Seid

Seid (also seiðr, seidhr) was the form of shamanism practised by pre-Christian Norse and other Germanic cultures and continued in modern times by people who practice the reconstructionist beliefs of Ásatrú or heathenry. It involved the incantation of spells known as galdrar or galðrar (sing. galdr or galðr, Old English: gealdor or galdor) Practitioners of seid were predominantly women (völva, or seiðkona, lit. seid woman). Although there were male practitioners (seiðmaðr, lit. seid man) as well, in the Viking Age, seid was considered ergi (shameful) for men, as its manipulative aspects ran counter to the male ideal of forthright, open behaviour. The goddesses of Norse mythology were also practitioners of seid, along with Odin, a fact he was apparently ashamed of, for the above mentioned reason. In Anglo-Saxon tribes, practitioners of seid were referred to as wicca (m.) or wicce (f.). The Church opposed such activities and wicce evolved, as did the völvas, into the modern witch.

Contents

1 Forms of Seid 2 The Practice of Seid 3 Seid in Mythology 4 Origins 5 Contemporary Reconstruction 6 Sources

Forms of Seid

As described by Snorri Sturluson in his Ynglinga saga (sec. 7 (http://www.northvegr.org/lore/heim/001_02.php)), seid includes both divination and manipulative magic. The type of divination practiced by seid was generally distinct, by dint of an altogether more metaphysical nature, from the day-to-day auguries performed by the seers (menn framsýnir, menn forspáir).

The Practice of Seid

In The Saga of Eric the Red, the seiðkona or völva in Greenland wore a blue cloak and a headpiece of black lamb trimmed with white cat skin; she carried the symbolic distaff (seiðstafr), which was often buried with her; and would sit on a high platform. In Örvar-Odd's Saga, however, the cloak is black, yet the seidkhona also carries the distaff (which allegedly has the power of causing forgetfulness in one who is tapped three times on the cheek by it). The colour of the cloak is less significant than the fact that it was intended to signify the otherness of the seiðkona.

During seances the seiðkona would enter a state of trance in which her soul was supposed to "become discorporeal", "take the likeness of an animal", "travel through space", etc. This state of trance may have been achieved through any of several methods: narcotics, sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation, etc. To galdra, i.e. the chanting of galdrar was also involved in the creation of the state of trance. The galdr and its Old English counterpart, the gealdor, has evolved into the word yell (modern Scandinavian: gala), and there are a number of kennings which compare the sound of battle to seid chanting. It is probable that this sound was very high pitched. That would likely be a reason as to why it was regarded unmanly.

Seid in Mythology

An example of seid in Norse mythology is the trance undergone by the völva, vala, or seeress in the prophetic vision given to Odin in the Völuspá. The interrelationship between the völva in this account and the Norns, the fates of Norse lore, are strong and striking.

The goddess Freya is seen as an adept of the mysteries of seid, and it is said that it was she who initiated Odin into its mysteries. In Lokasenna Loki accuses Odin for practicing seid, condemning it as an unmanly art. A justification for this may be found in the Ynglinga saga where Snorri opines that following the practice of seid, the practitioner was rendered weak and helpless.

Another noted mythological practitioner of seiðr was the witch Groa, who attempted to assist Thor, and who is summoned from beyond the grave in the Svipdagsmál.

Origins

Shamanism is a tradition which has been maintained all over the world and it is probably of prehistoric origin. It would thus be futile to find any particular origins. It is likely a continuation of the shamanistic practices of the Indo-European religion. Some scholars, however, (e.g. Thomas DuBois) draw a Balto-Finnic link to seid, citing the depiction of its practitioners as such in the sagas and elsewhere, and link seid to the practices of the noajdde, the patrilineal shamans of the Sami people. Note that the word seita (Finnish) or sieidde (Sami) is a human-shaped body formed by a tree, or a large and strangely shaped stone or rock and does not involve "magic" or "sorcery."

Contemporary Reconstruction

Diana Paxson and her group, Hrafnar, have put in a lot of work reconstructing seid from available historical material, particularly its oracular form. Jan Fries traces seid as an inspiration for his "seething" shamanic technique, though he is less concerned with precise historical reconstruction.

Sources

• Örvar-Odd's Saga
• The Völuspá
• Lokasenna
• The Saga of Eric the Red
• The Ynglinga saga
• Thomas A. DuBois, Nordic Religions in the Viking Age 1999, ch. 6
• Jan Fries, Seidways

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