An article on the Nordic martial art
by Graham Butcher
Martial arts have utilitarian applications, self defence, sport, entertainment and fitness training. These are the ways we tend to see them in the west because we have such a utilitarian view of life. But essentially martial arts are expressions of philosophy and provide access to culture and heritage. If you are working with a martial art which originates in a completely different culture then either the philosophy behind it will be very hard to access due to linguistic difficulties and lack of shared cultural references, or, only the outward form of the art will be practised. So is it possible to train in and practise a Martial Art which connects us with our European roots and cultural traditions?
To do this the art would have to be based on a European concept of understanding the nature of reality. It would have to express European philosophical and social principles. It would have to bring out the full potential of Western spiritual and archetypal experience. It would have to teach Western ethical standards and it would have to be based on traditional western body, mind and spirit training methods.
In the Northern Tradition the concept of Orlog is used to try and describe 'primal lore' or basic reality. This may equate quite well with the Chinese concept of the Tao but I will try from here on to describe the European approach in its own terms. The Orlog can be described as a web and depicted on paper as nine lines. It does of course exist in at least three dimensions, four if you include time and maybe others but that is for another article. If we can align the body with the web, 'see' where the web extends beyond ourselves and project our energy within the web then we have the basis for developing a lot of power within ourselves and being able to manage others. I don't particularly want to use words such as attack, defend, overcome or defeat here. Martial arts is about a lot more than fighting with others, it is much more about mastering the self so that fighting becomes largely unnecessary. Fighting with others is of very little significance compared with the challenge of truly knowing how to live and act in accordance with the Orlog.
Fortunately there is a method of training to meet this challenge. The runes are keys to the Orlog, or pieces of the web to put it another way. By practising the 16 stances as the physical expression of the futhork the body is aligned to the web, this has considerable benefits for posture, skeletal alignment, breathing and Megin (life force energy) flow. It also provides postures for martial training with weapons or unarmed. Incidentally the stances also provide a instant rune reading system in that from time to time a stance will get missed out of the sequence and that rune is the one that is trying to tell you something. This builds self knowledge, which is often the best form of self protection.
From the stances, which should be practised daily to get the full benefit that they can offer, we further develop our ability to work with the web by staff training. Each exercise with the staff is based upon one of the stances. By working with these exercises we can learn to work much deeper into the web, by placement of the body and by reading the lines of the web and being able to direct force down the lines rather than just pulling or pushing with muscular strength. Bodily strength provides the motivating force, but it can be applied with far more effect and efficiency if applied in accordance with the web. If applied correctly this principle means that even a much stronger person's weapon can easily be pushed out of the way or they can easily be taken off balance. At this level a lot of concentration is required and a lot of what is taught is counter-intuitive since since we are learning to see a much deeper level of reality than is normal. A good deal of what is thought of as magic is in fact the ability to see the web, where the untrained person cannot.
Being able to work with the web is a significant achievement in its own right. But it needs to be applied in different ways and under different circumstances to really be useful. In the Northern Tradition there is the story of the Lay of Rigg which describes how the different classes or castes of men came about. The story as we have it seems to justify the feudal system of Medieval Europe. Possibly the story was used for just this purpose, there are Thralls or Trels, landless peasants, Churls or Karls, freemen, farmers and artisans and then there are Earls or Jarls, the leaders and so, where ever you are in the social order, get used to it because the Gods ordained it. In fact this series of categories, which also includes Chieften or Herse, the warriors and Kon or Konge the king, provides a very useful set of principles for martial arts training.
Firstly it provides a framework for deciding what, if any action one should take in a particular situation. At the Trel level there is no responsibility beyond getting out in one piece. At the Karl level we have the right and duty to protect our property and loved ones using 'reasonable force'. At the Herse level we have been given authority to keep the peace and protect others. This is the level of the policeman, security guard or bouncer. But they have to know the limits of their authority and not exceed it. At the Jarl level it is important to be able to keep an overview of a situation without being concerned with details or specific threats. The Konge level is free to act exactly as they feel is right at the moment and to act as a figure head for the rest of the community.
Really being aware of your level can go a long way to keeping you out of trouble. But that is only one aspect of applying these principles. In actual training two person drills are practised which explore these concepts. The two person drills begin with simple application of the staff exercises and then develop to incorporate a variety of traditional weapons, sword, axe, scramasax, cudgel and spear. They can also be applied to unarmed self defence practice against a variety of attacks. To describe just two applications; a trel response moves directly back from the attack, simply shifting back within the web. A karl response will protect the body, neutralize the attacker's weapon and counter strike in one movement preventing the attacker advancing any further into the web. The herse and jarl responses are still more sophisticated in their application and effect. The Konge level requires a very high degree of self control and seeks to project this onto the attacker.
