Seið Network
Rune Gild - Seið Network
A. Karlsdottir, Moderator
Seidh Network
“Oðinn had the skill, that brings greatest power, and worked it himself. It
is called seið, and by means of it he could know the fate of men and
foretell events that had not yet come to pass. He could work the death of
men or loss of luck or sickness. So also could he take the wits and
strength from some people and give it to others.”
- Ynglingasaga, ch.7
“Freyja was the daughter of Njörðr. . . . She first taught the Æsir seið,
such as was practiced by the Vanir.”
- Ynglingasaga, ch. 4
The Seidh Network is a special interest group within the Rune-Gild. Through
the study of traditional lore and relevant areas of modern science, along
with practical experimentation, we seek to rediscover and restore the
practice of seið.
The Seidh Network has a discussion group on Yahoo Groups, which is open to
all interested members of the Rune-Gild. For more information, check the
group home page at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/seidhnet-l
See also the Recommended Reading List of Seið
Seiðr is a type of magic in the Northern tradition characterized by the use
of an altered state of consciousness, or trance-state. It was also
concerned with natural substances (animals, plants, and minerals) and sexual
activity, similar to tantrism or sex magic. Seiðr included such techniques
as the use of a platform, a staff, and some sort of vocal singing or
chanting. Many people today associate it chiefly with soothsaying, but it
was also used for a wide variety of magical purposes, including
shape-shifting, faring-forth, influencing the mental state of others, and
weather magic.
Seiðr was associated with the Vanir gods of the Northern pantheon, chiefly
with the goddess Freyja, and was probably dominated by female practitioners,
although it was practiced by both men and women. During medieval times it
was singled out for particularly harsh persecution by the Church and
acquired a reputation for being “shameful.”
A Selected Bibliography on Seiðr
compiled by the Seið Network of the Rune Gild
7/18/03 (updated 9/20/04)
Core Titles:
Chisholm, James A., and Stephen E. Flowers, eds. and trans. A Source-Book of Seid. Smithville, TX.: Rune Gild, 1998.
Strömbäck, Dag. Sejd: textstudier i nordisk religionshistoria. Stockholm: H. Geber; Köpenhamn [Copenhagen]: Levin & Munksgaard, 1935. Rpt. in Strömbäck, Dag. Sejd och andra studier I nordisk själsuppfattning. Acta Academiae Regiae Gustavi Adolphi 72. Hedemora: Kungl. Gustav Adolfs Akademien för svensk folkkultur, Gidlunds förlag, 2000. 1-209.
[Thorsson], Edred. Witchdom of the True: A Study of the Vana-Troth and the Practice of Seiðr. Smithville, TX: Rúna-Raven, 1999.
Other works:
Adalsteinsson, Jon Hnefill. “The Vardhlokkur of Gudridur Thorbjarnardottir.” Northern Lights : Following Folklore in North-western Europe. Dublin : University College Dublin P, 2001. (ISBN 1900621630)
Bäckman, Louis. “Types of Shaman: Comparative Perspectives.” Studies in Lapp Shamanism. Eds. Louise Bäckman and Åke Hultkrantz. Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion 16. Stockholm: Almquist & Wiskell, 1978.
Behringer, Wolfgang. The Shaman of Oberstdorf: Conrad Stoeckhlin and the Phantoms of the Night. Charlottesville: UP of Virginia, 1998.
Blain, Jenny. Nine Worlds of Seid-Magic: Ecstasy and Neo-Shamanism in North European Paganism. London: Routledge, 2002. (ISBN 0415256518)
Bourguignon, Erika, ed. Religion, Altered States of Consciousness, and Social Change. Columbus, OH: Ohio UP, 1973.
Boyer, Régis. “On the Composition of Völuspá. Edda: A Collection of Essays. Eds. Robert J. Glendinning and Haraldur Bessason. U. of Manitoba Icelandic Studies 4. Manitoba: U of Manitoba P, 1983. 117-133.
Buchholz, Peter. “Shamanism - the Testimony of Old Icelandic Literary Tradition.” Mediaeval Scandinavia. 4 (1971): 7-20.
