Vǫlur: Viking-Age Seeresses and the Practice of Seiðr

Who Were the Vǫlur?

Students of witchcraft and the ways of witches around the world often research the history of ancient cultures to identify those who would fall into the classification of an ancient witch. Some of these discoveries lead to a greater understanding of that culture, while others identify glaring inaccuracies of how the past has been interpreted by scholars today. So, who were the Vǫlur, and why do they matter? Looking at the etymology, the Old Norse noun vǫlva (plural vǫlur) translates to “staff-bearer,” from vǫlr, meaning “wand or staff.” In saga prose and poetry, the word is used interchangeably with seiðkona (“woman of seiðr”) and spákona (“prophet-woman”) to describe a select group of females who combined divination, trance work, spell-casting, and social counsel. Their reputation reached back into the first centuries CE and survived well beyond the Viking Age.

Seiðr: Distinguishing Myth from Fact

Seiðr (“SAY-thr” with a soft “th” as in “feather) was a powerful and complex branch of Norse magic concerned with “binding” or “loosening” fate. This was done by shaping and influencing natural events as well as foretelling the outcomes. Medieval sources link Seiðr to both of the two main tribes of deities venerated by the ancient Norse. The Vanir are a group of Gods and Goddesses associated with fertility, wisdom, and the ability to see the future. The Æsir (Aesir) are the group of Gods and Goddesses representing power, war, order, and governance. Most of the best-known Norse Gods and Goddesses belong to the Aesir, including Odin, Thor, Frigg, Tyr, Loki, Baldur, Heimdall, Idun, and Bragi. Their home is Asgard, one of the Nine Worlds, which is located in the highest, sunniest branches of the world-tree Yggdrasil. The Goddess Freyja of the Vanir was said to have taught Seiðr to the Æsir, and Odin, who mastered it.

Seiðr was practiced in the Viking Age and earlier by women known as vǫlur (seeresses). It was used to foresee the future, influence the outcome of battles, weather, harvests or personal fortunes, and cause harm or healing (blessings, curses, illness, emotional manipulation). It was also used to control the weather and other natural forces (wind, storms, fertility), call or banish spirits, shapeshift, travel spiritually, and communicate with otherworldly beings.

Women were the primary practitioners and held respected roles as spiritual leaders or advisors. Men could practice seiðr, but were often seen as ergi (unmanly) due to the feminine or manipulative nature of the magic. Ancient stories speak of Odin being an expert in the practice, having learned seiðr from Freyja, the Vanir Goddess associated with love, fertility, and sorcery.

The Seiðr did not practice necromancy. While seiðr practitioners communicated with spirits or received messages from the dead, they did not reanimate corpses or raise the dead. They did not perform, teach, or practice any type of combat magick, such as summoning a fireball or using the elements as combative weapons. It was subtle, indirect, strategic, and often psychological or spiritual approach based on influencing minds, weather, or fate.

Ritual and Practice based on Saga Evidence

The clearest eye-witness account comes from Eiríks saga rauða (c. 1200). During a famine in Greenland the vǫlva Þorbjörg lítilvǫlva arrives wearing a blue cloak sewn with gems, a hood lined with white catskin, and carrying a brass-mounted staff. She is seated on a high platform while women circle her, singing varðlokkur. Afterwards she delivers detailed prophecies for the community and personal fortunes for each questioner.

The Vǫlur travelled between farms and courts across the lands. Their services were rewarded with high-value goods and sustained social status. Most seiðr rituals followed a common pattern. The Vǫlva was seated on a high platform or special chair, sometimes called a seiðhjallr. She held a staff (seiðstafr), which was considered a sacred tool symbolizing power and authority. Her attendants (varðlokkur) would chant and sing to attract spirits to help the Vǫlva enter a state of trance. The practitioner might also use psychoactive herbs like henbane, belladonna, or fly agaric to help bring her to a trance state. While in that state, she would see visions, speak with spirits, give prophecies, and answer questions from the crowd.

Archeological Evidence of Vǫlva

Tombs provide modern-day historians and archeologists with the opportunity to research the past. With enough corroborating evidence, theories are moved forward into accepted historical accounts.

Fyrkat, Denmark (10th c.) – A woman laid on a wagon bed wore fine red-and-blue garments with gold thread and silver toe rings. Beside her lay an iron-and-bronze staff, two Central-Asian bronze bowls, a purse of henbane seeds, owl pellets and small bones, and a hollow brooch packed with white-lead pigment—ingredients and instruments implying visionary rites.
Oseberg Ship, Norway (834 CE) – The ship-burial of two elite women contained a wooden wagon carved with nine cats, cannabis seeds, and a wand-like staff; several scholars argue the richer of the two was a Vǫlva rather than a queen.
Other graves at Birka (Bj 834), Klinta (Öland), Kaupang (Vestfold) and elsewhere contain iron or bronze staffs, distaffs, amulets, exotic containers, and occasionally animal skins—consistent material signatures of seiðr specialists.

Scholars point to three identifying symbols which were found across all three tombs: the staff, the special clothing, and the portable high seat, as evidence of the person being a Vǫlva.

Seiðr Was a Closed Practice

Seiðr was reserved for those with special training, calling, or lineage. It was not a casual practice, and women who used it irresponsibly or without training risked losing social standing or far worse punishments. Unlike modern magick, Seiðr was not a controlled, formulaic system, and results were not guaranteed. It was a commonly held belief that the practitioner would face consequences, often severe for meddling in fate or crossing taboo lines.

Christianity and the Decline of Seiðr

As Christianity spread through Scandinavia between the 8th and 12th centuries, it came into direct conflict with Seiðr, which they viewed as pagan sorcery. Over time, the Church actively worked to suppress and criminalize Seiðr and other related magical arts. The Norwegian Gulaþing and Icelandic Grágás law codes list prophecy, spell-casting and harmful sorcery among offences punishable by heavy fines, reduced status, imprisonment, or lifelong banishment. The Church categorized Seiðr as witchcraft or heresy, often associating it with the Devil, despite it having no connection to Christianity, and no connection to angels, demons, or other elements of the Christian religious framework.

By the 14th–17th Centuries, all remnants of Norse magical traditions, including Seiðr, were swept into broader European witch hunts. Many women were accused of sorcery, often leading to their torture or execution. This was especially true for those women with folk-healing or visionary gifts. Although Seiðr was persecuted by the Church both legally and culturally, they failed to wipe it out completely. Like most of the ancient Eurpoean pre-Christain religions, it was driven underground, reinterpreted through Christian fear, and suppressed until modern revival movements began reconstructing it centuries later.