ABSTRACT

This accessible study of Northern European shamanistic practice, or seidr, explores the way in which the ancient Norse belief systems evoked in the Icelandic Sagas and Eddas have been rediscovered and reinvented by groups in Europe and North America. The book examines the phenomenon of altered consciousness and the interactions of seid-workers or shamanic practitioners with their spirit worlds. Written by a follower of seidr, it investigates new communities involved in a postmodern quest for spiritual meaning.

chapter 1|7 pages

Introducing shamanism, seidr and self

chapter 2|23 pages

The saying of the Norns

The Welling of Wyrd

chapter 3|16 pages

The Greenland Seeress: seidr as shamanistic practice

Seidr as shamanistic practice Porbjörg the Seeress

chapter 4|26 pages

Approaching the spirits

The seer/ess as shamanistic practitioner

chapter 5|16 pages

The journey in the mound

Narrating

chapter 6|22 pages

Re-evaluating the Witch-Queen

The women of the sagas

chapter 7|31 pages

Ergi seidmen, queer transformations?

chapter 8|18 pages

The dance of the ancestors

Summarising seidr