
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.


