Agneta Nyqvist, konstnär, terapeut, skribent
Konstruktiv magi
5
Agneta Nyqvist Örebro, Sweden
The north going springs as actors for shamanistic treatment :
This paper has its focus on how north going natural springs since ancient time and still today appear to be held as sacred and holy places for people living in the Bergslagen area. In old Nordic traditions it is claimed that the three Norn, also known as the three Fates, while sitting at the roots of ash Yggdrasil weaves the cosmic weave which will include everything. A main tool used in this weaving is the upstreaming water from the spring Urd situated at the roots of the ash Yggdrasil (Edda, Valands prediction). An inventory of all natural springs in Örebro county, a part of the Bergslagen region, was made during the late 1980s and the statistics from this show 82 north going springs as a whole and I have selected 8 of them for this survey. The goal of my research is to investigate how the very essence of these places can be perceived today.
Introduction: That water is one of the most important conditions for all life on earth is an indisputable fact. Since ancient times, water has also been perceived as having magic forces, especially in terms of spring water. Most of the time, it pours up from the mysterious, unknown interior of the earth coming from an underground vein. Therefore, these springs were considered to have a special connection with powers such as the great mother, Netturs, and other supernatural beings or gods. When Christianity came to our country, the church took over parts of the sacred spring traditions. The sacred springs were usually given new names and were called after the Holy Trinity, or the like. However, some springs retained their original name, perhaps, in particular, those less centrally located. Among the 82 north going springs found in Örebro county, nowadays called trinity springs, many of them are also counted as ancient sources for sacrifice, springs of health and springs of ceremonies. Most of the 8 sacred springs included in my investigation are very old, probably known already in ancient times. For this, their names often speak, sometimes even by changing name. There is also evidence that there is a close relationship between springs for sacrifice and ancient stone ring judgment places. These are usually also funeral sites often found near graves from the Iron Age. In the Nordic Gods saga, the ash tree Yggdrasil is the same as the whole world, where all living, habitat is situated. It has three roots that drink water from three different springs. The first spring Hvergelmer, lies in the north and is cold. Here lives the dragon, Nidhögg, who is constantly chewing on one of the roots of the tree. The second spring is Mimer's spring, and it contains pure knowledge. In order to drink wisdom from this spring, an Asa God, Oden, has sacrificed one of his eyes on the bottom of the spring and here he continues to see important things. The third spring´s name is Urdarbrunnen and its water mirror illuminates the whole world. At this spring lives the three Norn; Urd, Verdandi and Skuld, which spins, twists and measures the lives of people.
According to the saga, the final end of the world, Ragnarök, is the direct cause of that these three springs are damaged and it all started with the dragon who cuts of the root connection to the north going spring. Consequentially, it appears that in our ancestral beliefs the springs has a central significance and that the north is held as the evils home and sacrifices in this type of springs have old traditions. In the north is the darkness of the darkness and there the demons rule. So the believe was that the ice-cold cold from the north goes hand in hand with malnourishment and starvation, and therefore our ancestors felt that sickness and death belonged there too. To the north there all springs of health directed, and when you use them ceremonially, the water took your disease with them.
In summary, the sacred springs of ancient times was a base pillar of the Asa believe, but in the middle Ages it was taken over by the Catholic Church, after which Luther and protestant believe came and nowadays atheism and secularization. In other words, the sacred springs represents a vital part of peoples' natures with their ancient traditions of sacrifice and a variety of rites, that were considered to contribute to the water's healing ability and power to emphasize health and prosperity. The richness of ritual springs, which is usually of a very old age, indicates that our county had a rather extensive cult of sacred springs in ancient times. The presence of cult sacrifice springs became rather intact even with pre-Christian settlements around them, and other later similarities also support this. Some types of holy springs to mention, sometimes you have several different uses in the same well.
Sacrifice cult springs: The meaning of the sacred springs, in its original sense, differs very much from the wish springs of today, where someone throws a coin into the spring and desires something. And there are not the springs where someone has hidden a treasure, and where the tradition claimed that when the rightful owner did not claim the treasure, the troll or the siren of the spring took power over it so that it had become enchanted. Therefore, they must overestimate these powers in various ways if there is any possibility of overcoming the treasure. However, the origin of the term "springs of sacrifice" has a significantly bloodier meaning, and according to Flentzberg´s “Offerkällor och Trefaldighetskällor I Selbo härad” from1909, sacrificial springs were used during pagan time to wash the bodies of the victims in, beasts or humans, before they were slaughtered and sacrificed. Especially springs with a reddish-colored remnant on the water were highly appreciated because red is also the color of blood and of the sun at its rising and falling. A treating of God images with blood or a red color substance has been hit in prehistoric sweeps and on the viking rune stones.
