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In
Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...
, (sometimes anglicized as ''seidhr'', ''seidh'', ''seidr'', ''seithr'', ''seith'', or ''seid'') was a type of magic which was practiced in Norse society during the Late Scandinavian Iron Age. The practice of is believed to be a form of magic which is related to both the telling and the shaping of the future. Connected to the
Old Norse religion Old Norse religion, also known as Norse paganism, is a branch of Germanic religion which developed during the Proto-Norse period, when the North Germanic peoples separated into distinct branches. It was replaced by Christianity and forgotten ...
, its origins are largely unknown, and its practice gradually declined after the
Christianization of Scandinavia The Christianization of Scandinavia, as well as other Nordic countries and the Baltic countries, took place between the 8th and the 12th centuries. The realms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden established their own Archbishop, archdioceses, responsi ...
. Accounts of later made it into sagas and other literary sources, while further evidence of it has been unearthed by
archaeologists Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...
. Various scholars have debated the nature of , some of them have argued that it was
shamanic Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spiri ...
in context, involving visionary journeys by its practitioners. practitioners were of both sexes, with sorceresses being variously known as , and . There were also accounts of male practitioners, who were known as (or in the singular). In many cases these magical practitioners would have had assistants to aid them in their rituals. In pre-Christian
Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...
, was associated with both the god
Óðinn Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Emp ...
, a deity who was simultaneously responsible for war, poetry and sorcery, and the goddess
Freyja In Norse mythology, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a char ...
, a member of the
Vanir In Norse mythology, the Vanir (; Old Norse:, singular Vanr) are a group of gods associated with fertility, wisdom, and the ability to see the future. The Vanir are one of two groups of gods (the other being the Æsir) and are the namesake of the ...
who was believed to have taught the practice to the
Æsir Æsir (Old Norse; singular: ) or ēse (Old English; singular: ) are deities, gods in Germanic paganism. In Old Nordic religion and Nordic mythology, mythology, the precise meaning of the term "" is debated, as it can refer either to the gods i ...
. In the 20th century, adherents of various
modern Pagan Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, spans a range of new religious movements variously influenced by the Paganism, beliefs of pre-modern peoples across Europe, North Africa, and the Near East. Despite some comm ...
new religious movement A new religious movement (NRM), also known as a new religion, is a religious or Spirituality, spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin, or they can be part ...
s adopted forms of magico-religious practice which include . The practices of these contemporary -workers have since been investigated by various academic researchers who are operating in the field of
pagan studies Pagan studies is the multidisciplinary academic field devoted to the study of modern paganism, a broad assortment of modern religious movements, which are typically influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various pagan beliefs of premodern ...
.


Terminology and etymology

is believed to come from
Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic languages, Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from ...
''*'', cognate with Lithuanian , 'tie, tether' and
Proto-Celtic Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the hypothetical ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly Linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed throu ...
''*'' 'sorcery' (giving Welsh , Breton 'magic'), all derived from
Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...
''*'' 'string, rope', ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root ''*'' 'to bind'. Related words in
Old High German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...
(see German Saite, used both in string instruments and in bows) and
Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...
refer to 'cord, string', or 'snare, cord, halter' and there is a line in verse 15 of the
skald A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry in alliterative verse, the other being Eddic poetry. Skaldic poems were traditionally compo ...
ic poem
Ragnarsdrápa Ragnarsdrápa (Old Norse: ‘Drápa about Ragnarr’)Clunies Ross, p. 27. https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=1130&v=intro. is a skaldic poem attributed to the oldest known skald, Bragi inn gamli (‘the old’) Boddason, who lived in the 9th cent ...
that uses in that sense. However, it is not clear how this derivation relates to the practice of . It has been suggested that the use of a cord in attraction may be related to , where attraction is one element of the practice of magic described in Norse literature and with witchcraft in
Scandinavian folklore Nordic folklore is the folklore of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. It has common roots with, and has been under mutual influence with, folklore in England, Germany, the Low Countries, the Baltic countries, Finland and S� ...
. However, if involved "spinning charms", that would explain the
distaff A distaff (, , also called a rock"Rock." ''The Oxford English Dictionary''. 2nd ed. 1989.) is a tool used in spinning. It is designed to hold the unspun fibers, keeping them untangled and thus easing the spinning process. It is most commonly use ...
, a tool used in spinning flax or sometimes wool, that appears to be associated with practice. In any case, the string relates to the "threads of fate", that the Nornir spin, measure, and cut. Old English terms cognate with are (as a suffix in the noun ''ælfsiden'', in various
inflected In linguistic Morphology (linguistics), morphology, inflection (less commonly, inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical category, grammatical categories such as grammatical tense, ...
forms) and , both of which are attested only in contexts that suggest that they were used by elves (); these seem likely to have meant something similar to . Among the Old English words for practitioners of magic are (m.) or (f.), the etymons of Modern English '
witch Witchcraft is the use of magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to ''Enc ...
'.


