Saint Lucy´s Day in the Mines of Thingbæk

The witch from Rold Forest, Dannie Druehyld.

From my Forest Diary:

December 9, 2019

I met Dannie Druehyld in her workshop, which is situated near the entrance to The Mines of Thingbæk (situated in Rold Forest, Denmark).

I had come to ask the Dwarf Lord about permission to visit the mines later this week. I was namely going to film live in the mines, Friday, December 13, an unlucky day to some, to others a magical day. Something special will happen down there on that day.

Meanwhile, I sought a blessing from Dannie, who on the above picture sits with a treasure chest she has borrowed from the Dwarf Lord ("The Keeper of Dreams" - see picture below). The children are allowed to open the chest which is full of bone pieces with engravings. When a child has picked a bone piece, Dannie will tell a story related to the engraving.

Here is a picture of "The Keeper of Dreams".

The Keeper of Dreams is from the Hallowquest product: Storyworld, a book with forty tell-your-own-story cards. 

In my shamanic counseling practice I use the Hallowquest cards for divination. Divination in my context doesn´t mean fortune telling, but “The View from Above”. It´s a way of looking at your issue from alternative points of views (ancestors, forest spirits and totem beasts), a way of breaking up our fixed reality tunnels, a way of making our thoughts flower, of making them poetic and of growing wings. Tools in this process are The Art of Dreaming, The Art of Mythic Imagination, or, The Free Play of Images. It´s about remembering our mythic past.

The treasure chest reminds me about my childhood´s pirate stories, and another storytelling kit from Hallowquest, which aims at opening your mind towards such forgotten treasures: Legends of the Sea. Here is a couple of cards:

I identify myself with a cabin boy in a pirate story. What adventures lies ahead?

The Mines of Thingbæk is an entrance to the Underworld. The Underworld is the abode of the ancestors and thus one of the prime sources of wisdom and knowledge. The roots of The Tree of Vision and Tradition grow down into this realm, and it can be reached by descending through a tunnel or deep hole in the earth.

The Underworld is also the home of the Elves. The Elves in Rold Forest is similar to the Celtic Fairy People. It is very rare to meet these ethereal forest creatures today. In the winter half year they live in the Underworld, but in the summer half year, where the forest awakes, they come from the mounds and hollow hills, and start their work in the forest.

The Keeper of Dreams is the Dwarf Lord who sends out the dreams each night. He lives in one of the most secret halls of The Mines of Thingbæk, where he brews the dreams by day in his starry pool. When evening comes, they rise up on the wind and are blown into your sleep. Some dreams are shaped by the deeds, thoughts and actions of their dreamers, some come from the stars themselves to give people ideas, and some are even deeper messages to awaken old memories. There are many dreams that come back to the Dwarf Lord undreamed: he catches each one and send them out again, so that dreamers may remember 

I got his permission to visit the mines.

Friday, December 13, 2019.

Today I will go down into the mines. It is filled with sculptures. Who has made them?

The bull is the so-called Cimbrian Bull. It is a symbol of the old Germanic tribe that lived in the area of Rold Forest, the Cimbri. I´m a direct descendent of the Cimbri, since my family, on my mother´s side, has lived in Rold Forest for as long there can be kept tracks. The Cimbri is connected with the famous Gundestrup Cauldron, which, in 1891, was found in a bog in near Rold Forest, by my uncle´s grandfather, Jens Sørensen. 

The Gundestrup Cauldron is filled with imagery of ancient Celtic religion, and it is very likely that the Cimbri practised some kind of mix between Scandinavian and Celtic shamanism. Now, if we go to another Hallowquest card system, The Celtic Shaman´s Pack, we can find some Celtic ideas about the Underworld. Here the Underworld is called Annwn, or the Inworld.

Annwn is not a place to be visited lightly, but it can yield a great deal of information and richness about the primal teachings of the ancestors. It may be entered by way of a cave or tunnel, or a passage beneath the roots of a tree. Perhaps The Mines of Thingbæk is such a passage? Once within this realm you may perhaps have the fortune to drink from the Cauldron of Annwn itself, in which is stored all the bright and powerful wisdom of the ancestors.

In the depths of the Underworld anything may happen. It is a place of change and unpredictability, and, as its master, Arawn, shares these qualities in himself. He is given to swift anger and retaliation in the face of anything touching his honour. He also rectifies imbalances, setting straight the record and balancing inequities in every aspect of life.

In The Mines of Thingbæk I felt the doors open and I entered an echoing hall where silent people pass to and fro on business on their own. No one pays attention to me, and I go forward to the foot of a great carved throne of adamant, on which sits the dark king of Annwn himself. He smiles upon me and beckon me closer. He shows me a great natural basin of rock nearby - a mighty stone cauldron filled with clear liquid. This, he tells me, is the Cauldron of Annwn, which offers new life and a new focus to the old. I may drink, but Arawn warns me that changes greater than I wish may result of this.

I take my time, and I invoke the help from the Elves, to decide whether I´m ready for this draught.

It is Saint Lucy´s Day (Danish: Luciadag). This day, light was called home. And in the darkness of the Mines of Thingbæk I asked the sun to remember me. And Darkness was chased away by these girls with lights in their hair and hands. They wandered singing from hall to hall, lighting and cleansing the halls so that Christmas could be carried in. They brought me warm wine and saffron cookies.

The video is a bit shaky in the start, but I think I caught the most important.