Hubbardston, Massachusetts Asphodel Press 12 Simond Hill Road Hubbardston, MA 01452 The Pathwalker’s Guide to the Nine Worlds Northern-Tradition Shamanism: Book II © 2006 Raven Kaldera ISBN 978-1-4303-0970-3 Cover art © 2006 Abby Helasdottir, http://www.gydja.com Back cover photo © 2006 Sensous Sadie All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the permission of the publisher. Printed in cooperation with Lulu Enterprises, Inc. 860 Aviation Parkway, Suite 300 Morrisville, NC 27560 Dedicated to the People of Asphodel who aided me, gifted me, and believed in me... Contents: Part I: Walking Between The Worlds Worldwalker ............................................................................................ 1 World-Walking: The Etiquette of Alternate Reality ............................ 13 Hame Flying: Faring Forth Into The Otherworlds ............................... 23 3 Thrimilchimonath 2003 ................................................................... 44 Pathwalking, Way-Taming ................................................................... 47 5 Thrimilchimonath 2003 ................................................................... 52 Doing Magic In Otherworlds ................................................................ 59 31 Thrimilchimonath 2003 ................................................................. 64 Pathwalking With Runes ...................................................................... 71 4 Lithmonath 2003 ............................................................................. 97 Building the Kit .................................................................................. 101 9 Haymonath, 2003 .......................................................................... 121 The World Tree In Your Backyard: Building a Stang ........................ 129 Day before leaving ............................................................................. 135 Part II: The Other-Worldly People Trolltryggr: Working with the Giant-Races ....................................... 147 The Glint Of Gold: The Duergar ....................................................... 173 Dancing Light And Singing Dark: The Alfar ..................................... 187 Part III: Guide to the Nine Worlds Yggdrasil and the Cosmology .............................................................. 217 Day 1, Midgard. .............................................................................. 228 Midgard ............................................................................................... 235 Day 2, Muspellheim .......................................................................... 243 Muspellheim........................................................................................ 247 Day 3, Asgard ................................................................................... 253 Asgard ................................................................................................. 265 Day 4, Alfheim .................................................................................. 301 Ljossalfheim ........................................................................................ 307 Day 5, Vanaheim .............................................................................. 317 Vanaheim ............................................................................................ 321 Day 6, Jotunheim ............................................................................. 339 Jotunheim ........................................................................................... 357 Day 7, Svartalfheim .......................................................................... 381 Svartalfheim And Nidavellir ................................................................ 387 Day 8, Niflheim ............................................................................... 409 Niflheim .............................................................................................. 413 Day 9, Helheim ................................................................................ 423 Helheim .............................................................................................. 431 Index ................................................................................................... 445 Part I: Walking Between The Worlds Pathwalker The road we walk has been walked before; The footsteps of ancestors lie in the dirt before us Under our feet, we tread in their ways. These roads that I map have been mapped before, Else no words would have come down to us However dim, however garbled, however scorned, Scraps and patches for us to piece together. Yet the scraps and pieces are nothing To the experience of the road itself, So come, read the words of the new pathwalkers, Those who follow the tracks, those who move Through the dust, the snow, the rivers of blood and knives. Why should we place this map in words? Would it not be better, cries the wild heart, To leave it secret, leave it myth, leave it scorned That none might trouble its ways with disrespect? Yet there will always be those who travel, I say back To the fears and worries, and they deserve whatever words Of wisdom we can give them. I would rather Clean up the litter of a hundred tourists’ bones Than have the death of one god-touched innocent On my hands for my sin of silence. So come, take this offering of words, This map, this guide, this book of warnings, And take those warnings to your heart, Shapeshifter, journeyer, pathwalker, way-tamer, Walker of the Roads cradled in the Great Tree, And the Tree’s Blessing upon you, Walker, In the roots, may you find your way In the branches, may you find your way In leaf that stretches to the darkening Gap, may you find your way. —Raven Kaldera Chapter 1 Worldwalker enter the labyrinth in broad daylight and walk it to the center. Around me I is the physical world that I know so well, my familiar back field. The labyrinth was laid in the ground by many loving hands; I remember the two weekends that we all worked on putting it in, stone by stone. The grass is growing long between the rows of small rocks, but I can still follow it. I know that the center of this labyrinth is keyed to the Underworld, the Land of the Dead, but that’s not my goal. I will be coming out in Midgard, the world that is sister to my own. I come into the center, make three circles around the Maypole that still stands there, left over from this year’s Beltane ritual, and start the way out again. I have my drum in one hand, jangling with bells, clattering with dried bones and hooves, decorated with symbols of the Nine Worlds. Over my shoulder, my bag is a heavy weight with all my sacred items. My magic traveling cloak hangs from my shoulders; with my free hand I find the place on its heavily embroidered map-surface that is Midgard. I can’t see it, but I remember what it looks like—fields and streams, plowed land, the surrounding ocean with the Great Serpent encircling it. “Midgard,” I say. “Take me there.” Then I start walking purposefully out of the labyrinth, beating the matching encircling snake- symbol on my drum. One beat for every step. As I walk, the landscape around me slowly changes; something new becomes superimposed on it. I can still see my back field, the plastic tables and chairs left over from the last gathering, the familiar oak and birch and maple trees, the stone altar. That’s still there, if I focus in on it … but I can also choose to focus on the other landscape that is quietly growing stronger—rock formations, mountains rising up above the trees, grass, the wide, wide dirt road that I am coming onto. I leave the labyrinth and join the road; I am not the only traveler on it. Transparent figures creak their carts ahead and behind; at the moment 2 PATHWALKER’S GUIDE there are no people with horses or oxen. I choose to keep to myself and not interact with them for the moment. I’m in Midgard, or at least my hame is, my astral body. For the moment, the two worlds are perfectly lined up. There will be imperfections soon, but I know how to handle them. I’m off to work; Midgard is only the entranceway to other worlds that I will need to get into. Most people’s jobs are only done in one world, but then, I’m not most people. When I was four years old, a tall woman came to me in my dreams and told me that I belonged to her. She was dressed like the faery queen in one of my books—long black hair, gown like starry midnight, delicate veils— but even then, I was aware that this was just a mask that She had donned in order to make me feel better. I would not see Her real face for many years. She took me by the hand and brought me places, places that I didn’t understand, and showed me off to others that I couldn’t recognize. Years later, I would return to some of those places, and be stunned by where I had traveled as a child. Without her holding my hand, I couldn’t leave my body. I got older, learned about astral projection, and tried it—only to be slammed back in as if a giant hand had shoved me. It was made clear to me that She did not approve, that She had other plans for me and that I was not to go wandering around without my flesh. I became a Neo-Pagan at fourteen, introduced into a Gardnerian coven by dating the high priestess’s eldest kid. I studied gods and goddesses and mythology; I knew from the clues that She left me that She was a Death goddess, a Lady of Darkness, but She would not tell me her name. I tried calling her Kali, or Hekate,