Use ecstatic trance to journey to the time of Beowulf and learn first hand the ancient magic of the early Nordic people

• Reveals a hidden side to the epic of Beowulf through the perspective of Queen Wealhtheow

• Shows how Grendel respected and would not harm Queen Wealhtheow because she practiced the ancient magic of the Mother Goddess Freyja

• Explains how the magic practices of Queen Wealhtheow provide a blueprint for our emergence from the warlike nature of the past millennia into a time of peace and compassion for our Great Mother Earth

Using the altered state of ecstatic trance to access the memories of the Universal Mind, Nicholas Brink takes us back to ancient Scandinavia, to the time of the epic of Beowulf, the oldest piece of literature written in the English language. Sharing his ecstatic trance techniques along the way, his journey allows us to re-experience the life and shamanic practices of Queen Wealhtheow, the wife of King Hrothgar, the king rescued by Beowulf from the torment of the monster Grendel.

Revealing a hidden side to the epic of Beowulf, Brink details how Grendel respected and would not harm Queen Wealhtheow and her teacher Vanadisdottir, a priestess of the goddess Freyja, for they practiced the ancient magic of the earlier hunter-gatherer era when the Great Mother Earth was worshipped. In the time of the queen the peaceful and compassionate traditions of this era were becoming forgotten, succumbing to settlements, kingdoms, and territorial disputes. We gain first-person experience of Wealhtheow and Vanadisdottir’s veneration of the Great Mother and the ancient magic of the early Nordic people as practiced by the seiðr workers, seers, and spirit travelers, the shamans of the time. These practices include divination through the goddess Freyr, contacting Bear spirits, and spirit journeying to various realms.

As we experience our own time of transition and turmoil much like that of Beowulf’s time, Nicholas Brink reveals how the original magic of our ancestors, as practiced by Queen Wealhtheow, provides a blueprint for our emergence from the warlike nature of the past into a time of peace and compassion for our Great Mother Earth.

Nicholas E. Brink, Ph.D., is a psychologist and a certified teacher of ecstatic trance with the Cuyamungue Institute. Board certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology, he is the author of The Power of Ecstatic Trance and Baldr’s Magic. He lives in Coburn, Pennsylvania.

Foreword by Stanley Krippner, Ph.D.

Acknowledgments

Prologue    A Shift on Our Planet

Introduction    The Paradise of Hunters and Gatherers

1    The Visiting Merchant

2    Wealhtheow’s Brother

3    The Visit from Healfdene

4    Vanadisdottir’s Journey to Freyja’s Pool

5    Vanadisdottir’s Return Journey

6    The Autumn Trip to Denmark

7    Healfdene’s Return and Signy’s Visit

8    The Raid

9    News from England

10    The Promise of Marriage

11    The Wedding

12    The Nightwalker

13    Skald Bragason

14    Forsetason’s Travels with the Skald

15    King Athils’s Attack

16    Hrothgar Becomes King

17    Healfdene’s Last Days and the Sighting of Grendel

18    The Early Years of Hrothgar’s Reign

19    Grendel Disturbs the Peace

20    The Silver Lining

21    Violence against Women

22    Forsetason Reaches Vanadisdottir

23    A Visit from Beowulf

24    The Eleventh Year

25    The End of Grendel

26    The Mother of Grendel

Conclusion    Hope for the Future

Notes

Glossary

Bibliography

Index