THE ALFABLOT

Add some ancestral elements to your Hallowe'en!

In many cultures today is the Day of the Dead: Hallowe’en, Samhain, Día de Muertos, Álfablót. The Oldr Norse word Álfablót literally means the Sacrifice to the Elves or the Offering Ceremony for the Elves.

Hallowe’en has become “a thing” in Sweden. I wrote in last year’s post about bedraggled looking ghosts fluttering in icy winds at roundabouts. Supermarkets now have a dedicated section with (all all the standard) Hallowe’en decorations. I continue to have mixed feelings about this. Obviously Swedish children watch TV (and YouTube), they want spooky thrills and go trick-or-treating, just like children in the UK and the US. I get that! Our middle son was born on Hallowe’en (in London) and being a Hallowe’en boy is part of his identity and energy signature of walker between the worlds.

Yet… the thing that saddens me is that many Scandinavian people do not seem to realise (or care) that Scandinavia had its own festival and rituals, at this time of year. I would love to see more people opt for reviving ancestral celebrations - or even organising a mixed celebration: Hallowe’en decorations, costumes and trick-or-treating for the kids by all means (why not in a global village?) but also a genuine ritual dedicated to honouring the Ancestors for the grown-ups.

These days I observe two prevailing attitudes when it comes to Ancestors. One is: “They are dead and nothing to do with me!” It is true that they are dead, but once they were as alive and vivid as you are right now. You only exist because they passed on the Gift of Life as well as the genetic material required to grow a human body.

The second attitude goes something like: “My Ancestors weren’t very nice people while they were alive so dying did not turn them into Saints overnight. Most of them are probably toxic, so I am going to stay well clear!”

Well, Ancestors and Saints are not the same thing, that is correct. Dying does not miraculously turn a “bad” person into a “good” person. However, I do believe that human consciousness continues to evolve after death. I also believe that there is greater clarity of vision (at least for some souls) when earthly and karmic attachments drop away, and a Life Review occurs, a higher (soul) perspective appears.

Finally, we can never fully see where a person comes/came from, because we have not walked the proverbial mile in their shoes. It is easy to judge a person’s failings and failures. It also easy to believe family stories (which often represent a very one-sided or biased point of view because families are cruel to those who do not fit in). For that reason I am willing to give my ancestors some benefit of the doubt. When I do shamanic or ancestral healing work many of my ancestors loyally arrive to support me, and I could not possibly do that work without them. Nor would I have been born with my personal (unique) set of talents, without them.

For me the word ancestor covers the entire continuum between “a remote family member who died yesterday” to devoted (compassionate) ancestors who continue to watch over the world, land, human beings, animals and causes from “The Other Side”.

In a recent blog, titled MY INUIT ANCESTORS, I already explained what different types of ancestors are (and why): Spiritual Ancestors, Ancestors of Affinity, Ancestors by Adoption and Ancestors of Place and so forth.

We, The Living, delude ourselves into thinking that we will (against all evidence) live forever somehow. We don’t want to face the fact that we will be ancestors for much longer (using Earth Time reckoning here) than we will be alive.

Now onto the nitty gritty of the Álfablót!

In every Seiðr (often called “Norse Shamanism”) class I teach, I explain that The Elves (or Álfar) of the Northern European Tradition are not “fairies”, but the souls of male dead ancestors who (choose to) live on as nature spirits and guardians of home, land, barns and livestock. They often live in burial mounds, though we also find them under big rocks, in caves or in the mountains. We can choose to communicate with them and making offerings is a respectful way of doing so.

By making offerings we acknowledge that they too once walked the land and that they have now become part of the spiritual weave of the land. They do not (necessarily or automatically) fit a term often used in core shamanism: “helping spirits”, though they can certainly choose to be helpful (but they get annoyed if land is mismanaged or polluted, or if they are ignored)! By honouring them (and leaving food and drink out for them) we ensure that they are “on our side” and that we have their cooperation and protection during the winter months (remember that Scandinavian winters are prolonged, harsh and severe).

In the Old Norse way of thinking every gift (gåva in contemporary Swedish) required a return gift (gengåva). There is nothing cynical about this, it follows the cosmic law of keeping all exchanges balanced and fair. (Today we often speak of the principle of fair energy exchange or sacred reciprocity).

In the past, farm animals would have been sacrificed, at this time of year, and their blood poured out as a sacred offering (blót is the old Old Norse word for blood) but today most practitioners feel that alternative offerings are acceptable (seasonal foods, drink, the favourite food or drink of ancestors we used to know in real life, or other - as individually guided by your gods and spirits).

Let me also explain that the Álfar are the male ancestors. The female ancestors (Dísir) have their own special day in the Yule period (Modranatt or Ancestral Mothers’ Night) as well as the Dísablót (Offering ritual to the female ancestors) in early Spring.

The fertility god Freyr (twin brother of the goddess Freyja) is known as the Lord of the Elves and his Otherworld domain is called Álfheimr (the Realm of the Elves). It could be argued that this poses an interesting window on the issue of reincarnation: the Lord of Fertility is also the (male) Lord of Souls of the Dead. That is worth sitting with!

