A to Z Challenge -- U -- SPIRITS, OTHERWORLDS, AND CANDLES

Yggdrasil, F. W. Heine image 1886

UNDERWORLD -- Cultures from the beginning of man to now believed that the physical realm was interwoven with many different planes of existence or Otherworlds.  The underworld was/is one of them.

Every culture has an underworld of some kind, or places where spirits reside, but this is only the tip of a complex paradigm.  Many cultures, like the Norse, had a multitude of realms. Those that held the dead, those that held beings other than humans, and those that were the physical plane being among them.

One example, Niflheim was the realm of the dead for the Norse.  Vahalla and Folkvangr were reserved for warriors who died in battle and resided in Asgard, realm of the gods.  The Norse light elves, dark elves, dwarves, and giants had their own worlds, which are Alfheim, Svartalfheim, Nildavellir, and Jotunheim respectively.  Midgard was the name of the human realm.  These realms were all connected by the Yggdrasil, the World Tree.

Shamanism, one of the oldest spiritual and healing arts, has a deep history with the realms of the nonphysical world and are said to travel these realms.

At one time or another, there were shamanistic practices spanning the globe. Name a culture, and they more than likely had some type of shaman in their history.  Depending on the culture, shamans were either male, female, or some had both.

I won't delve any more into shamanism because there are so many ancient and modern versions that I could never do it justice.

URUZ -- This rune is comes from the Futhark system.  As a rune it symbolizes Auroch, the wild ox.  It is strength and power but revered it is the opposite.

Some Wiccans use uruz to represent physical health.  So this rune is used to cast a healing spell.  One way is through candle magic.  It's carved into the candle and burned.


Disclaimer: None of these pictures belong to me.  I found them on Google.