shamanism in old norse literature and religion.odt

Shamanism

What is shamanism, and to what extent was itPRESENTamong the pre-Christian Norse and other Germanic peoples?

Shamanism, like love, is a notoriouslyHARDword to define. Any meaningful discussion of an idea, however, depends on the idea first being clearly defined so that everyone understands exactly what is being discussed. For our purposes here, shamanism can be considered to bethe practice ofENTERINGan ecstatic trance state in order to contact spirits and/or travel through spiritual worlds with the intention of accomplishing some specific purpose.[1]It is a feature of countlessmagicaland religious traditions from all over the world, especiallyanimisticones.

The pre-Christian religion of the Germanic peoples teems with shamanic elements so much so that it would be impossible to discuss them all here. Our discussion will have to be confined to those that are the most significant. WellSTARTwithOdin, the father of the gods, who possesses numerous shamanic traits. From there, well examine shamanism in Norse magical traditions that werePARTof the female sphere of traditional northern European social life, and then move on to the male sphere of theberserkersand other warrior-shamansBEFOREconcluding.

Odin and Shamanism

Odin, the chief of the gods, is often portrayed as a consummate shamanic figure in the oldest primarysourcesthat contain information about the pre-Christian ways of the Germanic peoples. His veryNAMEsuggests this: Odin (Old Norseinn) is a compoundwordcomprised ofr, ecstasy, fury, inspiration, and the suffix-inn, the masculine definite article, which, when added to the end of another word like this, means something like theMASTERof or a perfect example of. The name Odin can therefore be most aptly translated as The Master of Ecstasy. The eleventh-century historian Adam of Bremen confirms this when he translates Odin as The Furious.[2]This establishes a link between Odin and the ecstatic trance states that comprise one of the defining characteristics of shamanism.

Odins shamanic spirit-journeys are well-documented. TheYnglinga Sagarecords that he would travel to distant lands on his own errands or those of others while he appeared to others to be asleep or dead.[3]Another instance is recorded in theEddicpoem BaldursDreams, where Odin ridesSleipnir, an eight-leggedHORSEtypical of northern Eurasian shamanism,[4]to theunderworldto consult a dead seeress on behalf of his son.[5]

Odin, like shamans all over the world,[6]is accompanied by manyfamiliar spirits, most notably the two ravensHugin and Munin.

The shaman must typically undergo a ritual death and rebirth in order to acquire his or her powers,[7]and Odin underwent exactly such an ordealwhen he discovered the runes. Having done so, he became one of the cosmoss wisest, most knowledgeable, and most magically powerful beings.

He is a renowned practitioner of seidr, which he seems to have learned from the goddessFreya.

Shamanism in Seidr

Freya is the divine archetype of thevlva, a professional or semi-professional practitioner of the Germanic magical tradition known asseidr. Seidr (Old Norseseir) was aformof magic concerned with discerning and altering the course ofdestinyby re-weaving part of destinys web.[8]To do this, the practitioner, with ritual distaff in hand,[9]wouldENTERa trance and travel in spirit throughout theNine Worldsaccomplishing her intended task. ThisGENERALLYtook the form of a prophecy, a blessing, or a curse.

Thevlvawandered from town to town and farm to farm prophesying and performing other acts of magic in exchange for room, board, and often other forms of compensation as well. The most detailedaccountof such a woman and her doings comes fromThe Saga of Erik the Red,[10]but numerous sagas, as well as some of the mythic poems (most notably theVlusp, The Insight of theVlva) contain sparseaccountsof seidr-workers and their practices.

Like other northern Eurasian shamans, thevlvawas set apart from her wider society, both in a positive and a negative sense she was simultaneously exalted, sought-after, feared, and, in some instances, reviled.[11]However, thevlvais very reminiscent of theveleda, a seeress or prophetess who held a more clearly-defined and highly respected position amongst the Germanic tribes of the first several centuries CE.[12]In either of these roles, the woman practitioner of these arts held a more or less dignified role among her people, even asthe degreeof her dignity varied considerably over time.