Trinity cult springs: The absolute requirement of a trinity spring is, that it should flow northward. The primary use of a trinity spring was the washing, not the drinking. The evil would go away from the body through the water and through the same water brought to the north. Against this, Gunnar Granberg's survey "Den kalendärt fixerade källdrickningen" from year of 1934, clearly revealed the importance of the yearly drinking according to the calendar on Trinity Day. One could say that even if the washing was the primary, but while the years passed the drinking became the most common, one drank for health. Another form of seasonal celebrating where done at summer solstice, but these ceremonies were less formal and severe and were also held at other wells not directed to the north. The Christian day of the Trinity was celebrated at about the same time of the year as the previous celebration of the fertility spirit Frö´s honor, why these habits then passed over time easily could be adapted and held at the same holy springs as before. Among other things the importance of triads was a connecting thing. It is not difficult to imagine how the gods Oden, Tor and Frö were replaced with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. That the early Christian missionaries occupied and christened the sacred springs at the same time as the population was a natural consequence, as one could not risk general dissent against the new doctrine by depriving people of their water sources. However, the ancient customs lived for many hundreds of years, strongly anchored in peoples root from pre-Christian times. Nor did the reformation succeed in eradicating the sacred springs.
Health- and mineral springs: In the 17th century, Dr. Urban Brains discovered that some of the sacred springs contained minerals that had a beneficial effect on health, and purely healing effects on some diseases. Furthermore, extensive mineral water analyzes were made in the 1700s by Torben Bergman, after which visiting health- and mineral springs became a trend, not least among the upper classes. Also according to the so-called “signature teaching”, similarities in shape, color etc. between a drug, such as spring in this case, and the body part it would cure, show its power for this. Health centers with professional staff and lodging facilities, like small hospital units, were built around these springs and became something that people went to for their health and sickness cures. Nowadays it has been discovered that many of this springs also are good sources for Litium, a medication now frequently used to cure depression as well as bipolar disease. Today we can mention that the most common bottled water in Sweden comes from a couple of health- and mineral springs, Loka and Porla.
Trinity springs, traditional use and drinking: All according to interviews with old people around the beginning of the 1900s, when drinking has become the most common act in this kind of ceremonies. In general, you can divide it into certain main points, including different elements as follows: 1. Preparation: Cleaning – Decorating. Cleaning is done on the springs bottoms and this cleans from debris. It also occurs that salt is put in on the bottom. The springs are then refilled by its water flow. The decorating of the springs can be made with granary and leaves. Branches and leaves can be placed around the springs and if it is due even in the same. More advanced arrangements such as arches occur. The latter goes so that a circle of young birches is placed around the spring and their peaks are tied together. In one direction, an opening is made for drinking access. 2. Time of year for trinity spring ceremonies. The calendar days that the ceremonial celebration of the springs is made were primarily the day of Trinity and the evening of the Trinity. Other common celebration days included special days around the big weekends, Easter, Whitsun, Ascension Day, Walpurgis Night and midsummer eve. Thursday evenings had all year around a special position when it comes to rituals, especially at new moon in connection with a Thursday. Times of the day considered important for celebrating a sacred spring are often associated with the sun´s position in the sky, for example, the sunrise, the sun´s height and the sunsets. But it is not least the magic hours before and after midnight that were important. 3. Implementation. Here are some important examples to reconsider: Magic numbers are important when to drink the water, especially the holy three. The variations are many: you drink 9 glasses, 3 at a time; you drink 3 mouthfuls and walk around the sacred spring 3 times; you take water with a mug 3 times, but of this water you only have to take a mouth each time, and after that it is free drinking. Silence was common to keep at many trinity springs. Spells were important to use in some springs which had a reputation for being enchanted. Offering of coins, metal objects, jewels and similar things has occurred in a large number of springs. A sacrifice can be given to appease, honor or as a thankful payment. Sometimes birch seedlings were planted around the springs after drinking, one could also put a birch plant in the springs with the words: “Here is my happiness.” If any of the birch plants placed around the spring in this purpose got roots and started to grow it was considered successful for the one who planted it. Wrecking the spring stone was common when the mother in the household was supposed to get birth to a child. Wells, ponds and springs were considered to be “Mother Earth´s mouth.” Old springs are often hexagonal and can in that context maybe be seen as a symbol of (re) birth, when the word six comes from sex that stands for gender.
