#eyrbyggja saga

[gwydpolls]

Time Travel Question 24: Lost World Literature

[poeticnorth]

Wrote more things.

[broomsick]

As attested in the Landnámabók - The Book of Settlements, the Helgafell mountain (Snæfellsnes Peninsula, Iceland) was declared a holy site of Thórr by the very first man to settle in the area. Thórólfr Mostrarskegg, whose biography is detailed in the Eyrbyggja saga, had a shrine built to his God on the site. According to the Laxdæla saga, the hero Guðrún Ósvífrsdóttir was buried at the foot of the Helgafell mountain.

Folk tradition has it if one climbs the mountain without saying a word or looking back once, one will be granted three wishes.

“You can make three wishes at the top of the mountain if you follow these exact rules:

First, find the grave of Guðrún. It is north of the church and the cemetery.

Make sure that your mind is free of bad thoughts.

Make a cross over Guðrún´s grave with your right hand.

It is important that you climb the mountain with good thoughts.

Make sure that you are not dirty and that you have washed your face.

Do not talk at all on the way to the wishing place.

Do not look to the right or to the left – just look straight ahead.

Go into the small enclosure (maybe this was once a chapel of the monastery and they prayed from here. A part of the wall has been dated at 1184).

Face to the east. (The town of Stykkishólmur can be seen to the north).

When you make your wishes, they must be only for the good.

Make three wishes.”

Source

[saiyukiitaliaandinternational]

Monthly Minekura Christmas edition

Day 11 “Elf”

I know this might seem strange but the background is actually linked to the theme of 'elf' because that's Alden Valley, based on this photo that inspired me with the subject. Alden derives from Old English ælf ('elf') + denu ('valley'), thus meaning 'elf-valley'. I didn't want to use the Christmas version nor the Tolkien-based elves, and I couldn't find an equivalent in Chinese mythology. I prefer to stick with old traditions but it is complex and sometimes even confusing, so I preferred to use a place in England that was once associated with elves. Elves appear in some place names, though it is difficult to be sure how many of other words, including personal names, can appear similar to elf. The clearest English examples are Elveden ("elves' hill", Suffolk) and Elvendon ("elves' valley", Oxfordshire); other examples may be Eldon Hill ("Elves' hill", Derbyshire); and Alden Valley ("elves' valley", Lancashire). These seem to associate elves fairly consistently with woods and valleys. In Old English, elves are most often mentioned in medical texts which attest to the belief that elves might afflict humans and livestock with illnesses: apparently mostly sharp, internal pains and mental disorders. The most famous of the medical texts is the metrical charm Wið færstice ("against a stabbing pain"), from the tenth-century compilation Lacnunga, but most of the attestations are in the tenth-century Bald's Leechbook and Leechbook III. This tradition continues into later English-language traditions too.

Because of elves' association with illness, in the twentieth century, most scholars imagined that elves in the Anglo-Saxon tradition were small, invisible, demonic beings, causing illnesses with arrows. This was encouraged by the idea that "elf-shot" is depicted in the Eadwine Psalter, in an image which became well known in this connection. However, this is now thought to be a misunderstanding: the image proves to be a conventional illustration of God's arrows and Christian demons. Rather, twenty-first century scholarship suggests that Anglo-Saxon elves, like elves in Scandinavia or the Irish Aos Sí, were regarded as people. Keep in mind that like words for gods and men, the word elf is used in personal names where words for monsters and demons are not, so elves are people. In Old English, the plural ylfe (attested in Beowulf) is grammatically an ethnonym (a word for an ethnic group), suggesting that elves were seen as people.

Elves are known in Norse tradition, notably in Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, which talks about svartálfar, dökkálfar and ljósálfar, but these terms are attested only in the Prose Edda and texts based on and it is now agreed that they reflect traditions of dwarves, demons, and angels, partly showing Snorri's "paganisation" of a Christian cosmology learned from the Elucidarius, a popular digest of Christian thought (this is why I take with a grain of salt Prose Edda when I want to learn about Norse religion). I prefer to focus in Old Norse poetry, particularly the Elder Edda. Elves are frequently mentioned in the alliterating phrase Æsir ok Álfar ('Æsir and elves') and its variants. This was a well-established poetic formula, indicating a strong tradition of associating elves with the group of gods known as the Æsir, or even suggesting that the elves and Æsir were one and the same. There are other sources that talk about elves such as Sagas of Icelanders, Bishops' sagas, and contemporary sagas. In Kormáks saga there is the mention of álfablót ("elves' sacrifice"), and in Eyrbyggja saga we can find the existence of the euphemism ganga álfrek ('go to drive away the elves') for "going to the toilet".

Fun fact: by the end of the medieval period, elf was increasingly being supplanted by the French loan-word fairy. An example is Geoffrey Chaucer's satirical tale Sir Thopas, where the title character sets out in a quest for the "elf-queen", who dwells in the "countree of the Faerie".

I imagined Gojyo (I find him the best for these kind of works) being alone in this place, pondering about his life and letting thoughts roam freely before maybe elves try to steal them. Here you can see two versions, a black and white version which resemble a manga page and another one where Gojyo chromatically stands out. I was unsure which posting, so asked a dear friend of mine and she liked both and eventually I decided to post both. Gojyo's pose was partially inspired by the famous painting of Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog. Ok again sorry for long post.

Credits:

Saiyuki Reload Blast © Kazuya Minekura, Platinum Vision, 2017-present

[mirandamckenni1]

Why is Loki so Controversial? | Analyzing Loki's Myths Patreon: https://ift.tt/xeDCvEt Twitch: https://ift.tt/8erj13x Instagram: https://ift.tt/adBq8K7 Twitter: https://twitter.com/OceanKeltoi Intro Assets by: https://twitter.com/SYNJE_Grafx Discord: https://ift.tt/pMYcvWB Merch: https://ift.tt/4WPy2uh music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio Further Videos Hel: https://youtu.be/ktEdpreG2mg Fenrir: https://youtu.be/A0dNasvVewk Jormungandr: https://youtu.be/RnOrlpKDIyE The Werebear: https://youtu.be/-gah9gn0r8A Loki Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLax7iUZLpeuYdVyYpHISz2mEosQxu7rQN Do You Fear Death Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLax7iUZLpeuYfMDzf44tr2pXRDy3wP-tp Gods of Heathenry: https://youtu.be/Flb2a3W2V5A Hermodr: https://youtu.be/iU-gMUqiG5c Hodr: https://youtu.be/M6pPxdUgpTg Vali and Vidarr: https://youtu.be/od3YoVRcvRw Viking Soul: https://youtu.be/PmQb8qZk-qg Sif: https://youtu.be/PagTuagWhN4 Idunn: https://youtu.be/0sgLNVFZG9k Norse Afterlife: https://youtu.be/qKB1Gm3eV6Y Viking Heaven: https://youtu.be/_wJH33VrEPw Sol and Mani: https://youtu.be/e2YmvQUmeZ8 Njordr: https://youtu.be/6qDNTs3XG9o Freyr: https://youtu.be/N5norUmt7mE Thor in GoW: https://youtu.be/Jo3P_RbCZ3c Thor's Hammer: https://youtu.be/ck49KRxWZtQ Latent Christianity: https://youtu.be/ShvzwpsQL0c Original Latent Christianity vid: https://youtu.be/OvppWXJvPqA Further Reading - Loki in Scandinavian Mythology - Anna Birgitta Rooth - Loki and Sigyn - Lea Svendsen - Norse Myths That Shape the Way We Think - Carolyne Larrington - God in Flames, God in Fetters - Stephen Grundy - Our Troth: Volume 2: Heathen Gods - Ben Waggoner (3rd Edition) - Dictionary of Northern Mythology - Rudolf Simek - Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs - John Lindow - Murder and Vengeance Among the Gods: Baldr in Scandinavian Mythology - John Lindow - Myth and Religion of the North - EOG Turville-Petre - American Heathens - Jennifer Snook - The Pre-Christian Religions of the North: History and Structures - Jens Peter Schjødt, John Lindow, and Andrén Anders - The Poetic Edda - Edda - Snorri Sturluson - History of the Danes - Saxo Grammaticus - The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki - Eyrbyggja Saga - Gisli Sursson's Saga - The Saga of the Confederates - Njal's Saga 00:00 - Intro 00:21 - The Problem & Nature of Loki 04:00 - [The Positive Myths of Loki] 04:27 - The Blood Oath - Lokasenna 07:20 - Thor in a Wedding Dress - Þrymskviða 11:30 - Loki vs Logi - Gylfaginning 13:40 - Loki the Creator - Völuspá 17:55 - [The Negative Myths of Loki] 18:36 - Thor vs Geirrod - Skáldskaparmál, Þórsdrápa & Gesta Danorum 24:23 - Loki Hates Goats - Hymiskviða & Gylfaginning 26:16 - Baldr's Mistletoe Allergy - Baldrs draumar, Gylfaginning & Gesta Danorum 32:26 - Loki Talks Shit - Lokasenna 37:22 - Saxo's Bound Útgarða-Loki - Gesta Danorum 45:10 - Loki the Father of Monsters - Angrboða, Bera, and the Saga of King Rolf Kraki 49:00 - Ragnarok - Völuspá & Gylfaginning 54:12 - [The Grey Myths of Loki] 54:50 - Making Asgard Great Again - Gylfaginning 58:08 - You Otter Not Done That - Skáldskaparmál & Völsunga saga 01:01:25 - Sif's Bad Hair Day - Skáldskaparmál 01:04:51 - Curious Apples and Shifting Nuts - Skáldskaparmál 01:10:56 - The Character of Loki 01:18:07 - Lokeans & Modern Praxis via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4Tk_vBthJE

[antilethean]

looking through my copy of eyrbyggja saga from college like goddamn maybe I do wanna go to grad school

[aressida]

My entry: The True Legacy of my forebears - Unraveling some facts from myths. Pt 2. - Aressida. 20.9.24.