Such was not usually the case for male practitioners of seidr. According to traditional Germanic gender constructs, it was extremely shameful and dishonorable for a man to adopt a female social or sexual role. A man who practiced seidr could expect to be labeledergi(Old Norse for unmanly) by his peers one of the gravest insults that could be hurled at a Germanic man.[13]While there were probably several reasons for seidr being consideredergi, the greatest seems to have been the centrality of weaving, the paragon of the traditional female economic sphere, in seidr.[14]Still, this didnt stop numerous men from engaging in seidr, sometimes even as a profession. A few such men have had their deeds recorded in the sagas. The foremost among suchseimennwas none other than Odin himself and not even he escaped the charge of beingergi.[15][16]We can detect a high degree of ambivalence seething beneath the surface of this taunt; unmanly as seidr may have been seen as being, it was undeniably a source of incredible power perhaps the greatest power in the cosmos, given that it could change the course of destiny itself. Perhaps the sacrifice of social prestige for these abilities wasnt too bad of a bargain. After all, such men could look to the very ruler ofAsgardas an example and a patron.

Shamanism in Warrior Magic and Religion

In any case, there were other forms of shamanism that were muchMOREsocially acceptable for men to practice. One of theCENTRALinstitutionsof traditional Germanic society was the band of elite, ecstatic,totemisticwarriors. In earlier times these took the form of tribal militias or warbands, and by the Viking Age they had become more informal groups such as theberserkers. These were no ordinary soldiers; the initiation rituals, fighting techniques, and other spiritual practices of these bands[17]were such that their members couldBEaptly characterized as warrior-shamans.

The divine guide and inspiration of such men was the same as for the seidr-workers: Odin. TheYnglinga Sagahas this to say about them:

Odins men went armor-less into battle and were as crazed as dogs or wolves and as strong as bears or bulls. They bit their shields and slew men, while they themselves were harmed by neither fire nor iron. This is called GOINGberserk.[18]

Or in the astute and evocative words of archaeologist Neil Price:

TheyRUNhowling and foaming through the groups of fighting men. Some of them wear animal skins, some are naked, and some have thrown away shields and armour to rely on their consuming frenzy alone. Perhaps some of the greatest warriors do not take the field at all, but remain behind in their tents, their minds nevertheless focused on the combat. As huge animals their spirit forms wade through the battle, wreaking destruction.[19]

This combat frenzy (going berserk) was one of the most common and most potent forms that Odins ecstasy (r) could take. In such a battle-trance, these hallowed warriors bit or cast away their shields, the symbolicINDICATORSof their social persona,[20]and became utterly possessed by the spirit of their totem animal, sometimes even shifting their shapes to become a bear or a wolf. By extension, they achieved a state of unification with theMASTERof these beasts and the giver of this sublime furor: Odin.

Conclusion

Given the prominence of shamanism in other traditional northern Eurasian societies, it would be shocking if it were absent from traditional Germanic society. So its hardly surprising toFIND, instead, that the established social customs of the pre-Christian Germanic peoples brimmed with shamanic elements.

Its just as important, however, to stress the uniquely Germanic form of these elements. At the center of the Germanic shamanic complex is the Allfather, Odin, who inspires the female and transgender seidr-workers and the male warrior-shamans alike with his perilous gift of ecstasy. This maintains the communion between the worlds of spirit and the world of flesh thats soCENTRALto a robustanimisticworldview and way of life. The active shamanic practitioner receives an additional boon: an upper hand in lifes battles and a position of dignity and glory within the all-subsuming process of the cosmoss ceaseless, Nietzschean self-overcoming,[21]a position as an especially vigorous facilitator of growth, renewal, and re-beautification.

If youve enjoyed this article and want to learn more about Norse mythology, I recommend picking up one of the booksLISTEDin this guide:The 10 Best Norse Mythology Books. And if youre particularly interested in theworldviewof the pre-Christian Norse and other Germanic peoples, you might want to take aLOOKat my own book,The Love of Destiny: The Sacred and the Profane in Germanic Polytheism.

References:

[1]This is nearly identical to the definition proposed by ke Hultkrantz: we may define the shaman as a social functionary who, with the help of guardian spirits, attains ecstasy in order to create a rapport with the supernatural world on behalf of his [sic]GROUPmembers. (1973. A Definition of Shamanism.InTemenos 9: 25-37. p. 34.)

[2]Adam of Bremen. c. 1080. History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen. Translated by Francis Joseph Tschan. p. 207.

[3]Snorri Sturluson. Ynglinga Saga 7.InHeimskringla: ea Sgur Noregs Konunga.

[4]Eliade, Mircea. 1964. Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. Translated by Willard R. Trask. p. 380.