Chaney, William A. “Aethelberht’s Code and the King’s Number.” The American Journal of Legal History. 6 (1962): 151-157.
Davidson, H. R. Ellis. “Hostile Magic in the Icelandic Sagas.” The Witch Figure, Ed. V. Newell. Boston: Routledge and Keegan Paul, 1973. 20-41. (ISBN 0710076967)
Dillmann, Francois-Xavier. “Katla and Her Distaff: An Episode of Tri-Functional Magic in the Eyrbyggja Saga?” Homage to Georges Dumézil. Ed. E. Polomé. Jour. of Indo-European Studies Monograph 3. Washington, DC: Jour. of Indo-European Studies, Inst. for the Study of Man, 1982.
Dubois, Thomas. Nordic Religions in the Viking Age. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 1999. [see esp. chapter 6, “The Intercultural Dimensions of the Seidr Ritual”, which examines the possible influences of Saami noaidevuohtta (”shamanism”) on Seid practice]
—. “Seidr, Sagas, and Saami: Religious Exchange in the Viking Age.” Northern Peoples, Southern States: Maintaining Ethnicities in the Circumpolar World. Ed. Robert P. Wheelersburg. Northern studies. Umeå [Sweden]: CERUM, 1996. 43-66.
Eliade, Mircea. Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. Bollingen Ser. 76. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1964.
Ginzburg, Carlo. Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath. New York: Random, 1991.
Harris, Joseph. “Cursing with the Thistle: ‘Skírnismál’ 31, 6-8 and O-E Metrical Charm 9.” The Poetic Edda : Essays on Old Norse Mythology. Ed. Paul Acker and Carol Larrington. New York: Routledge, 2002. 79-93.
Haugen, Einar. “The Edda as Ritual: Odin and His Masks.” Edda: A Collection of Essays. Eds. Robert J. Glendinning and Haraldur Bessason. U. of Manitoba Icelandic Studies 4. Manitoba: U of Manitoba P, 1983. 3-24.
Host, Annette. “Exploring Seidhr: A Practical Study of the Seidhr Ritual.” North Atlantic Studies. 4.1-2 (2001): 73-79.
Jenny. “Old Norse Magic and Gender.” Scandinavian Studies. 63.3 (1991): 305-317.
Kelchner, Georgia. Dreams in Old Norse Literature and Their Affinities in Folklore. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1935.
Kress, Helga. “The Apocalypse of a Culture: Völuspa and the Myth of the Sources/Sorceress in Old Icelandic Culture.” Poetry in the Scandinavian Middle Ages: The Seventh International Saga Conference Under the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic, Francesco Cossiga, Spoleto, 4-10 September 1988. Paroli: Spoleto Presso la Serede del Centro Studi, 1990. 279-302.
Liestøl, Aslak, 1963: Runer frå Bryggen. I: Viking. 27 (1963): 5–53
Masters, Robert. The Psychophysical Method Exercises. Pomona, NY: Kontrakundabuffer, 1983. (6 vols.)
—. The Way to Awaken : Exercises to Enliven Body, Self, and Soul. Wheaton, Ill. : Theosophical,
1997.
Masters, Robert, and Jean Houston. Mind Games: The Guide to Inner Space. Wheaton, IL: Quest, 1998.
Monroe, Robert A. Journeys Out of Body. Mansfield, OH: Main Street, 1973.
Morris, Katherine. Sorceress or Witch? The Image of Gender in Medieval Iceland and Northern Europe. Lanham, MD: UP of Amer., 1991.
Motz, Lotte. “Old Icelandic völva: A New Derivation.” Indogermanische Forshungen 85 (1980): 196-206
Moyne, Earnest J. Raising the Wind: The Legend of Lapland and Finland Wizards in Literature. Newark: Prentice Hall, 1981.
Norlander-Unsgaard, Siv. “On Gesture and Posture, Movements, and Motion in the Saami Bear Ceremonialism.” Arv 41 (1985): 189-99.
