Tag Archives: spiriual journey
Forest Spirits and How to Call Them
There’s something you should know about us Finns: we never quite stopped believing in magic. Oh, we’ll talk about technology and modern life like anyone else, but scratch the surface and you’ll find we still leave porridge for the house spirits at Christmas, still feel a shiver when walking past certain stones in the forest, and still – perhaps unconsciously – drum in rhythms our great-grandmothers would recognise. You see, when over 70% of your country remains forested and your ancestors spent thousands of years in intimate conversation with the spirits dwelling within those woods, that kind of connection doesn’t simply disappear because someone invented the mobile phone.
It Is Talking to Me…A Winter Journey with Shamanic Drums
The snowshoes crunch on the frost-covered snow. The old path through the forest has nearly vanished after last night’s snowstorm, and I can only see occasional depressions in the snow to guide my way. There’s no danger of getting lost, however; I’ve traversed this forest strip so many times that I could almost navigate it blindfolded. The snow is already over half a metre deep, so I take care not to slip off the path, which happens if one steps from the compacted base into the soft snow.
