"According to some shamanic traditions of northern peoples, Upper, Middle and Lower 'worlds' comprised nine realms of existence and these could be indicated on Tree of Yggdrasil.

At top of vertical column was a 'heavenly' realm, sometimes called Asgard, where celestial beings existed. Below it was 'Place of Enlightenment' - realm of Mind, Abode of Thought, and fertile birthplace of Ideas. In middle was realm of material manifestation which was conditioned by Time, Home of personality self and of ego-consciousness {With conditioning galore and little ease of escape to find essence of other more inclusive 'realities'.}. Below was a subterranean realm, related to subconscious activity, where shapes were formed from thought patterns…

{N.B.-creativity and hallucination are closely connected. Right Thought or integrating purpose of creator with created is part of dynamic.} In matter of using primary forces with their North, South, East and West locations and Wind, Fire, Water, Earth expressions we must remember our perceptual starting point may limit these forces ability to allow their conscious reality to meld with our INTENT! Nothing is more important than intent to a practitioner of what has been known as 'black arts' to those who priests sought to keep ignorant of their own use thereof.}.

At base of column was a realm of inertia - Place of Potential. It was sometimes referred to as 'Hel' - a Germanic word meaning 'covering', because it covered deepest areas of unconscious. It had none of associations attributed to fiery 'Hell' of myths of later religions. {Plagiarizers and ridiculing epithet hurlers.}

On horizontal plane were other aspects of being and of experience, which similarly formed part of 'hidden' knowledge of shamans.

The Runic shamans of ancient northern peoples acquired 'hidden' {Trans. 'occult'} knowledge by use of angular symbols (Runes) which could easily be carved on wood or chiselled into stone. Contrary to modern belief (based on conjecture of some anthropologists), Runes were not simply a secret code whose characters were used as substitutes for letters of common alphabet. It is likely that majority of Runic shamans could not read or write their own language, or Latin, which became language of scholar after Roman influence. Runes actually represented patterns of manifestation and laws responsible for shaping forms {N.B.AGAIN!} into which energies could find expression. They were - and are - symbols of a Cosmic language, and are valid on all levels of existence.

In Runic 'alphabet', known as Elder Futhark because it is considered oldest of known Runic systems {Divinatory systems have been around since man first thought. The sticks of I Ching and black and white painted sides of coconut shells used by 'Orisha' worshippers such as voudou and Santeria, are probably far older than any European hominid, and certainly any white man.} and because word 'f- u-th-a-r-k' is made up of its first six characters, there are twenty-four Runes. There are also just twenty-four possible paths between nine realms indicated on Tree of Yggdrasil. So Runes can serve also as 'travel permits', enabling Runic shaman to explore Inner Space, and as 'passports' to these other realms of existence within Cosmic Web.

Shamans of Britain and Northern Europe were thus aware that Cosmos functions at different levels of existence, and that these broadly correspond to various aspects of mind. Such a concept was fairly widespread among indigenous peoples, and can be seen represented on certain tribal artefacts, such as totem poles of red-skinned Indians of western North America {Actually not red-skinned but'-the use of ochre as a spiritual protection among Beothuk of Labrador led Europeans to ridicule all Indians in this manner. The same can be said for how Kelts were portrayed as tattooed 'savages' by Caesar.} and brown-skinned Maoris of New Zealand, {Who with British help in 19th century wiped out last Kelts on Chatham Islands.} or specially carved crystal wands used by some American Indian shamans. {The sceptres of European royalty and popery.} These artefacts often depicted three principal 'spirits' on top of one another, supported by an animal-like figure at bottom. On a totem pole top figure usually had wings to suggest an ability to travel far and wide. These figures could be used to symbolize aspects of human being, of principal levels of awareness, and of conscious, subconscious, superconscious and even unconscious aspects of mind.

Terry Dashner…………Faith Fellowship Church PO Box 1586 Broken Arrow, OK 74013

Consider this. Star Trek: The Next Generation wrapped up its final season in May 1994. Although The Next Generation was an updated version of 1960s Star Trek series, its producers went beyond Star Trek’s: “Space—the final frontier” theme and exploited a new philosophy of emerging generation: postmodernism. What is postmodernism, anyway?

In his book entitled, A Primer on Postmodernism (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 1996), Stanley J. Grenz states: “Like modern fiction in general, original Star Trek series reflected many aspects of Enlightenment project and of late modernity. The crew of Enterprise included persons of various nationalities working together for common benefit of humankind. They were epitome of modern universalist anthropology. The message was obvious: we are all human, and we must overcome our differences and join forces in order to complete our mandate, quest for certain, objective knowledge of entire universe of which space looms as ‘the final frontier.’”

Interesting. As you might recall from world history class 101, birth of modern era is usually placed at dawn of Enlightenment (18th century). Building on Renaissance, Enlightenment elevated man to center of world. During this time French philosopher, Rene Descartes, turned western philosophy upside-down, literally. He focused on doubt, which led him to conclude that existence of thinking self is first truth that doubt cannot deny (Grenz, page 3). Isaac Newton later provided scientific framework for modernity, picturing physical world as a machine laws and regularity of which could be discerned by human mind.

Moreover, it became goal of human intellectual quest to unlock secrets of universe in order to master nature for human benefit and create a better world. This quest led to modernity characteristic of twentieth century, which has sought to bring rational management to life in order to improve human existence through technology (Grenz, page 3). In other words, universe is ruled by laws, perceived by human intellect; therefore, educate humankind and knowledge will usher in a new age of enlightened men. Knowledge is power.