Galdragildi's Weblog

Interview from Grimnir at tumblr.com

galdragildi — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:00:42 +0000

Heill,
Here is a brief interview with Gandvaldr Bláskikkja from Grímnir’s tumblr page:

Draumstafr

Comments are appreciated.

Visit with Wolves of Vinland: August 6, 2011

galdragildi — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 19:49:01 +0000

I was asked by Grímnir to speak to the WoV and members of the Galdragildi while visiting. The topic was simply an introduction and general information regarding the gild. My speaking notes for the event are posted below. Some variation occurred during the actual presentation.

— Gandvaldr Bláskikkja

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

“Hello. My name is Gandvaldr Bláskikkja

I come from a fairly formal background. Those I learned from, my teachers and such, allowed little room for extraneous things like “personality” and individual thought that differed from their mainstream. From the beginning I knew this would not be a path I could continue for long and as years progressed I was able to make more of my initial efforts than first thought. Eventually I, along with others of like mind, was able to begin creating something deeper, more intrinsic to the arteries of our folk. There were some successes and failures; a lot of failures. But at each one there was something to be learned; something remarkable and lasting. Like the dross; the slag from the metals with which the smith works; the imperfect tools and weapons made — working toward mastery. Apprentice: Byrjandi / Lærlingur (Beginner / Apprentice), Journeyman: Gildifélagi / Farandi (Gild fellow / Traveler), Gildmaster: Gildi meistari (Gild master). These stages of development within the gild, are the steps I’d taken in a number of ways, quite literally, in the eventual formation of the Galdragildi.
What I’ve sought to maintain in the gild is the dignity and, dare I say, elite standards of the process of learning: the absorption and embodiment of rûna. Not just as it applies to the use of rúnagaldr, but of seiðr, hexology, folk magic and other Germanic magical practices and traditions. My goal was to continue with the stoic setting in which I first held my formal learning, but establish and uphold something stronger, more in touch with the real tradition of our heathen ancestors. The men and women who stood beneath these very skies, this bright moon, were not the rigid, sterile suits which seems to make up much of present day “traditional rune work”. They were vital, vibrant and charged with energy; alive and varied; expressive and strong-willed.
You see, erudition is essential, but cannot be the entirety of our processes. A time must come when a ‘magician’ (galdramáðr / kona) sets aside his books and turns to the woods and wild, both figuratively and literally. For the best of us, this should be accomplished hand in hand rather than maintaining a schism between the academic and the practical. It is far too easy to fall into one category or another, and I’d like to say specifically, the folks down here working with Grímnir (Grafgrímr: gild heiti) and Járnefr are damn lucky to have such powerful figures: in personality, knowledge and arcane prowess to act as leaders within a growing epicenter of heathen folk. They, obviously, are not wholly responsible for this, because each of those persons here are driven and quickened to finding something closer to their heart and ancestral soul.

