Viking Warrior-Women existed?

You can watch the video about this subject in here: [Viking Warrior-Women]


As I’ve told you before, there are historical facts and then historical facts proven by sciences. There was always this idea of Viking women fighting alongside men; fearsome female warriors in poetry and in the sagas. For instance, we have the famous Freydís Eiríksdóttir, the daughter of Erik the Red. She appears in the Sagas of the Greenlanders as a fearsome warrior, with masculine physical features, and a lot of people died due to her schemes, and she even fought the North-American natives. But there were no certainties that she even existed. We have always heard about warrior women in the ancient Scandinavian societies, especially during the Viking Age, but the truth is, there were no palpable evidences that they were real, that the women in these societies were warriors or could be warriors, it’s like when you have an idea, you spread it so much that all of a sudden everyone is talking about it as if it were true and becomes a fact. But fortunately nowadays, and this is a recent discovery, there are physical evidences that viking warrior women really existed, all thanks to archaeology, physical anthropology and genetics. So now we can say with certainty that women in ancient Scandinavian societies could be warriors. 

Women were very active within ancient Scandinavian societies. For instance, unlike Iceland where men were more active in activities related to witchcraft, especially Galdr, in mainland Scandinavia, Seidr – witchcraft, rune-magic, divination and so on – was the province of women.  Women also took care of the household and the farmstead when men were away raiding, they could even get divorced, and if their husband was killed they could take their sit in the Thing (the assembly of the community), having a very active role in politics. But when there were kids to take care of, their mothers were in charge of teaching them the arts of war. Mothers would teach their kids how to use the bow and arrow, the shield, sword, axe and spear - so women knew the Scandinavian medieval martial arts. With this knowledge in fighting and using weapons, why not try their luck like men? I’m sure taking care of the farmstead was a dull business, being at the assembly probably quite boring, so why not explore the world, discover new places, meet new people and kill them and rob them of their properties? 

Archaeological evidences of warrior graves are numerous, especially during the Viking Age period of Northern Europe. And in the Viking town of Birka, in nowadays Sweden, was the key centre of trading between the 8th and 10th centuries. There is a great number of graves distributed over large burial grounds encircling the town area. Of course, graves not only for warriors but other town's folk, but there is a specific area just for the garrison of this town, and in this area were found the deceased warriors. The graves in this area contained all manner of objects linked to the activities of warriors. The grave goods included swords, axes, spears, armour-piercing arrows, battle knifes, shields, well . . . the complete equipment of professional warriors. Some graves even had horses, and horses already indicate high-ranking officers. One of these high-ranking officers was a woman, scientists came to the conclusion after osteological and genetic tests. 

Now the question is, do weapons found in graves necessarily determine a warrior? There is a variety of archaeological findings of viking-women buried with weapons and they weren't 
necessarily warriors. But this one not only had all the equipment a warrior needs, also had horses. Two horses, as I've said. Horses weren't easy to come by, and it was extremely expensive to own one horse, let alone two. Horses were also chosen to be the sacrificed animals when it came to funerary rituals for someone of great importance, extreme importance really. But that depends on the context. In this context, these two horses show us that they were worthy of an individual with responsibilities concerning strategy and battle tactics. Of course there is the Oseberg ship case, where two women were buried with a great number of horses, but on that context we are in the presence of something completely different and unique, which I would love to talk about on another video someday.  

And now you ask, what about signs of trauma in the skeleton which indicate that the individual was a warrior? Well I must say that the skeletal remains of this female warrior did not exhibit signs of trauma. But weapon-related wounds are not that common, actually, during the Viking Age, traces of violent trauma are more common in mass burials, so it's more likely to find graves for a single warrior with little or no traces of trauma, and not every weapon hits the bones and leaves a mark, we have to take in mind that there is a lot of flesh and muscle to slice and people can die from it. 

Well, this goes beyond my professional knowledge, as an archaeologist I know a bit of theoretical physical anthropology and a tiny bit of genetics, but that work is left to the scientists who really know about this stuff, and they say this skeleton belonged to a woman and we can be certain it did. Now, is this the only female warrior of the ancient Scandinavian society? Of course not. Till now the idea was that men were the warriors and no one really went to the trouble of properly study the osteological remains to see the gender. This woman was not only a warrior, but a highranking officer, so if women could have such a high statues in the military field, certainly they could be warriors. In conclusion, female Viking warriors were part of a society that dominated from the 8th to the 10th century of northern Europe and now with certainty we can say that women were full members of this society, being very active in every field. 