Old Norse literature

In the
Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...
, the practice of by men had connotations of unmanliness or effeminacy, known as '' ergi'', as its manipulative aspects ran counter to masculine ideal of forthright, open behavior.
Freyja In Norse mythology, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a char ...
and perhaps some of the other goddesses of
Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...
were practitioners, Óðinn was accused by
Loki Loki is a Æsir, god in Norse mythology. He is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (mythology), Laufey (a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to the goddess Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi (son of Lo ...
in the ''
Lokasenna ''Lokasenna'' (Old Norse: 'The Flyting of Loki', or 'Loki's Verbal Duel') is one of the poems of the ''Poetic Edda''. The poem presents flyting between the gods and Loki. It is written in the ljóðaháttr metre, typical for wisdom verse. ''L ...
'' of being "unmanly" to which Odin replied with: "Knowest thou that I gave to those I ought not – victory to cowards? Thou was eight winters on the earth below, milked cow as a woman, and didst there bear children. Now that, methinks, betokens a base nature."


Sagas


Erik the Red

In the 13th century ''Saga of Erik the Red'', there was a or in
Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...
named Þórbjǫrg ('protected by Thor'). She wore a blue
cloak A cloak is a type of loose garment worn over clothing, mostly but not always as outerwear for outdoor wear, which serves the same purpose as an overcoat and protects the wearer from the weather. It may form part of a uniform. People in many d ...
and a headpiece of black lamb trimmed with white ermine, carried the symbolic
distaff A distaff (, , also called a rock"Rock." ''The Oxford English Dictionary''. 2nd ed. 1989.) is a tool used in spinning. It is designed to hold the unspun fibers, keeping them untangled and thus easing the spinning process. It is most commonly use ...
(), which was buried with her, and would sit on a high platform. As related in the saga:


Other sagas

As described by
Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...
in his ''
Ynglinga saga ''Ynglinga saga'' ( ) is a Kings' sagas, Kings' saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelanders, Icelandic poet and historian Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It is the first section of his ''Heimskringla''. It was first translated into Engl ...
'', includes both divination and manipulative magic. It seems likely that the type of divination of -practitioners was generally distinct, by dint of an altogether more metaphysical nature, from the day-to-day auguries performed by the seers (, ). However, in chapter 44 of the Icelandic saga '' Vatnsdæla saga'', Þórdís Spákona loans someone her black cloak and stick () for magic. The stick is used to strike a man three times on his left cheek to make him forget and three times on his right cheek to make him remember.


Folktales

Seiðr is mentioned in Icelandic folktales dating to the 19th century (Íslenzkar Þjóðsögur og Æfintýri, Jón Árnason).


Practices

Neil Price noted that, because of its connection with '' ergi'', was undoubtedly located on 'one of society's moral and psychological borders'. involved the incantation of spells ( ''galdrar'', sg. ). Practitioners may have been religious leaders of the Viking community and usually required the help of other practitioners to invoke their deities, gods or spirits. As they are described in a number of other Scandinavian sagas,
Saga of Erik the Red The ''Saga of Erik the Red'', in (), is an Icelandic saga on the Norse exploration of North America. The original saga is thought to have been written in the 13th century. It is preserved in somewhat different versions in two manuscripts: ''H ...
in particular, the practitioners connected with the spiritual realm through chanting and prayer. Viking texts suggest that the ritual was used in times of inherent crisis, as a tool for seeing into the future, and for cursing and hexing one's enemies. With that said, it could have been used for great good or destructive evil, as well as for daily guidance. One author, Neil Price, argues that it was very likely that some parts of the practice involved sexual acts. Scholars have highlighted that the staffs have phallic epithets in various Icelandic sagas.


Mythology


Óðinn and

British archaeologist Neil Price noted that "the realm of sorcery" was present in Óðinn's many aspects. In
Lokasenna ''Lokasenna'' (Old Norse: 'The Flyting of Loki', or 'Loki's Verbal Duel') is one of the poems of the ''Poetic Edda''. The poem presents flyting between the gods and Loki. It is written in the ljóðaháttr metre, typical for wisdom verse. ''L ...
, according to the Poetic Edda, Loki accuses Óðinn of practising , condemning it as an unmanly art (). A justification for this may be found in the , where Snorri opines that following the practice of rendered the practitioner weak and helpless. One possible example of in Norse mythology is the prophetic vision given to Óðinn in the Vǫluspá by the ''
völva In Germanic paganism, a seeress is a woman said to have the ability to foretell future events and perform sorcery. They are also referred to with many other names meaning "prophetess", "staff bearer" and "sorceress", and they are frequently calle ...
'' after whom the poem is named. Her vision is not connected explicitly with ; however, the word occurs in the poem in relation to a character called Heiðr (who is traditionally associated with Freyja but may be identical with the ). The interrelationship between the in this account and the
Norns The Norns ( , plural: ) are a group of deities in Norse mythology responsible for shaping the course of human destinies.''Nordisk familjebok'' (1907) The Norns are often represented as three goddesses known as Urd ( Urðr), Verðandi, and S ...
, the fates of Norse lore, is strong and striking. Another noted mythological practitioner of was
Gróa In Norse mythology, Gróa (possibly from Old Norse "growing"Orchard (1997:63).) is a völva (seeress) and practitioner of ''seiðr''. She is the wife of Aurvandil the Bold. Groa was also the goddess of knowledge. Attestations ''Prose Edda'' ...
, who attempted to assist
Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...
, and who in the
Svipdagsmál ''Svipdagsmál'' (Old Norse: , 'The Lay of Svipdagr') is an Old Norse poem, sometimes included in modern editions of the ''Poetic Edda'', comprising two poems, '' The Spell of Gróa'' and '' The Lay of Fjölsviðr''. The two works are grouped si ...
in a poem entitled Grógaldr "Gróa's spell" is summoned from beyond the grave.


