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Seiðr in the Sagas

  
  Seiðr: ["sei:D.Yr_0] - pronounced sayther is a modern Icelandic pronunciation which suggests the
singing or chanting of magical charms. The very first specific study of seiδr came as far back as 1892
with Finur Jonson's landmark paper in Icelandic Festschrift to Pali Melsted although the earliest work
seems to have been carried out discussing the role of seiδr by Johan Fritzner in 1877. Seidr was the
subject of Strömback’s masterly dissertation of 1935 and has been discussed extensively in recent
years, but some points which are important in the present context have yet to be made. The main
intentions behind conducting seidr seem to have been divination and the manipulation of targets states
of mind to cause them harm or to facilitate their seduction. Stromback 1935, 142–59; cf. DuBois 1996,
44–50 (2).
The etymology of seiðr remains disputed although etymological equivalents are known from
Old High German and Old English (de Vries 1961). Those equivalent words mean ‘cord, string’ and ‘snare,
cord, halter’. The skaldic poetry also has an example of seiðr in the meaning ‘cord’ or ‘girth, girdle’
(Ragnarsdrápa 15, Finnur Jónsson 1912:4).

  Suggesting a ‘snare, cord, string or halter but not in a binding sense. Cords can magically attract,
and this remains characteristic of seiðr (cf. Almqvist 2000:262ff). (3) In perhaps half of the prose
sources, the effect of seiðr is that desired objects, persons or resources, like fish, are drawn to the
sorcerer. Research for a modern word definition on seiðr remains problematic as there is varying
conflicting views on its meaning? Among common interpretations of seiðr are seething, magic, usually
negative and even a type of fish?
Let’s look deeper and based on modern interpretations: Heggstad,
Norro/n Ordbok (4th edition 1990): seidhr m. I. (-s and -ar) A kind of trolldom (with song), seid; efla
(seidha) seidh, to perform such trolldom, to seid. Trolldom is simply a word meaning sorcery, witchcraft
or black magic. Old Norse, seiðr, which may come from a word meaning "to speak" or "to sing", or
possibly be cognate to the verb "to seethe", derived from the rituals of salt-boiling . The mysterious term
is cognate with French séance, Latin sedere; Old English sittan, and thus with a large group of terms
based on the Indo-European root *sed-. seiðr as literally a séance -- a "sitting" to commune with the
spirits. (Shamanism and Old English Poetry, p. 97)

  Male seiδr practitioners: Seiδrmaδr (seiδrman), seiδskratti (evil seiδr sorcerer), seiδrbenδr (seiδr
carrier), spamaδr (prophesy man), villusspamaδr (false prophesy man), galdramaδr (galdr man),
galdrasmiδr (galdr smith), vitki (sorcerer), fjolkyngismadr (sorcerer), fjolkyngisbenr (sorcerer bearer),
gandrekr (ganδrman/warrior), kunattumaδr (man who knows magic), tauframaδr (charm man).

  Female seiδr practitioners: Vǫlva (staff bearer, seer, sibyl, bones woman), seiðkona (seiδr woman),
spákona (prophesy woman), spákerling (old prophesy woman), kveldriδa (evening rider), trollriδa (rider of
witchcraft), myrkriδa (darkness rider), munnriδa (mouth rider), túnriδa (fence rider), kaldriδa (cold rider),
Þaðriδa (thread rider), galdrakona (galðr woman), galdrakerling (old galðr woman), galdraksnót (galðr
lady), galdrakind (negative galðr sorceress), vitka (sorceress), fjolkyngiskona (sorceress), visendakona
(wise woman who knows), heiδr (sorceress with good intent), fordæδa (evil witch), fála (witch with bad
intent).
 

  Er þat ok margra heimskra manna náttúra, at þeir trúa því einu, er þeir sjá sínum augum eða heyra
sínum eyrum, er þeim þykkir fjarlægt sinni náttúru, svá sem orðit hefir um vitra manna ráðagerðir eða
mikit afl eða frábæran léttleika fyrirma nna, svá ok eigi síðr um konstir eða huklaraskap ok mikla
fjölkynngi, þá þeir seiddu at sumum mönnum ævinliga ógæfu eða aldrtila, en sumum veraldar virðing,
fjár ok metnaðar. Þeir æstu stundum höfuðskepnur, en stundum kyrrðu, svá sem var Óðinn eða aðrir
þeir, er af honum námu galdrlistir eða lækningar.

