The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

But could fylgja be used as a sort of connection to work with beast spirits then? I imagine having a connection with them could be spiritually beneficial. Whether or not it is traditional to do so, I must ask, could it be done in your opinion? Furthermore, are there any traditional ways to know what it is?

 
No, no, and no.

There's a huge divergence. You see, this is about a spiritual connection to a spirit host that is connected to these beasts. A relationship with which is one of reverence and guidance. This is not anything like a familiar which implies servitude. No these spirits are beings one bows down to. A certain connection with the beast spirits that helps to guide one and understand their place in the world.

Problem is, is as shown above, you think the fylgja is some form of spirit animal / animal guide. It isn't. Just as how the old Norse concept of "luck" is not even close to what passes as "luck" to modern society.

But it isn't some "guide", at least not in the sense of spirit animals where you can use them as guides, where they let you borrow upon their wisdom, and to some they oftentimes change as you “evolve”.

The fylgja is you and you are it. You can not be any wiser than yourself and well this particular "leopard" can never change its spot for it is with you from birth to death. Besides do you, by chance, bow to yourself?



Now with respect to the fylgja, it is a fetch, in the sense that both are to be considered doppelgangers. There are many legends, all over the world, if one sees their own doppelganger that such is a harbinger of death & you are destined to die.

But the fylgja is also a fetch in the sense of a “familiar”, similar and yet different to the concept of how a modern witch / pagan would view a familiar, because those who are powerful can use it to assist them.

For example there are some sagas about the fylgja. Oftentimes involving leaders or berserkers. The fylgja of Bjarki, for example, in one saga is said to have manifested as a monstrous bear form that attacked his enemies during battle while Bodvar himself was "sleeping". However, when Bodvar was roused, this huge bear form was said to have disappeared just before the berserker himself appeared on the battlefield.



What the fylgja is entirely depends on region. Some say that the animal is the manifestation of your innermost self, your most basic part. The ‘beast within’. It ties with your hugr. Hugr is thought [analyzing, e.g. impartial] and munr is desire [emotional, e.g. hatred]. Hugr can be considered your more instinct driven snap-judgement side of the brain.

Yet whatever shape the fylgja takes it is oftentimes considered a guardian spirit handed down each generation. It was, after all, once considered an ancestral spirit [often female as mentioned in that link]. To some it is said to “go before you” for there are some tales which say of how the fylgja would manifest itself ahead of a traveler thus announcing the arrival of the person before said person ever stepped foot past the threshold.

My father has a few bizarre experiences to the above easily attributed to him having a likely mannsfylgja.



The fylgja is also a form of familial karma. Some consider it also your luck - hamingja & fylgja sometimes overlap so much it is tough to differ one from the other - due to this reason. It was once considered a symbol of status for those born of "good" families were more likely to have a fylgja than those of "lesser" families. Good vs. lesser is subjective - if your grandfather, for example, was a coward than he brings nothing but shame to the family but if he charged into battle raving like a madman he would likely be sung about in the sagas.

Furthermore, as cliche as it sounds, it seems the wolf has been guiding my step in some form. If my life were a film, they would be a motif that shows up all through out in one sense or another even when I do not go seeking things related to it. My grandmothers maiden name even translates to the wolf. I don't know much about the Magyar traditions in general and information seems either woefully lacking, untranslated, or not widely available, so I cannot say much about the significance of the wolf in Magyar culture. I doubt that they had "totems" or something resembling the concept of spirit animals, but it's interesting to say the least. It seems as if there is a connection there along with one to the horse and the otter. I've been looking for a term to describe this relationship that does not carry a legacy of bastardization or appropriation but none seem particularly satisfactory. I thought if I could find something, especially something related to my ancestors it could help and perhaps reveal certain methods of communing with them that I could utilize to further my relationship with the sacred. My attempts at research however have turned up a wealth of information, but not exactly what I seek. The wisdom and insight I was able to unearth was most certainly useful, but it doesn't solve my dilemma either. I've taken to using the term tutelary beasts for the time being.

 

I know my fylgja, I encountered it. I do, after all, have second sight. Oh I didn’t choose it or the form it'd take; it chose how it would reveal itself to me. They are widely invisible, even to the untrained eye or to those unwilling to acknowledge what they see. And let's just say it was like looking in a mirror, even if the reflection was that of an animal.

Thing is, is I didn't go looking for it. In all actuality had it not presented itself in such a form, as it did, I wouldn't have given the particular animal it adopted anymore than a passing thought. Did I have affinity for it? No, not really. I prefer birds. And I definitely wasn’t looking for “symbols” in my life to reflect some guide waiting around. For one, if I wanted to use names for “symbols”, the symbolism is so vague that one has to really think to make the connection.

But unless I am really a ghost typing away, I am very much alive.


Now would I saw the fyljga guides my steps? No. But if you could take a scalpel and carve away the human side you’d find that my mentality, my personality, my mannerism, everything that makes me who I am, is a perfect reflection of that animal to the very core. It is all instinctual, like breathing. Even, for that matter, given the mythology surrounding the animal one could attribute the gift of second sight to it.

But then I have been involved in shamanism for a long while and taking to seidhr, also known as seiðr, when living in one of the Scandinavian countries – taught by those that still held tight hold of their folketro, some being descendants of the "Forest Finns" – was an experience.



By the way if Magyars followed the old ideologies wolves are not necessarily good nor neutral. A number of wolf manifestations in Norse mythology have an undertone that some would call “evil”. Sköll & Hati that chase the chariots of the Mani & Sol, Fenrir who will kill Odin and even Odin’s wolves [Geri and Freki] are not neutral but rather reflections on the greedy and ravenous nature that threatens to “consume” us without control. It was why if one had a wolf fylgja his mind was said to be full of bad and/or malicious intent.

If you are interested in working with spirit animals, I would take a traditional, "tried and true" approach, such as Native American or Siberian Shamanism.

 
Agreed. This is more to your liking than what fylgja really are.