I was standing here, tracing the bloodlines from both my mother’s and father’s sides, uncovering the rich tapestry of my ancestry.

I first discovered my Viking roots last April, tracing them back to the 9th century. It all began with the legendary figures of Ragnar and Aslaug. From there, I found Ivar and his son, which led me to the beginnings of the Montgomery Clan.

My exploration took me further back to Olaf the White, a notable Viking leader known for his conquests in Ireland and the Hebrides, and his wife Aud, whose lineage ties into the saga of Norse exploration.

I eventually traced my ancestry all the way back to Ketil and Kari Fornjotur, a legendary figure said to be one of the first settlers in Iceland.

My roots run deep through Norwegian, Icelandic, Scottish, and Finnish lines, alongside connections to the Laxdaela Saga, Eyrbyggja Saga, Eirik the Red’s Saga, and Landnamabok, all of which are rich with tales of exploration, conflict, and the resilience of the Norse spirit.

When I think of Lagertha, like in the TV series Vikings, I see her as a prominent figure in the Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok. She is portrayed as a fierce shieldmaiden and devoted wife of Ragnar. I did adore her spirit. However, her historical existence is a matter of debate among scholars. While some suggest she may have been inspired by real women warriors from Viking culture, no concrete evidence confirms she was an actual person. So, while Lagertha embodies the indomitable spirit of Viking warriors, I cannot definitively claim she existed in history.

I am also diving deeper into Ivar, who frequently appears in The Tale of Ragnar's Sons and The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok. From what I have gathered, he is depicted as highly intelligent and strategic, compensating for any limitations he faced. I see how his saga reveals a complex character, highlighting his cunning, cruelty, and strong leadership in Viking warfare. Ivar was known for leading the Great Heathen Army in England, where he played a pivotal role in the Viking conquests. That’s what I know so far.

I also traced some of my bloodlines back to Cornwall, where the Cornish miners lived, and Devon, particularly tied to the early Celtic people and the Kingdom of Dumnonia.

Dumnonia is sometimes associated with Arthurian legend and ancient Celtic royalty, even linking to Switzerland. The history of Cornwall and Devon was shaped by their resistance to Anglo-Saxon invasions, the spread of Christianity, and connections to broader Celtic and Viking cultures.

On my maternal side, the legendary Vikings primarily focused their activities in Northumbria and East Anglia, while my paternal side appears rooted in the southwest of England, where Cornwall and Devon were not part of the main Norse-controlled territories. From what I have learned so far, it seems unlikely there were close familial ties between the Norse and Celts on both sides of my ancestry. Though they interacted through trade, raids, and cultural exchanges, their connections often leaned more toward adversarial or distant.

There are some genealogical roadblocks I am facing, and I am still searching for connections further back in my family line. This means I will need to explore more resources to uncover more information.

I only began discovering these connections earlier this year, and it is been a journey filled with chaos and determination to carve out the time for this exploration. Each new piece of history I uncover adds depth to my understanding of who I am and where I come from.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

-> next for pt.3 will be about the connections between the Nazis and the Freemasonry. (My great-grandfather was a master craft 33rd degree. Yikes!) <-

[the-crafty-hobbit]

Reading List for 2023:

The Poetic Edda - Translated by Carolyne Larrington

Eyrbyggja Saga

The Prose Edda Snorri Sturluson

Njal's Saga

Grettir's Saga

The Penguin Book of Norse Myths - Kevin Crossley-Holland

Anglo-Saxon Myths: The Struggle for the Seven Kingdoms - Brice Stratford

Ásatrú for Beginners: A Modern Heathen's Guide to the Ancient Northern Way - Mathias Nordvig

Rudiments of Runelore - Stephen Pollington

Stories from Saxo: The Other Norse Myths - Ian Cumpstey

The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England - Marc Morris

The Nibelungenlied

The Sagas of the Icelanders

[systlin]

You know what, SHOULD Thorodd have burned all Thorgunna’s fine linens after she died as she asked? Yes probably, but let’s be REAL here, Thorodd did what we all would have and quite frankly Thorgunna was being very unreasonable about the whole thing; some women worked HARD on those fine linens and you’re being very selfish to want them destroyed just ‘cause you can’t use them any longer, Thorgunna, and coming back as a ghost was just petty.

[rustulfr]

Norse Readalong - Week 1

This being the first saga I’ve read I was expecting to find the writing far more dry and/or dense than it was so far, which was a pleasant surprise! Granted most of my experience reading older writing is pretty limited and this is just the opening chapters, but still.

(Also, full disclosure, my ass is exhausted this week so this’ll be a brief one.)

A few people have already mentioned Thorolf’s description as a friend to Thor so I won’t go too into that beyond adding that it resonated with me in a really soft way. Absolutely no literature I’ve ever read before has talked about humans’ relationships with any god in that way, it really stopped me in my tracks. (Which I imagine mostly speaks to my upbringing in a western culturally christian country.) I was really glad that @obligate-rebel brought up the use of ástvinr in the original text, too, as that didn’t quite come across in the translation I’m reading and it was lovely to know. :>

I also wasn’t at all expecting the way that people tend to be introduced as family units rather than just individuals with unnamed family in the background. It makes a lot of sense that that’d be how it’s written, but again I hadn’t seen that before so it surprised me. I absolutely couldn’t keep track of it all (and I don’t think I’ll try to on this first read) but I really liked that emphasis on family relations.

[broomsick]

My personal thoughts on the temple of Thórr as described in the Eyrbyggja saga

This morning, I was elated to stumble upon a better, more detailed description of a temple of Thórr! It’s present in the fourth chapter of the Eyrbyggja saga and it’s at least a few paragraphs long. How lucky for me! Depending on the amount of credit we can give to the saga’s anonymous author, this can help us to better picture temples as they were built and used in Germanic pagan Scandinavia. There were a few fun observations I felt compelled to note down while reading the saga, and especially during this chapter. First, I’ll list my observations, and then I’ll provide you guys with the exerpts containing information on the temple and the holy area which surrounds it. (I’ll try not to make this post too long, after all, it’s pretty early in the morning and I don’t mean to be writing some university paper!)

Now, my first thought was that Thorolf Mostrarskegg (Most-Beard), the Norwegian who built said temple, chose where to first dock in Iceland in a very unconventional manner and I was quite fascinated by it! He’d torn down his temple to Thórr in Norway, so that he could re-build it once he’d reached Iceland. He cast overboard the pillars of his old temple’s high-seat (which were engraved with depictions of Thórr) and waited for them to reach land, deciding that he would build his temple where they drifted. 

An interesting aspect of the actual temple is a space that’s described as a “frith-place”. No explanation’s given on the exact shape or purpose of this room, but just by the name, we’re able to guess that this was a space where to nurture frith! Which is very interesting, because it would make it a designated space for believers to talk, share and simply have fun, even within the bounds of a sacred place. Though we might not have much information on this frith-place, I think these sorts of activities are a great way to honor Thórr! It would indeed be a great idea to have a room within the temple that’s meant for community building, casual conversations and such. 

cw // mention of blood

An aspect of Thorolf Mostrarskegg’s presence in Iceland which stuck with me is the rule of shedding no blood on what he’d named holy grounds (meaning: not only inside the temple but also in the surrounding area). Now, I should specify that this rule applied not to Thórr’s temple in particular but to the fell which Thorolf Mostrarskegg considered sacred, but at this point, the fell, the temple and the ness itself were part of the same holy area. In any case, this law which forbids Thorolf’s people from engaging in fights on sacred ground might ring a bell if you’ve done a bit of research on Yngvi-Freyr and his worship in history. Indeed, he’s come to be particularly associated with bloodshed ban, further consolidating his reputation as a peace God. It was said that fights and bloodshed were especially disagreeable to Yngvi-Freyr, which meant such displays of violence were entirely forbidden on his holy grounds. Weapons were even to be discarded before entering his temples. Still, the ban of fighting (spilling of human blood) was common to all places which were considered vé (from the word vígja, “to consecrate”). Vé were the holy places (enclosures, or shrines) where violence was entirely prohibited, and they could be dedicated to any deity. In fact, they gave their name to places such as Óðinsvé (Óðinn’s vé, today, Odense). If a vé’s rule of no bloodshed was broken, the person who’d broken it became outcast. This same type of law seems to apply on Thorolf Mostrarskegg’s Holy Fell.

The mention of the oath ring also gives credit to the Eyrbyggja saga’s description, since oath-rings were an important element of heathen temples. They were to be worn by the goði at all gatherings and upon them, men would make oaths during ceremonies, exactly as described in this saga and in the Landnámabók’s description of the pagan law-code implemented in Iceland. I personally know people who bought oath rings for their own practice: to us, contemporary pagans, they can be a symbol of dedication to one’s faith, as well as a material testimony of our honor. An oath made upon the ring one keeps on their altar, hörgr, or even on their arm is sacred.

I’d have more to say, especially concerning the blood-bowl, the county Thing, the so called “Gods’ nails” and the altar, but I’ll stop here for today, else I fear I’ll be making this most a little too long. Thank you all so much for reading!

