The day I met my Fylgia

By Thomas B AOR

The meditation concept is something really vast. I’m probably not alone in thinking that but I had a lot of trouble understanding it and even after a year it’s not always easy. I think the hardest part about that process is to find a way which allows you to shut everything down while opening yourself at the same time. It’s not really clear but to put it another way, you cut yourself from your surroundings to find the part of you buried deep inside.

I tried a lot of different things, from listening to music to silence and it took me a long time to find something that worked with me. I think that the first step was to listen to some music with a candle in front of me and my eyes shut, trying to concentrate on nothing but my breath. It wasn’t easy but I doubt that is the case for everyone. But after a time it came itself. I was enjoying it, I was practicing only when I wanted to and I never forced myself. That was a great thing that allowed me to open myself spiritually and to learn more about me. After a while I discovered the Odic Meditation made by Redwald OR (available on the OR Store). That was impressive to me, I would have never expected it but every time I use it, it takes me to another place and I’m able to be deep inside. I like that strange state it put you in and it’s really interesting to see how your body is reacting to that. For example it always makes my eyes wet even if I’m in the best mood possible and every time I’m done, I smile without being able to explain why.

After finishing the correspondence course of the Odinic Rite (which I encourage you to get as soon as possible if you have not yet done so) I learned about the concept of the Fylgja. I was really interested by it and I’ve read everything I could find on the website to know more about the subject. I finally found an article on the ORF website called “Fylgja – A guided meditation”. It was written by Tyrsson OR for the ORB N° 214 (I can’t thank you enough for that article…). That article fascinated me and I knew I needed to try that meditation. I have to admit that my memory is not the best so instead of reading the article again and again without being able to remember everything, I decided to record my own voice reading the meditation to create a track (including background music) to be able to meditate that way. If I could draw I would share with you all the environment I go through every time I do it but I’m terrible at that. Anyway, I think it’s something really personal that probably changes a lot from one person to another.

I’m not going to detail the journey through the meditation as Tyrsson has done an amazing job with his article. No, the point with this text is to share with you that feeling, the one that you’ll have the day you meet your own Fylgja. It was a few months ago already but I still remember that day. I was staring at the forest and the first thing I saw was two glowing eyes inside a bush and after a while, she came out: a white wolf. She was gorgeous and even if I was deep inside my head I remember staring at her like if she was just in front of me, without moving, just looking at each other. When I came back from my meditation I felt great. I remember that warm feeling that was embracing my whole body, I was happy to meet my Fylgja, that creature who was with me for the last 24 years without even knowing her.

To be totally honest, as far back as I can remember I have been fascinated by the wolf, that mystical creature both feared and loved. When I was young I had books about them all over my room and I still remember that calendar my sister offered me when I was 10 years old. I am telling you that because even without knowing about her presence in my life, I guess that she was always close to me.

Everyone knows that the internet, even if it can be a good tool, is also full of wrong information and we have to take care about what we find. However, I’ve made a lot of research about the meaning of the Wolf as an “Animal Totem” and it turned out that in most of the cases it was describing myself. Strong familial values, loyalty, generous, eloquent, passionate, instinctive and careful are some of the attributes that I’ve found which are both linked to the beast and to me. I’m a gregarious person who appreciates having the people I care about around me even if I need my liberty; I always try to move forward and I can easily adapt to my environment.

I’ll finish this short topic saying that I’m keep practicing this meditation, several times a week and even if sometimes (it only happened once or twice) you can’t see your Fylgja, the rest of the meditations will only make you closer and bound you with your animal. And believe it or not, that’s the kind of thing that can have a lot of influence in your everyday life…