157 lines
6.8 KiB
Plaintext
157 lines
6.8 KiB
Plaintext
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In response to the several letters I received requesting a more
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complete bibliography of materials related to seidhr or Old Norse
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magic/shamanism, I am posting this list of the materials I have
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come in contact with that are pertinent. Articles which I have
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examined personally are annotated, below. Other articles are those
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which I have had recommended to me but which I haven't personally
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read yet.
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I hope that this list serves to provoke discussion of seidhr and
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the the experiences that others have had while exploring this
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spiritual/magical practice!
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::GUNNORA::
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GROUPS DEVELOPING SEIDHR TRADITIONS
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HRAFNIR, The Fellowship of the Spiral Path
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P.O. Box 5521
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Berkeley, CA 94705
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[I've written this group, but so far received no reply]
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SEIDHR
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Dumezil, Georges. From Myth to Fiction. Chicago: U of Chicago P.
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1973.
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[Brief discussion of seidhr in chapter 2.]
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Ellis-Davidson, Hilda Roderick. "Hostile Magic in the Icelandic
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Sagas." in The Witch Figure: Folklore Essays by a Group of
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Scholars Honouring the 75th Birthday of Katherine M. Briggs.
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ed. Venetia Newall. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1973. pp.
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20-41.
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[Excellent paper, as usual with this noted author. Ellis-
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Davidson reviews the saga materials dealing with seidhr,
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methods of magic-working and the shamanic/trance complex. In
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part examines information from Dag Stromback's seminal work
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on the topic.]
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Simpson, Jacqueline. "Olaf Tryggvason versus the Powers of
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Darkness," in The Witch Figure: Folklore Essays by a Group of
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Scholars Honouring the 75th Birthday of Katherine M. Briggs.
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ed. Venetia Newall. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1973. pp.
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165-187.
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[Discusses seidhr at the time of the Conversion to
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Christianity, especially the hositle Christian response to
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seidhr and its practitioners.]
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Stromback, Dag. Sejd: Textstudier i Nordisk Religionshistoria.
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Stockholm: Hugo Gebers Forlag. 1935.
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[This is the definitive work on seidhr. Unfortunately for most
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of us here in America, it is written in Swedish. I am in the
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process of laboriously translating the work, and so far am
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midway through the very long first chapter which is concerned
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with source criticism. The latter chapters are supposed to
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discuss seidhr and Lappish shamanism. If there is anyone out
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there who knows of a translation, or who is willing to
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translate this monograph into English, I would very much
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appreciate it if you would get in contact with me!]
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SEIDHR-RELATED TOPICS
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Adhalsteinsson, Jon Hnefill. Under the Cloak. Uppsala: Acta
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Universitatis Uppsaliensis. 1978.
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[The premise of this work is that Thorgeir Lawspeaker's
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deliberation beneath his cloak over the issue of the
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Conversion in Iceland was a shamanic ecstatic technique.
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Methods of ecstatic vision and analogues to this type of
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divinatory action are discussed.]
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Allen, W.E.D. The Poet and the Spae-Wife: An Attempt to Reconstruct
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Al-Ghazal's Embassy to the Vikings. London: Viking Society for
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Northern Research. 1960.
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[Interesting as it deals with a woman who ruled as queen over
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the Vikings of Ireland, practicing some sort of magic and
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prophesying from the very altar of a captured church in
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Clonmacnois.]
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Buchholz, Peter. "Shamanism - the Testimony of the Old Icelandic
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Literary Tradition." Mediaeval Scandinavia 4 (1971): 7-20.
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[Provides a very nice overview of the shamanic elements of
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magic presented in the sagas. This article is most useful if
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one is able to follow the long passages quoted from German
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authors in the original.]
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Grimm, Jacob. Teutonic Mythology. New York: Dover. ??
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[This is the classic work on "everything you ever wanted to
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know about Germanic religion/myth/folk practice." Of interest
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with regards to seidhr are I:13 (Goddesses), I:16 (Wise
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Women), III:34 (Magic) and III:35 (Superstition).]
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Hand, Wayland. "Witch Riding and Other Demonic Assault in American
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Folk Legend." in Probleme der Sagenforschung. ed. Lutz
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Rohrich. Frieburg im Breisgau: Deutsche
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Forschungsgemeinschaft. 1973. pp. 165-76.
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Hufford, David J. The Terror that Comes in the Night: an
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Experience-Cetered Study of Supernatural Assault Traditions.
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Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P. 1982.
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[Relevant as seidhr contained a strong thread of "hag-riding,
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witch-riding" or being "trampled by the nightmare." Examines
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evidence from the Appalachian regions and comparative data
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from other locations.]
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Jochens, Jenny. "Voluspa: Matrix of Norse Womanhood." JEGP 88:3
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(July 1989): 344-362.
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Karsten, Rafael. The Religion of the Samek: Ancient Beliefs and
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Cults of the Scandinavian and Finnish Lapps. Leiden,
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Netherlands: E.J. Brill. 1955.
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[Excellent work on the shamanic/ecstatic religions of the
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North. Important to the study of seidhr if the speculation
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that seidhr had its roots in Finnish and/or Lapplandic
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practices is correct.]
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Simpson, Jacqueline. "Some Scandinavian Sacrifices." Folklore (78
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(1967): 190-202.
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Steffenson, Jon. "Aspects of Life in iceland in the Heathen
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Period." Saga-Book of the Viking Soceity 17:2-3 (1967-8).
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[Contains (among other things) a very interesting discussion
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of the role of women in magic and religion.]
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Storms, Godfrid. Anglo-Saxon Magic. The Haugue: Martinus Nijhoff.
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1948.
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HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE VIKINGS
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One of the hallmarks of seidhr was that its very practice somehow
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was so strongly associated with the feminine that for a man to
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practice it conveyed upon him a perminant taint of "unmanliness."
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Even the Chief of the Gods, Odhinn Allfather, was not immune to
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taunts about his masculinity due to his having learned seidhr from
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Freyja. As a result, examination of materials related to these
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taunts may be helpful in understanding the historical framework in
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which seidhr was practiced.
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Markey, T. L. "Nordic Nidhvisur: an Instance of Ritual Inversion?"
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Studies in Medieval Culture 10 (1977): 75-85.
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[A very interesting discussion of the words used in Old Norse
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to describe homosexuality and the use of thee words as
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insults.]
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Sorenson, Preben M. The Unmanly Man: Concepts of Sexual DEfamation
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in Early Northern Society. trans. Joan Turville-Petre. Odense:
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Odense U.P. 1983.
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[A very thoughtful discussion of the concept of sexual insult
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and its relationship to law and the duel. This is currently
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still available from the publisher for about $25.00 U.S.]
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Strom, Folke. "Nid, Ergi and Old Norse Moral Attitude." The
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Dorothea Coke Memorial Lecture Delivered 10 May 1973 at
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Universary Colege, London. London: Viking Society for Northern
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Research. 1974.
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