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The Kalevala · 91 of 275 · tr. John Martin Crawford

Rune XVIIc

"Thence arose the violation, Thence arose the first destruction, Thence came all the evil-doings: From the neighborhood of wizards, From the homes of the magicians, From the eaves of vicious spirits, From the haunts of fortune-tellers, From the cabins of the witches, From the castles of Tuoni, From the bottom of Manala, From the ground with envy swollen, From Ingratitude's dominions, From the rocky shoals and quicksands, From the marshes filled with danger, From the cataract's commotion, From the bear-caves in the mountains, From the wolves within the thickets, From the roarings of the pine-tree, From the burrows of the fox-dog, From the woodlands of the reindeer, From the eaves and Hisi-hurdles, From the battles of the giants, From uncultivated pastures, From the billows of the oceans, From the streams of boiling waters, From the waterfalls of Rutya, From the limits of the storm-clouds, From the pathways of the thunders, From the flashings of the lightnings, From the distant plains of Pohya, From the fatal stream and whirlpool, From the birthplace of Tuoni. "Art thou coming from these places? Hast thou, evil, hastened hither, To the heart of sinless hero, To devour my guiltless body, To destroy this wisdom-singer? Get thee hence, thou dog of Lempo, Leave, thou monster from Manala, Flee from mine immortal body, Leave my liver, thing of evil, In my body cease thy forging, Cease this torture of my vitals, Let me rest in peace and slumber. "Should I want in means efficient, Should I lack the magic power To outroot thine evil genius, I shall call a better hero, Call upon a higher power, To remove this dire misfortune, To annihilate this monster. I shall call the will of woman, From the fields, the old-time heroes? Mounted heroes from the sand-hills, Thus to rescue me from danger, From these pains and ceaseless tortures. "If this force prove inefficient, Should not drive thee from my body, Come, thou forest, with thy heroes, Come, ye junipers and pine-trees, With your messengers of power, Come, ye mountains, with your wood-nymphs, Come, ye lakes, with all your mermaids, Come, ye hundred ocean-spearmen, Come, torment this son of Hisi, Come and kill this evil monster. "If this call is inefficient, Does not drive thee from my vitals, Rise, thou ancient water-mother, With thy blue-cap from the ocean, From the seas, the lakes, the rivers, Bring protection to thy hero, Comfort bring and full assistance, That I guiltless may not suffer, May not perish prematurely. "Shouldst thou brave this invocation, Kapè, daughter of Creation, Come, thou beauteous, golden maiden, Oldest of the race of women, Come and witness my misfortunes, Come and turn away this evil, Come, remove this biting torment, Take away this plague of Piru. "If this call be disregarded, If thou wilt not leave me guiltless, Ukko, on the arch of heaven, In the thunder-cloud dominions, Come thou quickly, thou art needed, Come, protect thy tortured hero, Drive away this magic demon, Banish ever his enchantment, With his sword and flaming furnace, With his fire-enkindling bellows.
Themes
◆Ancestor Venerationpraxis

Ritual maintenance of relationship with the dead as ongoing presences whose favour is cultivated and whose offence is propitiated. Shinto uji-gami and obon, Norse disir and the alfablot, Celtic samhain and the feast for the deceased, Roman lares and parentalia, Chinese ancestor rites, Vedic śrāddha. Practice-coded rather than belief-coded: distinct from soul_migration (cosmological doctrine of soul-transmigration) and theosis_deification (deification trajectory); ancestor_veneration centres the living's ongoing ritual obligation to the dead.

The speaker calls upon 'old-time heroes' from the past to rescue him from danger.

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◆Animismcosmology

The doctrine and worldview that natural phenomena, places, and objects possess inherent spirit, soul, or personality — and that the cosmos is populated by countless local, plural, embodied divine agents: kami in mountain and tree, sidhe in cairn and well, landwights in field and stone, nymphs in spring and grove, haltija in forest and lake, lares and penates in household and threshold, Iamblichean daemons in element and place. Distinct from monotheism (single transcendent God), pantheism (one underlying substance), and emanation_hierarchy (cascading single source); animism's signature is the plurality, locality, and embodied-in-landscape character of the divine.

