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I was at a pagan festival some years ago and I was in this class. The lady there was talking about calling down the spirits or gods, and she said something interesting that I ended up including into my practice.

That to call down spirits or a deity well known, use three things you know about them and word them specifically.

So if you were going to call Thor for example:

O Thor

Thunderer

Wielder of Mjolnir

Husband of Sif

or some alteration thereof. Which is why in all my hymns, I specifically listed various things, and at minimum three things that could be used as identifiers. This is ultimately how I started creating my own hymns, and I encourage anyone who practices with Norse gods to do the same. Not because it's a rule, but because it's a little easier to create these things if you have some idea of where you're walking sort to speak.

Galdr and varðlokur

I'm right now reading Neil Price's The Viking way: Magic and Mind in Late Iron Age Scandinavia, and it's so very interesting. I highly recommand it.

But while reading, I came upon a form of magic I did not know about: the varðlokur. For the longest time, I believed that Galdr was the only musical form of magic: turns out I was deeply mistaken. So is the varðlokur.

From what I understand: both galdr and varðlokur use voice and sound, but they serve different magical logics. Galdr is active, forceful, and declarative magic. It's spoken or sung to make something happen. Varðlokur, as part of seiðr, are inductive and invitational. It's sung to draw spirits, knowledge, or states of consciousness closer. Price treats galdr as commanding, and seiðr/varðlokur as mediating.

I FIND IT FASCINATING :3

#norse mythology #norse pagan #norse magic #galdr #seidr #norse paganism #norse heathen #varðlokur #sharing the info with the rest of the class #100% recommand this book #norse shamanism #sigyn #tagging it in the Sigyn tag as Sigyn is a Goddess of Galdr :)

learning galdr like:

#galdr #seiðr #seidr #norse paganism #heathenry #norse witch #runes

I want to learn seidr but idk where to start or what resources are even valid and not tainted by bigotry or transphobia. A lot of posts are very vague, too. So I have no idea what they actually mean. Any thoughts?

Hello! Thank you so much for the ask.

Seiðr is quite the mysterious practice, which is why you must have found difficult to find trustworthy sources, or even one that could clearly define its nature. We currently know very, very little about it. What we do know for sure is that it was a form of pre-Christian magical practice, the uses of which stretched from divination to healing, luck-bringing, controlling weather and making game plentiful (archaeologist Neil Price). It was neither a force of "good" nor one of "evil", as it could also be used to fulfill malicious purposes, such as to cause conflicts or cast curses.

Unlike galdr, which was often practiced by men, seiðr was seen as a rather "feminine" practice. But as always, there have been exceptions to this: after all, mythology has it Óðinn himself, in his eternal search for knowledge, had learned to master seiðr! Though it was considered dishonorable for men to practice it back in Iron Age Scandinavia, it was common enough for a word to describe such men to emerge: seiðmenn. For this reason, neither galdr not seiðr are (or ever have been) confined to specific genders. This, I felt compelled to specify, especially since you've mentionned having stumbled upon many transphobic posts in your research. Galdr and seiðr do not belong to any given gender.

Another difference we could find in modern practice as opposed to historical practice is the means to reach the seiðrkona's staple trance. Archeological finds have informed us that the practice often would have involved trance-inducing intoxicants, which would have enabled the practionner to receive visions and use divination. It's possible for us to recreate such conditions in vastly different ways, namely, using music, chants, repetitive motions and the like.

Now, what's interesting to note is that the Goddess Freyja was also said to be a master of the art. Since she is often thought to be the archetype of a völva, magic practitionners who famously carried a long staff which was crucial to their craft. The term völur actually means "staff carrier", or "wand carrier". This means that to anybody seeking to re-construct this practice, the use of some sort of staff would be near essential.

Though the accounts describing völur and their work are sparse, it's still possible for us to make out a few recurring informations: they were wanderers (and were generally viewed as standing apart from society), which makes them likely to have had some sort of connection with the God Óðinn, and they went from village to village to offer their help and insights. When welcomed into a household, it's very likely they would have been offered to sit at the head of the table, replacing whoever was the head of house in their seat. This means that their presence was considered of the highest respectability. If you're interested in learning more about völur, I suggest checking out the Saga of Erik the Red, which contains the most detailed account of a völva known today.

Another interesting detail to be noted about seiðr is that weaving, whether it was physical or metaphysical, was a central part of the practice. After all, the Norns, who weave the Wyrd, are said to be the greatest of Seiðkonur. Another mythical element to support this theory is that Freyja as a deity seems to share lots of common points with Frigg. In fact, it's very likely the two were worshipped as one deity at some point in time, and depending on the areas. While Freyja is said to be a magician, capable of surviving a pyre thrice, famously, Frigg is more a clairvoyant master of divination, able to foresee the future. And both these different types of witchcraft could very well be considered seiðr practices! Now, Frigg is often depicted weaving using a spindle. That's because her myth has it she is the one who weaves the clouds, and is therefore a talented artist in this domain, which furthers the connection between magic (or at the very least, divination) and the textile arts. It's also interesting to note that the Nornir and Frigg have one major element in common: their ties with fate. While the Nornir weave fate, Frigg knows everything that's to come in the future, though she never speaks a word of it. This particular element of their respective stories greatly emphasizes the imortance of divination and foresight within seiðr practices.

Though I do work with witchcraft, I don't consider myself a practionner of this art per say. That's because oftentimes, the nordic magic I use takes the form of rune-carving, a practice inherent to taufr instead of seiðr. What little information we have on seiðr is unfortunately not enough to determine exactly how it was practiced, apart from the fiew hints here and there. I'm sorry that I can't be of much more help concerning this topic, but I'll link below a few online articles to check out if you're interested in some further reading.

Seidr

Seiðstaffs of the Völur

Encounters with Völur

Seiðr & Shamans: Defining the Myth of Ritual Specialists in pre-Christian Scandinavia (online)

Manning the High Seat: Seiðr as Self-Making in Contemporary Norse Neopaganisms

Interpreting Old Norse Magic: A Thematic Analysis of Seiðr, According to Runic Inscriptions

The double world: seidr and the problem of Old Norse 'magic'

I will also suggest the book The Norse Sorceress Mind and Materiality in the Viking World and this video, which dive a lot deeper into the topic than I could. The YouTuber Arith Härger, who has multiple times stated his adherence to inclusive heathenry, has posted multiple videos on seiðr in the past, as well.