Berserkrgang

Here i was thinking that this website was not a good idea, i simply couldn't write enough!
Wrong.

Anyways,
What if the act of berserking can be a ritual in a way. Not so much a ritual to work up to it, but make the act itself a ritual.

I was thinking, berserking could be with purpose, aside from surviving life threatening situations.
Here is my idea.
Pick a quality of oneself that you do not wish to have any longer. When berserking you can burn this quality with your rage. Or, if fighting someone you could personify that aspect of yourself onto them and then beat the hell out of it.
What would berserking and faring forth simultaneously be like? Well, it's a unitary state, so you probably wouldn't think much of it until afterwards.


And another thing i wanted to mention. I'm thinking "esoteric poesis" rather, occult inspired poetry.
In my dealings with the witty bard i was subject to the strike of awen, the poets inspiration. It was like lightning, highly inspired, electric. My ramblings made sense, but were littered with deep, multilayered metaphors. These serve as good focus for meditation.

It was Taliesin who drank cerridwens brew, and Odin from mimir's well. Both obtained otherworldy wisdom. And let us not forget Sigurd, who drank of Fafnir's blood.
This poetic inspiration has some connection with berserking i feel. Just unsure how.

HeMan

He-Man and Cringer. A berserker and his fetch. The chaote in me chuckles at the possibilities.
Shall He-Man be a focus of berserking rituals?

BerserkingVideo

Perhaps invoke He-Man and personify my fetch (a jaguar) as battle cat?
I'll be thinking more on this and update it soon.

Semi update: A veteran berserker pointed out to me that joy raises adrenaline just as fury does. A gangr made up of joy is deeper than that of fury, most of the time. A lot of my rituals involve an obscene amount of laughing, howling, etc. Berserking is a unitary state, much like the ones a chaote tries to achieve in ritual. These states are very similar to eachother now that i think about it. Both are very centered, in the moment, resulting in psychetachia (moreso while berserking). In other words, when a moment lasts a lifetime and everything looks like it's flowing through molasses. I think these two practices go hand in hand.

By the power of GreySkull! I HAVE THE POWER!

Nov 29- Berserking

I've only been looking into the topic of berserking for a week or so now, but I feel I've always practiced occasionally in some form or another. This is my "game plan", albeit created from a limited understanding but winging it is far easier than holding true to tradition. Essentially it is entering the state of "gangr." A state of intense fury but without recklessness. This state has its obvious physical applications of course, but it is also known to be a transcendental state with a broader, more crisp awareness. I plan on using this state to direct will during ritual, i presume it will be highly effective. My first act will be of devotion. Over the next month i will obsess over the topic, always having it in my head. During this month i will very carefully design a ritual that will establish me as in initiate of this practice. Berserking being a very physical oriented state (to me at least) i feel as though i should devote myself in a very physical way. My mind immediately jumps to blood letting, but i'll have to think on it. Next, i will work on entering a state of fury. Not gangr, just fury. I have had great results in the past for invoking fury by means of a sigil, perhaps i'll try this. But, i was thinking of working myself up with music combined with visualization and past pain. I prefer metal, as it does a good job of getting me pumped as it is. As for the visualizations there was a recent dog fight i witnessed and helped break up that still gets my adrenaline pumping. Past pain, anger and fury will all be raised be recalling the memories that caused them. 


I can imagine at first the fury will be hard to harness, especially without focus. As of late my meditations have been far and few, not because i'm lazy but because i always have an empty head. But, i'm going to pick meditation up again to help retrain my focus and visualization skills. Traditionally, the norse would focus their fury by means of invoking their "fetch". That is something similar to a power animal. The animal would be the means to gangr, the transcendence from simple fury to consciously controlled fury. My animal of focus will be the jaguar, the stealthy jungle cat. I plan on invoking the jaguar often to get a feel for the focus it brings. So, i will attain focus by means of invoking the jaguar and regular meditative practices. I'll be sure to update as soon as i get into "the core" of this practice. Feel free to correct any facts, again, this is written from a narrow understanding =) 

The Berserkrgangr

This is a short overview i wrote for a friend. This is my understanding of the berserkrgangr.



Alright, this is what i know.


Berserkrgang is a war trance. It is a state of divine fury granted by odin. A state of pure animalistic fury.
Berserk either translates to bear-shirt or bare shirt. Bear shirt could be due to a bear fetch with which they "step into".  And bare-shirt could be due to the overheating of the body in trance, the feeling of "blood boiling" from the adrenaline.


There are a lot of traits of this state that are common among many( or at least among those i associate with). Ectasy, psychetachia( things slowing down), bodily sensations such as electricity in the skin, the feeling of hair growing from the skin, as well as a "shiny" vision, hallucinations, the feeling of the skin being tightly stretched, muscle swelling, extreme agileness, gnashing of the teeth, growling, howling, stomping, and religious experiences.


This state is a desperate survival mechanism of the body where the adrenal glands empty themsleves into the blood stream, hind lobe function increases as frontal lobe function decreases.


There is nothing like a real threat to initiate a berserker frenzy, but this is not necessary. By combining multiple stressors you can overload the hypothalmus and initiate this state. Extreme stress can be raised by recalling past events, emotions, or people that are stressful. Stress combined with adrenaline raising exercises is a reliable way to acheive gangr. Such exercises as rythmic muscle tensing (especially in dance, hence war dance), growling (my favorite), self infliction of pain, and visualizing dangerous scenarios would suffice.


This is a state that easly gets out of hand with potentially disasterous results. By exploiting this state in a safe environment, you may learn to control it. Sounds a bit contradictory to control a state of uncontrollable fury, but you can guide this state by setting up boundaries.


A problem many people first experimenting with this state face is over doing it.  Too much adrenaline will cause the muscles to lock and the body to tremble until the person becomes exhausted.


After the frenzy is over you slip into "helblindi", in some degree. This is one point awareness, the extreme of introversion to compensate for extreme extroversion. This state usually fixates on the berserker frenzy, because it is fresh in the mind. This results in deeper, more pure gangr. The mind is empty of everything but fury, this cycle will go on so long as there is a threat or until the body can no longer handle it.


That's all i have time to write for now, is this what you were looking for?