The gild is a place which persons interested in the magical education and promotion of Germanic traditions can come to foster themselves, and share their experiences with others, if they desire. There are some who choose to practice in solitude, choosing to interact solely with me. Persons of the Galdragildi have heard me say this dozens of times, but I still feel there are some who are missing this critical point. Community, for this to succeed, is doubly important. The building of community, both to be a part OF and from which a magician can isolate him or herself AWAY FROM, is crucial to the continuation of tradition. Strides must be taken to avoid Internet-based learning and mail order association. A person cannot be a part of something when they are just sitting behind a desk, staring a computer screen. We are in the age of the Vitki-pedian: persons sitting at a computer, looking up data and amassing common knowledge from the efforts of others, then claiming all manner of experiences and discovery based merely upon reading. It is a sickness of the Age, and I have witnessed it first hand in my earlier days, “magicians” who could not or would not set foot from the comfort of their homes to even venture to the woods for an evening “sitting out”. It has a dangerous draw… comfort. And as I grow older, it is more and more difficult to combat. As arthritis sets: physically — I desire comfortable occasions, but spiritually and mentally I am howling; enraged at my own sense of satisfaction and placation. But I’m sure we are all aware of how easy it is to point out another person’s shortcomings. What is much more difficult is to live as an example of strength, honor, intelligence and wisdom. And I do separate these latter two: Intelligence and Wisdom. The difference between these is the difference between Knowing and Doing; that is, the academic vs. the practical. We need stand as a beacon for others who are seeking their ancestral birthright — their own sovereign sense of Self and shine as offspring of the gods. Drengskapar. We, of the gild, do this through the continued study and application of practices which were, in the age of our ancestors, privy to a very select few within any given community. Peculiar folk, whether galdr, seiðr, or otherwise, did not make up the bulk of the established community. In fact, it is fair to say they were not established at all, rather they lived apart from society at times due to the nefarious nature of their practices. Things, of course, changed when kristin dómr arrived. It is a dangerous mind; those who seek personal Initiation — following the path of Draugadróttinn, Hangatyr, Herjan or perhaps, Syr, Vanadís, Valfreyja. For the gild to have its presence welcome within a community as prominent as The Wolves of Vinland, and have such members, founders, of the Wolves seek entrance into the Gild Hall, serves as proof of its process and merit. I often ruminate that the Galdragildi acquired its brain at birth with Vefskelfir, Geirúlfr and myself, but only gained its heart when Grímnir (Grafgrímr) and eventually Járnefr arrived. More aptly put, I (we) gave it önd, but Grafgrímr and Járnefr gave it óðr.

The gild is surely not for everyone, and with good reasons — there is work involved and ACTION required. Its members are given materials and curriculum to begin the process of embodying the runes and learning the rudiments of rungaldr. From there, many provide feedback to the gild through presentation, promotion and probably most important — participation in annual events. As one progresses their areas of study may narrow and a specific focus develops which becomes more and more clear throughout their Journey-work. As one Rises within the gild hall, each and every deed becomes more attuned toward greatness of the Self; each action itself drengsverk.
We gather specifically at the high season; Yule, for might and masking; ancestral communication and galdr when the permeation most widespread. Everyone of the gild is strongly encouraged to attend this, even more so than summer. In the past, the draw of Jul has been quite successful and each year brings more participation. It is my aim to have concentrated locals; epicenters of membership, gather monthly for tafla-verk, galdraverk (table-work and ritual) and more. Starting about a year or so ago, I began sending hardcopy letters to all members detailing an aspired activity which would reach its climax at year’s end; Jul. These “assignments” are provided in as general of terms as possible while maintaining their specific aim. It’s been interesting to tailor these works to be an accomplishment that’s requested of all members of all levels. Providing a task specific enough to produce cohesion, yet general enough to foster dynamic approach has been a challenge. The outcome, last Jul, was amazing. Seeing the entirety of the individual interpretations inspired everyone who participated. Each persons work was as varied and unique as the individual who created it. No two were even similar and were actually frightening for some of the newer members to experience. Another assignment was sent out in the first quarter of 2011 and I think the results of that will be even more multifarious and educational.
That is, I feel, the pinnacle of gild achievement. When its members inspire each other to greater gains, Trú growth and ultimate understanding of all areas of interactivity. As the Galdragildi grows, so too does the individual member. Of course, this is contingent on the involvement of the participant. We’ve all seen persons who sit firmly on the successes of others. Gebo: the gift is alive and flows concurrent. There is life in all aspects of the Gift: giver, giving, given and gifted. Those who are unaware of this truth or fail to acknowledge it, aren’t long lasting. Grímnir (Grafgrímr), Járnefr, and the others of this area, have been exemplary of this fact. It is truly something to aspire to, and I’ve been encouraging the local members of my own area to be far more interactive, involved and share our growth experiences. A resurgence of encouragement will follow once we return to Michigan. I much prefer hands-on interaction and discussion: face to face, to share practices and techniques, enact galdraverk, and more, within the venue of regular meetings, dinners, campouts and such. Much more work is needed and the sense of ownership and responsible community here [in Virginia] is something I’d like to see in my home state. This place, this land and the folks here … There is very potent hamingja.