Field investigation of sacred springs: All the 8 sacred springs in this field part of my exploration was selected from the 82 springs in the inventory statistics from the 1980s, but at the time for my field paintings I had no further information around these springs but what kind of spring and where it was supposed to be situated in the landscape. I reserved a whole day for my visit to each of the sacred springs. I arrived in the morning hours and stayed during the day until the painting was done. Sometimes it was difficult to find the springs out in the forests and sometimes weather conditions were bad, sometimes mosquitos were too many. After these field visits I have searched in county libraries and archives to find references and especially data concerning these springs.
Figure 1, 17th of April Oxögat, Herrfallsäng: A day with cold clear weather and some new snow on the ground, it took me a couple of hours walking in the surrounding forest before I found this sacred spring. It was the stone, you can see in the figure, which attracted my attention and in its direction the spring was buried under the snow. The water tasted iron and was clear and deep, really like looking down into an ox eye as its name stands for. I sat down on a tree trunk and put up colors in front of me, all rested in silence except for some flocks of birds looking for food in the hundred-year-old forest around me and a small stream to my right made some bubbling, clucking noises under its ice cover.
This sacred spring is counted as a sacrifice-, trinity- and a health well. In “Sweden's churches” from 1976 published by the Riksantikvarieämbetet, is noted that Oxögat in Tynninge was used as a spring of sacrifice, still in the 19th century, and it was earlier recorded as an ancient pagan spring of sacrifice. Further, in a letter from 1773 is mentioned that it can cure diseases such as blindness, speechlessness, third-day chills, swelling of the feet, scurvy and toothache. The water is also said to contain plenty of sulfur.
Figure 2, 28th of April, Katrinebrunn, Lännäs: I came to the sacred spring, easy to find with signs directing me this windy, very clear day. Near the sacred spring were remains of an Iron Age settlement. Under the wooden ceiling with 8 corners hanged many old wood crutches, but there were also a white, dirty and bloody blouse of significantly newer kind hanging among them. Spring flowers in white and blue had just started to grow and the water was tanned and tasted still old winter after some cleaning from leaves. Started to paint with pastels and felt soon lifted up like in another time. While painting were where some in Sweden very rare birds, Osprey and Peregrine, that came one after the other like visiting and flew in a circle around and a Woodpecker were rhythmic working on an old birch tree beside me. Some Ravens showed up in groups of three and ones again three, probably the same ones. So I was alone but not alone and after some hours I came to senses with this painting in my hand.
Katrinebrunns spring is counted as a trinity spring, midsummer spring and a health- mineral spring. It is old and archaeological findings are available from settlement in the nearby from the Iron Age. It is referred to in the Middle Ages, and in the 18th century a prosperous business for health- and mineral cures and treatments with attached buildings came to it. This ended in 1916 and many rheumatologists, nervous and burnouts said they had been cured there.
An early legend about a young girl who was abandoned by her fiancé and therefore cried herself blindly but at the spring where she washed her eyes and got her sight back again, is attached to this spring and another saying tells about a shepherd girl that had got impetigo and got rid of them when she bathed her face in the spring. Still, people gather at the sacred spring for midsummer when the church holds worship service there.
Figure 3. 28th of April, Ögonakällan, Viby socken:
This sacred spring I came to an early morning at a day of high and clear air. The well is located deep in a landscape lined with steep slopes around it, except from to the north where its water creates a flowing stream going through the woods. Spring greens had begun to sprout around the holy spring and a couple of old trees had fallen during the winter and now remain resting right next to the spring. The water tastes very good. Started painting and feeling pretty soon observing those old spruce trees that climbed on the steeps in front of me. I can see how they slowly moved in the wind and performed a roaring noise that begins to surround me, a sound that also is getting higher and higher into me, sometimes almost disturbing high while I continue to paint connected to it.
