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An alternative portrait

An alternative portrait

Some healers cleanse houses. Oddmar Remøy has taken it upon himself to cleanse the whole northwestern part of Norway

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On a small, isolated Norwegian island, we find him. He has never crossed the open sea, but he believes his life has been like a never-ending row against the headwinds. He has a sheriff’s beard and the crazed eyes of a viking berserker. When he moves, he is stiff and rigid, like some animated statue. He smells like the sea and eats cod chips. He has two pendants in his pocket and a layer of orgonite – a substance meant to balance his bio energies – around his neck. He calls himself a healer. He calls himself a shaman. He says he is a messenger and a life guide. He is aware that most people just call him a self-aggrandizing  hobo. He understands why he is misunderstood. He does not even understand himself half the time. He thinks it's impossible to make a portrait of him without being completely superficial.

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He moved to Cochin in India when he was five. He grew up next to a dance school for elephants. He remembers the dusty streets. He remembers the smell of sun-warmed sewage. He remembers the colors of the religious processions. He remembers it so vividly that he struggles to remember what happened before and after. He went to missionary school. He had to recite bible verses and received a beating if he did not remember them. Consequently, he became disillusioned with Christianity. Then he had his first religious experience. He believes his consciousness was reprogrammed.

He decided that he would never accept any truth he had not seen or experienced for himself.

He got to know the people of India. He got to know their gods. He saw that the people chose their own gods. He understood that they had a subjective approach to religion. He set about to create his own faith.

His family moved back to Norway. He was enrolled in school. Having  read hundreds of books, hefrequently raised his hand. He was picked on and got beaten up. He hit back and qualified for University, got a bachelor's degree in Natural Resource Management and became a fisherman.

He mended nets. He burned out and got approved for disability. He enrolled in school again.

He conducted special education at the youth school in Herøy. 

He retired due to disability again. He stayed in bed. He sat still in a chair for days and noticed that half of his body sweated, it was as if a streak of lightning had passed through him, clammy on the right side and dry on the left. He believes it was a result of a serious nerve injury, as if he had been at war, but he had never been to war. He believes the symptoms are the price he must pay for his abilities. He defines his body as shamanic. He defines shamanic bodies as hypersensitive. He believes it is difficult to have a shamanic body and to be fully employed at the same time. He believes his disability occurred for a reason. He thinks the reason is that he is supposed to help Gaia, or Mother Earth.

He goes for long nature walks. He pauses at trees and tufts of grass, eyes closed, arms outstretched. His body some measuring device, he assesses  the earth’s energy fields. He registers a disharmony in the energy levels. He believes this disharmony to be detrimental to both humans and animals.  

He has read about British ley lines on the internet. He thinks that old pagan cult sites on the coast of northwestern Norway are connected by powerful energy flows. He thinks that the energy balance in these currents is damaged. He believes the currents may be healed by orgonites, that, according to leyline experts convert negative energies into positive energies, like some cosmic autotune effect. He has seen youtube videos where orgonites are placed in flower pots, and bring wilted flowers back to life. He recognizes that orgonites are considered quasi-science and are not recognized by the scientific community. He doesn’t see this as a negative. He considers science to be infiltrated by heretics.

He buys orgonites for thousands of kroner on the internet. He climbs mountains, searching for what he considers to be environments rich in energy. He buries orgonites around power masts and cell towers. He can sense them immediately recalibrating the negative energies. He looks up at the sky, commenting that its colour has softened. He peers down at the houses by the fjord, thinking that he has done the people down there a great service. He believes that the newly established energy balance will brighten their minds. Soon they will be kinder both to themselves and others.

He treks home and continues his daily routines. He reads tarot cards, jutting down insights as they appear, all the while talking,  to himself and to me, the interviewer.

His words seem to be carefully chosen, and are delivered eloquently, almost rehearsed, as if he has spoken them before, perhaps in front of a mirror. He says life is a dance with masks. He says there is a time when the masks are going to fall.

He says that in life we are all amateurs. He says that the truth is not important, what is important is what we think is the truth.

After having read this text he sends me a poem he has written. It would be a fitting end to the interview, he says.

 

Life is a flight

on the wings of thoughts

that  ends in a kingdom

which is not here!

 

So never forget

my friend

that only the flight

is!


Will you join me?

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