There are organizations: groups, tribes, kindreds, who view their involvement and knowledge as: “If you aren’t with me, then you are against me.” This is far too common, but unfortunately will always be. But having been invited to participate this weekend with the Wolves; having my family meet your families; being here as guest and friend: I can tell you we are most honored to be among such noble-minded kith, such strong character and dedicated folk of the gods. This is a most impressive thing and we are happy to be a part of it.

Þakka ykkur öllum. Vaxa og vera frábært.

Thank you all.”

Finally. First of more to come.

galdragildi — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 23:38:16 +0000

Orð mér af orði orðs leitaði,

verk mér af verki verks leitaði.

Gandvaldr Bláskikkja

LIVING RUNES: Creating Effective and Unique Taufr

galdragildi — Thu, 12 May 2011 16:38:09 +0000

To begin an essay on taufr, we must destroy the usual preconceptions about the subject. Nearly everyone, as soon as the topic is brought up, instantly conjure up images of antler, wood, bone or stone, engraved in simple fashion with rune, bindrune or galdrastafir. They recall their own work with them, often limited to selecting a piece of material and then carving a formula into it and perhaps blooding it during a ritual conceived for the purpose. While this is all well and good, and can certainly be an effective and quick means of bringing the will into being, it certainly lacks the imagination and inventiveness that any magician would pride himself on. With so many materials at our fingertips, we should broaden not only our physical methods, but our spiritual ones as well.
Obviously, our first question when setting about to create an item and will it to a specific purpose must be: What for? We have the option of honing down the answer to something brutally simple, or we can respond with a multi-faceted, many veined idea that requires a mastery over concentration even to weave all of its complex strands together. Depending on our style here, this will be something to keep in mind when we are deciding on materials as well: the form often matches the function. The reason we consider function prior to form is the difference between what hexologists call “hexefoos,” or true magical hex-signs, and “just for nice,” meaning a simple piece of art, beautiful to look at, but serving no deeper purpose.
Our thinking even at this early stage in the process can become oversimplified and clouded with learned limitation, as we block our own wondrous ideas and replace them with simple ones handed down to us from those fearful minds that trembled at going off the beaten path of the safe and banal. This fear of the unknown, or fear of ridicule and mockery have kept many a potential powerhouse of spiritual strength weakly wallowing instead in the morass of popular approval and insincere praise. Think and act in accordance with your inner desires and intentions, listen to your own counsel and give rein to your dreams. Without the freedom to stretch branch to sky and sink root into earth, a seed destined for greatness often gets trampled by the wayside.
Now, once the idea has seeded itself in your conscious mind, and you are ready to will it into a physical (or at least fully realized) existence, the time has come to choose your medium. The same limiting factor that one fights at the beginning must be conquered and brought to heel again- allow yourself time to explore the idea and match it with physical realities and materials, finding correspondences previously undreamed of between thing and idea, magic and matter, principle and raw creative force. I have seen wonderful and awe-inspiring creations from magicians who were unaffected and unafraid of going beyond the horizon to bring back with them legendary pieces: A pig skull that the magician had painted with personal symbols, connecting the idea of the swine as a rooter and eater of filth and scrap, giving it the function of setting on the mantle-piece during a feast to absorb and swallow all negative thought and impure impulse- later to be shattered with a hammer and immolated along with all it had accumulated. A Hagalaz rune, hand forged by a master smith, adding into it metals specific to his intention, beating them together physically and spiritually as his work took form from molten metal and was purified, re-shaped and hardened into its permanent form. These are the work of imaginative and fearless magicians, not limited by the same old ideas, but striking out on their own as true journeymen, into the mists of the unknown.
We live in a modern world with a thousand different variations on every theme. It is fitting that we use what we have available to us in order to achieve our own goals. I myself have used stencils and spray paint to mark ancient symbols filled with might and pulsing with meaning onto the soulless grey concrete of bridge and underpass. Ridden on bicycle or motorcycle which has itself been altered by stain and blood for the pure intention of taking me to wherever my destiny, my wyrd would have me go. Worn masks over my face that have been painted and molded with wolf hair, my body covered in tattoos inked with the ashes of that mighty animal, turning myself into a breathing taufr, my life aimed toward a specific purpose that I can never fail.
The point is, there is no thing that can be imagined that cannot be given wondrous form and set to work the will upon or with. The tapestry gifted to me by a friend, the green of which filters the sunlight into my bedroom, concentrated in the center by a white madhur/elhaz rune, and fills me with peace and joy while I speak my morning consecrations; the Black Sun hex sign that hangs on the wall in my music room and draws me inside itself during composition and performance; the many varieties of “landwaster” raven taufr that members of my tribe never go on long distance journeys without- these things resound with a power and purpose of their own, willed into them by their creators, and experienced directly by those that they are meant to affect.
Perhaps one of the most visible for all of us, the Galdragildi emblem, emblazoned on the cover of the Groandibók, is in and of itself an amazing and multi-layered taufr of Order, Degree and Initiation. Within its form, many truths and mysteries lie waiting to be delved into by those who live a life dedicated to Understanding.

