BookSurge Publishing
Völuspá - Seiğr as Wyrd Consciousness  
by Yngona Desmond

ISBN 1419618415

Reviewed by Rig Svenson 2006©

Table of Contents

1. Preface and Acknowledgement
2. Forward Definition, part one &  part last
3. Introduction History, Potentiality & Translation
4. VÖluspá: Introduction to Heid, Before the Beginning, The Order of Things, The Great War, Continued Conflict, Baldr’s Dream, Forces Gather, Dark Scheming, World’s Doom,  Tree Renewed
5. Conclusion Seiğr as Wyrd Consciousness
6. VÖluspá Prophesy of the WÖlwa
7. Glosary
8. Book Hoard
9. Writer’s Biography

Modern interpretations of seiğr¹ today have been re-created specifically by a number of Spæ² groups originating sometime during the mid 1980s in the USA. These boot-strap (improvised) style groups drew on the fragmentary literature of the North in order to re-capture the magic that we call Seiğr (modern Icelandic) or Spæ re-constructed by eclectic neo-pagan authors whose obvious backgrounds in Wicca have promoted this mystery both in publicized works, Asatru booklets as well as internet websites. Historically incorrect, these practices are flawed speculative variations of modern tangents of seiğr that seems to be appearing almost simultaneously in the USA, Europe and Australasia. More and more modern day *seidkonas per se’ have come on the scene in abundance rather than a singular WÖlwa who also happened to practice oracular arts during the dark ages. Modern students of Spæcraft are encouraged to become an *oracle within a few choice lessons on the High Chair? This off course is not so and the genuine trance mediums I have come across can speak to spirits whilst on the floor, without drums or drugs or songs. The High Chair is simply a place of honour, nothing more.

However no historical evidence whatsoever exists to suggest that seiğr was ever practiced by groups of individuals collectively selected from the general neo-pagan populace. Seiğr was a solitary art although a seiğr-practitioner might have attendants or even an apprentice in training. Rarely do the sagas report a group of seiğr-workers practicing together; If anything they were usually kinfolk, such as a pair of sisters, a mother and her daughter or family tradition, and the like (Ellis-Davidson, 37-38). The solitary path of master and apprentice via personal family traditions is more believable using the oral traditions. That is to say nothing was ever written down and these arts were entirely  transmitted orally from a very young age and committed to memory. This is something inherently lacking in today’s modern schooling of the “Old Ways”.

Seiδr or at least the practice of magical arts was restricted to very specialized professionals whose skill were prized and respected within their communities (Jochens, Old Norse Magic and Gender, 307; Ellis-Davidson,37) These special children were female and chosen from childhood to do this work by the current WÖlwa and her specialized training covered a vast and myriad discipline of medicinal  and healing arts for treating both humans and livestock. These arts were considered magical because of the nature of their secrecy, lasted many years in the acquisition of knowledge and practical experience but did not involve oracular arts alone! It took a long time to learn all these skills which in my opinion invalidates totally modern notions of seidrcraft via "Spæ clubs" put together for such purposes of *theatre entertainment to impress a gullible public. Oracular arts as far as I can see were a very small part of it.

Dag Strömbäck³ noted the similarities between Saami religion and the practice of seiğr and a significant portion of the accounts of seiğr in the Norse literature recount that the art is either learned from or practiced by "Finnish wizards," which in Old Norse meant Lappish (Saami) shaman. The author to her credit spent time in Finland with the shaman's there learning about their way of life. On page 6 of her book the author introduces the word Seiğu as a singular practitioner of seiğr.

Seiğr    [seiDr] - reconstructed medieval pronunciation
Seiğur ["sei:D.Yr_0] - modern Icelandic pronunciation (singing, chanting charms) is a little known Icelandic word suggesting an action, which is used to call to the spirits to get news. The Icelandic words for charms are "galdur" and "seiğur". The former pertains usually to a rather sophisticated kind of magic while the latter to the magic of the common people. The word "galdur" is associated with the verb "gala", i.e. to "chant" or "sing" and the word "seiğur" is associated with the verb "seiğa", i.e. to "attract" spirits as it were. The author gives quite an interesting account of what we know to be the knot of the slain/Valknot⁴ as being reflected in the formula of three triangles inside each other on page 20 of her book suggesting symbolically that the energies of bodymind, soul and spirit are represented within the three interwoven triangles.

Two valknuts appear between the legs of the horse, with a third one hanging over the rider in this scene from the Tängelgårda Picture Stone, shown here.

