What is Seiðr?
'''Seid''' or '''Seiðr''' is an [[Old Norse]] word for a kind of [[Witchcraft|sorcery]] which was practised in Norse society. It is connected with Norse religion. No one knows where seid came from. It was practiced less with the spread of [[Christianity]] in [[Scandinavia]]. The practice was recorded in Norse stories (sagas) found by [[archeologists]]. Many scholars say that seid was like [[shamanism]]. Both male and female Scandinavians practiced this form of magic. By doing so, they were often persecuted by society because they brought a [[taboo]] on themselves. In pre-Christian [[Norse mythology]], seid was associated with the [[Deity|god]] [[Odin]], their god of war, poetry and sorcery. It was also associated with the goddess [[Freyja]], who was their goddess of love and fertility. Today, followers of modern [[paganism]] adopted forms of magic that they called seid. Their practices have since been studied by many [[researchers]] in the field of pagan studies. ==More reading== * {{cite book |title=The Viking Way: Religion and War in Late Iron Age Scandinavia |url=https://archive.org/details/vikingwayreligio0000neil |last=Price |first=Neil |authorlink=Neil Price (archaeologist) |year=2002 |publisher=Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University |location=Uppsala |isbn=91-506-1626-9 |ref=Pri02}} * {{Cite book |last=Blain |first=Jenny |authorlink= |title=Nine Worlds of Seid-Magic: Ecstasy and Neo-Shamanism in North European Paganism |publisher=Routledge |year=2002 |location=London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F80luiKZqPMC |doi= |id= |isbn=0-415-25650-X }}{{Dead link|date=September 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} * {{Cite book |last=DuBois |first=Thomas A. |authorlink= |title=Nordic Religions in the Viking Age |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=1999 |location=Philadelphia |pages= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g2-Lga0r62MC |isbn=0-8122-3511-8}} Ch. 6. {{Norse mythology}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Seidr}} [[Category:Magic (paranormal)]] [[Category: