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