“Thorolf Most-Beard made a great sacrifice, and asked of Thor his well-beloved friend whether he should make peace with the king, or get him gone from out the land and seek other fortunes. But the Word showed Thorolf to Iceland; and thereafter he got for himself a great ship meet for the main, and trimmed it for the Iceland-faring, and had with him his kindred and his household goods; and many friends of his betook themselves to faring with him. He pulled down the temple, and had with him most of the timbers which had been therein, and mould moreover from under the stall whereon Thor had sat. [ ... ]

Thereafter Thorolf sailed into the main sea, and had wind at will, and made land, and sailed south along and west about Reekness, and then fell the wind, and they saw that two big bights cut into the land.

Then Thorolf cast overboard the pillars of his high-seat, which had been in the temple, and on one of them was Thor carven; withal he spake over them, that there he would abide in Iceland, whereas Thor should let those pillars come a-land. [ ... ]

Thereafter they espied the land and found on the outermost point of a ness north of the bay that Thor was come a-land with the pillars. That was afterwards called Thorsness.

Thereafter Thorolf fared with fire through his land out from Staff-river in the west, and east to that river which is now called Thors-river, and settled his shipmates there. But he set up for himself a great house at Templewick which he called Templestead. There he let build a temple, and a mighty house it was. There was a door in the side-wall and nearer to one end thereof. Within the door stood the pillars of the high-seat, and nails were therein; they were called the Gods' nails. Therewithin was there a great frith-place. But off the inmost house was there another house, of that fashion whereof now is the choir of a church, and there stood a stall in the midst of the floor in the fashion of an altar, and thereon lay a ring without a join that weighed twenty ounces, and on that must men swear all oaths; and that ring must the chief have on his arm at all man-motes.

On the stall should also stand the blood-bowl, and therein the blood-rod was, like unto a sprinkler, and therewith should be sprinkled from the bowl that blood which is called "Hlaut", which was that kind of blood which flowed when those beasts were smitten who were sacrificed to the Gods. But round about the stall were the Gods arrayed in the Holy Place.

To that temple must all men pay toll, and be bound to follow the temple-priest in all farings even as now are the thingmen of chiefs. But the chief must uphold the temple at his own charges, so that it should not go to waste, and hold therein feasts of sacrifice.

Now Thorolf called that ness Thorsness which lieth between Swordfirth and Templewick; on the ness is a fell, and that fell Thorolf held in such worship that he laid down that no man unwashed should turn his eyes thither, and that nought should be done to death on the fell, either man or beast, until it went therefrom of its own will. That fell he called Holy Fell, and he trowed that thither he should fare when he died, and all his kindred from the ness. On the tongue of the ness whereas Thor had come a-land he made all dooms be held, and thereon he set up a county Thing.

And so holy a place that was, that he would nowise that men should defile the field with blood-shedding, and moreover none should go thither for their needs, but to that end was appointed a skerry called Dirtskerry.”

[norsereadalong]

Additional Readings for the Eager...and or, those with the Saga-Fever!

As we dig into the wonderfully fantastic saga that is Eyrbyggja Saga, I wanted to give readers the opportunity to look at discussions in Old Norse Scholarship that have buzzed with the themes and topics brought up by this saga! Politics, Gender, Magic, Law, the Restless Undead, Religion-Belief, and the construction of a saga itself! Below this cut you’ll find a regularly updated haphazard Bibliography separated into sections. 

Those entries with an * (asterisk) present are free and accessible online–I will be happy to send you a pdf of every other article/chapter if I have it, just DM me the particular article you want at @cousinnick and I will do my best to send it to you. If you have any suggestions to add to the list, I’d be happy to look into them! 

Old Norse Read-Along Bibliography: Eyrbyggja Saga

Íslendingasögur/Icelandic Family Sagas:

Andersson Theodore M. The Icelandic Family Saga: An Analytic Reading. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1967.

Andersson Theodore M. The Displacement of the Heroic Ideal in the Family Sagas. Speculum 45, 575—93, 1970.

Byock, Jesse. Medieval Iceland: Society, Sagas, and Power. Berkeley, 1988.

Hastrup, Kirsten. “Defining a Society: The Icelandic Free State Between Two Worlds.” Scandinavian Studies, vol. 56, no. 3, 1984, pp. 235–255.

Jonas Kristjansson. Eddas and Sagas: Iceland’s Medieval literature, trans. Peter Foote. Reykjavik: Hið Íslenska Bókmenntafélag, 1988.

Ian Miller, William. Emotions and the Sagas in Palsson, Gisli 9th ed. From Sagas to Society. Engield Lock: Hisarlik, 1992.

O’Donoghue, Heather. Old Norse-Icelandic Literature: A Short Introduction. Blackwell, 2004.

Vesteinn Olason. Dialogues with the Viking Age trans. Andrew Wawn. Reykjavik: Heimskringla, 1998.  

Vesteinn Olason. The Icelandic Saga as a Kind of Literature with Special Reference to its representation of Reality, in Learning and Understanding in the Old Norse World: Essays for MCR, ed. Quinn et al. Brepols, 2007.

Eyrbyggja Saga:

Chadwick, N. K. “Norse Ghosts (A Study in the Draugr and the Haugbúi).” Folklore 57.2 (1946): 50-65.

Kanerva, Kirsi. The Role of the Dead in Medieval Iceland: A Case Study of Eyrbyggja Saga. (2011).*

Sayers, William.  “The Alien and the Alienated as Unquiet Dead in the Sagas of the Icelanders.” Monster Theory: Reading Culture. ed. Jeffrey Jerome Cohen. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 1996.

Draugar/Revenants/Restless Undead:

Ármann Jakobsson. “Vampires and Watchmen: Categorizing the Mediaeval Icelandic Undead.”  Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 2011, Vol. 110.3., pp. 281-300.*

Ármann Jakobsson. The Troll inside You: Paranormal Activity in the Medieval North. Earth, Milky Way: Punctum Books, 2017.*

Ármann, Jakobsson. “The Fearless Vampire Killers: A Note about the Icelandic Draugr and Demonic Contamination in Grettis Saga.” Folklore, 2009, Vol. 120, no. 3, pp. 307-316.*

Ármann, Jakobsson. “The Taxonomy of the Non-Existent: Some Medieval Icelandic Concepts of the Paranormal.” Fabula, 2013, vol. 54, pp. 199-213. *

Ármann Jakobsson. “The Trollish Acts of Þorgrímr the Witch: The Meanings of Troll and Ergi in Medieval Iceland”. Saga-Book, 2008, Vol. 32, pp. 39-68.*

Chadwick, N. K. “Norse Ghosts (A Study in the Draugr and the Haugbúi).” Folklore 57.2 (1946): 50-65.

Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome. Monster Theory: Reading Culture. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota, 1996. Ebook Central.

Glauser, Jürg. „Supernatural Beings. 2. Draugr and Aptganga.“ In Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclepedia, Edited Phillip Pulsiano, pg. 623. New York: Garland, 1997.

Hartnell, Jack. Life and Death in the Middle Ages: Medieval Bodies. New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc, 2018.

Kanerva, Kirsi. The Role of the Dead in Medieval Iceland: A Case Study of Eyrbyggja Saga. 2011.*

Kanerva, Kirsi. “Having No Power to Return? Suicide and Posthumous Restlessness in Medieval Iceland.” Thantos, 2015, Vol. 4, pp. 57-79.*

Kanerva, Kirsi. “Restless Dead or Peaceful Cadavers? Preparations for Death and Afterlife in Medieval Iceland.” Dying Prepared in Medieval and Early Modern Northern Europe. ed. Anu Lahtinen and Mia Korpiola, Leiden: Brill, 2018.*

Kanerva, Kirsi & Koski, Kaarina. “Beings of Many Kinds—Introduction for the Theme Issue ‘Undead’”. Thantos, 2019, Vol. 8, pp. 3-28.*

Laurin, Dan. The Everlasting Dead: Similarities Between The Holy Saint and the Horrifying Draugr. Scandia, 2020. N. 3.*

Merkelbach, Rebecca. Monsters in Society: Alterity, Transgression, and the Use of the Past in Medieval Iceland. Kalamazoo, MI, 2019. The Northern Medieval World.

Sanders, Karin. Bodies in the Bog and the Archaeological Imagination. Chicago, Ill.; London: University of Chicago, 2009.

Sayers, William. “The Alien and the Alienated as Unquiet Dead in the Sagas of the Icelanders.” Monster Theory: Reading Culture. ed. Jeffrey Jerome Cohen. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 1996.

Gender and Sexuality:

Ármann Jakobsson. “Óðin as Mother; the Old Norse Deviant Patriarch.” Arkiv För Nordisk Filologi 126 (2011): 5-16.*

Clover, Carol. “The Politics of Scarcity: Notes on the Sex Ratio in Early Scandinavia.” Scandinavian Studies 60.2 (1988): 147-188.

Clover, Carol J. “Regardless of Sex: Men, Women, and Power in Early Northern Europe.” Speculum 68.2 (1993): 363-87.

Jesch, Judith. Women in the Viking Age. Woodbridge: Boydell P, 1991.

Jochens, Jenny. Old Norse Images of Women. Philadelphia: U Pennsylvania v, 1996.

Jóhanna Katrin Friðriksdóttir, ‘Women’s weapons a re-evaluation of magic in the Islendingasogur.’ Scandinavian Studies 81.4 (2009): pp. 409-28.

Laurin, Dan. But, What About the Men? Male Ritual Practices in the Icelandic Sagas. Kyngervi, 2020.*

Price, Neil. The Archaeology of Seiðr: Circumpolar Traditions in Viking Pre-Christian Religion. Brathair 4 (2), 2004: 109-126.*

Raffield, Ben, Neil Price, and Mark Collard. “Polygyny, Concubinage, and the Social Lives of Women in Viking-Age Scandinavia.” Viking and Medieval Scandinavia 13 (2017): 165-209.

