Völva

Völva or Vǫlva is a shamanic seeress, ceremonialist and

wise woman/man of Old Norse traditions in Norse paganism and a recurring motif in Norse mythology A Völva is not something that just dates back to the Viking age, a Völva is in fact very ancient, and their roots go back more than 2.000 -3.000 years.

The Old Norse word vǫlva means “wand carrier” or “carrier of a magic staff”. Collectively they are known as Völur Spákona or Spækona is a seer/one who sees, from the Old Norse word spá or spæ referring to prophesying and which is cognate with the present English word “spy”. Völur practiced ‘seiðr’, ‘spá’ and ‘galdr’ practices which encompassed shamanism, sorcery, prophecy and other forms of indigenous magic, Seiðr was a solitary art where the seið-witch was not a member of a coven, as found in other European witch traditions, although a seið-practitioner might have attendants or a chorus to assist her in the practice of her magic. In a very few rare instances only do the sagas report a group of seið-workers practicing together, there they are usually kin folk, such as a pair of sisters, a father and his family, and the like.

A passage from the Lokasenna is of especial interest, since if the verb in the second line is examined carefully, it may provide evidence for Norse use of the shamanic drum. Taunting Odin, Loki says–

-But thou in Samsey wast performing seidh

And beating out (spells) like a Völva,

Vitki-like didst pass through the world of men,

In woman’s wise, I believe.

-Lokasenna-24

A careful analysis of Norse and Celtic sources suggests that this is indeed true. To the reader familiar with the literature of shamanism, many of the visionary and magical feats attributed to both Druids and Old Norse vitkis or völvas seem strongly reminiscent of shamanic practices. The Icelandic sagas are rich in accounts of magic of all kinds, including spirit journeys, weather working, healing, prophecy, and shape changing. Some of the Scandinavian practices may well have been learned from the Saami or Finns, but accounts from Celtic and even Greek legend support a belief in native Indo-European shamanism as well.

The etymology of seidhr, however, suggests indigenous development, perhaps retention of Indo-European practice. The mysterious term is cognate with French séance, Latin sedere Old English sittan, and thus with a large group of terms based on the Indo-European root sed-. A seidhr, then, was literally a séance - a “sitting” to commune with the spirits.

In his ‘Commentarii de Bello Gallico‘, Julius Caesar writes in the course of clashes with Germanic tribesmen under Ariovistus -58 BCE

-When Caesar inquired of his prisoners, wherefore Ariovistus did not come to an engagement, he discovered this to be the reason – that among the Germans it was the custom for their ‘matrons’ to pronounce from lots and divination whether it were expedient that the battle should be engaged in or not; that they had said, “that it was not the will of heaven that the Germans should conquer, if they engaged in battle before the new moon.”

In the Viking Age, the völvas were both feared and respected they exercised seiðr and were in direct contact with Odin, the Allfather. The word völva derives from the Old Norse vǫlva meaning “wand carrier” A völva or Volva, from Old Norse and Icelandic respectively is a female shaman and seer in Norse tradition and a recurring motif in Norse mythology, as shown in the following extract from the Snorri Sturluson Old Norse literature written in Iceland in the early 13th century Prose Edda-

“Then came the völva Gróa there, wife of Aurvandil the Bold, and she sang her spells over Thor until the piece of stone loosened from his flesh. After Thor noticed this, he understood there was hope she could remove the byrnie-piece, and he rewarded Gróa for her healing by honoring her-

The völvas were the foremost religious interpreters in the Norse society. The most famous example of a völva’s prediction is the Eddic poem Völuspá Old Norse -Vǫluspá, meaning ”Prophecy of the Völva”. The poem tells the story of the creation of the world until its coming end Ragnarök “The Doom of the Gods”, told by a Norse sorceress addressing Odin.

The Saga of Eirík the Red describes the visit of a spákona, a seeress,

to a Greenland farm, one thousand years ago. Her clothing and

shoes, her staff and cloak, are detailed. She is asked to predict the

progress of the community -she eats a meal of the hearts of the farm animals, and the next day a ‘high seat’ is made ready for her, where she will sit to foretell. She engages in ritual practices known as seidr, which requires a special song to be sung to ‘the powers’ in order that she may gain their knowledge, in what appears to be ecstatic trance. Today, people are making attempts to reclaim practices of seidr on accounts from the sagas and Eddas, scholars’ analyses of this literature and parallels with shamanic practices elsewhere, using these within a framework of Norse cosmology and beliefs about soul, afterlife, and the Nine Worlds. Seid workers engage in faring-forth, trance-journeying, for a variety of ends including healing and divination.

In Germanic religion and Germanic mythology, a seeress is a woman said to have the ability to foretell future occurrences. Strongly associated with wands, seeresses at times held an authoritative role in Germanic society and mentions of Germanic seeresses occur as early as the Roman era, where, for example, they at times played a role in rebellion under Roman rule and acted as envoys to Rome. After the Roman Era, mention of seeresses occur in records among the North Germanic people, where they form a reoccurring motif in, for example, Norse mythology.