In the Voluspo (taken from the Codex Regius) Othinn, eager for knowledge, calls on a certain "WÖlwa," bidding her rise from the grave. She informs him of the past, of the creation of the world, the beginning of years, the origin of the dwarfs and of the first man and woman, the world-ash Yggdrasil, and of the first war, between the gods and the  Wanes. Then, in stanzas 27-29, as a further proof of her wisdom, she discloses some of Othinn's own secrets and the details of his search for knowledge. The course of arguments given throughout "Seiğr as Wyrd Consciousness" is subject to the author's translations of the text and viewpoints:

44. Now Garm howls loud before Gnipahellir,
The fetters will burst,  and the wolf run free;
Much do I know,and more can see
Of the fate of the gods, the mighty in fight.

Ref: VÖluspá The Poetic Edda, Bellows HA, The Edwin Mellen Press, 1991 pgs 8

44. Now with the building violence Garm stands before the great door of highest cave-remembering when the rope broke and the wolf ran free. I have great learning, powerful charms to assist me- for further still I see guilt fall: God's doom! So to battle, you gods of victory!

Ref: Seiğr as Wyrd Consciousness, Desmond Y, BookSurge Publishing 2005 pgs 120

Of further note is that the author's carried out her own translations (ref from 3 different sources) as direct rather than poetic. Where in some places this was quite literal (like with the Valkyrja names, and place names, for instance).  However when the author was liberal in her translations, she indicated as much.

One of my favourites sections is entitled aptly VÖluspá Dark Scheming. In particular the authors impressions of Angbroda. She says:

**Angbroda's energy is unique is that she is a deadly trickster; unlike Loki who extends a deceitful hand-always faining trust-Angbroda's darkness is steady and open. Her soft songs lure unsuspecting wanderers and hunters. In appearance she is statuesque, her clothing covered in lichen. She has the ability to render all those who stumble into her spiritually mute and soul confessed.**

For futher information on Yngona see:

Völuspá - Seiğr as Wyrd Consciousness
http://tinyurl.com/h75d6

Thuleheim – Wanderings of a Wise Woman
http://thuleheim.blogspot.com/

Vinland's Völva – Daily Mystic Musings
http://vinlands-volva.blogspot.com/

In Conclusion

The subject of Seiğr is a difficult one to quantify, there are so few records on the subject. I found the author's submission intense reading, covering many layers of perceptions based on the Yngona's interpolations and interpretation of VÖluspá. Because no two readers will get the same understanding or indeed have the same level of readership on such matters, this work I feel is suited best to those who have a  solid grounding of the sagas, in particular Northern Ways using a mindset of elder times but complimented with an ability of lateral thinking. Seiğr in my own experiences of it is not academia alone but experiential learning⁵. Finally any critical remarks I may have about this book would be directed at the manner in which the material layout is presented. This I am assured is deliberate by the author who states that the book is segmented; just not  listed in a more 'traditional' manner. A long overdue book that shows an excellent balance of combining source material with experientially acquired knowledge stemming over many years. This is something I find lacking in more academic submissions on the same subject matter. My only bug bear is that the Chapters are not clearly defined. However this does not impact too heavily on the contents or the uniqueness of the material provided.

Rating ****

Notes:

1. Seid (Old Norse: seiğr, sometimes anglicized as "seidhr", "seidh", "seidr", "seithr" or "seith") and Spae (Old Norse: spá) may be seen as forms of "sorcery" or "witchcraft" possibly argued by some to be related to shamanism. Seid and/or spae may be constituted as community practices, the best known of which is 'Oracular Seidr', i.e. ritual performed to gain knowledge, in which a seeress or seer, in an altered consciousness, speaks prophecy.

2. Spæ or Spá is often referred to as spá-craft or spae-craft, and the practitioners of spá as spá-kona or spae-wife. spá is intrinsically the art of determining ørlög, usually by intuition or personal gnosis

3. Strömbäck, Dag, 1935. Sejd: Textstudier i nordisk religionshistoria. Stockholm: Hugo Gebers Förlag

4. The Old Norse term valknut means "corpse-knot," and because of this symbol's association on Viking Age runestones with figures of Óğinn and the dead being welcomed into the afterlife by valkyries, the runestone symbol has become synonymous with the Old Norse term and is assumed to be that symbol that warriors marked themselves with when dedicating themselves to Óğinn, giving the god permission to kill and take the warrior whenever he pleased.

5. Experiential learning as Peter Jarvis comments (1995: 75), 'is actually about learning from primary experience, that is learning through sense experiences'