  There are plenty of people so foolish that they believe nothing but what they have seen with their
own eyes or heard with their own ears - never anything unfamiliar to them, such as the councils of the
wise, or the strength and amazing skills of the great heroes, or the way in which seiðr [pronounced
*sayther*] or skills of the mind ON huklaraskap and powerful sorcery ON fjolkyngi may seiðr death or a
lifetime of misery for some, or bestow worldly honours, riches and rank on others. These men would
sometimes stir up the elements, and sometimes calm them down, just like Othinn and all those who
learnt from him these skills, of galðr and healing.
Göngu-Hrólfs Saga Prologue

Fjolkyngi in the sources is the most used word to

define magic or sorcery in general but it is not a
type of magic but rather a term that encompasses
all magic. Fjolkyngi is not necessarily seiðr but its
magic can cross over into that arena. In Old Norse
Fjolk means much or many, a lot while kyngi is
derived from the old norse verb kunna which
means to know, to understand. But it is not simply
understanding by way of just possessing
knowledge but rather to know by heart. To be at
such a level of familiarity and high skill that this
way becomes a part of the self of the sorcerer or
sorceress. Fjolkyngi is therefore a highly skilled
sorcery based on instinct of the old traditions and
secret lore. It is not just witchcraft or magic but
something much more.

Frøya [Freyja] Silver Pendant, copy in silver

generally accepted to be a representation of the
goddess Freyja. But the original is a gravefind
from Aska, Östergötland, Sweden. SHM 29750:96.

 Download
Archaeology of seidr.pdf
Staffs of sorcery anex
The question as to exactly how seiδr staffs were
 Download
Helping Spirits in Norse Magic
used within a seiδr ritual is a difficult one as we
simply do not know. However seiδr staffs it seems Clive Tolley.pdf
from the sources were in the main quite large and
ornately fitted with brass set in gemstones.
 Download
09- NorthLight_J.H.A..pdf
ok hvn hafdi staf i hendi ok var a knappr hann var
bvinn md mersingv ok settr steinum ofan vm
 Download
Nordic Witchcraft in
knappin

And she had a staff in her hand with a knob on the transition.pdf

top, adorned with brass set. No man shall have in

his house staff or altar, device for sorcery or  Download
Seidr_staffs_leszek_gardela.pdf

sacrificial offering or whatever relates to heathen

practice.

 Download
Werewolf in Medieval
Eiδsivaþingslov 1:24 in NGL 1.383

Iceland.pdf
1) Stafrs: an attribute of the vǫlva used in the
course of summoning varδlokkur spirits as well as
 Download
for for divination.

The_Good_the_Bad_leszek_gardela.pdf
2) Seiδrstafrs , attributed to a practising vǫlva but
usually very ornate and large.There exist three
references in the sagas to the stafrs wielded by
 Download
Medical texts.pdf
the vǫlur and the spækonna. The most detailed of
these occurs in Eiriks saga rauδa

Freyja’s special animal is the cat, particularly

3) Járnstafr….belonging to spirit beings of the
males. Since Freyja is a fertility goddess as well as
dreamtime and giants of old

a sorceress, it is interesting to find that an

4) Stafsprota…used by spákonas in facial attacks
important sorceress in Erik the Red’s Saga has
on an enemy or to rob them of their memory and
gloves made of white cat fur. Cats play a part in
instil confusion.