Ström, Folke. Níđ, Ergi and Old Norse Moral Attitudes. London: Published for the College by the Viking Society for Northern Research, 1974. Print. The Dorothea Coke Memorial Lecture in Northern Studies; 1973.

Wallenstein, Frederik, The Burning of Rǫgnvaldr réttilbeini, (Nordic Academic Press, 2013).*  

Politics and Law:

Jesse Byock. Feud in the Icelandic Society. (Berkeley 1982).

Firth, Hugh. “Coercion, Vengeance, Feud and Accommodation: Homicide in Medieval Iceland.” Early Medieval Europe 20.2 (2012): 139-75.

Miller Ian. William. Choosing the Avenger: Some Aspects of the Bloodfued in Medieval Iceland and England, Law and History Review 1, 159-204.

Miller Ian. William. Law and Literature in Medieval Iceland. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1989.

Miller, William Ian. Bloodtaking and Peacemaking: Feud, Law, and Society in Saga Iceland. Chicago, Ill.; London: University of Chicago, 2005.

Fantasy:

Hume, Kathryn. Fantasy and Mimesis : Responses to Reality in Western Literature. London: Methuen, 1984.

Larrington, Carolyne. “The Psychology of Emotion and Study of the Medieval Period.” Early Medieval Europe, 2001, Vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 251-256.

Mundal, Else. The Treatment of the Supernatural and the Fantastic in Different Saga Genres. (2006)

Ross, Margaret. “Realism and the Fantastic in the Old Icelandic Sagas.” Scandinavian Studies 74.4 (2002): 443-54.

Todorov, Tzvetan. The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre. Cleveland: Press of Case Western Reserve U, 1973. Print. A Volume in the CWRU Press Translations.

Mythology/Vikings:

Clunies Ross, Margaret. Prolonged Echoes : Old Norse Myths in Medieval Northern Society. Odense: Odense UP, 1994. Print. Viking Collection. v. 7, V.10.

Hayward, John. The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings. London: Penguin, 1995.

Jesch, Judith. The Viking Diaspora. New York: Routledge, 2015.

Jones, Gwyn. A History of the Vikings. (OUP: 1968 rev. 1984)

Lindow, John. Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Price, Neil S. The Viking Way : Religion and War in Late Iron Age Scandinavia (2002).

Sawyer, Peter. The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings. (OUP, 1997)

Williams, Gareth, Peter Pentz, and Matthias Wemhoff. Vikings : Life and Legend. London, 2014.

Magic in Icelandic Family Sagas:

Ármann Jakobsson. ‘The Trollish Acts of Þorgrímr the Witch: The Meanings of troll and ergi in Medieval Iceland. Saga-Book of the Viking Society 32 (2008): 39-68.*

Davidson, H. R. Ellis. ‘Hostile Magic in the Icelandic Sagas’ in The Witch Figure, rd. Venetia Newall. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1973. 20-41.

Dillmann, Francois-Xavier. Les magiciens dans l'Islande ancienne. Uppsala: Kungl. Gustav Adolfs Akademien for svensk folkkultur, 2006.

Gísli Palsson. “The Name of the Witch: Sagas, Sorcery and Social Context.” Social Approaches to Viking Studies, ed. Ross Samson. Glasgow: Cruithne Press, 1991. 157-68.

Heide, Eldar. Spinning Seiðr. Old Norse Religion in long-Term Perspectives: Orgins, Changes and Interactions. (2006 Lund: Nordic Academic)

Jochens, Jenny. The Prophetess/Sorceress in Old Norse Images of Women. (1996)

Jolly, Karen. Definitions of Magic in Witchcraft an Magic in Europe: The Middle Ages. (2002)

Kieckhefer, Richard. Definitions of Magic in Magic in the Middle Ages. (1989)

Laurin, Dan. But, What About the Men? Male Ritual Practices in the Icelandic Sagas. Kyngervi, 2020.*

Lindow, John. ‘Supernatural Others and Ethnic Others: A Millennium of World View’ Scandinavian Studies 67.1 (1995): 8-31

Meylan, Nicolas. Magic and Discourse of Magic in the Old Norse Sagas of the Apostles in Viking and Medieval Scandinavia. (2011)

Miller, William Ian. ‘Dreams, Prophecy and Sorcery: Blaming the Secret Offender in Medieval Iceland’ Scandinavian Studies 58.2 (1986): 101-23

Mitchell, Stephen. Skirnismal and Nordic Charm Magic. (Turnhout: Brepols 2007)

Mitchell, Stephen. ‘Magic as Acquired Art and the Ethnographic Value of the Sagas’, Old Norse Myths, Literature and Society. Ed. Margaret Clunies Ross. Odense: UP Southern Denmark, 2003. 132-52. (attached).

Mitchell A. Stephen. Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages. (2011)

Morris, Katherine. Sorceress or Witch? The Image of Gender in Medieval Iceland and Northern Europe. (1991).

Price, Neil. The Archaeology of Seiðr: Circumpolar Traditions in Viking Pre-Christian Religion. Brathair 4 (2), 2004: 109-126.*

Raudvere, Catharina. Trolldomr in Early Medieval Scandinavia’, Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: The Middle Ages. London: Athlone v, 2002. 75-171.

Steven, Justice. Did the Middle Ages Believe in their Miracles? (2008)

Ward, Benedicta. Miracles and the Medieval Mind: Theory, Record and Event 1000—1215. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982.

[queenbeyondthewalll]

“Soon after the serious hauntings began. One night Thorir Wood-leg went outside when nature called and was on his way back to the door, but when he tried to go back inside, he saw that the dead shepherd was standing in front of the doorway. Thorir wanted to go in, but the shepherd certainly did not want him to. Then Thorir tried to get away, but the shepherd went after him and took hold of him and threw him back against the door. He was hurt, but managed to get back to his bed, black and blue all over. He became ill because of this, and died. He was buried there at the church. The shepherd and Thorir Wood-leg were always seen in each other’s company after that. As might be expected, this terrified everyone.

After Thorir’s death one of Thorodd’s farmhands became ill, and he lay in bed for three nights before dying. Then one after another died until six people had died altogether. It was coming up to Advent, although at that time it was not observed in Iceland. The store-room was so well stocked with dried fish that the door could not be closed. The pile went right up to the cross-beam and a ladder had to be used to get to the pile from above. Then things started to happen in the evenings. Just as people sat by the fire, they could hear dried fish being torn at in the store-room, but whenever they went to look, they could find nothing alive in there.”

— Eyrbyggja saga

[thorraborinn]

Good timezone! Hope you're doing well!

A thought occurred to me recently, whilst walking along the coast. In Heathen circles, be it Nordic or Saxon based Heathenry, there is very little to no discussion or mentions of any lore about the sea, aside from maybe a passing reference to Njord, Ægir, Rán, or even Nerthus. I find it odd that there's little/no discussion regarding any lore surrounding the sea since the pre-Christian Heathens, especially those from Scandinavia, were a seafaring people. Even with the ship burials, including the one found at Sutton Hoo in the UK, the sea and seafaring surely had some significance to the old Heathens.

So, my question is: Is there any lore, be it Norse or Saxon, regarding the sea or wights/spirits/gods/jotun/etc associated with the sea and/or seafaring?

By which I mean, beyond the scope of the figures I've listed above (though more lore about the first three would be nice since they don't seem to feature heavily, that I recall, in the Eddas).

Thank you for you time!

Yeah, modern heathens are, on the balance, less seafaring than our predecessors (obviously that isn't always the case) so it probably doesn’t get brought up that much, but there’s quite a lot of lore around the sea. For one thing there’s the gods you named, there’s also Ægir’s bynames which might be semi-independent figures, Hlér and Gymir, and also the nine daughters of Ægir and Rán: Himinglæva ‘sky-bright/clear’; Dúfa ‘wave’; Blóðughadda ‘bloody-hair’; Hefring (unclear, maybe derived from haf ‘sea’ or related to a type of whale, höfrungur); Uðr/Unnr ‘wave’; Hrǫnn ‘wave’; Bylgja ‘wave’; Bára ‘wave’; and Kólga ‘cold’. Of course, Miðgarðsormr is to be found in the ocean, hence why Thor went fishing for him, and furthermore Thor himself has associations with the ocean and was called on for protection while seafaring for example by Helgi inn magri, and there is even a reference to the hammer Mjölnir coming from the sea, not in a saga or mythology but an actual runic amulet, so probably a more reliable witness to pagan beliefs than other types of evidence. In Eyrbyggja saga (chapter 54 in the edition I’m looking at) some men who drowned show up to their own funeral, perpetually sopping wet, and it’s said that it’s a sign that Rán has given them a good welcome if they are permitted to attend their funeral. There’s a massive abundance that I wouldn’t be able to summarize if I tried so I’ll let that be enough evidence that it’s there, and point out that there is a book, Heathenry and the Sea by Dan Coultas that although I’m loath to recommend a book that apparently contains a prayer asking the gods to help you serve the British Empire, probably contains a much more thorough answer to this question than what I’m going to be able to give you.

I’ll just add that since she is my specialty, Gefjun is not an ocean goddess despite what a shocking number of scholars (including H.R. Ellis Davidson) all doing some kind of weird academic round robin, citing each other to avoid taking responsibility for making the claim themselves, say. This hinges on Gefjun having a completely non-etymological, superficial similarity to the Old English geofon and Old Saxon geban (both ‘ocean’). The ocean does, however, play an important role in her myth of the formation of Zealand/Sjælland. Some including myself also suspect (based on etymology, and the name’s appearance in a list of legendary sea-kings, landless viking kings) that Gylfi was some kind of aquatic jötunn before he was euhemerized into a human king but there’s not much to be said about that.