The Autumn Equinox

You can watch the video about this subject in here: [The Autumn Equinox]


The equinoxes are somewhat times of equilibrium, day and night are matched. After an entire year of hard labour, not just when we speak of agriculture, but also in a kind of spiritual development, the autumn equinox is the time of repose, even in nature when the days become shorter and nights are longer. The autumn equinox marks the completion of the harvest, the waning powers of the sun, a farewell to summer and making preparations for the coming darkness. But let’s start with the Mabon celebration and then the Haustablót or FallFest. 

Mabon is often the term referring to the celebration of the autumn equinox, and to know why this name was adopted for this particular date of the year, we must understand its meaning and where it came from. The name "Mabon" was introduced by the neo-pagan religious movements and in the seasonal list of celebrations of the year. This name comes from the god of hunting "Mabon ap Modron", or in other words, Mabon son of Modron, a deity from the Welsh mythology. Mabon means “Divine Son” and he is the personification of youth. This god was kidnapped, three days after he was born, and was taken to Annwn, which is the other world, the world of the spirits and of eternal youth. We see a union here with youth and death, the beginning of life meeting the end of all things, decay, death itself, and this union is somewhat the personification of this season, letting go summer, youth, rejuvenation, light, and accept the very opposite of that which nature shows us almost in a poetic way, winter, cold, decaying of the soils and put a stop in life. 

So Mabon is the celebration of the year when the days start to grow shorter and the nights and darkness will prevail till the winter time comes. A preparation for the harsh winter, when the crops come to an end, and when people start to gather food to survive the long dark and cold days of winter. It is also a time to burn the soil and the fields where the crops were, in order to fertilize the land that will be covered by frost and snow, and at the spring time nature will do its work, and the land is ready to be planted again. The main celebration during this time consists in the need to share what the earth has given to us throughout the year, during the harvesting cycle, the fruits of the earth are shared with the community in a sort of ceremony to secure the blessings of the gods during the coming winter months. There is a similar Northern pagan Tradition at this time, called the Haust blót or Haustablót, and let’s talk about that so you can better understand the true purpose of this celebrations and enter in the pagan spirit of the season. 


I often talk about blóts, but what exactly is a Blót? I’m afraid I’ve never share that knowledge with you, so I will take this opportunity to do so. Blót was Norse pagan sacrifice to the Norse gods and the spirits of the land. The sacrifice often took the form of a sacramental meal or feast. Related religious practices were performed by other Germanic peoples. This celebration wasn't made just by the norse/germanic peoples, but also throughout Europe, the celts, and latins did it, in their own traditions. Animals and even people (mostly prisoners of war) were sacrificed. The word Blót means "to worship with sacrifice", and in this type of celebration/ritual/ceremony, the people gave their offerings, such as mead, food, animals, 
personal objects, all to the Gods and in turn people expected the Gods to give them gifts back, they asked for fertility, good health, a good life and peace and harmony between people and Nature. 

Now that you know what a Blót is, I will tell you what the Haustablot is, this specific blót in this time of the year, between the 21st and 24th of September. This is the autumn equinox, such as the Celtic Mabon, it is a time to celebrate the harvest of the crops and it's ending, it is also a time to thank and to meditate, the celebration is made with the food and drink that is made with the Corn and wheat, and also to celebrate with cakes, cookies, mead, bread, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and so on. 
It isn’t just a time to thank to yourself, your family and the Gods, for all the hard work, blessings and mutual help among the community, but also a time to thank and praise the Landvættir, who are the spirits of the land, and they protect and promote the flourishing of specific places where they live, which can be as small as a rock or a corner of a field, or as large as a section of a country. It’s important to take note that when people worship or pray to the Landvættir, or to the gods in general for that matter, people are perfectly conscious that the Landvættir or the gods will not solve anything for them, they will solve things WITH them. The Landvættir and the gods manifest themselves through us and infuse us with the power we need to do the things we must, to perform our tasks, so people didn’t ask for, let’s say, give me money, make my fields productive, clean the house for me, no, people asked for the power, the will, motivation to do things for themselves, just a little push to be successful in their hard work. 

