Fasting

Fasting is to only drink, not eat; liquid/water is spirit, while solid food is body. Thus, to only consume liquids becomes a way of becoming spiritual or a method to connect with the spiritual. Fasting was, in other words, common before important ceremonies and other crucial events; holy individuals fasted continuously, like yogis. The body is our temple, and as spiritual beings, we must consider what we fill it with (see Consumption). While the Viking feasts on Särimner every day in Valhalla, the shaman god Odin in the high seat only drinks wine and gives his food to the wolves.  

Fasting (with or without drink) has everywhere been a method to connect with the supernatural. (Leach et al. 1972.) It is a purification and a personal sacrifice.

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