Secret Staves

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. For instance, for catching a thief or to overthrowing an enemy. Others helped heal livestock, whilst others look at cursing the animals of another. 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 an 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 finishing, 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. It was a very superstitious time.

As this was an age where Christianity had great influence in the European societies, witchcraft was still used by some but in secrecy, as folk remedies for example. Some practiced these arts more openly, sometimes charging for their services. By using the magical staves, a person felt that they were able to control and influence their predicament without direct confrontation.

The staves appeared to be 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. Some even appear to be influenced by kabbalistic symbols. During the 17th century in Iceland, it was a time where the christian faith and the old Scandinavian faith was mixed. Icelandic society never forgot their past, their roots and traditions, so some charms that accompany certain staves mention the old Norse gods such as Odin and Thor, whilst others mention Solomon and Christ. 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, with the Old Gods being pushed into the positions where they were only called upon by the superstitious or "evil magicians".

Between the 14th and 17th Centuries, it was common to hunted down and tried and punish witches for their sorcerous arts. In most cases these practitioners of the old ways were female. Interestingly enough, unlike mainland Europe, the majority of Icelandic witches that were executed were male; punished by being burned at the stake; women were usually drowned. Like so many other examples of hysteria and bitterness that peaked during such times of persecution, accusations of witchcraft seemed to be a powerful tool to be rid of enemies and improve one's own situation. One such tale suggests manic superstition, or possibly a personal vendetta against a family.

There is an interesting account that I would like to state:

In 1656 in the town of Kirkjuból (nowadays known as Ísafjörður), a pastor called Jón Magnússon was suffering from ill health and other misfortunes. He accused two members of his congregation of sorcery against him. The accused were father and son, both named Jón Jónsson, who sang in the church choir. After being interrogated, the father confessed to using magic against the pastor and having a book of magic in his possession. Jón Jónsson junior confessed to making the pastor ill, and of using Fretrúner against a girl. The latter was a stave that caused the subject to fart constantly. Far from being a joke, it was intended to humiliate and cause terrible abdominal discomfort. The pair were found guilty and were burned at the stake. Pastor Jón Magnússon was awarded all of the Jónsson's holdings, but later accused the daughter of Jón Jónsson senior (sister of Jón Jónsson junior) of witchcraft as his ills still continued. Thuridur Jónsdóttir stood trial and was found not guilty. She counter-sued the Pastor and won. As compensation, she was awarded the Pastor's belongings.

This account may have been an attempt for the pastor to get rid of that family and gain their wealth, but his intentions at the end left him with nothing. Unfortunately it led to the death of two innocent; were they really innocent at all? Some truths may never be known.

Well, back to the subject, folk magic went underground and its practices became hidden. Some records that exist of the staves, their uses and other magical practices of the Icelanders, were made by the courts during the trials of supposedly 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 magics has been completely forgotten.

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.


Note: You can read it in here, with much more detail on this subject --> [Link]

Witchcraft and Shamanism

When we hear about shamanism, we immediately think about the type of shamanism from Siberia, or the Americas, spirituality connected to tribal rituals and traditions. When speaking of European shamanism, we have no clue what it is, or at least the first thing that comes to mind, is the type of shamanism practiced in the northern countries of Europe. However, there is an tremendous body of evidence, in anthropological and historical literature, that the historical european.style witchcraft was in fact a form of shamanism practiced by the different cultures of Europe.

Lets make it clear first, the definition of “shaman” in use here is an anthropological one. As I have written before, "shaman" is a word that originates from the Tungus language of Siberia, and has been somewhat misapplied to the religious beliefs and practices of Native Americans (which are quite diverse, some are certainly shamanistic, others not so much). 
 The shaman, in this context, is a magical practitioner who works with the help of spirits, usually on behalf of or to the benefit of his or her community, by means of healing, divination, and such. 
Shamanic experiences all over the world share some general characteristics. In the form of a traumatic personal experience and/or a visitation by spirits, the formation of a strong bond between the shaman and one or more helping spirits, and a working relationship with those spirits, frequently characterized by ritual invocation and spirit flight or trance states to achieve specific goals.

