Receive Seidways: Shaking, Swaying And Serpent Mysteries Conceived By Jan Fries Available As Volume

Fries is one of those writers who manages to drive it all home with the whole truth and nothing but the truth, Of course the whole truth is something that we may never find, Still we do our best, This book which can be looked at as part two of Helrunnar, looks at achieving a trance state through the medium of movement and shaking,

Most of the book is dedicated to showing how different groups of people used shaking and dancing to indicate that they were in a trance and hence their soul was traveling through the spirit world.
Various groups from around the world have used shaking and swaying, Our most noted would be the practitioners of Voodoo, When the practitioner is entranced it usually a sign that the participant has been taken over by a deity or Loa, The Skakers are another group of people who shook when in a trance and this meant usually that Jesus had entered them and was speaking through them, Other references are made to Ancient Druid practices and other Asian communities that use shaking and movement,

Of course shaking is not for everyone, and when practicing it one should be cautious and well prepared, One should be wearing comfortable clothing for moving around, One should not eat too much or drink too much liquid as that could make your stomach churn, Eating too little could cause you to feel light headed and sick, Best practice is to abstain from eating two to three hours before doing this and good idea to have a water bottle on hand that is sweetened with dextrose to keep your sugar levels from getting too low.


Included in this

practical section is a meditation on connecting the earth dragon with the sky dragon, Then there is some discussion on shape shifting and the Martial Arts in the far east and how shamanic techniques may have been used to formulate the five animals of Shaolin Kung Fu.
Animals movements can help people enter into a magical state of consiousness, A practice that the Viking Berserkers used to practice,

Another exercise that Jan Fries gives over comes on the tale end of Tliesyn and the Cauldron of wisdom, While II will not go into the story here I will say that using a poem of taliesyn using the words Iam could help one enter into a trance state.
The book is not loaded with exercises and the author is going to let you make up your own based on what works for you,

Jan Fries is not into Dogma, He knows that cultures and people move about and influence each other, When that happens they borrow techniques and stick to what works, Even if you dont shake you will enjoy this one anyway,
a very good book on techniques for entering trance states, . . My favorite because Jan devotes a chapter to the Sami, This book appeals to the anthropologist in me, I love that Fries explores Shamanic traditions all over the world in this book, giving reference to their similar practices to that of Seidh Magick, There is a bit of instruction, but I had wished for more, However, I understand that one can read about shamanism all day long, but experiencing is worth so much more than the reading, While the scholars find fault with Jan's book, I find the book well written with some potent exercises of change art within these pages,

From the author of Helrunar: manual of rune magick, and Visual Magick, a handbook of freestyle shamanism, comes the definitive study of magical trance and possession techniques, The author is inspired by the Nordic tradition of Seidr, said to have been taught to the human race by Odin, The book provides an extensive survey of the manifestation of this powerful technique through several related magical traditions shamanism, mesmerism, draconian cults and even the nightside of European paganism, Seething is probably the most useful magical technique I have ever learned, I first was taken by the pleasure of it, My body felt warm and sensual, and seething in the hips felt quite sexual, I liked the feeling of my body taking over where the shaking was first voluntary but I could still have some control, making the shaking stronger or more subtle, After a while I started to see visions something that very rarely happens to me, I could see with my physical eyes, not astrally! the surface of the land in the centre of the circle rippling, like waves of energy, It was a really moving experience in a site that until then had not been particularly 'special' to me, . . it. . has had a major impact upon my magical work which used to be largely indoors, as at last I have found a way that I can work outdoors, This gives my magical work a potency that it simply didn't have before, Shantidevi quoted in chapter twelve 'Rhythms and the Mind',