Grafgrímr, Journeyman of the Galdragildi, May 9, 2011

Excerpt from a letter to Askvárðr

galdragildi — Sun, 08 May 2011 23:34:57 +0000

…from a correspondence to Journeyman, Askvárðr — 5/5/2011

“Finally, to respond to your question about “instinctive knowing” during new experiences. I understand your take on it, that it’s a reflection of hamingja or fylgja attuned. Recently, after sending you the letter about that, I read a book that dealt with this honing of instinct. It was terribly written and its purpose was more for the business world and modern flash-”chicken soup for the soul”. But the activity and description of what occurs with intuition was informative. The process the author described is “thin slicing”, where the observer subconsciously breaks down the multitude of actions, expressions and initial phrasing or feeling about a situation within the first moments. According to the author, this is a trainable skill, but often comes more easily to some than others. Honestly, by the end of the book, it seemed to me that the author was being exceptionally critical of every interaction he’d experienced and spent far too much time ruminating on past relations and situation than on how to actually develop the skill of which he so prominently spoke: Being able to tighten down on the myriad bits of information we see, and quickly filtering it with what is true vs. what is implied or expected.

To describe this in the Germanic terminology, as you request, I feel it mandates ongoing assessment and awareness of Huginn and Muninn; a balance thereof most of all. Hamingja, being the transferable and shared part of ourselves puts this in a very dynamic state as our relationship to thought and memory oscillates and weighs interpersonal communications with both people and objects/situations alike. As this is going on, our all-too-often hindering conscious self vacillates in a febrile nonstop revolution of uncommitted choices and options. We second guess ourselves faithfully even after our initial “I know this is the right way… BUT I still need to see if anything else makes sense.” While we are trying to assemble a ‘sense’ of things, we fill in the holes of intuition with unrelated data only to cobble together nonsense based upon only what we’ve accepted previously. Our brains, and hamingja, are far more capable of taking in and connecting the dots which are beyond our immediate memory. Of course, this is purposeful — having parts of our intrinsic memory (information) turned off, otherwise we’d overload on [past] information and be incapable of taking in new things. We can’t have Muninn speaking more loudly and Huginn, but we cannot rely solely on the latter. “

Vax vel, vaxa og ná,
Gandvaldr Bláskikkja

Coming soon…

galdragildi — Fri, 06 May 2011 00:05:38 +0000

42° 55′ 27″ N / 85° 15′ 49″ W
Gandvaldr Bláskikkja

Perigee — MI Equinox Meet 3/19/2011

galdragildi — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 14:44:52 +0000

Some of the MI members gathered at our stead on the hill for dinner, some inter-activities and galdraverk. After a very bountiful dinner, we’d worked on some exercises of hamingja sensitivity. Then, as the sun sank below the horizon and the full moon (perigee) rose from the opposite hillside, we began the blót and galdraverk.