[5]The Poetic Edda. Baldrs Draumar.


[7]Ibid. p. 14.

[8]Heide, Eldar. 2006. Spinning Seir.InOld Norse Religion in Long-Term Perspectives:ORIGINS, Changes and Interactions. Edited by Anders Andrn, Kristina Jennbert, and Catharina Raudvere. p. 166.

[9]Ibid. p. 166-167.

[10]Eirks Saga Raua 4.

[11]Price, Neil S. 2002. The Viking Way: Religion and War in Late Iron Age Scandinavia. p. 279-328.

[12]Enright, Michael J. 1996. Lady with a Mead Cup: Ritual, Prophecy and Lordship in the European Warband from La Tne to the Viking Age.

[13]Dubois, Thomas A. 1999. Nordic Religions in the Viking Age. p. 135-137.

[14]Heide, Eldar. 2006. Spinning Seir.InOld Norse Religion in Long-Term Perspectives:ORIGINS, Changes and Interactions.EDITEDby Anders Andrn, Kristina Jennbert, and Catharina Raudvere. p. 167.


[16]The Poetic Edda. Lokasenna 24.

[17]Kershaw, Kris. 2000. The One-eyed God: Odin and the (Indo-)Germanic Mnnerbnde.

[18]Snorri Sturluson. Ynglinga Saga 6.InHeimskringla: ea Sgur Noregs Konunga. My translation.

[19]Price, Neil S. 2002. The Viking Way: Religion and War in Late Iron Age Scandinavia. p. 394.

[20]Tacitus, Cornelius.GERMANIA13.

[21]Nietzsche, Friedrich. 1954. Thus Spoke Zarathustra: aBOOKforALLand None.InThe Portable Nietzsche. Edited and translated by Walter Kaufmann. p. 225-228.

Berserkers and Other Shamanic Warriors

Ritually costumed weapons dancers on a Migration Period bronze plate from land, Sweden

Theshamanismof the pre-Christian Norse and other Germanic peoples took several different forms. Among the most common of these forms, especially for men, was the attainment and use of an ecstatic battle-fury closely linked to a particulartotemanimal, usually a bear or a wolf, and often occurring within the context of certain formal, initiatory militaryGROUPS.

During the Viking Age, these warrior-shamans typically fell into two groups: the berserkers (Old Norseberserkir, bear-shirts) andlfhenar(pronounced oolv-HETH-nahr with aHARDth as in the; Old Norse for wolf-hides). These groups were a late development of the earlier Germanic warband,[1]andSHAREDmuch in common with the warlike shamanism of other circumpolar peoples.[2]

As far as we can tell today, the berserkers andlfhenarSHAREDa common set of shamanic practices, with the only substantial difference being that the totem animal of the berserkers was, as the name implies, the bear, while that of thelfhenarwas the wolf. These names are a reference to the practice of dressing in a ritual costume made from the hide of the totem animal, an outward reminder of the wearers having gone beyond the confines of his humanity and become a divine predator.[3]Its hard to imagine a grislier or more frightening thing to encounter on the late Iron Age battlefield.

One of the defining features of shamanic traditions across the world is an initiation process characterized by a symbolic (andOCCASIONALLYliteral) death and rebirth, whereby the shaman-to-be acquires his or her powers.[4]Candidates for Germanic shamanic military societies underwent such a process before being admitted into thegroup: they spent a period in the wilderness,LIVINGlike their totem animal and learning its ways, obtaining their sustenance through hunting, gathering, and raiding the nearest towns. To quote the esteemed archaeologist Dominique Briquel, Rapto vivere, to live in the manner of wolves, is thebeginningof this initiation. Thebondwith the savage world isINDICATEDnot only on the geographic plane life beyond the limits of the civilized life of the towns but also on what we would consider a moral plane: their existence is assured by the law of the jungle.[5]The candidate ceased to be an ordinary human being and became instead a wolf-man or a bear-man, more a part of the forest than of civilization.