In the Northern pagan Traditions, there was a celebration held in this time of the year, at the beginning of the autumn equinox, it’s called Haust blót, or the Autumn Sacrifice, and it is still held today by the neo-pagans who worship the gods from the Norse pantheon. As the season indicates, this is the time when the days grow shorter and darkness prevails until the winter time comes to an end. The last crops are coming to an end also, people start to gather their food and store it to survive the long and harsh winters of Northern Europe. Now, we can try to understand the pagan mind of our ancestors by looking at the natural world itself and how that influenced them. This was also a time to make festivities around the fire and praise, in a way, the Fire Element, because the world itself would take its colours, the fields are veiled by a cloth in tones of fire, dark yellow, red and oranges, the skies at dusk emit a red light that resembles blood, a warning that the days ahead will be hard, the forests and the mountains become silent, most animals also store food and hide in holes or inside old trees, others will hibernate, ravens will go to and fro, from place to place, in search of those who did not survived the hazards of the season and the harsh weather, so this is a time where everything becomes more magical and mysterious, but also the beginning of the trials that are in store for us, the ability to survive and prevail, in a way, a sort of battle between Man and nature, it’s exiting, because we humans love to be challenged, and during winter we are being challenged by the gods themselves, who manifest their powers through nature, and it’s a great honour to accept such a challenge and better still to be victorious at the end, it gives a certain feeling of being worthy.  

This is the time to pray and to thank the Landvaettir, the spirits of nature, of the soils and the land, to pray to the ancestors who still look over their decedents and protect them, and in some 
way still work the soils to provide better crops, so the family can survive in prosperity, happiness and wealth. People also prayed to the elves, who work along with the land spirits, to maintain the land fertile and the soils rich. People also pray to the God Freyr and to Freyja, the Gods of fertility, because the land itself also needs fertility, it needs to be prepared to be planted again, with new seeds, when the winter comes to an end. 

With hard work, perseverance, patience and love the land gives us so much, enough to survive and live with health, and a gift always calls for a gift, so we in turn must give something to the land, a personal object, or food, the mead that is passed amongst the folk in the drinking horn, will be poured into the land, so our ancestors and the gods, may also drink with us, giving to them what we can create with the things the earth gives us. People dance and sing, tales of old are told, to remember the deeds of our ancestors, and so we might find inspiration and strength. 

The Runes: Uruz ᚢ

Alright dear friends, the next rune is here: Uruz. Its basic meaning, the mythology connected to it, its upright and inverted meaning for divination purposes and a bit of information on binding runes with Uruz/Úr. Enjoy :) (Forgot to mention in the video, but  this rune is connected to the water element, even though it's primarely a rune connected to the male gender).

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The Runestaves

  
You can watch the video about this subject here: [The Runestaves]


To establish a context, I’ll start with the history behind the rune staves, but let’s not go that far back in time. To better understand the rune staves, we must understand the historical background of Iceland during the Middle-Ages, for that is the historical line I draw here because it was a time of great changes in the Scandinavian pagan mind. 

  Iceland was first settled in the latter decades of the 9th century, mainly by Norwegians and their Celtic thralls (slaves). These Norwegians came to this unpopulated island to seek political and religious freedom, running away from a monarch who was “hunting down” pagans – King Haraldr hárfagra (fair-hair). This king was still a pagan, but under the political influence of Christian Europe he set about to conquer Norway and bring it under a Christian-style monarchy. The new Icelanders set up a social order deeply rooted in their native heritage, so the land was ruled by local priest-chieftains, goðar (sing. goði). The Icelanders practiced the religion brought with them – their polytheistic Germanic heathenism – which is a religion that allows as much individual freedom as possible. Of course there were a number of Christians among the Celtic thralls brought to Iceland, and even some of their masters converted to the faith. The Icelanders originally tolerated such religious differences, but eventually Christianity was accepted as the official religion of Iceland due to a variety of social, economic and religious pressures of the Iceland’s foreign contacts who had all become Christians. The acceptance of Christianity by Icelanders was highly formalistic, so the old practices were maintained, in private, even though certain aspects were forbidden, in public. 