Freyja and

Like Óðinn, the Norse goddess
Freyja In Norse mythology, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a char ...
is also associated with in the surviving literature. In the (), written by Icelandic poet
Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...
, it is stated that had originally been a practice among the
Vanir In Norse mythology, the Vanir (; Old Norse:, singular Vanr) are a group of gods associated with fertility, wisdom, and the ability to see the future. The Vanir are one of two groups of gods (the other being the Æsir) and are the namesake of the ...
, but that Freyja, who was herself a member of the Vanir, had introduced it to the
Æsir Æsir (Old Norse; singular: ) or ēse (Old English; singular: ) are deities, gods in Germanic paganism. In Old Nordic religion and Nordic mythology, mythology, the precise meaning of the term "" is debated, as it can refer either to the gods i ...
when she joined them. Freyja is identified in as an adept of the mysteries of , and it is said that it was she who taught it to Óðinn:
" Njǫrðr’s daughter was Freyja. She presided over the sacrifice. It was she who first acquainted the Æsir with , which was customary among the Vanir."


Origins

Since the publication of
Jacob Grimm Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863), also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He formulated Grimm's law of linguistics, and was the co-author of the ''Deutsch ...
's socio-linguistical ''
Deutsches Wörterbuch The ''Deutsches Wörterbuch'' (; "German Dictionary"), abbreviated ''DWB'', is the largest and most comprehensive dictionary of the German language in existence.noaidi, the
patrilineal Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritanc ...
shamans of the
Sami people Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...
. However, Indo-European origins are also possible. Note that the Finnish word and the
Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ne ...
variants of the term refer to a human-shaped tree or a large and strangely-shaped stone or rock and do not necessarily reference magical power. There is a good case, however, that these words do derive ultimately from .


and gender roles in Norse society

In Old Norse societies, gender roles were very rigid and deviating from them was considered shameful eference? This is exemplified in the attitudes surrounding and its place as a feminine craft. A woman practicing would sometimes be called ''
völva In Germanic paganism, a seeress is a woman said to have the ability to foretell future events and perform sorcery. They are also referred to with many other names meaning "prophetess", "staff bearer" and "sorceress", and they are frequently calle ...
'', meaning seeress. She would also sometimes be described as or , meaning 'prophecy-woman' and 'magic-woman', respectively. Because was viewed as a feminine practice, any man who engaged in it () was associated with a concept called '' ergi'', the designation of a man in Norse society who was unmanly, feminine and possibly homosexual. Sometimes, female practitioners of the craft would take on young male apprentices, and those who became mothers would teach the practice to their sons. Though not seen as a respectable thing, it was not rare for men to be involved in magic.


Contemporary paganism

Contemporary paganism, also referred to as neopaganism, is an
umbrella term Hypernymy and hyponymy are the wikt:Wiktionary:Semantic relations, semantic relations between a generic term (''hypernym'') and a more specific term (''hyponym''). The hypernym is also called a ''supertype'', ''umbrella term'', or ''blanket term ...
used to identify a wide variety of new religious movements, particularly those influenced by the various pagan beliefs of premodern Europe. Several of these contemporary pagan religions draw specifically on the original medieval religious beliefs and practices of Anglo-Saxon England as sources of inspiration, adopting such Anglo-Saxon deities as their own. is interpreted differently by different groups and practitioners, but usually taken to indicate altered consciousness or even total loss of physical control. Diana L. Paxson and her group ''Hrafnar'' have attempted reconstructions of (particularly the oracular form) from historical material. Author Jan Fries regards as a form of "shamanic trembling", which he relates to "seething", used as a shamanic technique, the idea being his own and developed through experimentation. According to Blain, is an intrinsic part of spiritual practice connecting practitioners to the wider cosmology in British Germanic neopaganism.


References


Citations


Works cited

* * * Ch. 6. * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Seidr European shamanism Germanic paganism History of magic Iron Age Scandinavia Witchcraft in Denmark Witchcraft in Iceland Witchcraft in Norway Witchcraft in Sweden