On the Complexities and Mysteries of Norse Magic
We know very little about Norse magic. The fact that there various words for it suggests, however, that the Norse themselves had a nuanced understanding of it.
What follows is a barebones outline of some of the key words and concepts, based on what I’ve been been able to cobble together through several books, articles, blogs and vlogs.
Fjolkyngi versus Trolldomr
The most generalized word for Norse magic seems to be fjolkyngi, though some believe the word intimates a meaning more along the lines of the English word sorcery.
But if does have a dark magic feel to it, then how should we interpret the word trolldomr? The distinction between the two words is discussed by Arith Härger in a YouTube video here.
Härger, an artist who vlogs on issues related to Norse culture and mythology, states that fjolkyngi is indeed the “most common and general word you will find to designate magic or sorcery in general.” He translates it as “much knowledge” and suggests that the various other words associated with magic in the Old Norse literature fall under this umbrella term.
Härger then discusses the nuances of trolldomr, noting that there is so much cultural meaning packed into it that it’s difficult to properly translate it into an English. The word is, of course, related to “troll,” which infers a kind of magical being.
As a side note, he states that the modern understanding of the word troll is often associated with giant creatures but that a more proper designation for such giants are jotnar. Since jotnar also possess the capability of magic, they can be viewed as magical creatures, or trolls. But trolls is broader term that can includes a wider range of magical creatures.
Härger suggests that trolldomr has a more negative connotation than fjokunnigr. It became widely used after the Norse Age ended, and it implies witchcraft. In the 16th and 17th century, the witchcraft trials were called trolldomsprosesser. The term trolldomr is also associated with having “troll’s blood,” which was viewed as having a tainted nature.
So, if we boil it all down given the imperfect nature of translations, fjolkyngi means sorcery or magic while trolldomr means witchcraft.
Seidr versus Galdr
The Fateful Magic of Seidr
Daniel McCoy, author of The Viking Spirit, refers to seidr as a form of magic focused on discerning the course of fate. Practitioners sometimes engaged in such magic while wielding a symbolic distaff, which is a stick or spindle onto which wool or flax is wound for spinning. This, of course, alludes to what the Norns themselves are thought to do, weaving the fates of humankind.
Seidr could be used for divination and for revealing the hidden and secreted. It could also be used both for healing the sick and cursing the well, for bringing good luck or causing bad luck. It was typically practiced by women and deemed “unmanly,” though there were male practitioners. The women most expert at the art were typically known as völva.
Neil S. Price, author of The Viking Way, discusses the wide range of seidr practices:
There were seidr rituals for divination and clairvoyance; for seeking out the hidden, both in the secrets of the mind and in physical locations; for healing the sick; for bringing good luck; for controlling the weather; for calling game animals and fish. Importantly, it could also be used for the opposite of these things – to curse an individual or an enterprise; to blight the land and make it barren; to induce illness; to tell false futures and thus to set their recipients on a road to disaster; to injure, maim and kill, in domestic disputes and especially in battle.
More than anything else, seidr seems to have been an extension of the mind and its faculties. Even in its battlefield context, rather than outright violence it mostly involved the clouding of judgement, the freezing of the will, the fatal hesitation. It was also closely linked to the summoning of spirits and other beings of various kinds, who could be bound to the sorcerer’s will and then sent off to do her or his bidding. In line with the ‘invisible population’ …, an important category of these beings were also extensions of the individual in its manifestations of a multiple soul – the fylgjur, hamingjur and so on.
The Incantations of Galdr
Galdr seems to have been less gender specific. It tended to use incantations in order to create spells in combination with certain actions or rites. The word is, in fact, derived from a word for singing incantations, gala. McCoy states that galan is a verb meaning “to crow.” Apparently, some incantations were composed in a special seven-line meter. Runes were key to galdr, and Odin was said to be a powerful practitioner. (He was also a powerful practioner of seidr, contract to the gender stereotype.)
In the poem Hávamál, for example, which is from the Poetic Edda, Odin talks about the 18 spells he knows, starting with one called “Help”:
Those songs I know, which nor sons of men
nor queen in a king’s court knows;
the first is Help which will bring thee help
in all woes and in sorrow and strife.
Professor Jackson Crawford, an expert in Old Norse, states that there are no existing incantations from the Old Norse period. The book Galdrabók appeared hundreds of years later, around 1600. Although it contains incantations that are intended to be magic, Crawford warns against the conclusion that such works authentically reflect what was practiced by pre-Christian Norse.
Other Words Denoting Magic
There are various other words expressing some form of what we would call magic, though I’ve generally located less information on them. Here’s are some terms taken from The Viking Way:
Gerningar, ljod and tauf all seem to bear some resemblance to galdr in that they may be kinds of chants or charms related to runes
Oiutiseta, or sitting out, seems to have involved sitting outside at night in special places such as burial mounds in order to receive spiritual power.
Gandr seems to have been an ancient, primal form of magic that is associated with the the concept of Ginnungagap, which is the void in which the world was created. There’s some indication is was used to summon certain spirit beings.
A General Impression
I am far from an expert in Norse magic, but reading about it does leave me with several impressions.
First, much of Norse magic centers around the idea of fate, relating to either seeing the ultimate destiny of individuals or actually being able influence those destinies. In other words, it focuses on gaining insight into or control over what is the typically unchangeable course of fate. This suggests that magic is a way to nudge, it not actually shape, destiny. Seidr is most closely associated with these notions.
Second, some Norse magic depends on borrowing power from other spiritual beings via summoning. These spiritual beings can influence others, but sometimes those influences are subtle, such as when clouding a person’s judgement. This is another kind of “nudging” of fate and, as such, is also linked to seidr.
Third, some Norse wielded magic in order “manifest” something, often with the help of written runes and/or chanted words. By giving voice to the correct words and pitches, a person was thought to be able to manifest what he or she most desires. Incantations are key. Galdr and similar types of magic are used for this.
In truth, though, the lines between these types of magic were probably blurred. “In several instances,” writes Price, “there are references to sorceresses using gandr in conjunction with seidr in order to prophesy, for example in Voluspd.”
Although we’ll never know exactly how Norse magic was used, it appears that the Norse used it, in part, as a weapon in an ultimately futile existential battle against time and destiny.
Image is of a depiction of Oðinn riding on his horse Sleipnir from the Tjängvide image stone. Within Norse paganism, Oðinn was the deity primarily associated with Seiðr. In the RAÄ Fornsök database.
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