[dianasson]

The Uses of Blood

by Zeph Craven @dianaandpansson

A dear friend of mine, Marz (@HillbillyOracle on Tumblr) asked me about how blood has been used traditionally in witchcraft and magic and I decided to go all out with my response! Naturally, the traditions I’ll talk about here are from around Europe and European-derived cultures in the Americas, as these are the areas with which I have the most experience and feel qualified to speak about. Even this is limited by what has been written in English or Italian, which means I’m missing a lot of material! Of course, some of the following will be gory, bloody, or violent so please read with discretion (and TW: blood, animal abuse, violence). Many traditional uses of blood are inherently related to animal sacrifice or drawing blood from animals – I am not suggesting or condoning violence towards animals or people, only presenting the history and traditions as they have survived and as I best understand them.

The manners in which blood has been used in religion and mythology, or for magic and power, are both varied and continuous throughout European cultures. Some of these traditions have carried on, even if secluded to remote regions of Europe’s mountains, while others have truly fallen into obscurity. Witches, magicians, folklorists, classicists, and anyone who has seen a violent movie about cults will be familiar with a few topics covered here – if not in detail, then at least in dramatic atmosphere.

Sacrificial Blood The most common and widespread use of blood is as an offering to a spirit or deity. A simple and broad-sweeping discussion is best applied here; but I promise to not speak so generally in the following sections. Sacrificial blood is most often spilled from the neck of an animal – which is usually raised, treated, or traded in a sacred or special way. The animal might also be adorned with special ritual garbs, garlands, or ointments for the slaughter. While it is common in domestic and in secretive ceremony to offer up your own animal, in public or temple ritual the process of bringing the animal to the spirits and collecting its blood is almost always officiated by a priest or high-level initiate of some kind. This is a difficult and powerful act that must be overseen by someone trained in sacrifice, which is definitely practical to an extent – you have to know how to cut a throat – but I think the status of the officiant is mostly indicative of the intimacy and sanctity of such an offering. The moment of death is often celebrated by onlookers or participants, or else mourned as if their beloved were being slain. The blood may be spilled onto or into an altar or sacrificial pyre, or let flow into the water or soil at a sacred site such as a bog, hill, or field of repute. Frequently, the blood is collected instead. In many traditions, the blood of a sacrificed animal is sacred in itself – and the sacred is useful.

Sacrificial blood, being inherently hallowed, is an ancient and widespread tool for blessing. In fact, the English word “blessing” likely traces back to the word bledsian or ‘blood-sain’ (i.e. to hallow with blood). The blood gathered from a living sacrifice might be poured or sprinkled onto statues, walls, animals, or people. The sprinkling might be executed with a branch, rod, or sprig of a sacred herb. In chapter four of The Eyrbyggja Saga, the description of the temple notes that the bowl and rod used for sprinkling blood were kept on the altar-like stall in the center of all the god representations. Clearly, these tools were integral to the regular ceremonies of the temple.

Blood from a sacrificed animal is also a powerful, though complex, agent of purification. In ancient Greece, it was used to purify a shrine or temple 1  - frequently pig’s blood was applied as in Apollo’s case, while doves were common for Aphrodite, who abhorred swine. Purification with sacrificial blood would be accompanied by many rituals: supplications, prayers, offerings, and a disposal of the polluted remnants or lumata. It is important to note that not all blood was considered holy or ‘pure.’ In fact, the prime example of this kind of purification in Greece was almost a balancing of bloods: the sacrificial blood washed away the miasma or “pollution” of immoral bloodshed, such as murder. A murderer might suck out the blood of their victim and spit it forth repetitively to expiate the corruption of their crime. It wasn’t the physical blood of violence that needed cleansing, so much as the foul vengeful spirit of the person and the event, what we might now call ghosts and trauma. The animal’s lifeblood was sprinkled on the hands of the murderer where impure blood had shed, and then washed away. Some length of time (inconsistent through history and region) had to pass between the crime and the cleansing, and during that time the killer was somehow excluded from society. Though it is not difficult to make sense of this paradox, cleaning blood with blood was criticized even in the times of its practice. 2 In the previous example, the mechanics are only paradoxical if read hyper-literally. It is not as though any two insignificant bloods cancel each other out by contact; instead, it is something holy and potent that overpowers something wicked and polluted. Just as household cleaning agents must be engineered to bind to the dirt or oil they cleanse, there may also be some link between sacred blood attaching to dirty blood: the ‘like-affects-like’ principle making sacrifice a potent solution for this particular kind of miasma. There were epithets of deities that presided specifically over this ritual of purification and reintegration, called catharsis or κόθᾰρσῐς (kótharsis). According to Oxford Reference:

“The god who presided over purification from blood‐guilt was Zeus Katharsios, ‘Of purification’; this role derived from his general concern for the reintegration into society of displaced persons (cp. Zeus ‘Of suppliants’ and ‘Of strangers’). Apollo too could be seen as a ‘purifier of men's houses’ because his oracle at Delphi regularly gave advice on such matters.”

Violent bloodshed, childbirth, death, and corpses could all pollute a person or place with miasma, and sacrificial blood was only one tool of many for cleaning it away. Interestingly, the violent bloodshed of battle was less important and could simply be washed off. 3  With no greater significance is the trauma and poison of war-blood treated now. Later, on the outskirts of Greek cult-influences, menstrual blood was considered a pollutant that must be purified before entering temples – along with many other bodily fluids such as semen – yet menstrual fluids were rarely written of at all. 4 Some ‘scientific’ texts from this period suggest that menstruation is a form of purification itself, which could indicate why some might have considered the expulsed fluids impure. There are ancient Roman writers that speak of menstrual blood as a destructive force, in many ways that actually sound quite useful. However these are not the documentations of practices – rather products of solitary musings on agricultural metaphysics. These writers weren’t documenting, they were thinking ‘out-loud.’ Yet, it is not a far stretch to suppose that menstrual blood may have been considered a form of miasma in later Mediterranean sacred structures, especially looking at the modern practices of purification by sacrificial blood in some mountain communities of Georgia (Pshavi, Xevsuri, and Svaneti), which have strict taboos around menstruation in ritual structure, village composition, and social functions such as hunting. 5 These areas of Georgia were not once so distant from the cultures of the Greek empire, Colchis being a notable region of these mountains where the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece took place. In this story, Colchis is the kingdom of the infamous sorcerer Aeëtes and his daughter Medea, the witch, for whom Circe herself performed a purification of miasma by pig’s blood with prayers to Zeus of Suppliants. 6 The Kartvelian societies, in modern-day Georgia, were conquered in succession by Persia, Greece, and Rome. Where these rituals have survived (though some have supposed they were reinvented) in Georgia, the ganatvla sacrifice is carried out by a priest in a space kept pure and guarded with taboo, in the presence of St. George, his female partner, and/or other “children of God” (xvtisšvilni). Healing and benediction are prayed for as the bovid’s life spills over the supplicant’s arms, and this good blood is thought to drive out bad blood and impurities. One of the primary impurities is menstrual blood, and menstruating people are made to leave the general border of the village and pass their cycle in designated huts on the outskirts of the community.

In Xevsureti, the purification of religious spaces with sacrificial blood is so vital that they have creatively managed to introduce blood on structures restricted to humans. There are certain buildings so pure that even the highest priests cannot go near them, yet they soak snowballs in blood from the sacrifice and launch them at the walls from afar in blessing. 7 However, impure blood, such as the blood of a cat, might be spilled to sever the link between community and divinity, as seen in the ballads of the Zurab Cycle.

Well into the 20th century, rural Ireland would have been familiar with the bleeding of geese, cockerels and hens, pigs, or goats (though geese were most popular) on the eve of Martinmas (Nov. 11th). The animal would be offered to St. Martin and its blood spilled and sprinkled around the household, with some variation county to county. It was almost always spilled at the doorstep or on the doorposts, but often sprinkled in the corners of the house or kitchen as well, and this pattern was mimicked in the stables. Crosses were sometimes made with the blood on the floor and on the foreheads of the family members. Once, it would have been common in some counties to soak up the blood with cotton. This object was then hung up in the rafters, or else pressed against the body to relieve pains. The whole ritual kept out sickness and danger for the year. The reasoning behind the sacrifice, as well as the choice in animal, shifted frequently – usually having some connection to how the saint was killed, or else being a specific sickly animal promised earlier to St. Martin in exchange for its continued health until Martin’s Eve. Though blood-pudding was a relatively common dish, there were frequently taboos about using this sacrificed blood for consumption. Many good examples of this celebration can be found in the Duchas National Folklore Archive. Dr. Billy Mag Fhloinn has argued that this Martinmas blood-sacrifice is a remnant of older Samhain traditions – as the shift to Gregorian calendar would put November 11th (modern) around October 30th in the Julian calendar. I hesitate to indulge this theory, as I do not see all pivotal rituals, games, and social functions transferring dates to match the contemporary calendric year except this singular rite, but Mag Fhloinn himself is hesitant and cautious enough. I think it highly plausible that this is a purely Irish-Catholic ceremony, incorporating rituals that inherently reveal the functions of the natural world according to older Irish world-views: in other words, that blood sacrifice as a means of purification and protection was not in contradiction with the sanctity of God and the Church. It just worked, so it kept on.

