Fylgia

Creative Corner-Article

                                                            Fylgia

    As the Heathen Soul Complex is a vast topic, my understanding of Fylgia and how it works so far is that Fylgia is an entity.  It is a spiritual entity that helps, guides, protects, plays, here in the waking world and in other realms.  The Fylgia is definitely attached to the person, probably at birth, sent forth from the Cosmic Well, bound by fate, ancestral ties, bonds- an energy bond.  I do think that bond or thread can be broken or severed by forces; most likely causing harm to the “ owner” in some way, such as sickness, psychosis etc… For the Fylgia entity, it becomes more complex.  Does the Fetch get sick like the familial owner? Does it wander?  Does the Fylgia go back to the Well?  I feel that these are all possibilities ( and more) depending on the threads that were cast.
    The Fylgia can have different forms, which further complicates any mere mortal’s understanding.  There seems to be three: animal, human, abstract.    We tend to dissect things, looking at them individually, but forget to look at them in their  cohesive whole. I feel the Fylgia choosing an animal form is so that humans can “ see” it or recognize it.  Animals are around us all the time, so recognition can be easier for us humans. The Fylgia as a Dis or Alf is a form that acts as our “Guardian Spirit” that so many people believe they have.  This is a spiritual form that is easiest for us humans to relate to, or understand.  It is a form that is able to communicate to us.  I think the animal form would be the protector or “warner”, whereas the “human” Fylgia would be the form more apt to give wisdom or information; but both roles can be interchanged. The abstract form would be reserved for the higher spiritual people, such as the shaman, or medicine person: the ones who can travel beyond. Out of my realm of knowledge.
   Building stronger parts of the soul will always start with solid moral and honorable codes- same holds true for Fylgia.  I think the collective Heathens are at a “rebuilding” stage right now.  We need to reconnect or rekindle those bonds our ancestors were forced to sever.  Relationship building with our Fylgia would be two fold- one is personal: one is collective.   The personal rebuilding would be by getting away from distractions and into the natural animistic world, meditation, dreamwork, listening to intuitive feelings, creating spiritual threads, and sharing spiritual stories with fellow Heathens.  The collective needs to build safe communities where all of this is possible– for the next generations.  Rebuilding our ancestral ways is extremely difficult without safe networks for sharing and collaborating.  The severance from our spiritual is vast and wide.  Our culture needs to be lived and breathed everyday: reviving those ties to the parts of our soul, reviving the bonds to our Heathen reverence, and to the Natural world.
     Fylgia is one of our major allies.  As we honor the Ancestral attestations, the Fylgia in the modern bombardment of poison, will reach out in any “modern” way that we can listen and understand.
                                                              Listen
                                                              Feel
                                                              Breathe the Ineffable everyday--Haukr