Här hittar du mina tankar om världen och om Drömtiden och om vad det innebär att tänka och vandra i skönhet. Jag strävar efter att manifestera det kosmiska i det jordiska genom shamansk aktivism.

fredag 26 april 2019

Seidr 5.0 now available again

The book Seidr 5.0: A Guide to Nordic Shamanism is now in stock again and possible to order directly from norrshaman@gmail.com. Details: 96 pages, A5, hardcover spiral, price (postage included) €25, £20, $30. ISBN 978-91-978832-8-3.
The book has been reviewed by readers on Amazon – with views differing from full of praise to a more critical stand. Here are a few quotations:
“Very good book. Informative and well written which should be no surprise as this is the fifth edition. Highly recommended.”
“It is an excellent handbook allowing the reader to understand how to bring Seidr into modern times. It shows ancient practices in modern settings. It is not an academic tome of Seidr practice and is not meant to be one. My favorite part of the book is the 154 ‘points of shamanic philosophy’ - each one a short paragraph with concise (and potent) content - a frequent source for my daily meditation/journey.”
But everybody doesn’t like my version of shamanic philosophy, or just don’t get it right:
“Extremely disappointed at the blatant pro-communist stance of this book. I hope the people who embrace this book look at the real history of communism throughout the world and not just the rainbows and unicorn lies professors at ‘higher’ learning institutions shove down their throats. This is pure garbage.”
 One reader has a somewhat more academic stance:
 “One of the book's meatier sections focuses on reconciling Shamanism with Marxism, though the author then affirms that this is not an attempt at politicizing spirituality but to bolster Shamanism and move it forward. An interesting section that I was not expecting, to come across in a book titled as a guide to ‘Norse Shamanism’ and Seidr.”
 “This is indeed a guide to the author’s style of Shamanism, based on years of personal work and inspired gnosis, with a Nordic flavor. Yet it really covers a skeletal approach to Harner style shamanism (drumming, using rattles, etc), coupled with the author’s own views and experiences, rather than really delving into Seidr as something distinct in its own right, or drawing from other in depth Nordic sources to reconstitute Seidr. It seems that many cultural sources are drawn from here, and then ‘Nordicized’ with heathen terms such as Seidr.”
Surprisingly to me even the editor of the journal Sacred Hoop, Nicholas Breeze Wood, has some difficulties with the political dimension of my shamanic way:
“One section of the book contains a list of 154 tenets of shamanism, most of which I whole heartedly agree with, although a few I would refute, and some feel well out of place, as they get more and more Marxist and literally Communist as the list gets towards its close, and they have very little to do with any form of shamanism as I know it, and seem to say much more about the authors political leanings. I think this list could and should - have been largely omitted.”
Personally I think this kind of critique says more about the lack of political and philosophical understanding among modern shamanically inclined persons than anything else.  
However the review by Nicholas Breeze Wood is mainly very positive:
“The book has a very Nordic feel, with many mentions of the shamanic traditions of the Saami people of Northern Norway and Finland, including some interesting discussion on various types of spirits and their importance… and we have sections on utiseta (an ancient Nordic vision quest practice), the use of the drum, shamanic journeying, the practice of seidr, the use of sacred yoiks (songs), runes and sacred dance, ritual objects, ceremony and other topics. It’s not the most comprehensive book, but it’s solid, and for those who feel the need to explore shamanism from a more European basis it will, I am sure, give much food for thought and trigger further explorations.”

More information about the book on norrshaman.
My book Rune Magic and Shamanism is also still available at norrshaman@gmail.com.