Thread: Witchcraft and Seidr

Are they the same thing? Is seidr it's own practice? What would be the difference between it and Traditional Craft.

Hi Ula,

To my understanding, Seidr is a practice very similiar to traditional witchcraft. I found this quote by Edred Thorsson, an esteemed expert in the Norse tradition. (He's my 'go-to' guy for all things Norse). I think he can definitely shed some light on the subject for you. I can recommend some books by him if you if you are interested, as I have read quite a few and really enjoyed the Norse perspective and the similiarities between my tradition and theirs. Hope this helps you a little.

- "What is Seidhr and how is it connected to the idea of Magick? Now it is generally imagined that Seidhr is a kind of evil magic practiced by Norse shamans -- especially female ones. Indeed, Seidhr is an ancient form of magic practiced by the Scandinavian peoples at least since the Viking Age. Seidhr is generally connected with the Gods and Goddesses, called the Vanir, and especially with Freyja, whose name is really the title "Lady". Seidhr is also generally contrasted with another word for "magic" in the Northern tongue: Galdr. Seidhr is connected to the concept of "Chaos" in the sense that the theory upon which Seidhr works is very similar to that upon which Chaos Magic works. Both are based on a materialistic paradigm -- what Peter Carroll calls "Ether" and the ancient Germanic peoples called Ginnung, or Chaos."

Chaos and Nature. Figure it out.

Originally Posted by Blyss

I found this quote by Edred Thorsson, an esteemed expert in the Norse tradition. (He's my 'go-to' guy for all things Norse). I think he can definitely shed some light on the subject for you. I can recommend some books by him if you if you are interested, as I have read quite a few and really enjoyed the Norse perspective and the similarities between my tradition and theirs. Hope this helps you a little.

I will look some of his stuff up myself. I assumed it was a shaman type craft but just was checking.

Wonderful! I hope you find exactly what you are looking for.

Originally Posted by Blyss

Wonderful! I hope you find exactly what you are looking for.

He has some really interesting books. I am going to pick some up this weekend. Thanks again for the information.

Originally Posted by Ula

He has some really interesting books. I am going to pick some up this weekend. Thanks again for the information.

You are very welcome, Ula.

Mentors lead people astray, so can books though.

Seidr from my understanding is trance work, which follows along the principles of chaos magick but more or less is entering an altered state of consciousness with the intent of entering one of the 9 worlds or to perform sorcery.
Peter carrol gives pretty good descriptions of attaining gnosis and the different states of consciousness in his book ''Liber Noll and Psychonaut.'' The use of Freya and Freyr is more about attaining gnosis (union with the higher self) through sexual means and dionysian practices.

Originally Posted by devakxes

Mentors lead people astray, so can books though.

Seidr from my understanding is trance work, which follows along the principles of chaos magick but more or less is entering an altered state of consciousness with the intent of entering one of the 9 worlds or to perform sorcery.
Peter carrol gives pretty good descriptions of attaining gnosis and the different states of consciousness in his book ''Liber Noll and Psychonaut.'' The use of Freya and Freyr is more about attaining gnosis (union with the higher self) through sexual means and dionysian practices.

I found it online and have read most of it at work today. Interesting.

Thankyou for bringing this to my attention, Ula. Beautiful name, by the way.

This does sound so close to work I have done in the past that I'm going to have to read up on Seidhr.