Heilsa

Heilsa, I am Wayland Skallagrimsson. I am the author of the Uppsala Online website, and several books on Asatru and related topics. For the past twelve years, I have also run the somafera forum. For those of you who don’t know, somafera is the general term for a related set of practices from all over the world, but which included the berserkergang.

The berserkergang, of course, is the martial art of a type of elite viking warrior known as a berserker. An internal style of martial art, it is also a spiritual practice. Through religious ritual, berserkers worked themselves into ecstatic frenzies, wherein they could access the strength of the hysterically insane. However, because the state was triggered spiritually, it could be directed. There were similar martial arts/spiritual practices all over the world, such as the riastradh of the Celts, the Indonesian “running amok,” and Chinese spirit boxing. There were related states, such as those of the Tunguska, that conferred great endurance, for work, through spiritual ritual. Still others, such as mainadism, existed primarily as spiritual practices, with few practical applications. There are even variants that enhance the intellect. The term “somafera” was coined by modern practitioners as a blanket term for all such practices. It is from Greek and Latin, and means “the body wild.”

In the year 2000, the mainad Dver and I started research into the altered states that we each experienced, her in her mainadic practices and I in my berserker practices. We learned a lot by comparing notes, and learned even more when we found other somaferans from around the world. We created a forum, in order to facilitate the free and easy exchange of ideas. In time, as our group grew, we came to meet every year in person. These Gatherings were an opportunity to learn from somaferans of other traditions, learn new techniques and discoveries by experienced somaferans, and put our ideas to the test. There was a martial arts tournament every year, with a no holds barred open hand format, for the berserkers and the other martial types. There were symposia every day, and spiritual rituals each night.

As time went by we made it our mission to help other somaferans. You see, most people who are drawn to these practices are born prone to entering the somaferan state naturally, without training. An in-born talent, just as talents in art and science can be in-born. Imagine growing up with a tendency to go berserk without intending to, or being able to stop it. It tends to create a lot of psychological and spiritual problems. The forum became a place where somaferans could find advice and counseling, as well as learn spiritual, technical, and even scientific information about somaferan practices.

The membership of the forum kept changing. People found what they were looking for, or failed to, and moved on. The membership changed many times over the years. I remained the one constant member of the forum, and every time the membership shrank to near zero, I built it back up again.

The last time the membership shrank to near zero was fairly recently. I do not have the time or the patience to build it back up again. And I am frankly tired of the constant games and politics that inevitably accompany moderating any group. I have my own work to see to. So I have decided to change the forum into a blog. In this way I can continue sharing any discoveries that I make in the field, any new techniques that I find, as I discover them. I can try to help somaferans who are looking for help. I can provide the resources of the old forum for anyone wanting to have questions answered on topics that we covered. People who have questions can ask me via the comments section. And I can share the basics of the subject, and describe the chief questions that need answering, in the hopes of spreading understanding of who we are, our place in the modern world, and starting dialogues on this fascinating subject.