With experience it becomes possible to switch at will into a particular 'mind-set' and respond accordingly. This is much more than trying to carry out a physical technique or knowing how to use a particular weapon. It is about creating a particular level of reality and then functioning within it. This is all part of taking control of the web rather than being a puppet while someone else pulls your strings.
To teach a martial art without a strong ethical basis would be irresponsible. For teaching the ethics of using force we have the ethical bind rune. This is read clockwise from the top which starts with Thor which represents the right to, and duty to, protect. But what should we protect? Next is Mann which represents the self, so self protection is a right. But next comes Bjork which stands for family and community, our 'kin' in the broad sense. So protecting our kin is more important than just watching out for number one. Next comes Tyr which represents society and ideals. Obeying the law is more important than protecting one's kin. If we stop and think for a moment we realise that situations where groups such as the Mafia take control occur because kin or clan loyalty is considered more important than the law. But next is Ur which stands for life itself. This means that protecting life against unjust laws is necessary and right. An extreme example was the Nazi persecution of the Jews; those who protected and hid them were, strictly speaking, breaking the law but an innocent person's right to life is more important than a legal 'right' to kill them. Finally there is Rei which represents death and this is the level where it is necessary to fight simply because not to do so would be dishonourable regardless of the consequences. This paragraph cannot begin to do justice to the teaching contained in this bind-rune. But it does provide the basis for an ethical framework
So far I have concentrated on the physical and mental aspects of this training method. Life is in fact a balance between Mott, the physical body of blood, bone and sinew and Megin the life force energy. Thor has a 'magic' belt called Megin-giord which apparently doubles his strength. Cultivation of the megin by practising the stances, especially the galder versions, which involve chanting to enhance the effect of the breathing, dramatically improves vitality levels. Awareness of Megin can be used for healing purposes, an experienced healer can sense disruptions in a patient's megin and may be able to restore the energy to healthy levels and balance. In martial arts terms the megin strengthens the body and develops speed and sensitivity. It is also possible to detect an attacker's megin even without seeing them visually. In some classes I will ask students to train with eyes closed and work by feel only. After a while students begin to 'feel' their training partner even without actual physical contact. It also becomes apparent that angry and aggressive feelings are easily picked up whereas being completely relaxed makes it much less likely that your advance will be detected. These exercises can form the basis for a kind of 'invisibility' training where, by not projecting we can remain un-noticed. It also proves the importance of being aware of one's emotions and controlling one's thoughts.
All these different aspects of training are extremely interesting and can change your way of seeing yourself and the world. But what should you use in the event of having to protect oneself from an actual physical attack? We cannot rely on pre-practised techniques. Techniques have their place for arrest procedures or control and restraint in a prison or mental hospital and rigorous training is needed to minimize the possibility of injury to either inmate or staff. But if fighting to survive then we need to access all the resources we have. There are two important assets available to us:
The 'dragon mind' which is the very primitive part of the brain which is responsible for the basic functions of survival. This is the part of our nervous that our earliest ancestors relied upon when they were trying to avoid carnivorous dinosaurs. This part of our brain will kick in when we are in really serious danger and struggle for our survival. If the body is fit and supple and the megin levels high then the awakened dragon may pull us through a life threatening situation, so long as we don't panic and block ourselves from responding spontaneously. We cannot realistically train for this but we can train to keep the mind clear and not be overwhelmed by irrelevant thoughts and feelings when under extreme pressure.
There is also working with the fylgia. If we are aware of our power animal and willing to explore what this really tells us about our true selves then it can provide the basis for very powerful fighting method. I have a cat as my fylgia and my movements are fast, light and deceptive just like a cat's. I am also happy fighting from the ground and will drop under attack so I can use all four limbs from the floor just as a cat does. Someone with a bear fylgia will use devastating blows from a distance, a dog tends to mean determined aggression and willingness to lock and hold onto an opponent. Two of my senior students have spider fylgia and that gets scary to deal with. Traditionally Chinese martial arts have been based on animal forms, the western explanation of this is that the masters who developed the forms copied wild animals by watching them fighting. But it is more likely that they came out of working with fylgia. How else do you explain the fact that the dragon is one of the twelve animals?
For many years I have been hearing and reading that there is no western tradition of body, mind and spirit training. This is of course quite untrue although we have been rather careless in the preservation and transmission of such traditions as have been
available to us. Everything we need is actually to be found in the Norse Mythology and the younger, sixteen rune, Futhork.
Graham Butcher
graham [at] oxfordstavclub [dot] co [dot] uk
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