This is actually amazing, considering the contradiction of blood as a purifying agent (mentioned previously) was such a severe point for philosophers and theologians over a thousand years prior, though that ilk is by definition less concerned with what is practical. Blood sacrifice is inherently dramatic. Like orgies, infanticide, and cannibalism, Greeks and Romans eventually used the image of blood sacrifice as a polemic tool for propaganda against Pagans, Jewish communities, and more distant cultures. Most especially utilized was the image of far-off ‘barbarians’ sacrificing humans, a point that some Roman historians used to criticize their own history [read: chart their sophistication.] By the 3rd Century CE – things are getting a little Christian now – even animal blood sacrifice was brought into suspicion in the high seats of Roman imperial religion, scholarship, and governance. Pythagoreans and Platonists moved away from the older practical applications of purification as a directly effective ritual, bringing catharsis to a metaphysical, philosophical, and eventually psychological light. 8

Initiation by Blood Unspecific to tradition, there are some initiatory rituals that call on blood (be it from sacrificed animals, the initiate, or even divine blood) to be reborn. A striking example of this is the taurobolium: an initiation of priests into the cult of the goddess Cybele, who came from Asia Minor where she was worshiped for millennia under unknown names. Her oldest appearance is from around 6,000 BC in Phrygia, though the detailed descriptions of this ritual come from later Roman writers after her cult had travelled to that peninsula, where she was called Ma’tris Magnae (Great Mother) or Ma’tris Deum (Mother of Gods). 9 In English, she is often referred to as Magna Mater but I’ve always found that bothersome; I think if you’re going to use a Latinate name then use the real Latin name! If that’s too hard, just translate it and call her Great Mother. Her cult was perhaps most infamous for its priesthood of male eunuchs and its castrated-animal sacrifices – very threatening concepts to the imperial patriarchy.

The initiate would stand in a pit that had been covered by planks of wood, in which holes had been made, and a sacrificial bull would be lowered onto the planks. As the initiate covered his ribbon-crowned head with his toga, the bull was killed and its blood released by spear thrusts and tugs that widened the wounds. The initiate would emerge from the pit, unrecognizably drenched in hot, smelly blood. According to Prudentius, the blood was even expected to be let into the mouth, which strikes me as indicative that you are not only purging outside influences with the holiness of the sacrifice but also inner impurities and insufficiencies, making your whole self ready for service to the Great Goddess. Some accounts say a goat or ram might be killed in conjunction with the bull as a sacrifice to Ma’tris Magnae’s lover, Attis. Both animals would be castrated. 10

One brief example from the Greek Magical Papyri (Papyri Gracae Magicae, or PGM) describes a ritual of initiation into the mysteries of magic by drinking the blood of a white cockerel (or rooster) before jumping into the Nile. 11 Submersion into natural, especially sacred, bodies of water is common in initiation rituals throughout Europe and the Mediterranean, but this is a pretty unique application of cockerel blood. White and black cockerels are common fauna in Euro-centric magical recipes along with cats, goats and rams, owls, lapwings, and doves or pigeons. A white cockerel has the properties of a high masculine divinity, of an upper-worldly or celestial persuasion, and might therefore be used in magic for success, love, conquering, protection, or appealing to that same divinity. In this initiation ceremony, we might understand the consumption of its blood as integrating these properties to the self, alongside a purification and rebirth in the sacred river.

Jumping forward about 1,200 years, we see a very different use of blood in a very different kind of initiation. Isobel Gowdie gave a confession in 1662 to crimes of witchcraft near Auldearn, Scotland. She gave many vivid accounts of her illicit outings with the Devil, the fairies, and her coven. The following scene describes the renunciation of her baptism and the ritual of being re-baptized by the Devil:

“Margaret Brodie, in Aulderne, held me up to the Divell, until he re-baptised me, and marked me in the shoulder, and with his mouth sucked out my blood at that place, and spouted it in his hand, and sprinkling it upon my head and face, he said, ‘I baptize ye, Janet, to my self, in my own name!’”

Janet is the new name bestowed upon Isobel by the Devil here, her un-Christian name you could say. Her own blood is applied, in place of the baptismal water or oil. It is noteworthy that the blood is sucked into the Devil’s mouth before being used to anoint her, perhaps cycling it through his divinity and imbuing it with ‘unholiness.’ This initiation might be seen as necessary for a witch to work with the Devil. Since the Catholic ritual of baptism is a cleansing of sins and an exorcism of the Devil in its own right, it might prevent such ungodly powers working within a person. In this light, the consumption and sprinkling of Isobel’s blood may function as a re-administration of sin into her soul, thus severing her connection with God.

Another 277 years later, and an ocean away, we find a new kind of blood in the initiation of witches and magicians. There is blood to be found in folk stories of witches sacrificing animals (black cats and black cockerels) to the Devil for initiation and ensuing magic throughout the Appalachian and Ozark Mountains, yet the most fascinating example is neither a direct sacrifice nor an ingredient. A story from Wise County, Virginia recounts how a young man gained his powers. After eight mornings of rigorous ritual process:

“On the ninth morning, he took his gun and the silver bullet with him. He shot the bullet toward the sun as it came up over the ridge. They had told him that if the sun looked as if it were dripping blood as it came up, then he would be a witch.”

The ninth morning didn’t present him with all the required signs of confirmation, and it took him two full years to complete his initiation as a ‘conjure man.’ Shooting the sun follows many clearly chthonic and sacrilegious rituals, which might indicate that this is a metaphor of wounding God and denouncing him. The dripping blood is confirmation of the initiate’s power to stand against the Christian God, who was once frequently associated with solar imagery. This is truly speculative, yet if the symbolism holds in context, this would be an example of divine blood within initiatory divination. 12

Bloody Witchcraft Now that we’ve dipped our toes into early modern witchcraft, let’s go in deeper. When the image of the early modern witch is merged with the image of blood, one might first jump to the scenes of paranoia previously listed: orgies, infanticide, and cannibalism. Thanks to twelfth century theologians and sixteenth century Protestants, we can now add dramatic demonic sacrifice to that list. Despite the excitable and repetitive fanfare of the Witch Craze, there are many intriguing elements of blood-work in witchcraft to be examined besides the initiations discussed previously.

In late 1500s England, it was common knowledge that familiar spirits (i.e. beings provided to a witch or magician by the Devil, God, its previous owner, or the monarchy of Fairy to help with magic and mischief) might be fed with blood from the witch’s body. While milk, bread, or butter was the most common offering, blood remained a more fanatical portrayal for the popular culture of the courts and taverns. It was common knowledge that a witch might feed their familiar spirit with blood let from the mark left on them by the Devil, perhaps at initiation. 13

In continental Europe, examples abound of witches that feed on blood from quite ancient to very modern folklore. The definition of “witch” is blurred in this context: they might be incorporeal beings that can afflict, abduct, and loot not unlike the fairies, sucking the blood from men and babes in the night. 14 The witch may instead be your very tangible neighbor: unlikeable and affronting, who frequents Sabbats and wets their gullet with blood while feasting on infant corpses before dancing erotically for the Adversary. There is an association with witches and the creature strix (screecher), as blood-sucking entities 15 that find victims in the night. Through evolution or syncretism the strix became strigoi, and was related with vampyr, and vrykolakas: creatures of a sorcerous nature that thrive on human blood and remains. Incorporeal, animal, or humanoid witches might feed on blood for power and longevity. The latter might use it to attain those non-human shapes. Witches in the Balkans were said to use children’s blood as an ingredient in their transformative ointments and unguents 16  – though infant fat was far more common elsewhere on the continent, I doubt much effort would have been made to wash clean their diabolical cooking lard so we can bet on some blood in there too. In Scandinavian witch trials, there is an example of the blood and pelt of a cat being adorned to take on its very form. 17 For witches, blood is sustenance and life or it is a gory detail in scenes of taboo ceremony. If the story of any particular witch’s ritual incorporates elements of more Abrahamic magic, then its use of blood will align better with those covered in the grimoire section below. As Matteo Duni discusses throughout his book Under the Devil’s Spell, the intersection of witches and literate magicians in early modern Europe was broader than many suppose, and these folks talked and traded secrets quite a lot.

Blood as Medicine Blood has medicinal functions as well as diabolical. In older Euro-centric medical thought, our blood might carry forces within it that induce illness. The spiritual and the scientific were not so juxtaposed once, and it may have been a build-up of that hot, red humor or a malefic presence in the blood that caused a fever, high blood pressure, apoplexy, and/or headaches. The persistent cure was letting that excessive/bad blood out of the body: i.e. bloodletting.

Some cures prescribe blood as a magico-medical ingredient. In County Kerry, Ireland a swelling or injury in the leg could be cured by taking the blood from a cat’s ear and drawing a ring with it around the affected area. There was also a belief in some areas of the country that the blood of people in certain families could cure specific diseases, for example folks with the last name of Cahill could make symbols with the blood of their little finger and speak a prayer to cure someone of “wild-fire” disease. The blood of a black cat could cure the same affliction. In the Pennsylvania-Dutch magico-medical text Long Lost Friend, we find a cure for epilepsy in drinking the blood of a dove.

Blood in Divination A common form of divination in North and Central America is divination by egg, or oomancy. The egg is passed ritualistically over the patient’s body before being cracked into water. The signs that the floating whites and yolk make can be read to tell fortunes or diagnose problems. Any spots or streaks of blood in the mixture are considered an incredibly bad omen.