A week or so before persons were to attend the gathering, I asked each to carry a small item on their person. This item was to be something unconnected or atypical. For example, I wouldn’t use my motorcycle key as the object, and my wife should not choose a spool of thread. Instead, we should take up an item that is completely mundane. We all put our items, unknown to the others, in a small black bag. Next, we each took turns drawing out the items and writing a list of who carried each item. I’d like to add too, that the objects were completely ordinary. A paperclip, a safety pin, a stone, a newer quarter, and an older quarter. Again, the quarters were nearly identical save for details contingent upon when the coin was made. Two persons got all five items correct (Gild Apprentice Gormr and I), and two others got three of five correct.

Next, we worked on an exercise where a person left the room, and then three would stand in a circle (triangle) where one person had a hidden weapon. When the person who was sent from the room returned, the person with the weapon focused on harming him or her, while the other two dedicated themselves to completely harmless thought and intention (I thought of a field of daisies). The three people surrounding the one were instructed to maintain a neutral countenance, so the “victim” would not perceive the armed person by appearance. Each time a new person stood as “victim” the weapon changed hands (or not) and the potential “attackers” were rotated so no two persons had the same experience. I was pleased to see that 4 out of 5 persons were able to quickly feel the one with the weapon. The individual who did not find the carrier of the knife on first suspicion, chose correctly with her second pick. [ When it came to my turn, they decided to throw me off by having four potential choices instead of three... I was still successful. ;-{)> ]

We began the equinox work as the sun set and the moon arose. As the blót was offered and galdraverk reached the apex, the hounds amongst the hills surrounding our home all joined in with their baying and howling barks. We retired from the vé to sit fireside beneath the moon’s ghostly grand luminance. The forest and hillside was eerily radiant, the cloudless sky illuminated to a bright blue-yellow. Around 11pm a formation of geese flew overhead — so visible they were within the ‘night’ sky.

Alltaf vaxa,

Gandvaldr Bláskikkja

Yule Moot 2010/11

galdragildi — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 21:48:50 +0000

Heill öll!
The gild is gearing up and getting ready for travel, far and near, for the 2010/11 Galdragildi moot. The turnout looks to be rather impressive so the hearth fires of the lodge will be burning bright and warm (but it’s Still a really good idea to bring many warm clothes and bedding). Those who attended the moot last year can attest… The mead froze to slush within about a half hour while sitting on the vé! The temperature last January fell to -15°f during our galdor work. We will all be indoors this time, and considerably warmer.
This year’s moot activities will be much more interactive and the jól galdr itself will be far different than in past years; taking on a “life” of its own.
If anyone attending has any questions or concerns about their attendance, please call me or strike up a thread (comment) here to hear what others have to say.
Vefskelfir and I, and the rest of the Michigan folk, are looking forward to welcoming you all and seeing old friends and meeting new members.

Wax well and Grow,
Gandvaldr Bláskikkja

Dagviðr´s creation

galdragildi — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 17:13:24 +0000

Heill öll!

Whilst chatting with a longtime friend and Journeyman of the Galdragild, he shared with me a remarkable painting he’d finished today. I guess it’s a time for profound creativity abound

It is an honour to share it here, along with his ever-growing website. (LINKS are above.)

Skál!

Gandvaldr Bláskikkja

to Hel

galdragildi — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 14:27:03 +0000

Bare foot walking on snowy streets
freshly fallen — frozen fare.
Chill winds through hackles and hair.
Country travels, forest path,
sparse houses here at last.
Carefully kindled smoke
dwindles in the dawn, and
morning ravens linger on.
Sibilant stream is winding whispers;
my heart warms within my breast.
Suddenly, I know the rest.
Bare feet, bare chest,
clear head —
am most alive yet likely dead
when taking ways most fell.
Rebel against the wild
and see that I am wild as well.

Gandvaldr Bláskikkja (first day of Spring, 2010)