The Roman and Greek record records the name of several Germanic seeresses, including Albruna, Ganna, Veleda, and, by way of an archaeological find, Waluburg. Norse mythology mentions several seeresses, some by name, including Heimlaug völva, Þorbjörg lítilvölva, Þordís spákona, and Þuríðr Sundafyllir. In North Germanic religion, the goddesses Freyja holds a particular association with seeresses. Archaeologists have identified several graves that may contain the remains of Scandinavian seeresses. These graves contain objects that may be wands, seeds with hallucinogenic and aphrodisiac properties, and a variety of high-status items.

The ancient tradition dictated that all Norse and Germanic free women were expected to know magic, but some more so than others. It was then, that most Viking and Germanic tribes nurtured groups of wise-women –witches or priestesses- who usually lived unmarried, though not necessarily in celibacy, and who could travel alone wherever they liked without fear. These were the völvur A woman who carried the wand of the witch would never be harmed. They were considered allied of the Norns (fate demigoddesses in Norse mytholgy) and thus wielded the greatest of powers. The völur, which literal translates as “Wed to the wand” or “Staff-Carriers” served as witches. In such place and age, witches were honored and revered, and sought as healers, prophets, oracles, shamans and priestesses.

Old Viking Sagas show that if a völva came to visit, the lord and lady of the house would give up the high seat to her, to indicate that the witch had higher authority. The völva could talk or not talk to anybody at whim, regardless of his or her status – meaning she was outside and above the normal hierarchy of society. The primeval witch/völva was the goddess Freyia, who introduced the art of seiðr [shamanism] and the art of conquering death, for she was said to come back to life each time her wisdom was necessary.

The völvur were also the priestesses in the old Norse cult of Freyr. These women, however, were not traveling witches but homebound practitioners, often of high status within their clan.

The practicing völur were buried with the wands they had wielded in life, a fact hinted at in some Sagas and confirmed by archaeological finds. Witch or priestess burials from the Germanic Iron Age and from the Viking Age testify to the high status such women could achieve in life. Germanic seeresses are first described by the Romans, who discuss the role seeresses played in Germanic society. A gap in the record occurs until the North Germanic record over a millennium later, when the Old Norse record frequently mentions seeresses among the North Germanic peoples.

In the first and second centuries CE, Greek and Roman authors such as Greek historian Strabo, Roman senator Tacitus, and Roman historian Cassius Dio wrote about the ancient Germanic peoples, and made note of the role of seeresses in Germanic society. Tacitus mentions Germanic seeresses in book 4 of his first century CE Histories.

The legionary commander Munius Lupercus was sent along with other presents to Veleda, an unmarried woman who enjoyed wide influence over the tribe of the Bructeri. The Germans traditionally regard many of the female sex as prophetic, and indeed, by an excess of superstition, as divine. This was a case in point. Veleda's prestige stood high, for she had foretold the German successes and the extermination of the legions. But Lupercus was put to death before he reached her.

Later, in his ethnography of the ancient Germanic peoples, Germania, Tacitus expounds on some of these points. In chapter 8, Tacitus records the following about women in then-contemporary Germanic society and the role of seeresses-

-It is recorded that some armies that were already wavering and on the point of collapse have been rallied by women pleading steadfastly, blocking their past with bared breasts, and reminding their men how near they themselves are taken captive. This they fear by a long way more desperately for their women than for themselves. Indeed, peoples who are ordered to include girls of noble family among their hostages are thereby placed under a more effective restraint. They even believe that there is something holy and an element of the prophetic in women, hence they neither scorn their advice nor ignore their predictions. Under the Deified Vespasian we witnessed how Veleda was long regarded by many of them as a divine being; and in former times, too, they revered Albruna and a number of other women, not through servile flattery nor as if they had to make goddesses out of them.

Writing also in the first century CE, Greek geographer and historian Strabo records the following about the Cimbri, a Germanic people in chapter 2.3 of volume 7 of his encyclopedia Geographica-

-Writers report a custom of the Cimbri to this effect: Their wives, who would accompany them to their expeditions, were attended by priestesses who were seers; these were grey-haired, clad in white, with flaxen cloaks fastened on with clasps, girt with girdles of bronze, and bare-footed; now sword in hand these priestesses would meet with prisoners of war throughout the camp, and would lead them to a brazen vessel of about twenty amphorae; and they had raised a platform which the priestess would mount, and then, bending over the kettle, would cut the throat of each prisoner after he had been lifted up; and from the blood that poured forth into the vessel, some of the priestesses would draw a prophecy, while still others would split open the body and from an inspection of the entrails would utter a prophecy of victory for their own people; and during the battles they would beat on the hides that were stretched over the wicker-bodies of the wagons and in this way would produce an unearthly noise-

In the Saga of Erik the Red, we find a description of the völva Thorbjörg Lítilvölva who worked in Greenland-

Now, when she came in the evening, accompanied by the man who had been sent to meet her, she was dressed in such wise that she had a blue mantle over her, with strings for the neck, and it was inlaid with gems quite down to the skirt. On her neck she had glass beads. On her head she had a black hood of lambskin, lined with ermine.

