Monday, May 27, 2013

My Saami Self - Gripping the Beast, the Serpent Bright

Nidhogg is the last of the three great Dragons of the Eddas one encounters during the process of self-integration. Michael Kelly, in Aegishjalmur, the Book of the Dragon Runes writes:

Nidhogg, who lurks at the very deepest root of the World-Tree, gnawing upon it, spewing venom as he consumes the shells of the dead.

Nidhogg is a devourer, a breaker down of aggregates, and in reawakening the essences of your past selves, you are effectively undoing Nidhogg's work, causing the Dragon to regurgitate that which it has devoured.

The author further asks,

What form will this Dragon take?

and continues,

So Nidhogg, the final of the three great Dragons of the North, is the accretion of the debts, the grievances and the unfulfilled desires of your past selves. This is a mighty and worthy foe to conquer. But if you can conquer and subdue the Dragon, gaining the use of those past skills and knowledge, broadening your outlook and your very sense of Self in the process, then this Dragon has one final Gift to offer when brought to heel. Nidhogg is the most dangerous of Dragons, but also the most transformative, for according to the Voluspa, the Seeress' Prophecy in the The Poetic Edda, this Dragon is immortal indeed, surviving Ragnarok.

As I've shared before, my preincarnate forthseeing ends with a vision of brightness and brilliance. I've also shared before that over the course of my life, particularly during the last few decades, I've had repetitive dreams involving ice and snow. In another forum I've specifically shared a bit about one particular series of repetitive dreams I have involving me as an expert ice skater:

My snow/ice dreams are always beautiful. Oftentimes, in my ice dreams, I am a beautiful ice skater flawlessly ice dancing (I don't know how to ice skate in real life) pouring out poetry in motion on the ice. I love these dreams. I can do anything in them. I feel so effortlessly skilled and fully alive.

I've never really decoded these dreams beyond the fact of pertaining to my Northern ancestral heritage. But today I am struck by the flawless skill I employ in these dreams (of a skill I do not in this life possess). My insides are shaking with the realization that these ice skating dreams, where I can do anything I set my mind to do, are not only linking me to my Northern ancestors, but are linking me deeply to one of my past selves. My innards are screaming out - this is my grip on Nidhogg and this realization is my link toward reawakening the full essence of my whole Self, not only as I am in this incarnation, but all of my Self in continuity.

This realization was sparked as I just a few minutes ago researched "Old Norse Witchcraft" which led me to the invention of ice skating by the Saami - the people from whom my ancestral U5b1b1-T16192C! genetic motherline descends. Iceland is one place where I have genetic motherline matches according to Roots for Real (one of the labs where I had my mtDNA analyzed).

Concerning the Saami, in Shamanism and Northern Ecology it is written:

People belonging to the Saami population are mentioned in some of the Icelandic family sagas, in some of the shorter stories about Icelanders called pættir (sg. páttr); in some of the sagas belonging to the genre fornaldarsagas which tell about ancient times in Scandinavia before the rule of the Norwegian king Haraldr hárfagri (Harald finehair); as well as some of the kings' sagas - including sagas of the earls like the Orkneyinga saga; - and in Norwegian chronicles originally written in Latin. Saamis are also mentioned a few times in the Icelandic Lándnamabók, which gives a survey of the settlers and their descendents, and in Icelandic annals. They are also mentioned in poetic literature, in one Eddaic poem, and in a few skaldic stanzas.

In any case, the Saamis in all these sources are viewed from the outside. 

However, the author later continues,

A few texts tell about a marriage between a Saami woman and a Nordic man - in one case the bridegroom is a Saami. In such motifs, the Saami are either the daughter or son of a Saami king (see Ágrip, ch. 3; Haraldz saga ins hárfagra in Heimsrkingla, ch. 25; Hrólfs saga kraka, ch. 24ff; and Volundarkviða).

In a few texts we find descriptions of Saami shamanism (see Vatnsdæla saga, ch. 12; Historia Norvegiae, 16ff.).

The heathen wiseman who announces the coming of a new and better faith is a literary motif in many medieval texts. In Old Norse texts, the role of this heathen wiseman may be held by a Saami (see for instance, Flateyarbók I, 231; Oddr Snorrason munkr: Saga Óláfs Tryggvasonar, ch. 19(13.).

The Saamis' skill in magic is emphasized in a wide range of texts. Motifs describing objects with magic power or strange events caused by magic are often connected with Saamis (see for instance, Flateyarbók II, 372; Óláfs saga ins Helga in Heimskringla, chs. 192 and 228; Hálfdanar saga Eysteinssonar, ch. 20; Ǫrvar Odds saga, chs. 4 and 12; Sturlangs saga starfsama, ch. 12).

The writer goes on to share even more, but then he comes to this gold nugget (as far as I'm concerned):

... in this text there is no sharp distinction between giants and Saamis, the brother of Brúni is said to be a Saami. 

This confusing of Saamis and giants, as well as internarriage at the highest levels of society, is a literary pattern which Gro Steinsland recently has placed in a different light (Steinsland, 1991),

... in a different light in more ways than one, I'll interject ...

and may also shed light on the understanding of the people living within the Old Norse culture regarding to relationship between Saamis and Norwegians.

Adding to this, I also just discovered that ice-skating and bone ice skates were invented by the ancient Saami, my ancestors through my ancestral genetic motherline. In Old Norse texts, a Saami man is called finnr, fiðr or finni. A Saami woman is called a finna or finnkona.

I am simply stunned with delight finding all this new information! First, it is clear to me now that my repetitive dreams about ice skating pertain most specifically to my Saami ancestry and point me to recognize the renowned magical skill of these ancestors of mine.

Second, in one of my past incarnations, I was Saami, and I too possessed this magical skill, executing my skill flawlessly, heroically even. My ice-skating dreams tell me that - in them, I feel able to do anything I set my mind to do.

Third, the recent EF5 tornado synchronicity with events in my life aligns with the lore about my Saami ancestors, in that "strange events caused by magic are often connected with the Saami," as discussed above.

Fourth, I may be descended from Saami royalty, that is, the daughter of a Saami king and queen.

Fifth, my recent "wise jotun" dream, not only links to Vafþrúðnir in the lore, to my fylgja/hamingja/fetch, but to my Saami ancestry as well.

Sixth, my repetitive ice-skating dreams are further linked to my deep ancestry and to one of my former incarnations as a Saami woman. Through these dreams and my realization of their connection to an ancient Self, I am linked to Nidhogg. Through my recognition of this link, I grip the beast, and begin the transformation thus described in Voluspa in the Poetic Edda:

from below the Dragon
dark comes forth,
Nidhogg flying
from Nithafjoll;
the bodies of men on
his wings he bears,
the serpent bright ... (translated by Henry Adams Bellows)

Seventh, the fact that this work of Self-integration was set for this incarnation may indeed be the reason I felt I didn't have the strength do it as described in one of my preincarnate memories - the one where I described my incarnation into this present life, but my fylgja, my giant Self promised to lead me through it, to it! What a wondrous fylgja I have, hail my most dependable fylgja!

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