Palsson, Gisli. “The Name of the Witch: Sagas, Sorcery, and Social Context.” Social Approaches to Viking Studies. Ed. Ross Samson. Glasgow: Cruithne, 1991. 157-168.
Pentikainen, Juha. Shamanism and Culture. Helsinki: Etnika, 1997.
Quinn, Judy. “Dialogue with a völva: Völuspá, Baldrs draumar and Hyndluljód.” The Poetic Edda : Essays on Old Norse Mythology. Ed. Paul Acker and Carol Larrington. New York: Routledge, 2002. 245-274.
Raudvere, Catharina. “Trólldómr in Early Medieval Scandinavia.” Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The Middle Ages. Athlone Hist. of Witchcraft and Magic in Europe. London: Athlone, 2001. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 2002. (ISBN 0812236165; 0812217861 pbk) [see esp. her second chapter, which deals with seiðr; see review in Runa 12]
Schach, Paul. “Some Thoughts on Völuspá.” Edda: A Collection of Essays. Eds. Robert J. Glendinning and Haraldur Bessason. U. of Manitoba Icelandic Studies 4. Manitoba: U of Manitoba P, 1983. 86-116.
Simpson, Jacqueline. “Olaf Tryggvason Versus the Powers of Darkness.” The Witch Figure. Ed. V. Newell. Boston: Routledge and Keegan Paul, 1973. 165-187. (ISBN 0710076967)
Sørensen, Preben Meulengracht. The Unmanly Man: Concepts of Sexual Defamation in Early Northern Society. Trans. Joan Turville-Petre. Viking Collection 1. Odense: Odense UP, 1983. [check publisher’s website: http://www.universitypress.dk.eng/
Vissel, Anu. “Estonian Herding Songs.” Arv 51 (1995): 123-133.
Background:
Anderson, Sarah M., and Karen Swenson, eds. Cold Counsel: Women in Old Norse Literature and Mythology. New York: Routledge, 2002.
Danielou, Alain. The Phallus: Sacred Symbol of Male Creative Power. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 1995. (ISBN 0892815566)
—. Virtue, Success, Pleasure, and Liberation: The Four Aims of Life in Ancient India. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 1993. (ISBN 0892812184)
Enright, Michael J. Lady With a Mead Cup: Ritual, Prophecy, and Lordship in the European Warband from La Tene to the Viking Age. Blackrock, CO.: Dublin; Portland, OR.: Four Courts, 1996.
Ingham, Marion. The Goddess Freyja and Other Female Figures in Germanic Mythology and Folklore. Diss. Cornell U, 1985. Ann Arbor: UMI, 1987. 8517020.
Jochens, Jenny. Old Norse Images of Women. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 1996.
Motz, Lotte. The Beauty and the Hag: Female Figures of Germanic Faith and Myth. Philologica Germanica 15. Wien [Vienna]: Fassbaender, 1993.
Näsström, Britt-Mari. Freyja - the Great Goddess of the North. Lund Studies in Hist. of Religion. Lund [Sweden]: Alquist & Wiksell for Dept. of Hist. of Religions, U of Lund, 1995.
Otto, Rudolf. The Idea of the Holy. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1958. (ISBN 0195002105)
Stafford, Pauline. Queens, Concubines and Dowagers - the King’s Wife in the Early Middle Ages. Athens: U of Georgia P, 1983. London: Leicester UP, 1998.
Oracular Seidh:
Blain, Jenny. “Presenting Constructions of Identity and Divinity: Ásatrú and Oracular Seidhr.” Fieldwork Methods: Accomplishing Ethnographic Research. Ed. S. Grills. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1998. 203-227.