Thenceforth, he had the ability to induce a state ofpossessionby his kindred beast, acquiring its strength, fearlessness, and fury. We have only the haziest idea of the techniques used to reach this ecstatic trance state, but we know thatFASTING, exposure to extreme heat, and ceremonial weapons dances were among the shamanic toolkit of the ancient Germanic peoples. Its extremely likely that warrior-shamans used these techniques, alongside numerous others that have been lost in the centuries of malign neglect that have passed since these were living traditions.[6]

On theBATTLEFIELD, the berserker orlfheinnwould oftenENTERthe fray naked but for his animal mask and pelts, howling, roaring, and running amok with godly or demonic courage. As theYnglinga Sagaputs it,

Odinsmen[berserkers andlfhenar]went armor-less into battle and were as crazed as dogs or wolves and as strong as bears or bulls. They bit their shields and slew men, while they themselves were harmed by neither fire nor iron. This is called GOINGberserk.[7]

In the biting or casting away of their shields, we see a reminder that their ultimate identity is nolongertheir social persona, but rather their unity with the animal world that they have achieved through self-dehumanization.[8]A warriors shield and weapons were the very emblems of his social persona and status; they were given to a young man who hadCOMEof age by his father or closest male relative to mark his newfound arrival into the sphere of the rights and responsibilities of his societys adult men.[9]In biting or discarding the shield, the mythical beast triumphed over the petty man, and Odins men tore through the battle, psychologically impervious to pain by virtue of their predatory trance.[10]

Like other northern Eurasian shamans, Germanic warrior-shamans areOCCASIONALLYdepicted with spirit-wives, in this case from among thevalkyries, the female attendant spirits of Odin.[11]

In thepolytheisticsystem of the pre-Christian Germanic peoples, wherein different sorts of people venerated different sorts of deities, the berserkers,lfhenar, and other warrior-shamans were exemplary devotees of Odin, the Allfather of the northern gods and the giver ofr, ecstasy/fury/inspiration, the Nietzschean Will to Power.ris the source of poetic inspiration and philosophical insight as well as battle frenzy (going berserk, Old Norseberserksgangr). Thus, it should come as no surprise that many of Odins men, such as Egill Skallagrmsson and Starkar, were also warrior-poets. These were no ordinary soldiers; their battle frenzy, with all of its grotesqueness and violence, was of a rarefied, even poetic, sort and, being aGIFTfrom Odin, it was inherently sacred.

If youve enjoyed this article and want to learn more about Norse mythology, I recommend picking up one of the booksLISTEDin this guide:The 10 Best Norse Mythology Books. And if youre particularly interested in theworldviewof the pre-Christian Norse and other Germanic peoples, you might want to take aLOOKat my own book,The Love of Destiny: The Sacred and the Profane in Germanic Polytheism.

References:

[1]Kershaw, Kris. 2000. The One-eyed God: Odin and the (Indo-)Germanic Mnnerbnde.

[2]Price, Neil S. 2002. The Viking Way: Religion and War in Late Iron Age Scandinavia.

[3]Kershaw, Kris. 2000. The One-eyed God: Odin and the (Indo-)Germanic Mnnerbnde. p. 27.


[5]AsQUOTEDin: Kershaw, Kris. 2000. The One-eyed God: Odin and the (Indo-)Germanic Mnnerbnde. p. 117.

[6]Examples of shamanicFASTINGand exposure to heat can be found in theHvamlandGrmnismlrespectively, both of which, in turn, can be found in The Poetic Edda. Examples of weapons dancing come from archaeological evidence, especially Migration Period bracteates, and TactitussGERMANIA. A lengthy discussion of these as techniques for inducing ecstatic trance, including Indo-European parallels, can be found in: Kershaw, Kris. 2000. The One-eyed God: Odin and the (Indo-)Germanic Mnnerbnde. p. 79-105.

[7]Snorri Sturluson. Ynglinga Saga 6.InHeimskringla: ea Sgur Noregs Konunga. My translation.

[8]Price, Neil S. 2002. The Viking Way: Religion and War in Late Iron Age Scandinavia. p. 382-283.

[9]Tacitus, Cornelius.GERMANIA13.

[10]Kershaw, Kris. 2000. The One-eyed God: Odin and the (Indo-)Germanic Mnnerbnde. p. 79-83.