The shades of the dead around the ancient Mediterranean would feast on spilled blood, and the blood of all-black animals was an efficacious offering to them. In the Odyssey, most-likely written down in the 8th century BC, Circe gives Odysseus advice for consulting with the dead: in a particular cave, a trench was to be dug (a proper altar for underworldly spirits) into which libations of milk, honey, sweet wine, water and barley grain were made. Finally, sheep were led to the edge of the pit where Odysseus cut their throats and let the dark blood spill in, all the while making prayers to dwellers in the house of Hades. He stands with his sword between the pit of blood and the shades when they come, postponing their desire to feast on it and tantalizing them until he receives his intended counsel. Over 2,000 years later, this ritual of consorting with the dead has survived in the grimoire of Arthur Gauntlet, though understandably changed and with a subtly different interpretation on the means of summoning:

“Now these souls…are easily allured by the [body-] like vapours, liquors and savours. From hence it is that the souls of the dead are not called forth, without blood, or the putting of some part of the forsaken body & we perfume with fresh blood in the calling forth of Shadows, with the bones of the dead, and flesh, with Eggs, Milk, honey, Oil and the like which attribute a fit means for the souls to assume their bodies.” 18

Around the 1st century BC, Varro also mentions the pouring of blood into a divination bowl to draw the spirits of the deceased – who see much more than we – to the diviner. 19 Blood in Magic In magic, the main uses of blood draw on its continued association with its original host. An animal’s blood may be included in a spell because of that animal’s magical properties and associations. A person’s blood contains their essence and maintains a link with the target or the spell-caster respectively, which is manipulated through ritual. The connection with the source of blood, or perhaps the implied sacrifice, also gives power to writing magical words and symbols.

Personal effects are bodily fluids or trimmings that are included in spells to increase the power of the ritual. For example, a figure of a person made in wax or clay would have some power over the target just by being shaped and named for them. However, the inclusion of blood, hair, or nail clippings dramatically increases the efficacy of the magic. Even personal items, such as bits of clothing, are useful, though much more so if they’ve soaked up some of the target’s sweat. The blood of the spell-caster might be administered to their victim, disguised in food or drink, as a consistent method of forcing love and seduction. Sometimes the type of blood fed to a victim is unspecific: sometimes it is menstrual, and other times it is even an animal’s. Usually, the latter would be a dove or pigeon, which are associated with Venus.

Blood could also be used in undoing magic and breaking spells. In Hungary, 1730, a Mrs. Mihály Jóna presented a cure for the evil eye to her patient: the mother was to procure three drops of blood from the little finger of the person who “saw” her daughter (gave her the evil eye) and to drip it into her daughter’s eyes. This would relieve her of the illness that the evil eye caused. 20 In early modern England there was a rather specific belief that a witch sighting their own blood would have all their spells broken. This obviously led to some relatively violent attacks on suspected witches. Perhaps a callback to the previously discussed purification by sacrificial blood, a Devon cunning-woman named Agnes Hill performed this ritual to cure a woman of sickness by witchcraft:

“Hill then said we must kill the cock, and desired her mother to cut its throat, which she did with a razor. The cock was held over the new earthen pan, holding the fasting water [her mother’s urine] and the blood, which was mingled together, and then put over the fire to boil. Hill then cut open the cock, and took out its heart, and told her mother to stick seven new pins into it, likewise seven new needles, and nine blackthorn prickles. The ash wood was put on the fire under the pan, the heart was hung up to roast before the fire, and it was afterwards thrown into the fire, pins, needles, and all.” 21

Here the cockerel’s older associations with the sun, success, and conquering might be invoked to drive away the malefic influences of the witch. Perhaps the celestial masculine divinities of which it was once symbolic were even replaced by or subtly aligned with the Christian god of Agnes’ time in 19th century Devonshire.

The weightiest source of blood-use in magic comes from the grimoires of continental Europe, Iceland, and England. Sometimes, the application of specific animals’ blood seems to break from the overall patterns, and the text itself can seem to be sewn together from opposite ends of missing sentences. The way these tomes were passed on was often by hand-copying each word, and the transference of some very ancient rituals over the span of many hundreds of years has surely let some material and context fall into the cracks of history. Due to the overwhelming and obscure specificities of the material, these examples will be found predominantly in the post-script notes.

Properties of animals in folk magic and grimoire traditions directly correlate to the applications of their blood. To quote Agrippa, in a hyper-literal example, “It is also believed that the blood of a bear, if it be sucked out of her wound, doth increase strength of body, because that animal is the strongest creature.” 22 Every animal has some magical properties, but these associations definitely change over time and by location. There are very common animals, and persistent patterns, that allow parallels and conclusions to be drawn. In continental European and American folk magic for example a cat might represent a woman and a dog might stand for a man. Bits of those animals are used to affect their respective genders and provide a symbolic link to the magical targets. In the Balkans, blood of a dog and cat were sprinkled on the path between wandering husband and his paramour to cause dislike between them, which could be read differently as the essence of two animals that like to fight being used to cause discord. The color of the animals would have likely been relevant, but this is not included in the account. 23 In the continental and English grimoires there is usually an implied proper procedure for procuring blood from an animal – not just where to cut, but when, and accompanied by which exorcisms, etc. That blood was used in the consecration of sorcerous ritual tools; as an ingredient in or as itself a magical ink; combined into a perfume with herbs and other fleshy or mineral bits; mixed into oil to make a lamp; or anointed as a refreshing face-mask!

If the blood must come from the magician, it is almost always drawn from the little finger, or else it does not specify. The magician’s own blood is used for writing sacred words and incantations, mostly in love spells and cures – though in at least one instance for the conjuration of spirits with a more arcane intention. In Long Lost Friend there is a different sort of love administered, with the magician feeding a dog their blood to create an instant bond between the two.

However, Icelandic magic uses the magician’s blood drawn from specific and varied areas of the body such as certain toes or fingers, or the thigh. Blood would be traced into carved symbols and words on wood, bone, skin, or stone. One example is how the witch Þuríðr uses magic to defeat a great Icelandic hero, rubbing her blood into runes on a beached log while speaking a charm, and walking around it counter-clockwise. 24

Bloodstains Blood leaves a mark: that has always been said. Places of great bloodshed are sacred to the spirits of Mars in grimoire magic. They are also very feasible settings for raising the dead. However, the most famous and infamous bloodstains are a break from the previous sections; 25 they are not made from animals or mortals. When the blood of gods is spilled, there is a creation to it and a power to it. Jesus, Chronos, and Prometheus all had blood spill from them in torture or death. Whatever this blood touched was changed; adding colors to animals, plants, and minerals, or else creating powerful new flora that have great use to any magician. The spilling of the blood of Jesus is a pervasive and consistent image in magical charms and prayers of all sorts. It is his blood that is consumed in the wine of every communion ritual. In the Prose Edda, the gods of the Æsir and Vanir formed a peace treaty, and from the spittle of their treaty they created a man of pure wisdom named Kvasir, who entertains them and travels the world answering many riddles and questions. The dwarves, Fjalar and Galarr, who value little above what they can create and forge, pulled Kvasir aside, slitting his throat and draining his blood into vats of honey for making mead. This mead carried his wisdom, scholarliness, and poesy forever through his blood. It was once said that whoever had a genius for poetry had drunk from this mead. In 20th century Irish manuscripts from the Duchas archive, there are many entries about bloodstains from violent deaths where the ugliness of the crime was so wicked the blood refuses to be cleaned. There are also many stains on stones and churches from martyred priests that likewise never fade, in which we see a touch of the divine. The blood of the otherworld neighbors, the fairies, has also stained many a stone throughout Ireland’s counties, said to be the sign of a battle between the Good Neighbors. Whether it’s godhood, otherworldliness, or extreme violence, some blood doesn’t wash away – my sympathies to Lady Macbeth.

The way we look at blood in ritual has undergone many cycles of change and of repetition, traces of which can be seen in our current cultures. From practical applications, and cosmological ramifications, to a prop on a stage of fear, there are examples from literal thousands of years ago through to this past Sunday. Sacrifices and stains surround us, and we walk around with this potent fluid sloshing through our bodies, invisibly waiting to be tapped and put to use in casting enchantments or feeding our secret spirits. I hope this has been illuminating to you, in some degree, and I beg forgiveness for any major oversights or misinterpretations in this text. Be nice to your pets please. See post-script for endnotes, and for examples of blood in grimoire texts.

Examples from the Grimoires:

In no particular order, here are examples of blood in grimoire texts. Where unspecified, assume the blood is applied as ink. Enjoy.

From the Greater Key of Solomon: Book II – Many sorcerous tools are dipped in various bloods as part of their preparation. A ceremonial white-handled dagger is sanctified in blood of a gosling bird and the juice of a pimpernel and engraved before being wrapped in white silk. The famous black-handled knife used to strike fear in the heart of spirits should be dipped in blood of a black cat with juice of hemlock and engraved before being wrapped in black silk. The ritual sickle is dipped in blood of magpie and juice of mercury-herb. This text also has a procedure on the proper purifications, rituals, and prayers needed to take blood from a bat and other animals for use in magic. There are instructions for general animal sacrifice and it does specify that the animals should be virgins (yes in the sexual sense), and it includes words that should be said later when spilling the blood in Chapter XXII. Book I – The blood of a black hen is used on hare skin to prevent a hunter from his bounty. Blood and fat of a dead man are used in an oil lamp to reveal hidden treasure. For spells of trickery and deceit the ‘pen of art’ should be dipped in the blood of a bat previously procured in the correct manner for use. Pentacles – Blood of a screech owl in conjunction with a swallow pen is to be used for the Second Pentacle of Jupiter, and the blood of a bat in the Seventh Pentacle of Mars.

From the Black Pullet: The magician’s wand is stained with lamb’s blood in its creation and sanctification.

From Agrippa: Perfumes – Blood of a white cockerel for Sun perfume, goose blood for Moon, bat for Saturn, stork or swallow for Jupiter, blood of a man and of a black cat for Mars, pigeon (or dove) for Venus (boar’s blood in Arthur Gauntlet), and magpie for Mercury.