One summer I was guided to build a small cairn on our property. I carved a Bone Woman from antler bone, put her inside and dedicated the cairn to her. This was inspired by the Icelandic phenomenon of the Beinakerling.

(I am flying to Sweden this afternoon and I will take some pictures of this cairn, because I don’t have any good pictures at hand just now, on my new phone).

PRACTICAL POINTERS

For those of you who want more practical pointers, here are some suggestions:

I usually wait for nightfall (which arrives at 4 p.m. here in Sweden, at this time of year) and make a small pilgrimage to this cairn. I bring my Rune Drum, a candle (or lantern) and offerings of ale and meat (the traditional offerings for an Álfablót). Our local spirits have a great fondness for whiskey as well, (good Whiskey, all the way from Scotland!) Oh and they like home-made porridge with lashings of butter, cinnamon and honey!

Make a fire, if you can. Light a candle, if that is safe. Even a battery-operated candle (or picture of a flame) will do. Intention is what matters.

Make offerings to the ancestors and the spirits of place. I drum and chant. I pour ale over the cairn and leave the food offerings.

Recite the known names of ancestors you have access to. Work your way back the generations. It is a beautiful thing to say: I am the daughter of…. I am the granddaughter of…. And so forth. As a long-term married person I will also say: I am the daughter-in-law of … etc.

Honour them but also take a moment acknowledge the hard lives they had, the children they lost. Do some apology work, if any is needed.

Bless them and ask them to bless the living, your life, your dreams, our world. Ask for their protection and guidance. Promise that you will try harder to listen from now (if hearing or sensing them is an issue for you).

Next I always drum and call in the Deep Ancestors (whose names we do not remember), the Ancestors of Place, the Landvaettir (or Spirits of Place), the animals ancestors of all local animal species and the ancestors that live on in local memory and stories.

(A few years ago we asked a local farmer to accompany us to the cemetery of this parish and tell us about the dead people he used to know while they were alive!)

As a teacher (and lifelong student) of Norse Mythology and Cosmology I also call in the great skalds, bards and the writers of the Eddic poetry (including Snorri Sturlason, who gave us The Prose Edda). I can only teach what I teach because of them!

Odin’s name literally means “The Spirit” (Odr means Spirit/Frenzy/Poetry + the definite article “inn”) and he is associated with the wind, sacred breath and The Wild Hunt. Pray to all wind directions. Welcome the approaching Winds of Winter (or Summer if you are in the Southern Hemisphere).

Perhaps visit a graveyard where relatives are buried. If that is not possible, visit any graveyard and visit (or even tidy up) some graves that look neglected. Leave a small offering (such as a little birdseed or nuts for the local squirrels or whatever is ecologically appropriate). Flowers are always good (if in season). Even a colourful Autumn leaf makes a beautiful offering!

I just heard that more logging is planned for our area, which is devastating news. It means that mature trees are going to be taken down and that many animals and other organisms are going lose their homes and habitats. It is a huge shock to the local eco-system. They will have to relocate and negotiate a new balance with other creatures and organisms living there. I always tell the trees and the spirits of the land this, to warn them, that is one of my jobs as the local Forest Witch. I say a prayer for all organisms affected.

Trees have ancestors too! Land still holds the deep dreaming of what it looked like in its most pristine or wild (unspoiled) state!

In some ways even the elements are our ancestors. They have sustained human existence since its very first expression or manifestation. Water, Air and Earth have passed through all human beings who came before us and animated them, allowed them to be embodied, ensouled and passionate (Fire) beings.

The Land also holds the memory of extinct animals and ancestors from times before human beings. There were tree spirits and plant mothers long before there were human mothers. The list is endless. Take some time to express gratitude for all that went into the making of you!! Give something back. Rune GIFU! It looks like a cross, or (if our modern world) a kiss…

I try (but sometimes fail) to get out at least one essay a week (sometimes more), due to travel, international teaching commitments and family care responsibilities (our family lives with Alzheimer’s and I have written several posts about that). If you would like to see regular posts about about Nordic spirituality and my life as a Forest Witch (and of course short videos of all the wildlife here!), please follow me on Instagram or Facebook, thank you!

Imelda Almqvist, London UK

BIO FOR IMELDA ALMQVIST

Imelda Almqvist is an international teacher of Sacred Art and Seiðr/Old Norse Traditions (the ancestral wisdom teachings of Northern Europe). So far she has written four non-fiction books and two picture books for children. 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, Medicine of the Imagination - Dwelling in Possibility (an impassioned plea for fearless imagination) in 2020 and North Sea Water In My Veins (The Pre-Christian spirituality of the Low Countries) was published in June 2022.

The Green Bear is a series of picture book for children, aged 3 – 8 years. The stories and vibrant artwork, set in Scandinavia, invite children to explore enchanting parallel worlds and to keep their sense of magic alive as they grow up.

Imelda 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 Mesolithic arctic deer shamanism.

Imelda is currently working on a handbook for rune magicians (about the runes of the Elder Futhark) and on more books in the Green Bear Series. Imelda runs an on-line school called Pregnant Hag Teachings, where all classes she teaches remain available as recordings, which can be watched any time.

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Online School:                  https://pregnant-hag-teachings.teachable.com/courses/

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