The passage is saturated with spirits inhabiting natural phenomena such as trees, lakes, mountains, and water, treating the cosmos as populated by countless local divine agents.

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◆Cosmic Dualismtheology

Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality.

A clear ontological opposition exists between the sinless hero and the malevolent forces originating from Manala, Tuoni, and Lempo.

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◆Living Godtheology

The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.

Deities are depicted as active, responsive realities who intervene in human affairs with weapons or aid rather than abstract principles.

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◆Prayerpraxis

Direct address to the divine, whether petitionary, contemplative, or liturgical; speech and silence offered upward.

The speaker directly addresses various divine powers like Ukko and the Water-mother in petitionary speech asking for protection and assistance.

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◆Ritual Puritypraxis

The maintenance of a state of cleanliness—physical, moral, or spiritual—required for encounter with the divine.

The efficacy of the invocation relies heavily on the speaker's claimed state of being 'guiltless' and 'sinless' to resist the evil.

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◆Sacred Namestheology

Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice.

Specific divine names such as Ukko, Tuoni, and Lempo are invoked to summon or banish powers.

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◆Theurgypraxis

Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone.

The ritual practice engages gods directly through consecrated speech to alter reality, functionally aligning with the definition despite the folk context.

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◆Word Power Incantationpraxis

The doctrine and practice that spoken or sung word carries causal-magical force — that uttering names, formulas, songs, or incantations alters reality directly rather than merely communicating about it. Vainamoinen's runo-songs that move mountains and command iron, Norse galdr, Vedic mantra, Shinto kotodama, the magician's barbarous names in the Greek Magical Papyri, Iamblichean arcane signatures and inexplicable symbols, biblical creation-by-word. Distinct from sacred_names (the ontological power of names themselves) and prayer (address to the divine); word_power_incantation is the magical-causal efficacy of the spoken word as such.

The entire text functions as a healing song where the spoken word and invocation are believed to carry causal-magical force to drive out evil and restore health.

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◆World Tree Axiscosmology

A vertical structure connecting cosmic levels — a tree, pillar, mountain, or ladder linking heaven, earth, and underworld around which the cosmos is organised. Yggdrasil binding the Nine Worlds in Norse cosmology, the Kalevala's Sampo as world-pillar, the Mayan ceiba, the Vedic Aśvattha, the shamanic central tree of Eliade's analyses. Cosmic-structural in character: distinct from sefirot_tree (a kabbalistic emanation diagram) and emanation_hierarchy (an ontological cascade); world_tree_axis is the cosmos's spine rather than the divine's outflow.

The invocation spans vertical cosmic levels connecting the underworld (Manala), earth, and heaven (Ukko's arch).

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Related passages · 2 parallels
◆gnosticism|Pistis Sophia|Document THIRDc
“Say unto them, Renounce the villainies, and be worthy of the mysteries of the Light, and be delivered from all the [237 ] demons of Ialtabaoth with all his punishments. Say unto them, Renounce the senselessness, and be worthy of the myster…”
Both passages describe a struggle against evil forces and the need for divine or supernatural intervention to overcome them. They share a theme of invoking higher powers to protect against malevolent entities and seek deliverance from suffering.
◆western_esoteric|Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi)|13. Necromancyf
“Thus, a fatal law drives demons downward when they wish and believe themselves to be ascending. So also those who term themselves chiefs are the most impotent and despised of all. As to the horde of perverse spirits, they tremble before a…”
Both passages describe a confrontation with malevolent forces and the invocation of higher powers for protection. The Kalevala passage details a plea to various natural and divine entities to drive away an evil spirit, while the Necromancy passage describes the evocation of spirits and the use of magical practices to ward off or control them. Both share the theme of battling evil through supernatural means.