The pre-christian practices of the European peoples, had these characteristics. All the way from the Iberian Peninsula, to the far East and up into the cold North, the peoples of Europe had their own ways to communicate with the spiritual world and the natural world, which in most of the cases (speaking in such spiritual practices) are two worlds strongly connected. With time and the constant invasions of different cultures in each country, these European practices have been lost. However, during the medieval ages, these practices were very much alive and we can find it in most books that talk about the medieval times. People during that time still practiced the spiritual ways of their ancestors, it lived on in the most rural parts of each country, and it was often thought that this happened, because the people in the rural areas hadn't much access to what was going on in the city, and because these people were less educated, they continue to practice the old ways. None of this is true. In spite of each country have had a lot of invasions and the cultures changed, because people had been killed in masses, and temples have been destroyed and such, each invador kept alive the inhabitants that worked the fields and took care of the animals, because they needed people to work for them, people who already knew how to deal with the land, turning them into slaves for new masters. Those people kept the old ways and so they were passed on from generation to generation. During the medieval ages, these spiritual practices were still being held, but the christian faith was spreading fast, and people were accused of witchcraft and most people were killed. The last places to have these practices until the late medieval ages, were the peoples from the East and the northernmost parts of Scandinavia, because it was hard to get there, hard to spread the christian faith into those places.

Because of the mass executions held during the medieval times, most of the information we have about this subject, comes from trial records and interrogations. The accused were subject to torture, it can be hard to sift truth from confabulation. 
Several point out that the folkloric material was not what the interrogators were interested in, and in fact was considered a distraction, subjects of interrogation would be pressed to describe a formulaic encounter with the Devil wherein they traded magical power for their immortal souls. Instead, accused witches often described encounters with fairies and the dead. This is consistent with what we know about fairy beliefs, that Elphame or the realm of the Fair Folk was also the realm of the dead. External evidence for the folkloric material, including beliefs about fairies and specific beliefs to do with spirit flight, doubles, and familiars, combined with the fact that interrogators actively discouraged it, lend a degree of confidence to the picture they paint of what medieval witches were up to.

Witches during these times, worked alone, or in groups (but most of the time, alone). They often had named spirit helpers who appeared to them frequently, these spirits might be in the form of a cat, rat, toad, bird, a human being, or a non-natural creature. They also encountered other figures, including the King and Queen of Elphame, who sometimes presided over gatherings and sometimes helped them directly. They described leaving their homes and flying or going forth in the forms of animals, generally a cat or hare, which is also frequently mentioned in shamanic practices. Their interactions with spirits, flying, and other seemingly fantastic or impossible activities are described as straightforward experiences. They also performed numerous acts of witchcraft, ranging from healing or other beneficial spells without distinction between what we would now consider herbal medicine and what we would think of as “magic.” This is consistent with books of “home physic” from that time period and later, which often include both an herbal concoction and an incantation in a single cure.

This is absolutely similar with the way that shamans from other cultures describe their experiences as well, but is so far from current Western ideas as to be feared as pathological. Another thing to take into consideration is that becoming a witch fully is something that you can neither inherit nor study nor buy, but only receive as the gift of an ongoing relationship with the spiritual world from other beings, such as it happens with shamans. One does not simple becomes a shaman just because he/she wants it, a person becomes a shaman because it was chosen by beings, spirits, gods and so on, something out of the person's control. That has profound implications for how a witch seeking to be traditional will approach such things as training, teaching, and joining an initiatory lineage.

The Icelandic Necromancer

In old Iceland there was a method used by the sorcerers to get money, a bit.. disturbing and gruesome..
The Icelandic sorcerers used the Necropants, which are pants made of human skin.. well, the sorcerer would make an agreement with a person ( always a man ), then when this person died he could use his body for his own purposes, he would flayed the skin of the body in one piece from the waist down, after tanning the skin he would used it like a pair of pants. After all this trouble he stole a coin and placed it in the natural "purse" the cavity formed by the scrotum. S upposedly this attracted more coins, therefore the sorcerer became a wealthy man.
Before the time of his death came, the sorcerer had to pass the necropants to another person ( possibly another sorcerer ). He did this by having the new owner place his right leg in one side of the pants while the sorcerer still had his left leg in the other. In this way, the power of the pants would pass from one individual to another.