  The individual freedom of their native faith allowed Icelanders to compose works about certain aspects of their spirituality. In terms of magic, manuals were scarce in the beginning but there was still a lot of oral tradition and practices which survived within the families, and of course the Sagas and the poems. The written records we have of such magical practices were written during Iceland’s Catholic period; the social and religious realities were very much different, great changes had occurred, and obviously the mixture between paganism and Christianity greatly influenced the people who composed these works. Hard to say how far the reliability of such accounts go, but in terms of magic, and cultural aspects in general, the Catholic period in Iceland wasn’t that radical. Luckily, one of the traditional areas of Germanic magic survived in some parts of Scandinavia as late as the 19th century, and this area is “rune-magic”. 
   
  In pagan times the runic sorcerers/magicians, were well known and honoured members of the society. Traditionally these people were members of a social order interested in intellectual and/or spiritual pursuits. Now, the general technique of rune magic during pagan times consisted of 3 steps: 1) Carving the symbols in an object; 2) Colouring them with blood or dye; 3) Speaking a vocal formula over the staves to imbue them, load them, with magical power. We have several examples of this technique in Old Icelandic literature, this kind of magical work can be read in “För Skírnis” or “Skírnismál”, a poem in the Poetic Edda; we have an example there of a curse, for instance. Or in the Egil’s Saga, in order to detect poison in his drinking horn, Egill drew out his knife and stabbed the palm of his hand, he rubbed the blood in the horn which was carved with runes and changed an incantation. So the runes are symbols of power, but in order to awaken that power, one must give part of him – blood – life itself and probably all the ancestral history printed in the blood, all the knowledge of the ancestors, and also an incantation, giving breath to it, the breath of life, a sort of spiritual part of yourself and the 
uniqueness of your voice. Remember that Galdr is exactly that, the power of the voice, and in Norse mythology that was the gift Odin gave to mankind – the breath of life – and through sound powers are awaken, be that the power of suggestion, persuasion or invoking/summoning, hidden forces.  
   
  Of course during the Catholic period elements of the ancient native heritage and the new foreign religion were being syncretized. The pagan elements in magical tradition would naturally be diminished over time. Nevertheless, the old techniques must have continued in a way for many generations. Many features of the pagan tradition were kept alive for a long time, but then we start to see this magic changing when demonic entities and orthodox figures appear in spells. Of course there came a period in Iceland when magic was absolutely forbidden and written materials were destroyed, but a few books survived, remarkably, and it’s from those written sources we know about magical work in ancient Scandinavia. 

  Now, putting this historical introduction aside and let’s move on to the rune staves. We have all heard about magical symbols, objects, talismans at least once in the context of magic and ancient religious practices, such a subject is often heard, so now let's try to understand the runes as talismans, or placed in objects that might help in any kind of magical work. 

  In the Norse/Germanic traditional paganism, runic talismans for magical work are often constructed in the form of staves, which surprisingly, (or maybe not that surprising) this kind of work is also very similar with the magical practices using Ogham - the Celtic alphabet. The runes for spellcasting, or runestaves for magical work, usually are handled in series of three or more according with their influences. Most staves consist in either three of five runes, because it is easier to manage, anything longer than this can be very confusing, not just to the person who is using the runestaves, but also for the powers a person is working with. Things are normally kept as simple as possible. Before someone chooses the runes, they must know if the talisman they are about to create is a permanent charm or if it is intended to have a finite effect. This is something that people had to ponder deeply before creating such a talisman, because the purpose of these talismans are to create an event or to attract something to the person or to any one that owns the talisman, after the event occurs, the spell is done and the talisman has no further purpose, and as such, the talisman must be removed from this world, burnt or destroyed in any way, according to the Norse traditional magical practices. So this is why the majority of the runestaves were created in either parchment or wood, to easily destroy them. 

  It's interesting to see that those who had such practices had a very conscious view about the subject itself. In the sources and also what comes from oral tradition and folk accounts, people couldn't expect, sitting at home, for the effects of the magic they performed to happen simply because there was magic at work. There was an understanding that things don't magically happen, so there was this idea that the runestaves, and even bindrunes or any other kind of magical work, helped to create or attract an event in someone's life, and everything in this world to be attracted to something must be near it or have any kind of contact with it, like a magnet attracts iron, so if people created a talisman to find a job, for example, they needed to go out 
there, search for a job, to take physical action, and the talisman will help its owner, it will help in attracting that event into that person's life.  