fertility and/or female magic associated with the

5) Vǫlr….attributed to a practising vǫlur and has
goddess Freyja. “The link between cats and the
phallic conontations

goddess [Freyja] has not been satisfactorily

6) Gandr/Gǫndul…. working of sexual magic,
explained, but the gloves made of cat-skin, white
summoning gandir spirits for aid in clairvoyance
and furry inside, mentioned in the Greenland
or prophesy as well as night riding to inflict harm
account, suggests that cats were among the
on another

animal spirits which would aid the vǫlva

7) Gambanteinn or gamban twig…. was a slender
(sorceress) on her supernatural journey.”
wooden pole or staff possibly with fuþark runes
(Davidson 1964:120)

carved on it (twig of potency, twig of power) made

from a freshly cut sapling is alleged to possess he

This fertility/female magical association may have
power to drive a person to insanity, cause sexual
something to do with the lack of Freyja and her
submission followed by uncontrollable lust. Three
cats in the Icelandic literature, as Christianity
runes are used here causing burning pains to
disapproved of promoting female sexuality and
affect the genitals causing sexual itch and
pagan ritual. (Jochens 1995:6) Freyja’s cats seem
irresistible desire. The runes are translated as
to be the only heavenly steeds not named. Why
Extreme Lust, Burning [with genital connotations]
are only Freyja’s cats missing names when so
and Unbearable sexual need. Ref: Skirnismal

many other important gods’ steeds are not? (Price

8) Tamsvǫndr or taming wand was a wand
2007:56) It seems likely that the relationship
described in the Skirsnismal. The tamsvǫndr is
between black cats and the Medieval Christian
described thus as capable of inducing the bearer’s
“evil witch” came from the close bond cats shared
sexual will and prowess domination over its
with pagan “witches.”

female victim who has no say or choice to resist

her sexual partner: Tamsvendi ek þik drep / en ek

In Fornmannasogur, a pitch-black she-cat was the
þik temia mun, / mær, at minom munom. “With a
mother of “a giant, called Brusi, who lived in one of
tamng wand I touch you / for I will make you tame,
the islands off the west coast of Norway; …fire
/ girl, to my wishes”. Dronke U 1997:382
issued from her mouth and nostrils, and her eyes
were terrible. This cat once killed twenty men in a
few minutes.” (Hjaltalin 1871:17) Although Brusi’s
mother was a demonic mother of a giant, we still
see the cat as a protective mother in this story,
 which is a characteristic of fertility goddesses. In
the Vatnsdæla Saga, “a man, called Thorolfr, who
lived in Vatnsdalr, in the north of Iceland…was a
great terror to his neighbours, because he had
twenty cats; ‘they were all pitch black, of an
immense size, and Thorolfr had made them very
powerful by sorcery.’ Even after the death of
Thorolfr few ventured to come near the place for
fear of the cats.” (Hjaltalin:17; Wawn 2001:231-
Picture: Cat carvings on back of
232) Thorolf’s cats are called ‘cats from Hel,’ and
Oseberg Cart
Hel is sometimes interpreted as a manifestation
of Freyja. (Howey 1989:59)

Hel was a goddess who ruled the Norse

Underworld, and not the “hell” of modern
monotheism. As the daughter of the mischief god,
Loki, she was half monster, half goddess and held
dominion over the dead. In this case, cats are not
only used in protective magic, but could also have
ties to the Underworld. In the epilogue to
Laxadæla Saga, Stufs "attr, the king “Haraldr asks
Stufr whether his father was ‘the hard or the soft
cat’… the person who is soft (blaudr) could not be
a father…blaudr suggests female suppleness,
while hvatr (hard, used to designate male animals)
means sharp and evokes the image of penis
(Jochens 1995:76),” hinting at the cat’s sexual
symbolism. Thord the Cat is also a prominent
character in the actual saga, although how he
came by this name is unknown. (Kunz 2001:273-
397)

By far the most important occurrence of cats in all

of the sagas is in Erik the Red’s Saga. Here, a very
influential and powerful Greenlandic vǫlva
(sorceress) named Thorbjorg, called “the Little
Prophetess,” wears a cat skin hat and cat skin
gloves lined with white cat fur. Thorbjorg is
 imperative to connecting cats further with Freyja,
as Thorbjorg practiced sorcery and likely used her
catskin and fur in her shamanic trances. Freyja
was the goddess of sorcery whose cart was
driven by cats, seemingly on shamanic journeys.
This is the seeress of which Davidson expresses
need for explanation. (Davidson 1964:120)

Ref: Freyja’s Cats: Perspectives on Recent Viking

Age Finds in þegjandadalur North Iceland By
Brenda Prehal

Northvegr The Northern Way 2020

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