A staff she had in her hand, with a knob thereon; it was ornamented with brass, and inlaid with gems round about the knob. Around her she wore a girdle of soft hair, and therein was a large skin-bag, in which she kept the talismans needful to her in her wisdom.

She wore hairy calf-skin shoes on her feet, with long and strong-looking thongs to them, and great knobs of latten at the ends. On her hands she had gloves of ermine-skin, and they were white and hairy within.

Few völvur belonged to the aristocratic class, these were rich Viking women who wanted to serve Freyja and represent her in Midgard (i.e., one of the Nine Worlds of Norse mythology, the one inhabited by humans). They married Viking warlords who had Odin as a role model, and they settled in great halls that were earthly representations of Valhalla. The duties of such mistresses were not limited to serving mead to visiting guests, but they were also expected to take part in warfare by manipulating weaving tools magically when their spouses were out in battle. Scholars no longer believe that these women waited passively at home, and there is evidence for their magic activities both in archaeological finds and in Old Norse sources, such as the Darraðarljóð.

It is difficult to draw a line between the aristocratic lady and the wandering völva, but Old Norse sources present the völva as more professional and she went from estate to estate selling her spiritual services. The völva had greater authority than the aristocratic lady, but both were ultimately dependent on the benevolence of the warlord that they served. When they had been attached to a warlord, their authority depended on their personal competence and credibility.

Furthermore, the Völur were not considered to be harmless. The goddess who was most skilled in magic was Freyja, and she was not only a goddess of love, but also a warlike divinity who caused screams of anguish, blood and death, and what Freyja performed in Asgard, the world of the gods, the Völur tried to perform in Midgard, the world of men. The weapon of the Völva was not the spear, the axe or the sword but instead they were held to influence battles with different means, and one of them was the wand.

The earliest descriptions of such women appear in Roman accounts about the Germanic Cimbri whose priestesses were aged women dressed in white. They sacrificed the prisoners of war and sprinkled their blood in order to prophesy coming events. The archaeological record for Viking Age society features a variety of graves that may be those of North Germanic seeresses. A notable example occurs at Fyrkat, in the northern Jutland region of Denmark. Fyrkat is the site of a former Viking Age ring fortress, and the cemetery section of the site contains among about 30 others a grave of a woman buried within a horse-drawn carriage and wearing a red and blue dress with gold thread, all signs of high status.

While the grave contains items commonly found in female Viking Age graves (such as scissors and spindle whorls), it also contains a variety of other rare and exotic items. For example, the woman wore silver toe rings and her burial contained two bronze bowls originating from Central Asia.

In addition, the grave contained a small purse that itself contained seeds from henbane, a poisonous plant, and a partially disintegrated metal wand, used by the seeresses in the Old Norse record. According to the National Museum of Denmark-

If these seeds are thrown onto a fire, a mildly hallucinogenic smoke is produced. Taken in the right quantities, they can produce hallucinations and euphoric states. Henbane was often used by the witches of later periods. It could be used as a "witch's salve" to produce a psychedelic effect, if the magic practitioners rubbed it into their skin. Did the woman from Fyrkat do this? In her belt buckle was white lead, which was sometimes used as an ingredient in skin ointment Henbane's aphrodisiac properties may have also been relevant to its use by the seeress.

At the feet of the corpse was a small box, called a box brooch and originating from the Swedish island of Gotland, which contained owl pellets, and bird bones. The grave also contained amulets shaped like a chair, potentially a reflection of the long-standing association of seeresses and chairs as in Strabo's Geographica Items discovered in the Öland gravesite a ship setting grave in Köpingsvik, a location on the Swedish island of Öland, may have also contained a seeress. The woman was buried wrapped in bear fur with a variety of notable grave goods- The grave contained a bronze-ornamented staff with a small house atop it, a jug made in Central Asia, and a bronze cauldron smithed in Western Europe. The grave contained animals and humans, perhaps sacrificed.

The Oseberg ship burial may have also contained a seeress. The ship contained the remains of two people, one a woman of notably elevated status and the other possibly a slave. Along with a variety of other objects, the grave contained a purse containing cannabis seeds and a wooden wand.

Another notable grave that may have contained the remains of a seeress was excavated by archaeologists in Hagebyhöga in Östergötland, Sweden. The grave contained female human remains interred with an iron wand or staff, a carriage, horses, and Arabic bronze jugs. Notably, the grave also contained a small silver figurine of a woman with a large necklace, which has been interpreted by archaeologists as representing the goddess Freyja, a deity strongly associated with seiðr.

(Savior Polis, fb)