Join the Lineage of Staff-Carrying Seers
Participants will be introduced to the history, cosmology, and modern practice of oracular seiðr – a trance-mediumship practice from the Germanic/Norse regions of Europe. Participants will take initiatory journeys to the tutelary deities of seiðr – including Freya, Hella, Odin, the Norns, and the Cosmic Völva – and will be initiated into High Seat oracular mediumship for the benefit of others. Participants will be able to incorporate seiðr methods into existing spiritual practices, serve as practitioners on community High Seats, and hold High Seats as ritual leaders.
As part of this training we will cover some essential elements of oracular mediumship including how to practice conscious, consensual mediumship. Practitioners will be expected to maintain personal sovereignty and accountability at all times. The relationships we will foster with the deities are ones of respectful and reciprocal partnership.
As this is an experiential process as well as a training in oracular work for others, real-time attendance is required. All classes are to be attended in-full barring emergency, sickness, or important life events. Recordings are not guaranteed and are not a substitute for live attendance. Contact Maris if you already have a scheduling conflict that cannot be changed.
Prerequisites: Gather at the Well: Foundations or similar training including prior iterations of Gather at the Well. This is not a course for those new to spirit practice. Participants should have proficiency with entering altered states of consciousness (journey methods, active dreaming, ceremony, meditation, etc.) and with spiritual protection and containment practices. Participants must also have a strong connection to their core self and be in good mental health.
Questions? See FAQs below for more info, or contact me directly.
Frequently Asked Questions
When you say this is not for beginners what does that mean?
This training is designed to initiate people into self-directed practice without the need for additional support or supervision. It assumes basic proficiency with using altered states of consciousness for visioning purposes, and the ability to maintain healthy boundaries.
Considerations in deciding if it is for you include: How comfortable do you feel interfacing with the spirit world on your own? How good are your boundaries? While it’s always useful to have good mentoring, are you dependent on mentoring or are you solid on your own?
If you’re not yet solid on your own, it may be recommended that you do private mentoring and work on your ancestral lineage healing as that process includes the development of foundational skills.
If you’re not sure if you qualify and feel called to do this, send me an email with your questions.
What do you mean “only the most compassionate aspects” of the deities?
To answer this question it is helpful to explain a distinction found in mediumship work (more on mediumship below) between the pure essence of a spirit person, different aspects of that person, and the field of that person. The field of a deity includes the essence of the deity plus all of the projections and associations made by humans about the deity. So the field of Odin includes all the ways he has been portrayed in literature and by various cultures and people over time. The pure essence of Odin does not include the input of the broader field. And “only the most wise and compassionate aspect” of Odin is the aspect of Odin that is knowledgeable, compassionate, and willing to help humanity. So when we access “only the most wise and compassionate aspect” of Odin we’re filtering out any human contributions to the field that do not reinforce a wise and compassionate state and interaction.
When working with deities, we can work with “only the most wise and compassionate aspects” of them in order to get the most beneficial representation of their energies, and the aspects of the deities that are most invested in helping us here in the middle world. This in no way waters down the input from the deities; it makes them safe and healthy to interact with.
I’m familiar with mediumship as talking to dead people. Is that what this is?
No. Mediumship in this case is a state of connection between your field of consciousness and that of other conscious being that enables intercommunication. Mediumship as it is known through mainstream culture usually refers to connecting with deceased people, but mediumship can be used to connect to any conscious being.
In this training you learn what we call conscious mediumship, which means that you learn to share your conscious space with the Norse deities while remaining conscious yourself. This way you maintain sovereignty and personal accountability, and benefit from the wisdom and blessings that come through. It is also consent-based meaning the deities will respect your personal boundaries and will leave when asked. The relationship we develop is one of allies and not subordination to the will of a deity.
This form of mediumship is based on principles of resonance and attunement. You can, for example, be a medium for the quality of objectivity; you can attune your conscious field to resonate with objectivity thereby enhancing your ability to be objective. When you attune mediumistically to a deity you resonate with the qualities of that deity and amplify those qualities within yourself; another reason why it is important to interact with only the most wise and compassionate aspect of the deity.
OM DUM DURGAYEI SWAHA