This whole story might seem somethign taken out from a horror movie or book, but the Museum of Witchcraft and Sorcery in Iceland has a pair of necropants on exhibit. They resemble the preserved skin of the bog bodies found in Denmark and Irland and it is believed that probably this kind of unusual thing might have its roots in very ancient times.

Magic Workers in Northern Paganism

Since childhood we have heard about those who work with magic, in stories, fairy tales, books, movies etc. about wizards, sorcerers, prophets and so on. In this post i will give you some examples and names that you might hear or read when searching for lore or academic material concerning the northern european traditional ways of magic, rune-reading, witchcraft and such, in this way you will get use to those names and you won't be lost when you encounter them.
Europeans have always been people really close to the magic arts, this may sound like something taken out from a fantasy book, but when i mean magic,  i am referring to those who practiced shamanism or any other form of tribal spirituality and divination, or those who worked with herbs and drugs in terms of healing the body or to induce trance. The first word one might hear or read a lot when searching for the Norse lore and people who practiced these things is the word "Völva" the name given to a prophetess, there are many women with such title in the lore, in the sagas especially in the Völuspá. Another word ( not so much heard ) is "Thul" the title used to for "wiseman" a sage or a bard, a person with the gift of singing and with the gift of words, a very eloquent person, who uses those gifts to tell or sing stories of truth, with morality and warnings, with wisdom and also a person who describes the lineage of kings and heroes, having great knowledge in the matter. The word Seiðr or Seidhr is a very common word to hear about, used to describe those who practice the old ways, the traditional shamanism of the northern peoples of Europe and in this field, women were the ones to prectice it, they were called seiðkona or spákona, there were also men who practiced it, but since seiðr was always closely associated with women and the female gender, men who were caught practicing these things could be outraged, insulted, reviled and even sentenced to death, but these men where called seiðmadhr or spámadhrmadhr. There is also a title for the wizard, those famous men filled with wisdom and knowledge in the magic arts, the title is "vitki". For those who read runes and are the rune masters, the title is "rúna-meistari" and also "galdra-meistari" or "galdra-kona" for a man or woman who uses spells. There are also those who deal with the black arts which are called "fjölkunning" and those who work with mysterious and sinister spirits and wights who are called "trollkjerring" however, these titles are not often used nor often seen in the lore.
The general term for magic in the old norse or the term refering to norse magic is "gand" this is the closest we can get, a term associated with magic workers, magical beings linked to the person who practices magic and also objects used for magic. The word for spell or song is "Galdr" this word may also be refering to items, objects to practice magic, since people had to use them to chant a spell, and this term is also used in such mater because spells were sung in a high voice, very much verbal.
So these are a few words you might encounter when studying the Norse lore and the old ways of spirituality.

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The Cult to Hecate - 13th of August

The Goddess Hecate, has been one of the most controversial deities within the framework of the pagan revival nowadays. With many variations over time, since Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, her cult is shrouded in mystery.

The most likely date for her festival will be around the first fortnight of the month of August, the first half of that month, most people tend to say, that this occurs at the 13th of August.

Hecate is the goddess of the night, of mystery, magic and the goddess of the doors between this world and the other, she is considered to be the patroness of those who practiced witchcraft,however in those times, there was no such thing as witches, or i might say, people playing around pretending to make spells. This is a goddess connected to the mediterranian peoples who practiced magic in natural ways, for people who were devoted to only a limited aspect of shamanism.

People used to make offerings to Hecate, in places were two paths would cross, an embodiment of the two routes, the two worlds, or to the two realities, with many torches, the festivities would begin.

Despite being a goddess of the night, the festivities in her honor, would begin at every morning in the days of the new moon. Many people think that goddesses like this one, are associated to the nights of full moon, but because these kind of goddesses are also the goddesses of mystery and such stuff, they are associated to the dark nights of the new moon.