The Ögonkälla spring is counted as both a trinity- and health spring. It has its name based on the resemblance of an eye and from its sandy bottom you can see how the water pours up from the earth's interior. This spring of the eye is actually one of four springs, Finnakällorna, which all fulfill the conditions to be considered magic as they all flow to the north. They had some different characteristics, one of which was mentioned as sulfuric and especially healthy for this, and another was known to help in case of love difficulties. On a spruce nearby there is an oval old sign with the following text: Spring of Eyes, the one who has eyes to clear, wash them in this spring so clear, and pray to God for help and mercy, here is advices and medical treatment. Another text earlier connected to this well were: The spring came out of Mother earth embracing you, smiled itself warm towards the eye of the sun, If you this spring found, and drank water from it you will won your health.
Figure 4. 4 of May, Botekällan, Botåsen:
Found Botekällan as a very strange place, as much a burial site as place of a sacred well. The weather was sunny, clear and no wind at all when I got there early in the morning and after some time looking for a good place I sat down to paint. After a while, I noticed that there came a local wind that took its own directions forward and back all around the place, at one point it was blowing hard in a tree just above me and I had to move my folding chair a couple of meters to avoid falling branches. I then proceeded to paint again, but thought that whatever has happened here, I do not need to be afraid of it now. After a few hours I sort of woke up and with a feeling of being out of time and space, and that I could as well have been on this place for a week as well as for a few hours. Something that felt strange was that I had not used any colors at all, even though the colors lay before me as usual. The Botekällan or King Botes well is an ancient sacrifice-, trinity- and midsummer well. Here we have a ring of 9 stones, each approximately 1 - 1.5 m high, used as a scene for Justice and also next to it we have “Drakrösan” and some more graveyards used in the Iron and Bronze Ages. This well is situated at Helgesta and names with the ending -sta occur in the Nordic countries as early as in prehistoric times. Further, the whole area is situated on a long pebble hill created during the Ice Age.
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Figure 5. 27th of June, St. Olofs källa: I arrived at the sacred well a warm, sunny summer day. The water tasted good but with something mineral in tone. The grass was cut around the well and immediately next to the sign was an old tree trunk resting and I sat there and started painting directly. Everything floated on in a light summer rush and the landscape as a whole with the new light green tree leaves in the background also caught my attention. A sense of happiness and peace for the coming summer were spread within me while painting.
St. Olof's sacred well has a long history as trinity- and health wells. Close nearby is an old settlement from 400-500 A.D. and there is a stone ring with a grave field containing about 20 tombs. We know that this sacred well has been used since pagan time from several old legends concerning its special well siren and spirits, and according to Tuneld's writings from 1733 it subsequently also showed good effect against gout.
At the well there is an inscription on a sign that reads: You wanderer that on this path goes Come here and drink, you will get soon relief. For the water has the same power as in St. Olof's time it had.
Who was then St Olof, according to Snorre Sturlasson's saga, it was the 12-year old Norwegian viking Olav Harald, who went on a warfare to France, and where he was christened, came home again and became king of Norway. It was during a visit to the powerful Swedish viking Sigtrygg, he stayed in the years 1028-29 at this well and with its water he began to christen people in Bergslagen.
Figure 6. 2nd of July, Luckes källa, Näverkärret: Arrived to the sacred well in the forest on a path that still seemed to be used now and then ending close to this yellow-brownish water. I sat down to paint after tasting a little spoonful of water which gave an irony after-taste. Sitting there was very calming and out of ordinary time, got a sort of lost into the trees around the well. Birds and squirrels came and left like travelers seeking for food around while some of them stopped by and seemed just curious. I continued painting, easy in a meditative flow for quite a long time, until I suddenly became aware of a lot of mosquitos around and some of them were biting me. So the painting had to be clear in a hurry and I threw hastily my painting equipment in the rucksack and started in a hurry back on the path, while doing that I noted that all the forest here were very old and had got special biological protection for its rich biodiversity.