Seidr

Odin and the Prophetess by Emil Doepler (1910)

Seidr (pronounced SAY-der; Old Norseseir, cord, string, snare[1]) is a form of pre-Christian Norsemagicandshamanismconcerned with discerning and altering the course ofdestinyby re-weaving part of destinys web.[2]To do this, the practitioner, with ritual distaff in hand,[3]ENTERSa trance (which could be accomplished through numerous means) and travels in spirit throughout theNine Worldsaccomplishing his or her intended task. ThisGENERALLYtakes the form of a prophecy, a blessing, or a curse. Archaeologist Neil Price has provided an excellent summary of the known uses of seidr:

There wereseirrituals for divination and clairvoyance; for seeking out the hidden, both in the secrets of the mind and in physical locations; for healing the sick; for bringing good luck; forCONTROLLINGthe weather; for calling game animals and fish. Importantly, it could also be used for the opposite of these things to curse an individual or an enterprise; to blight the land and make it barren; to induce illness; to tell false futures and thus to set their recipients on a road to disaster; to injure, maim and kill, in domestic disputes and especially in battle.[4]

TheNornsare the foremostMASTERSof seidr. However much destiny may be altered by gods, humans, and other beings, its initial framework is established by the Norns. To do this, they use the same means as anynorn(Old Norse for witch) with a lowercase n: weaving, carvingrunes, and other mainstays of the toolkit of pre-Christian Germanic magic.

Two of theAesirandVanirdeities are noted masters of seidr: the goddessFreyaand the godOdin. Both Freya and Odin, in turn, can be seen as the divine models of seidr practitioners among their respective genders. Seidr was aHIGHLYgendered activity during the Viking Age, so this distinction is ofPRIMEimportance.

Freya is the archetype of thevlva, a professional or semiprofessional practitioner of seidr. It was she who first brought this art to the gods.[5]

Thevlvawandered from town to town and farm to farm performing commissioned acts of magic inexchangefor room, board, and often other forms of compensation as well. The most detailedACCOUNTof such a woman and her craft comes fromThe Saga of Erik the Red,[6]but numerous sagas, as well as some of the heroic poems (most notably theVlusp, The Insight of theVlva) contain sparseACCOUNTSof seidr-workers and their practices.

Like other northern Eurasian shamans, thevlvawas set apart from her wider society, both in a positive and a negative sense she was simultaneously exalted, sought-after, feared, and, in some instances, reviled.[7]However, thevlvais very reminiscent of theveleda, a seeress or prophetess who held a more clearly-defined and highly respected position amongst the Germanic tribes of the first several centuries CE.[8](Theveledawas also modeled on a goddess who, over the course of the centuries, became Freyja.) In either of these roles, the woman practitioner of these arts held a more or less dignified role among her people, even as the degree of her dignity varied considerably over time.

On the other hand, thesourcesare clear that, according to the societal norms of the Viking Age, seidr wasnt a fitting activity for men, to say the least. According to traditional Germanic gender constructs, it was extremely shameful and dishonorable for a man to adopt a female social or sexual role. A man who practiced seidr could expect to be labeledergi(Old Norse for unmanly) by his peers one of the gravest insults that could be hurled at a Norseman.[9]While there were probably several reasons for seidr being consideredergi, the greatest seems to have been the centrality of weaving, the paragon of the traditional femaleeconomicsphere, in seidr.[10]Still, this didnt stop numerous men from engaging in seidr, sometimes even as a profession. A few such men have had their deeds recorded in the sagas. The foremost among suchseimennwas, of course, none other than Odin himself and not even he escaped the charge of beingergi.[11][12]This taunt was nevertheless fraught with tense ambivalence; unmanly as seidr may have been seen as being, it was undeniably a source of incredible power perhaps the greatest power in the cosmos, given that it could change the course of destiny itself. Perhaps the sacrifice of social prestige for these abilities wasnt too bad of a bargain. After all, such men could look to the very ruler ofAsgardas an example and a patron.

If youve enjoyed this article and want to learn more about Norse mythology, I recommend picking up one of the books listed in this guide:The 10 Best Norse Mythology Books. And if youre particularly interested in theworldviewof the pre-Christian Norse and other Germanic peoples, you might want to take a look at my own book,The Love of Destiny: The Sacred and the Profane in Germanic Polytheism.

References:

[1]Orel, Vladimir. 2003. A Handbook of Germanic Etymology. p. 312.

[2]Heide, Eldar. 2006. Spinning Seir.InOld Norse Religion in Long-Term Perspectives:ORIGINS, Changes and Interactions.EDITEDby Anders Andrn, Kristina Jennbert, and Catharina Raudvere. p. 166.

[3]Ibid. p. 166-167.



[6]Eirks Saga Raua 4.

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