From the Sword of Moses: No.55 Uses your own blood as ink on an egg for a love spell and No.64 Uses your own blood as ink on both your doors for the same. How embarrassing!

From the 6th and 7th Books of Moses: Writing magical circles with the blood of young white doves for the inquisition and enslaving of spirits, and the blood of butterflies for writing the seals of the Seven Great Princes who are nature and treasure spirits.

8th Book of Moses: Baboons blood is used in a spell to send dreams to your target.

From the Lemegeton I: Goetia: Writing another seal for binding spirits with the blood of a black cockerel that has never mated with a hen.

From the Grimoirum Verum: Your own blood from your little (Mercurial) finger for writing the conjurations of spirits, the use of white pigeon (dove) blood to inscribe names of the Hebrew God on a mirror for divination, and To Make a Girl Dance in the Nude, which involves the blood of a bat on a blessed stone over which mass has been said. It is a very unpleasant spell: “She will undress and be completely naked, and will dance increasingly until death, if one does not remove the character; with grimaces and contortions which will cause more pity than desire.” Quite disturbing!

From Grimoire of Honorius: While creating a sacred lambskin to avoid perversion and corruption from the demons the magician will engage upon, the lamb is sacrificed, but the magician must make an effort not to spill the blood of the sacrificial lamb onto the earth. Perhaps this is an avoidance of old-pagan blood-sacrificial dirtiness, or avoidance of telluric impurity?  

From SLOANE MS 3824 (called the Book of Treasure Spirits by Rankine): The invocation symbol for the spirit Mamon is drawn in lapwing or black cat blood, and in discovering a treasure trove the blood of a black cockerel is used variously as ink.

From the Book of Gold: Psalm 43 can be written in bird’s blood to destroy an enemy, Psalm 59 in billy goat’s blood for releasing the bonds of your own actions, Psalm 60 in white cockerel blood to bring back your wife, Psalm 90 in dove blood to protect and embolden fearful children, and Psalm 103 is written in bat or black hen blood for a love spell. Psalm 136 should be drawn in menstrual blood to stop blood – the phrasing in the text implies this may be a charm to staunch menstrual bleeding specifically.

From the Grimoire of Arthur Gauntlet: Bat blood to make spent money return; dove blood in a protection spell; blood from the finger of the magician in a cure for the falling sickness; ant eggs and blood of a white hen anointed on face let you see wonders; blood of a lapwing, white owl, raven, mole, hen etc. (super-bloody-murder-bath) for finding and conversing with familiar spirits; bat’s blood onto an apple before it falls, given to eat as a love spell; cockerel and sparrow blood written on a candle to summon a woman to it; white pigeon blood on green silk to attain the love of all people; bleed a bat with glass or flint and write “J” and touch to target who shall follow you, this can be tested first on a dog; and the blood of a turtledove written as a charm on virgin parchment and sewn into a pouch to be worn for success in playing dice.

Book of Oberon: This is really drawn from many older texts, but just to give this book some light – the blood of a lapwing may be suffumigated with lignum aloes to produce visions of spirits. For shooting competitions there is a ritual that includes dipping the arrows in the blood of your left finger.

From Papyri Graecae Magicae: # IV 1928-2005 – Serpent blood ink for binding a restless dead spirit with Helios for love magic, the following entry uses blood of an ass, eel, and falcon similarly. #IV 2145-2240 – Uses the blood of someone who died violently mixed with myrrh resin on bay leaf for an oracular divination.

From the Galdrabók: No. 34 Is a love spell placing worm or serpent blood where the target will walk over it along with other charms. No.45 Requires blood drawn from the big toe and right hand of the magician, which should be smeared on the yarrow herb as well as the required staves, in a spell to uncover a thief. No. 46 Is the famous fart rune, for which blood should be drawn from the thigh. 47 Also requires blood from the big toe to create the Helm of Hiding.

From Kreddur: No.15 Discover a thief using blood from under the left-hand middle finger to draw the appropriate staves.

Endnotes:   1 Parker, Robert. Miasma: Pollution and Purification in Early Greek Religion. Oxford, Clarendon Press/Oxford University Press, 1986, pp. 27-30. 2 Ibid, p. 372. 3 Ibid, p. 114 4 Ibid, p. 101. 5 Tuite, Kevin. “Highland Georgian Paganism – Archaism or Innovation?” Annual for the Society of the Study of the Caucuses, Université de Montréal, 1996, pp. 284. Parker, Robert. Miasma: Pollution and Purification in Early Greek Religion. Oxford, Clarendon Press/Oxford University Press, 1986, p. 370 6 Tuite, Kevin. “Highland Georgian Paganism – Archaism or Innovation?” Annual for the Society of the Study of the Caucuses, Université de Montréal, 1996, p.6 7 Fraser, Kyle. “Roman Antiquity: the Imperial Period.” Cambridge History of Magic and Witchcraft in the West, edited by David J. Collins, S.J., Cambridge University Press, p.133. 8 The distinction between Pythagorean pagans and sorcerous polytheists is mentioned by Porphyry, in an analysis of blood/flesh sacrifice vs. ascetic and moral acts of devotion. 9 Turcan, Robert. The Cults of the Roman Empire. Oxford, Blackwell Publishers Ltd., 1996, p.28. 10 Ibid, p. 52. 11 The Greek Magical Papyri: In Translation. Edited by Hans Dieter Betz. University of Chicago Press, 1986, PGM IV. 26-51, pp. 37-38. 12 Combs, Josiah Henry. “Sympathetic Magic in the Kentucky Mountains: Some Curious Folk-Survivals.” The Journal of American Folklore, vol. 27, no. 105, 1914, p. 329.   13 Wilby, Emma. Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits. Chicago, Sussex Academic Press, 2013, pp. 82 & 109. Along with milk and bread by around In 1566, Joan Prentice let her familiar, Bid, suck blood from her cheek before bed. In 1582, Margery Sammon’s mother told her that the familiar the latter passed on must be given milk, if not they would suck her blood instead. 14 Scottish and Manx fairies, if not appeased by offerings of fresh water and bread, might drink your blood instead. 15 Perhaps screech owls or bats. 16 Vukanović, T.P. “Witchcraft in the Central Balkans I: Characteristics of Witches. Folklore, Vol.100, 1989, p. 12. 17 Willumsen, Liv Helene. “Children Accused of Witchcraft in 17th-Century Finnmark.” Scandinavian Journal of History, vol. 38, 2013, p. 27. 18 The Grimoire of Arthur Gauntlet, edited by David Rankine. Avalonia, 2011, p. 208. 19 Gordon, Richard. “Good to Think: Wolves and Wolf-Men in the Graeco-Roman World.” Werewolf Histories, edited by Willem de Blécourt, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, p. 45. 20 Kristóf, Ildikó Sz. “The Social Background of Witchcraft Accusations in Early Modern Debrecen and Bihar County.” Witchcraft and Demonology in Hungary and Transylvania, edited by Transylvania Gábor Klaniczay and Éva Pócs, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, p. 35. 21 Davies, Owen and Easton, Timothy. “Cunning Folk and the Production of Magical Artefacts.” Physical Evidence for Ritual Acts, Sorcery and Witchcraft in Christian Britain, edited by Ronald Hutton, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, p. 214. 22 Agrippa, Henry Cornelius. Three Books of Occult Philosophy or Magic, edited by Willis F. Whitehead, Hahn & Whitehead, 1898, p. 73. 23 Vukanović, T.P. “Witchcraft in the Central Balkans I: Characteristics of Witches. Folklore, Vol.100, 1989, p. 15. 24 Mitchell, Stephen A. Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011, p. 94. 25 Perhaps excepting the Appalachian witch’s ritual evidence discussed in the Initiation section. Image Credits (in order): Blood in water. source unknown (anyone know it?), accessed via google images Feb. 3rd 2020. Blood saining, from Beowulf and Grendell (2005), dir. Sturla Gunnarsson. accessed via Facebook, Feb. 1st 2020. Bainbridge, Alexander, 2015. Mindia toasts the memory of Iakshar after the sheep sacrifice, Beer and blood sacrifices: meet the Caucus pagans who worship ancient deities, Indipendent.co UK, accessed Feb. 1st 2020. Bleeding for St. Martin, posted in 2005 on Sligo Heritage, original source unknown, accessed Feb. 1st 2020. Taurobolium, or Consecration of the Priests of Cybele under Antoninus Pius (Detail).Engraving by Bernhard Rode (undated, ca. 1780). Accessed via Wikipedia Feb 3rd. 2020. Witches being baptized by the Devil, or Tiercement le confirme en cette opinion luy grauant de ses ongles le front pour d'illec tollir le Chresme & signe baptismal. (Fig. 5.). Woodcut. Accessed via Project Gutenberg Feb. 3rd 2020. Blood in wine glass, source unknown (again, anyone?), accessed via google images Feb. 1st 2020. Blood on hand, source unknown (again?), accessed via Giphy Feb. 3rd 2020. Crown of thorns, (possibly) @Doug21, 2007, on Flickr, accessed via Flickr Feb. 3rd 2020.

[welcometothewarren]

Eyrbyggja Saga Week 9

so thorgunna’s entire story is fuckin wild, huh?

i actually love the idea that thorgunna walking around the larder is a counterpoint to thorolf becoming a draugr.  her reinforcing the rules of hospitality and generosity in contrast with thorolf’s relative greed during his life is so interesting.  i love the otherness of thorgunna too - something about the way she enforces her very specific boundaries and her notably stiff mannerisms and speech is both endearing and relatable to me as an autistic person.  i have to confess i don’t actually know if the motif of a witch refusing to let anyone else touch their tools was commonly in use at the time but thorgunna and her rake seems like a fairly obvious and literal example of this.