Some of my educational bits have already been written, making Mondays a lot easier for me. On Mondays I’m going to impart the wisdoms of my particular path (or is it peculiar?)
These were how “How I Heathen” started. Then…things happened. I don’t know if I will talk about that or not. Every time I do without naming names or groups it gets turned into something it is definitely not. Just so everyone is aware up front, “How I Heathen” strives to be politically neutral. That being said, if and when the time comes that I feel the tides have turned to a tipping point, trust me when I say there will be zero doubt.
Anyway, today I’m going to talk about Völva, those mysterious women in the lore, what they did, and how, as a modern heathen, I go about the business of being one.
A Völva, in our ancient texts, was a seer. She was a very well respected, very revered member of Norse Society. It was she who could look into the beyond, determine the fate of a battle, and even petition the Norns for victory. She did not belong exclusively to one hearth or tribe but frequently would travel with an entourage of both young women who would seek to learn the ways of the Völva and young men who, to put it delicately, would keep them entertained. She was closely tied to Freyja and would perform fertility rites, so in this aspect, as crass as it seems in modern times, makes sense in terms of ancient beliefs. Modern archaeology has shown that the grave goods of Völva likened them to royalty. They wore fine clothes, had fine jewelry, and were buried with all sorts of things that left no doubt that these were people of importance.
Modern day Völva are a mixed lot. There are those who are trying to recreate a form of group Seidr. I attended one a few years ago and I am happy for the experience but my personal views on this are a little colored so I will not speak about that here. I might attempt a group Seidr myself one day.
In these rituals the seer would sit on a “high seat” and go into trance, channeling the gods to answer queries. From my understanding it was very elaborate at times.
There are others who practice solo, and that is ok too.
Also, Seidr and Völva used to be considered an exclusive realm only open to females. However, I’ve met men just as equally skilled as I in “the things” and I believe that, much like all of our Heathen path, it only requires a willingness to learn and an open mind.
But what does a modern Völva do?
I can only speak for myself and my own experiences here. I can tell you for sure that (sadly) I don’t have an entourage, nor do I travel around offering sage advice (I mean, why travel when we have the internet?). So far I’ve not been paid a penny for my services and I lead a pretty not extravagant life.
I do practice Seidr. Seidr is the practice of a very deep trance where the Völva seeks answers to questions posed by those requiring her services.
I can also channel, that is, offer a direct line of communication between deities and/or ancestors. If you ever hear me talk about a brain ping, that’s a channel trying to open. I can choose to ignore them sometimes (NOT BEFORE COFFEE DAMMIT).
Another way I channel, and my least favorite, is “horsing” aka possession. This is when I allow a TRUSTED deity to take over the steering wheel, so to speak, for a set amount of time. There are heavy negotiations. Much talk about boundaries. It’s not that the gods can’t be trusted. It’s that they are particularly good at finding loopholes.
Seidr, channeling, and horsing are exhausting, physically, mentally, and spiritually. As I currently do not have a physical person here to practice with, I have to be especially careful not to over exert myself. Trying to do any of the above while tired leads to unreliable results.
I can do distance healing, “traveling” to a person in need and soothing tight muscles, for example.I’m not that familiar with Reiki but I imagine the concept is kind of the same. Energy work.
I can mind link with people and have conversations with no words as far as what we usually consider “words”. My favorite part of the day is a game a very dear person and I do with nothing but pictures back and forth. Our “conversation without words” is the best part of having my favorite human a part of my life.
I can travel with people in trance and play in the realms together. I didn’t know this was even possible until we actually did it. We were both most pleasantly surprised. Once we even had a mark to prove it. Crazy stuff when you have tangible proof that it is real.
I can draw upon offered energies when my own reserves are tapped out. I’ve tapped into the energies of people, warm and fuzzy, and the energies of gods…woah so big.
Being a modern Völva also means experimenting with technology and seeing what happens when you mix the old ways with the new. (Hint: it’s as exciting and confusing as any of the other methods).
Do I perform rites? I guess I do. They aren’t as extra as the ancestors because first, it’s a little silly to have theatrics when nobody is watching and second, again, being solo doesn’t always lend itself well to certain rites.
I perform rituals. I perform blessings. I consider myself as a person who is spiritually capable of doing all the things a Goði (a Heathen Priest) can do but would rather leave that to them. Call me super priest. Priest backup. Priest sidekick maybe. Spiritual midwife. The woman that gets shit done when everyone else is in awe of the theatrics.
I’m kidding on that last part. Everyone loves some good theatrics now and then. Dancing around a fire chanting, howling, looking every bit a heathen is all a bit of the absolute fun and connection to the ancestors. Yes, I said fun.
A wise man once said that if something isn’t fun, eventually we aren’t going to want to do it. So, yes. Fun. Joy. Theatrics. Dancing. Laughter. Howling. Singing.
Because life is too short to be so serious.