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In response to the several letters I received requesting a more
complete bibliography of materials related to seidhr or Old Norse
magic/shamanism, I am posting this list of the materials I have
come in contact with that are pertinent. Articles which I have
examined personally are annotated, below. Other articles are those
which I have had recommended to me but which I haven't personally
read yet.
I hope that this list serves to provoke discussion of seidhr and
the the experiences that others have had while exploring this
spiritual/magical practice!
::GUNNORA::
GROUPS DEVELOPING SEIDHR TRADITIONS
HRAFNIR, The Fellowship of the Spiral Path
P.O. Box 5521
Berkeley, CA 94705
[I've written this group, but so far received no reply]
SEIDHR
Dumezil, Georges. From Myth to Fiction. Chicago: U of Chicago P.
1973.
[Brief discussion of seidhr in chapter 2.]
Ellis-Davidson, Hilda Roderick. "Hostile Magic in the Icelandic
Sagas." in The Witch Figure: Folklore Essays by a Group of
Scholars Honouring the 75th Birthday of Katherine M. Briggs.
ed. Venetia Newall. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1973. pp.
20-41.
[Excellent paper, as usual with this noted author. Ellis-
Davidson reviews the saga materials dealing with seidhr,
methods of magic-working and the shamanic/trance complex. In
part examines information from Dag Stromback's seminal work
on the topic.]
Simpson, Jacqueline. "Olaf Tryggvason versus the Powers of
Darkness," in The Witch Figure: Folklore Essays by a Group of
Scholars Honouring the 75th Birthday of Katherine M. Briggs.
ed. Venetia Newall. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1973. pp.
165-187.
[Discusses seidhr at the time of the Conversion to
Christianity, especially the hositle Christian response to
seidhr and its practitioners.]
Stromback, Dag. Sejd: Textstudier i Nordisk Religionshistoria.
Stockholm: Hugo Gebers Forlag. 1935.
[This is the definitive work on seidhr. Unfortunately for most
of us here in America, it is written in Swedish. I am in the
process of laboriously translating the work, and so far am
midway through the very long first chapter which is concerned
with source criticism. The latter chapters are supposed to
discuss seidhr and Lappish shamanism. If there is anyone out
there who knows of a translation, or who is willing to
translate this monograph into English, I would very much
appreciate it if you would get in contact with me!]
SEIDHR-RELATED TOPICS
Adhalsteinsson, Jon Hnefill. Under the Cloak. Uppsala: Acta
Universitatis Uppsaliensis. 1978.
[The premise of this work is that Thorgeir Lawspeaker's
deliberation beneath his cloak over the issue of the
Conversion in Iceland was a shamanic ecstatic technique.
Methods of ecstatic vision and analogues to this type of
divinatory action are discussed.]
Allen, W.E.D. The Poet and the Spae-Wife: An Attempt to Reconstruct
Al-Ghazal's Embassy to the Vikings. London: Viking Society for
Northern Research. 1960.
[Interesting as it deals with a woman who ruled as queen over
the Vikings of Ireland, practicing some sort of magic and
prophesying from the very altar of a captured church in
Clonmacnois.]
Buchholz, Peter. "Shamanism - the Testimony of the Old Icelandic
Literary Tradition." Mediaeval Scandinavia 4 (1971): 7-20.
[Provides a very nice overview of the shamanic elements of
magic presented in the sagas. This article is most useful if
one is able to follow the long passages quoted from German
authors in the original.]
Grimm, Jacob. Teutonic Mythology. New York: Dover. ??
[This is the classic work on "everything you ever wanted to
know about Germanic religion/myth/folk practice." Of interest
with regards to seidhr are I:13 (Goddesses), I:16 (Wise
Women), III:34 (Magic) and III:35 (Superstition).]
Hand, Wayland. "Witch Riding and Other Demonic Assault in American
Folk Legend." in Probleme der Sagenforschung. ed. Lutz
Rohrich. Frieburg im Breisgau: Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft. 1973. pp. 165-76.
Hufford, David J. The Terror that Comes in the Night: an
Experience-Cetered Study of Supernatural Assault Traditions.
Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P. 1982.
[Relevant as seidhr contained a strong thread of "hag-riding,
witch-riding" or being "trampled by the nightmare." Examines
evidence from the Appalachian regions and comparative data
from other locations.]
Jochens, Jenny. "Voluspa: Matrix of Norse Womanhood." JEGP 88:3
(July 1989): 344-362.
Karsten, Rafael. The Religion of the Samek: Ancient Beliefs and
Cults of the Scandinavian and Finnish Lapps. Leiden,
Netherlands: E.J. Brill. 1955.
[Excellent work on the shamanic/ecstatic religions of the
North. Important to the study of seidhr if the speculation
that seidhr had its roots in Finnish and/or Lapplandic
practices is correct.]
Simpson, Jacqueline. "Some Scandinavian Sacrifices." Folklore (78
(1967): 190-202.
Steffenson, Jon. "Aspects of Life in iceland in the Heathen
Period." Saga-Book of the Viking Soceity 17:2-3 (1967-8).
[Contains (among other things) a very interesting discussion
of the role of women in magic and religion.]
Storms, Godfrid. Anglo-Saxon Magic. The Haugue: Martinus Nijhoff.
1948.
HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE VIKINGS
One of the hallmarks of seidhr was that its very practice somehow
was so strongly associated with the feminine that for a man to
practice it conveyed upon him a perminant taint of "unmanliness."
Even the Chief of the Gods, Odhinn Allfather, was not immune to
taunts about his masculinity due to his having learned seidhr from
Freyja. As a result, examination of materials related to these
taunts may be helpful in understanding the historical framework in
which seidhr was practiced.
Markey, T. L. "Nordic Nidhvisur: an Instance of Ritual Inversion?"
Studies in Medieval Culture 10 (1977): 75-85.
[A very interesting discussion of the words used in Old Norse
to describe homosexuality and the use of thee words as
insults.]
Sorenson, Preben M. The Unmanly Man: Concepts of Sexual DEfamation
in Early Northern Society. trans. Joan Turville-Petre. Odense:
Odense U.P. 1983.
[A very thoughtful discussion of the concept of sexual insult
and its relationship to law and the duel. This is currently
still available from the publisher for about $25.00 U.S.]
Strom, Folke. "Nid, Ergi and Old Norse Moral Attitude." The
Dorothea Coke Memorial Lecture Delivered 10 May 1973 at
Universary Colege, London. London: Viking Society for Northern
Research. 1974.