Gundarsson, Kveldulf. “Spae-craft, Seidr and Shamanism.” Idunna 25 (1994): 33-36, Idunna 26 (1995):7-12, Idunna 27 (1995): 14-23. Rpt. online. The Troth Official Home Page. Internet. 19 June 2003. Available: http://www.thetroth.org/resources/kveldulf/spaecraft.html
Paxson, Diana. “Return of the Volva: Recovering the Practice of Seidh.” Mountain Thunder 9 (1993): 13-18. Rpt. online. Hrafnar. Internet. 19 June 2003. Available: http://www.hrafnar.org/seidh/seidh.html
Related Techniques:
Astral Projection:
Bardon, Franz. Initiation into Hermetics: The Path of the True Adept. Trans. Gerhard Hanswille and Franca Gallol. Ed. Ken Johnson. Salt Lake City: Merkur, 2001. 220-227, 282-290. Trans. of Der Weg zum Wahren Adepten, 1956. (ISBN 1885928068)
Butler, W.E. The Magician: His Training and Work. 1959. No. Hollywood: Wilshire, 1969. 114-121 (ISBN 087980212X)
Crookall, Robert. The Techniques of Astral Projection: D’enouement after Fifty Years. 1964. Wellingborough: Aquarian, 1981.
Ophiel. The Art and Practice of Astral Projection. 1961. York Beach, ME: Weiser, 1994.
Hypnotism:
Bandler, Richard, and John Grinder. Frogs into Princes : Neuro Linguistic Programming. 1979. London: Eden Grove, 1990. (187084503X)
—. Reframing : Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the Transformation of Meaning. Moab, UT: Real People P., 1982. (0911226249, 0911226257 pbk)
Erickson, Milton H. Experiencing Hypnosis : Therapeutic Approaches to Altered States. New York: Irvington, 1981. (0829002464)
—. Hypnotic Realities : The Induction of Clinical Hypnosis and Forms of Indirect Suggestion. New York: Irvington, 1976. (0470151692)
Gill, Merton M., and Margaret Brenman. Hypnosis and Related States: Psychoanalytic Studies in Regression. New York: Intl. Universities P, 1959.
Grinder, John and Richard Bandler. Trance-Formations : Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the Structure of Hypnosis. Moab, UT: Real People P., 1981. (0911226222, 0911226230 pbk)
Hadley, Josie, and Carol Staudacher. 1985. Hypnosis for Change. Oakland: New Harbinger, 1996.
Hogan, Kevin. Life by Design : Your Handbook for Transformational Living. Eagen, MN: Network 3000, 1996. (0963508539)
—. The Psychology of Persuasion : How to Persuade Others to Your Way of Thinking. Gretna, Los Angeles: Pelican, 1996. (1565541464)
Hunter, C. Roy. The Art of Hypnosis: Mastering Basic Techniques. 3rd ed. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt, 1994. (0787268283)
—. Master the Power of Self-Hypnosis : Program Your Subconscious to Attain Health, Wealth and Happiness. New York: Sterling, 1998. (0806963514)
James, Tad and Wyatt Woodsmall. Time Line Thterapy and the Basis of Personality. Cupertino, CA: Meta, 1988. (01969990214)
Kelly, Sean F., and Reid J. Kelly. Hypnosis: Understanding How It Can Work For You. 1985. Gretna, LA: Wellness Inst., 2000.
Lankton, Stephen R. and Carol H. Lankton. The Answer Within : A Clinical Framework of Ericksonian Hypnotherapy. New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1983. (0876303203)
Shor, Ronald E, and Martin T. Orne, eds. The Nature of Hypnosis: Selected Basic Readings. NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1965.
Tebbetts, Charles. Self-Hypnosis and Other Mind Expanding Techniques. 3rd ed.. Royal, AK: Living Life, 1992. (0914629417)
Teitelbaum, Myron. Hypnosis Induction Technics. Springfield: C.C. Thomas, 1965.
Yapko, Michael D. Essentials of Hypnosis. Brunner/Mazel Basic Principles into Practice series 4. New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1994.
—. Trancework : An Introduction to the Practice of Clinical Hypnosis. 2d ed. New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1990. (0876305680)
Other:
Masters, Robert. The Goddess Sekhmet: Psychospiritual Exercises of the Fifth
Way. Ashland, Or. : White Cloud, 2002. [The exercises can easily be stripped of any cultural overlay, and are effective ways to awaken and experience one’s subtle bodies and non-physical vehicles.]
.