Norse Shamanism, Grave Sitting, Rune Magicians & Nature Beings | Imelda Almqvist (2020)

In Season 1 (2020) of Birdsong, Imelda Almqvist join us.

Imelda Almqvist is an international teacher of Sacred Art and Seidr/Old Norse Traditions (the ancestral wisdom teachings of Northern Europe).

She has published three books: Natural Born Shamans: A Spiritual Toolkit for Life (Using shamanism creatively with young people of all ages) in 2016, Sacred Art: A Hollow Bone for Spirit (Where Art Meets Shamanism) in 2019 and Medicine of the Imagination - Dwelling in possibility (an impassioned plea for fearless imagination) in 2020.

She has presented her work on both The Shift Network and Sounds True. She appears in a TV program, titled Ice Age Shaman, made for the Smithsonian Museum, in the series Mystic Britain, talking about Neolithic arctic deer shamanism.

She is currently finishing up her fourth book, about the pre-Christian spirituality of The Netherlands and Low Countries. She has already started her fifth book: about the runes of the Futhark/Uthark.

Her response to the 2020 pandemic was starting an on-line school on Teachable called Pregnant Hag Teachings, to make more of her classes available on-line.

Imelda’s website: http://www.shaman-healer-painter.co.uk

Imelda’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/imeldaalmqvist

Pregnant Hag Teachings: https://pregnant-hag-teachings.teachable.com/

 

TIMESTAMPS:

[3:39] Sigrdrifa's Prayer (or Invocation): commonly used to open sacred space in the Northern Tradition

[5:42] Sacred art and the meaning of what’s sacred

[9:30] Norse gods, ancient books and the language of the soul

[15:08] “Painting my way onto the shamanic path”

[15:59] The old Norse god Baldr

[17:37] Shamanic initiations [21:29] Core shamanism vs Norse shamanism

[25:24] The Poetic Edda, Prose Edda & Nordic history

[31:02] The shamanic characteristics of these ancient texts - prophecies, oracles, runes, chants and more…

[33:05] Direct revelation and the high seat ceremony

[37:33] If everything was preserved and written down things would become prescriptive

[38:44] Gods are living evolving beings within their relationship to human beings

[40:11] Sitting on grave mounds as a Northern European shamanic practice

[49:29] Rune stones, rune magicians, and reading runes as a divinatory practice

[55:10] Runic resources and books

[56:19] Runes of the FUTHARK / UTHARK [1:00:14] Viking berserkers, amanita muscaria, and musings on the destabilizing nature of ayahuasca

[1:06:22] Safety, boundaries, wild animal spirits and wild states of consciousness

[1:09:03] Connecting with the nature beings in our own environment

[1:10:23] The spirits of the trees and the great reindeer mother

[1:12:40] Mystery teachings from the poison mother

[1:15:17] Nordic methods and suggestions for cultivating psychic or intuitive abilities

[1:19:20] Cultivating 3-5 spiritual practices for depth rather than breadth

[1:21:38] Natural Born Shamans: Shamanism for young people of all ages

[1:25:13] Medicine of the Imagination - Creating a healthy functional vital reality

[1:27:45] Writing as a spiritual practice

[1:30:00] Pregnant Hag Teachings - Rune Magicians, Intro to Seidr, and more…