Luckes sacred well is both a trinity and a sacrifice well. It´s also counted as an ancient monument by the Örebro county board. It has been a very frequented used well for trinity celebrations since long time ago, and with small exceptions still today trinity is celebrated though in a smaller scale, compared to 100 years ago when thousands of people came especially for the trinity celebration. Further can says that this well was known for its healthy water and were used daily by the landowner Lucas Heijkenskjöld at his time, enough to cover all what his family and servants needed. Here you can also find old coins hidden in the bottom of the well that were thrown for several hundred years ago as a gift for getting rid of different kind of illness. If you take some of these coins according to old legends you will be punished with the same illness as the earlier person who sacrificed them had.
Figure 6. 5th of July, Pullekälla, Porla: We arrived early in the morning with help from a friend that had been spoken to the older people around to find this sacred well. The morning was resting in a sun haze and all area around the well seemed forgotten, also the nearest house, a very old one built in arts and crafts style, also locked abandoned. Rusty old cars were still parked beside the manor house and it all together gave a complex view of resting silence and still soon it was midsummer time. We had to look around at the yard quite long before finding the well under a huge old spruce tree and we had to move some old branches before seeing the old gate covering the well opening like into a mausoleum. It had 4 iron rings at each side to lift with, the forth were gone, though we couldn’t manage to get it up because it was all too heavy for three people. So, without tasting the water I sat down and started painting. This time all went very quickly and I recognized the overgrown spruce tree as a guard for the well to hide under and the rings on the well cover reflecting the haze sun light. I felt calm but yet in a hurry because my friends came now and then to ask me if I was done, they felt like we were intruders on others land, though I had no such problems and felt more like embraced.
The sacred Pullekälla is recorded as both an ancient sacrifice well and was also noted in 1750s as a health- and mineral well. Further, Pullekälla is one of several wells in this area situated on the same hill of pebble stone, a memory from the Ice Age. In all together there where 5 different wells but Pullekälla is the north going one as well as the oldest and a sacrifice well. It is also known that we monks from Ramundeboda monastery were using this well during the Middle Age and here were also a frequently used path passing. Earlier, in the year of1616 this well was also mentioned in connection with a border dispute between two parishes. In close neighborhood you can find settlement and grave discovers from ancient time. Around the 1750s the wells here began to be utilized for their health- and mineral aspect. A whole industry around the wells and a lot of different buildings for health and recovery service grew up and in 1819 a royal privilege for Porla health- and mineral wells was issued. Today the area is most a sleeping memory reminding of the tale of a “Sleeping beauty”.
Figure 8. 6th of July, Spånbrokällan: To find this sacred well, I had arranged a meeting with one of the locals with good knowledge about the forests and history around. After finding the well and drinking the exceptional clear and good water with a hint of iron in it, I was left alone at the place. Started painting, this time without using any colors, draw lines with just a pen and something began to unfold into the air from the water breathing into the forest, into me. On the well a sort of figure breathings came up like from an underworld of a magnificent spruce tree and where were a cover that were taken off by us earlier and now it was resting at the right corner of the well.
Spånbrokällan is recorded as both a sacrifice, trinity well and health- and mineral well. This well is still used and in short distance from it is a half circular form with 13 wooden chairs with names on that serve as a meeting place for persons that still is very active in the local communities around. Also celebrations of trinity, midsummer and Pentecost are held with ritual drinking, dancing and decorating of the well. In this well old coins and other metal objects has been found, old sacrifice objects not to be taken away in fear of getting the sickness or problems they once were thrown to get rid of will came on you instead. Nowadays this well is kept like still an important place for meetings and ceremonies and sometimes its water is also used for baptism. In the close neighborhood you can find archeology lefts of old settlements from ancient times.
Discussion and conclusion: In this paper I have put on display 8 sacred springs, to uncover their appearance, existence and use back in time and still today. As my tools I have used interviews and inventory material, written references and my paintings. At first I was surprised to find 82 sacred cult springs in Örebro County. Further, among these 8 springs I at random picked out from the statistics done in the 1980s, most of them turned out to have very long records through history since ancient days and a majority of them are still today visited and in use. Throughout the years from ancient times to now, it has been and is the importance of the place of the sacred spring itself that counts, while believe in certain religions and dogmas have changed. The place itself, the sacred spring, is the source and object of my painted documentation and as such, the most important thing was to look at the same with an open mind. To complete this paper, the 8 sacred springs are exhibited here, and there uncovered is my reflection of their appearance during one day.
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