The Norse Sorceress: Mind and Materiality in the Viking World Hardcover – August 31, 2023

“…the book is a must-read for any scholar working on pre-Christian mythology, religion, and rituals in Scandinavia. Each thematic block is introduced by a contribution that helps to better classify and systematize the subsequent articles.” -Religious Studies ReviewOld Norse literature abounds with descriptions of magic acts that allow ritual specialists of various kinds to manipulate the world around them, see into the future or the distant past, change weather conditions, influence the outcomes of battles, and more. While magic practitioners are known under myriad terms, the most iconic of them is the völva. As the central figure of the famous mythological poem Völuspá (The Prophecy of the Völva), the völva commands both respect and fear. In non-mythological texts similar women are portrayed as crucial albeit somewhat peculiar members of society. Always veiled in mystery, the völur and their kind have captured the academic and popular imagination for centuries. Bringing together scholars from various disciplinary backgrounds, this volume provides new insights into the reality of magic and its agents in the Viking world, beyond the pages of medieval texts. It explores new trajectories for the study of past mentalities, beliefs, and rituals as well as the tools employed in these practices and the individuals who wielded them. In doing so, the volume engages with several topical issues of Viking Age research, including the complex entanglements of mind and materiality, the cultural attitudes to animals and the natural world, and the cultural constructions of gender and sexuality. By addressing these complex themes, it offers a nuanced image of the völva and related magic workers in their cultural context. It will appeal to a broad, diverse, and international audience, including experts in the field of Viking and Old Norse studies but also various non-professional history enthusiasts. The Norse Sorceress: Mind and Materiality in the Viking World is a key output of the project Tanken bag Tingene (Thoughts behind Things) conducted at the National Museum of Denmark from 2020 to 2023 and funded by the Krogager Foundation.Table of ContentsPart 1: Norse myths, rituals, and material cultureAn introduction to Old Norse religion(s) and magicThe theoretical and methodological framework: Researching the Viking mindGods and other supra-human entities: Communication and manipulation with the Otherworld(s)The völva’s ritual repertoire between magic and divinationBetween the material and immaterial: People, texts, and object-agencies in the Viking mindReligious objects in the Viking worldGender in the Viking worldFolklore as a resource on Old Nordic religion and belief: Folkloric perspectives on the völvaPart 2: Places and spaces: Rituals and their settingInside, outside and in-between: An overview of the spaces and places of Norse ritualsRituals in temples and other ‘holy buildings’Rituals in the hallRituals in domestic work and outbuildingsRituals in the open landscapeHoard depositions at elite sitesProcessions Funerary practicesOff with their heads: Ritualised executions and human sacrifices in the Viking worldWomen and sacrifice: Victims, catalysts, agents or orchestrators?Surely every live man fades among the dead:Fear and desire in the afterlife of Viking Age gravesPart 3: Animals in ritual practicesAnimals in Old Norse religion: An introductionBirds in Late Iron Age and Viking Period pre-Christian religions and iconographyHorses in Viking Age ritual actionDogs and wolvesSnakesThe workshops and themes of the Oseberg carvingsPart 4: Ritual specialistsRitual specialists in the Viking world: An introductionGender, prophecies, and magic: Ritual performances in Denmark before the Viking AgeFemale sacral leadership: An onomastic-archaeological perspectiveThe sexual ambiguity of seiðr performersThe archaeology of Viking Age ritual specialists: An introductionCase study 1: Fyrkat IVCase study 2: The Birka sorcerersCase study 3: KlintaCase study 4: GutdalenCase study 5: Gerdrup and Trekroner-GrydehøjPart 5: The sorcerer’s toolkitIntroducing the sorcerer’s toolkitMagic staffsAmulets and talismansCase study 1: Miniature chairsCase study 2: Miniature animalsCase study 3: Miniature weapons: Swords, spears, axes, shields, helmetsCase study 4: Wearing a banner: Cloak pins with miniature weather vanesCase study 5: Miniature wheelsCase study 6: Beads from völva graves and analogous hoards Nordic masking traditions and the völva Narcotics and make-up Read more