What did the Vikings practice?

The Viking Age saw the last stand of paganism in Scandinavia, where raiding and trading brought followers of a pantheistic religion into contact – and often conflict – with Christian and Muslim worshippers of a monotheistic God.

Can a man practice seiðr?

Today, seidr practices are reappearing as ‘neo-shamanism’ in areas of Europe and North America. Both today and in the past, seidr is often thought of as ‘women’s magic’, although it is also practised by men.

What is seiðr Norse?

Seidr (pronounced “SAY-der;” Old Norse seiðr, “cord, string, snare”) is a form of pre-Christian Norse magic and shamanism concerned with discerning the course of fate and working within its structure to bring about change, which was done by symbolically weaving new events into being.

What is a Scandinavian witch called?

A Völva or as it is pronounced in old Norse a Vǫlva (in Danish a ”Vølve”), is what we in English would call a Seeress. You could compare it to someone who practiced shamanism or witchcraft. So a Völva is a Nordic version of a shaman or witch, that practiced magic.

Did Vikings have polygamy?

There are also indications that Vikings practiced polygamy, which in their highly stratified society would have meant that poorer unmarried men might have had limited access to women, and would have targeted female slaves as concubines (or even wives).

Did Loki use seiðr?

Loki, amongst other things, accuses the gods of moralistic sexual impropriety, the practice of seiðr (sorcery), and bias. Not ostensibly the most serious of allegations, these elements are, however, said ultimately to lead to the onset of Ragnarök in the Eddic poem Völuspá.

What were Viking doctors called?

The Anglo-Saxon word for doctor was Lach, from whence derives the word leech; hence the common title of collections of remedies – ‘A Booke of Leechdoms.

Why did Odin hang himself from a tree?

Odin’s self-sacrifice He sacrificed his eye in Mimir’s well and he threw himself on his spear Gungnir in a kind of symbolic, ritual suicide. He then hanged himself in Yggdrasil, the tree of life, for nine days and nine nights in order to gain knowledge of other worlds and be able to understand the runes.

How common is Viking DNA?

The genetic legacy of the Viking Age lives on today with six per cent of people of the UK population predicted to have Viking DNA in their genes compared to 10 per cent in Sweden. Professor Willeslev concluded: “The results change the perception of who a Viking actually was.

What is a seidr practitioner?

Perhaps because of this connection, a practitioner of magic was sometimes called a norn (Old Norse for “witch”) with a lowercase “n.” Two of the Aesir and Vanir deities are noted masters of seidr: the goddess Freya and the god Odin. Both Freya and Odin, in turn, can be seen as the divine models of seidr practitioners among their respective genders.

What is contemporary seidr?

Rather contemporary Seidr is all about using traditional practices as a foundation for Seidr work. There is such a rich history from our past that simply cannot be denied. Contemporary Seidr seeks to build upon the ways of the past. The workers of Seidr are, at their foundation, Norse Shamans.

How is seidr similar to other cultures?

The workers of Seidr are, at their foundation, Norse Shamans. So many of our practices are similar or even identical to the Shamans of other cultures. Journeying and the use of drums are just two examples of how our work is identical to the work of Shamans of other cultures.

What is the seidr method?

It is a method proven to work in traveling the nine realms and retrieving information and wisdom. It is a type of work that can be performed either alone or with a client. It is powerful indeed. It is not my aim with contemporary Seidr to throw out all the wisdom that comes from the traditions of our ancestors.