Welcome, mystical travelers. This is Ayn Cates Sullivan, host of Wisdom of the Ages, where we invite the sacred into modern-day reality.
As a humanity, we are at a critical turning point, and now we have to ask this question, will we take this opportunity and step into a new age, an age of health and peace and prosperity and consciousness? Or are we going to stay small, frightened, and limited?
We have a choice. I say it’s time to be daring, loving, strong, creative, artistic, and to steer our own ship, creating a world that we all wish to live in, so we can shift towards a culture of life.
Each week, I offer stories, interviews, and spiritual monologues to inspire, heal and uplift the soul. You can listen to many more episodes on superpowerexperts.com/wisdomoftheages.
If you love mysticism, you can find many tales to nurture your soul on my publishing website, which is infinitelightpublishing.com.
Speaking of stories to feed the soul, I have a real treat for you today. My guest today is an international teacher of the ancient Norse Shamanic traditions, and I hope I have her name right here. I think it’s Imelda Almqvist. Is that correct?
That’s right. Thank you very much for having me.
So happy to have you on to talk more about Norse Shamanism. I know you’re a shaman, healer, painter, a creative woman. I love your website. I love your daringness to walk between worlds, and I believe your name means the branch of an elm tree. Is that correct?
Yes. It’s a Swedish name. It’s my married name. Alm is elm and Qvist is the Swedish word for a branch, so a branch of an elm tree.
That’s so lovely. I went to Sweden one summer. I was teaching a class at the Ängsbacka festival. Right.
Maybe that one. It was so beautiful, it’s summer, and I got to experience the midnight sun. It was so strange, not having darkness.
I know. Yeah, that’s a big feature of life in Scandinavia. It’s about the midnight sun in the summer, and then the dark at noon in winter, depending on how far north you are. It can get very murky and very dark, we barely get light.
Yes, so that extreme of the light and the dark, but I didn’t notice how beautiful the forests were.
Last night, I watched the video that you did on warning trees about logging. I thought that was such an important message.
Yeah. That’s just behind my house and my school in Sweden, so that’s very close to my heart. Because those trees that they log were my friends so I just want to make a video about us. I’ll tell people what used to be old European beliefs are around trees or stories like rich folklore there that we seem to have forgotten.
Yeah, so how important it is to bring it back. And it does seem that once people really walk into a forest and they discover the mystery and the magic and the aliveness of the forest, they’re much more likely to protect it.
Yeah, I should think so.
Then there is an old Germanic or old Norse belief that people believe that after death, the souls of people like our ancestors would move into trees and live there, and from there watch out for us and so look how we steward the lands and how we look after things.
I always think if we could bring back some of that, we wouldn’t just log a whole forest if we actually believe that those trees were also the dwellings, they’re our ancestors who watch over us in the other world. I would just wish we could bring some of that back so people would see then how sacred trees are and how sacred everything around us is.
Absolutely. It’s time. It’s time to do this.
Looking on your website, you have these Pregnant Hag teachings. I love the name, Pregnant Hag because it’s such a conundrum, but this is really wonderful. I mean, kind of with COVID and the lockdown, it feels like that. So I really look forward to hearing about that, and your Bone Mother stories and your Spirit Children work, and also about your new book, Medicine of the Imagination: Dwelling in Possibility.
So I’m going to take a really quick ad break, but where could people find you? What’s your website?
Yes, and how do you spell your name?
My first name, Imelda, last name, Almqvist.
Yes. You have so many fantastic videos and creative thoughts, and also your visual work, your sacred art is just gorgeous. So everyone, if you have a chance, just go have a look at her website, it’s a real treat.
When we come back from the short break, we’re going to continue to talk about Norse Shamanism. Stay tuned. We’ll be right back.
To listen to the entire show click on the player above or go to the SuperPower Up! podcast on iTunes.
Podcast: Play in new window
