{"id":1327,"date":"2015-05-25T14:24:03","date_gmt":"2015-05-25T20:24:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gear-gear.com\/blog\/?p=1327"},"modified":"2015-05-25T14:24:03","modified_gmt":"2015-05-25T20:24:03","slug":"viking-magic-the-10th-century-seidur-tradition-historyvikings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gear-gear.com\/blog\/viking-magic-the-10th-century-seidur-tradition-historyvikings\/","title":{"rendered":"#VIKING MAGIC, THE 10TH CENTURY SEIDUR TRADITION @History\/Vikings"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0MAGIC IN 10TH<\/sup> CENTURY VIKING CULTURE:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0THE SEIDUR <\/em>TRADITION<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Since PEOPLE OF THE SONGTRAIL is coming out on Tuesday, we thought we’d talk about the Viking magical tradition called Seidur or Seidr. \u00a0There are numerous modern shamanic movements that focus on Seidur–which are interesting in and of themselves– but this article will focus only on Viking Age archaeological and historical evidence for this highly magical shamanism. \u00a0Which is cool stuff, by the way.<\/p>\n

Seidur magic was Odin magic. Odin, who later became the chief god, was apparently merely a one-eyed war god when the 10th<\/sup> century began, but he was a powerful war god, and there are explicit descriptions of seidur magic in a number of medieval Icelandic texts. The most important of which are Edda\u2019s Poems like Voluspa<\/em> and Lokasenna<\/em>, and great sagas, Gisli Sursson\u2019s Saga, Eiriks saga rauda,<\/em> and Hrolfs saga kraka<\/em>, as well as Snorri\u2019s Ynglingasaga.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

Seidur magic seems to have been largely the sphere of women. However, Odin himself is said to have practiced Seidur magic, and we have historical references to male Seidur seers, though such men were generally maligned for engaging in feminine activities. Seidur magic had several goals: (1) Prophecy. For example, in Eiriks saga rauda <\/em>(chapter 4),<\/em> the seeress is trying to gain knowledge of the future. In Edda\u2019s poem , Voluspa,<\/em> she is concerned with the fate of the gods, the coming of Ragnarok. (2) Controlling the weather, or people, both of which are documented in Gisli Sursson\u2019s Saga (<\/em>chapter 18), and The Saga of the People of Laxardal (chs. 35-37).<\/p>\n

Seidur seers also gained supernatural knowledge through utiseta<\/em>, which means they sat outside at night on graves and sought out the secret wisdom known only to the dead. To accomplish these goals, the seeress engaged in rites that included fasting, hanging, exposure to the cold, spirit journeys, ecstatic trance states and shape-shifting. Seidur seers were apparently particularly adept at taking on the forms of bears, wolves, and foxes.\u00a0\u00a0 As with other circumpolar shamanic traditions, we have hints that changing gender may have been part of some seidur intitation rites (see Meulengracht Sorensen 1980; 1983).\u00a0\u00a0 As Neil Price noted in his excellent article, The Archaeology of Seidr (<\/em>Lewis-Simpson 2000, p. 278), \u201cIt would seem to be the apparent contradiction of Odinn\u2019s role as both a male god and the master of seidr\u2014these rituals that were primarily the province of women\u2014that gives him such extensive power over the minds and movements of others, and particularly over the events of the battlefield.\u201d \u00a0 So, it was the combination of male and female powers–the crossing of gender boundaries– that were the source of seidur magic.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, though it is rarely mentioned in books on Vikings, the highly magical seidur tradition was inextricably woven into the very fabric of Old Norse society. In fact, we would argue that you cannot fully understand Viking culture without an understanding of seidur seers and their magical influences.<\/p>\n

The same is, of course, true of aboriginal Native American, Australian, and African cultures. \u00a0Magic is at the core of spiritual traditions around the world. \u00a0Including our own. \u00a0Can you imagine any scholar of American culture \u00a0passing over the miracles of Jesus, or the resurrection, or the virgin birth? \u00a0The magic associated with the Ark of the Covenant as it was carried into battle by the ancient Israelites?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Magic is such an enormous part of who we are a spiritual beings that to leave it out of a cultural study is to miss the very heart of the people. \u00a0 \u00a0And that is nowhere more true than with Viking archaeology.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"PEOPLE<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE ABOUT IT!<\/p>\n

PEOPLE OF THE SONGTRAIL<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/people-of-the-songtrail-kathleen-oneal-gear\/1120327521?ean=9780765337252<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/People-Songtrail-Novel-Americas-Forgotten-ebook\/dp\/B00P5IQQ3W\/ref=pd_sim_351_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1TXRN01F9VR48V28ZTS0<\/a><\/p>\n

THE DEAD MAN’S DOLL<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Dead-Mans-Doll-Kathleen-ONeal-ebook\/dp\/B00TDPZ3UU\/ref=pd_sim_351_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0AP7P2F1EZ1ZZDVD5316<\/a><\/p>\n

VIKINGS IN NORTH AMERICA<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Vikings-North-America-Kathleen-ONeal-ebook\/dp\/B00TDPZ56M\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1430945993&sr=8-1&keywords=Vikings+in+North+America<\/a><\/p>\n

Lewis-Simpson, Shannon.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Vinland Revisited. The Norse World at the Turn of the First Millennium. <\/em>Historic Sites Association of\u00a0Newfoundland and Labrador, Inc., 2000: 277-294.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0MAGIC IN 10TH CENTURY VIKING CULTURE: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0THE SEIDUR TRADITION   Since PEOPLE OF THE SONGTRAIL is coming out on Tuesday, we thought we’d talk about the Viking magical tradition called Seidur or Seidr. \u00a0There are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1328,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[17,19,66,154,94,96,153,123],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.gear-gear.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/PEOPLE-OF-THE-SONGTRAIL-cover.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gear-gear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1327"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gear-gear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gear-gear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gear-gear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gear-gear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1327"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.gear-gear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1457,"href":"https:\/\/www.gear-gear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1327\/revisions\/1457"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gear-gear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gear-gear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gear-gear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gear-gear.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}