There is an ancient lore from Norse mythology about the Berserker Vikings. Berserkers were warrior shamans of a time long, long ago. When humans lived a life much closer to their animal and spirit world relatives. It was often said that when they went into battle or faced extreme challenges, they would enter into a "trance-like" state. They would call upon a hidden strength deep inside themselves.
There were actually two powerful warrior shaman groups during this time, the Berserkers (Old Norse for "bear shirts") and the often forgotten, Ulfhednar ( "wolf hides").
These two groups shared a common practice when going into battle or preparing for any of life's challenges. They used the practice of taking Quests and doing challenges that push the initiate or participant to the edge of their physical and mental experience. They incorporated deliberate types of practices that honed their skills and strengthened there will. By doing this they were able to easily access the "trance-like" state that today we might call "Flow", "the Zone", or maybe it's "Fearvana" (something Author and adventurist Akshay Nanavati writes about in his book titled the same name).
There is something that happens when we take ourselves to the edge of our experiences and push our physical, mental, and spiritual capacity. It builds a type of strength inside that goes beyond physical or mental. It becomes a type of 'rite of passage'.
Stories about warrior Shamans like those of the Berserker Norse tradition can be found through out time. Whether its the Shaman warrior scouts of the Southwest United States (the Apache Scouts) or the 'Dog Soldier Society' of the Western Plains, or even go across the globe with the Aboriginal people of Australia, there are stories about how people practiced initiations, rites of passages, and sought visions to protect and guide them through challenging times.
Often this was done by heading into the wilderness, seeking solitude, living like and learning "the way" through help from their totem animal or spirit guides.
These practices and stories are similar throughout because they all have the same origin.
Forged by Fire. The Quest Pass
Forged By Fire Quests are self development challenges or routines designed for the everyday average person and provide ways to build strength of will and to help cultivate courage in your life. These are designed to be scalable to your life's situations.
The Quests are intended as symbols of and represent an investment into your own person growth and development. By completing a Quest you can choose to mint a 'challenge coin' type memento or what is called 'Quest Medallion'. The accumulation of Quest Medallions will have benefits for your own personal growth, but also will provide access to a Community of like-minded Questers and those seeking that "berserker" flow-like state in all aspects of our lives.
Keep an eye out for The Forged By Fire Quests. A way to dive deep into the physical and spiritual side of self development. And grow and learn by going through the fires of our lives.
Forged By Fire Quests intent is to get participants involved in the creation process, to learn by doing and through action. This will be done through storytelling, physicals challenges (health and fitness or just for fun), workshops, and other creative activities. The idea is to constantly seek and push the edges of our experience. To ultimately bring more Flow into our lives. Guarding ourselves from burnout or blowing ourselves up.
Are you Ready for the First Quest?
These stories are related and will become part of the Quests...
https://paragraph.xyz/@forgedbyfire/fenrir,-the-keeper-of-the-sacred-fire
https://paragraph.xyz/@forgedbyfire/odins-revna
To learn to create and participate...
- Loading comments...