  One tricky aspect about runestaves is that when someone creates them, they have to make sense, the sense that expresses the intention regardless of the direction the runes are read - left to right or backwards. 

  So, as you can see, in the old northern European societies, it was common to use runic symbols and combinations of runes for different magical purposes. Most of the symbols and spells used in the incantations of the bidding of runes, appear to have been for the use of simple daily problems in the life of the common folk, at least that's what was left not only in written sources but also archaeological evidences. For instance, we have many examples of talismans and runestaves for catching a thief or to overthrow an enemy. Surprisingly, the ones to catch thieves were very common and abundant, which might indicate a connection to the economical background of ancient Scandinavia, when people's wealth was measured in the quantity of cattle, and stealing cattle was fairly easy so there was probably a lot of thievery in these aspects. Anyway, other runestaves helped heal livestock, whilst others look at cursing the animals of another (again, the importance of cattle and the measurement of wealth). It was also common to create charms to help preserve food and ale, staves to bless the bearer with strength or courage, or symbols to help with fishing or prevent death by drowning. The bidding of runes, charms, staves and so on, were also commonly created to protect a person while in battle, to enhance the durability of a shield, the deadly strike of a weapon or the flexibility of a bow. 

  However, the people in the 17th century in Iceland faced more difficulties in agriculture, herding and hunting and fishing, rather than the troubles of war. With long dark winters, little arable lands for crops, and icy seas, life was unforgiving. Luck seemed to have an important role in that society, and the inhabitants would do what they could to influence their fortunes themselves. In times of famine, neighbours would be tempted to steal from each other, and disputes would often end in violence of course. Reputation and the ability to intimidate seems to have been an important factor in survival, and many staves were created to allow the bearer to do this or cast back negativity upon their perceived attacker. So this was the time when a lot of runestaves, talismans, magical symbols, were created for these specific troubles of this era - the 17th century. 
   
  The 17th century in Iceland was marked by an event, when Denmark established a trade monopoly over Iceland so that the island could no longer trade freely with whomever it pleased. This resulted in a time of economic hardship (1602). This was also an age when Christianity had great influence in the European societies. Witchcraft was still used by some but in secrecy, as folk remedies for instance. This was not like in the beginning when Norwegians settled in Iceland and there was a certain religious freedom; now things were different in terms of witchcraft, it was much more restricted, illegal even. The staves appeared to have been drawn by using the Norse runes and later mediaeval and renaissance occult symbols. They were at least influenced by later charms used on mainland Europe, as we have seen already, the period when paganism 
and Christianity were being syncretized. But during the 17th century in Iceland, it was a time when the Christian faith and the old Scandinavian faith was much more mixed together to create almost a new magical tradition, when compared to the early traditions. Icelandic society never forgot their past, their traditions, fortunately, so some charms that accompany certain staves mention the Old Norse gods such as Odin and Thor, whilst others mention Solomon, Jesus and Mary and other Judeo-Gnostic formulas. The system seems to be an interesting blend of old and new magical beliefs. During the periods of transition between religions, Odin was still appealed to or mentioned, but his role had shifted from being the All-father figure to that of a sorcerer. The Christian God had taken the place of the Father of men on earth, so the old gods started to be used for magical purposes, and Odin lost the connection with death, war and creation, and started to be the god associated with wisdom and witchcraft. 

  Folk magic went underground and its practices became hidden. Some records that still exist of the staves, and their uses and other magical practices by the Icelanders, were made by the courts during the trials of witches. Ironically, it is this act that has preserved some of the old customs to this day. Without being recorded, they would simply have been forgotten or would have died with their practitioners. But how well were they transcribed? It's very likely that the true knowledge of such magic has been completely forgotten. However, after so much time in secrecy, these magical practices returned. It was only in the last century that it became safer to explore the practices of folk magic throughout Europe. Whilst still frowned upon as superstition and nonsense, the Icelandic staves have seen a surge in popularity. Many of the staves are used in art and decorative wares, whilst some people have taken to having them tattooed onto their bodies. The Icelandic staves have evolved over the centuries, and while certainly incorporating Norse runes, they cannot be considered exclusively of "Viking" culture as they are influenced by other esoteric practices from mainland Europe and beyond. 

Walpurgis Night

Hello friends, this is my little contribution to the knowledge on the subject (and celebration) Walpurgis Night. Enjoy ^^

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