Rowan & Pine: A Feminist Folklore & Mythology Podcast - Episode Thirty-One： Norse Witchcraft - Disappointed Dad, Odin

00:00:00.000 Havamal, the words of Odin the High One, wisdom for wanderers and counsel to guests, verse

00:00:07.740 one, at every doorway ere one enters, one should spy round, one should pry round, for

00:00:15.900 uncertain is the witting that there be no foeman sitting within, before one on the floor.

00:00:28.360 And go.

00:00:30.520 Someday I should do the countdown

00:00:32.200 like that BBC News presenter

00:00:33.760 who was an absolute legend.

00:00:35.260 Did you see the video of her?

00:00:36.540 What?

00:00:36.960 So she was like...

00:00:37.920 How did she count down?

00:00:38.520 She was joking with like the cameramen

00:00:40.860 and they weren't rolling yet

00:00:42.560 and she was like,

00:00:43.420 three, 1.00

00:00:44.160 like a backwards V

00:00:45.120 for people who can't see me. 0.67

00:00:46.640 That is like, 1.00

00:00:47.460 fuck off. 1.00

00:00:48.260 And she was doing two, 1.00

00:00:49.640 one,

00:00:50.300 and then the camera came on

00:00:51.420 just as she was doing this

00:00:52.420 to like the whole nation.

00:00:55.160 Oh my God.

00:00:56.320 What a nightmare.

00:00:57.180 She was forced to like

00:00:57.640 apologize on Twitter.

00:00:58.580 people were calling for her resignation oh my god it was a joke but as somebody very rightfully

00:01:03.660 pointed out like the bbc has covered up jimmy savile so they're hardly gonna fire her for like

00:01:10.520 a little joke between her colleagues plus like she released the whole video yeah really she seems

00:01:14.780 like good fun and like yeah so cheers cheers oh emily's broken out the coke full fat coke she

00:01:22.280 means business i was gonna say it's not real sugar though it's definitely like high fructose corn

00:01:26.060 syrup oh yeah for sure god forbid we make stuff with like real ingredients here have you seen

00:01:34.280 the comparison of the two fantas no american versus european fanta like the american one

00:01:39.800 looks like radioactive and it's sort of see-through whereas our fanta is like it looks like fizzy

00:01:46.440 orange juice oh yeah that is so weird i think yeah yours just looks like orange juice

00:01:54.980 yeah european i think is it's got oranges in it but it's also colored with like carrot juice or

00:02:01.060 something it's like that's how they get it because there's so many like artificial colors

00:02:04.740 banned here so they have to get them from something natural yeah that is so crazy how like

00:02:10.280 in the u.s it's like oh yeah it's banned everywhere else in the world but we'll still use it it's fine

00:02:16.080 yeah but you guys have some cool stuff that we can't get like our teeth whitening stuff sucks

00:02:21.920 probably because it's healthier

00:02:24.680 yeah there's like there's like actual bleach in it but like in american teeth whitening strips

00:02:32.360 but like oh those cress white strips my god also i heard that they're like reducing the amount of

00:02:37.360 retinol that you can put in beauty products excuse me like retinol like can be slightly

00:02:43.000 damaging like you can yeah you can't go out without sunscreen on after um because it like

00:02:48.980 it can interfere with your skin's ability to protect itself from the sun so i think that's

00:02:54.540 part of it they're just limiting the percentage that you can have in certain beauty products so

00:02:59.380 like you could get burned easily more easily yeah you're you're more susceptible to sun damage

00:03:05.120 and skin cancer if you go out okay i mean especially for you irish people yeah you need

00:03:13.460 that you need them to water it down a little for you an entire nation of people who are vitamin d

00:03:20.320 deficient because we don't get enough sun like everybody here is deficient in vitamin d like

00:03:25.060 it's just a known thing my doctor just told me they're like oh you're pretty heavily vitamin d

00:03:29.500 deficient i'm like that's cool they said please take a supplement i started taking a supplement

00:03:36.680 every day and it's annoyingly helpful like i definitely if i forget to take it for a few days

00:03:42.320 i definitely feel like my mood decreasing yeah which is not probably why i have problems with my

00:03:47.820 mood yeah i was actually thinking of getting one of those um you know the seasonal affective

00:03:53.840 disorder lamps just to have on my desk while i work from home do you think those help i don't

00:03:58.880 know but they seem to have worked like they seem to be around for a long time yeah could just be

00:04:03.640 like snake oil i don't know salt lamps yeah i like what i've heard that there's no like

00:04:11.980 scientific backup for salt lamps right i don't think there is either but i like how they look

00:04:17.200 that's like that's the only reason i like them i'm like oh they're pretty though

00:04:20.880 yeah there's a beautiful glow yeah nice warmth as opposed to overhead lighting throwback

00:04:26.600 yes oh dear i'm gonna buy so many lamps when i move house you don't even know

00:04:32.140 yeah i'm just gonna take out all of the overhead light bulbs like i don't know what happened

00:04:36.780 they're all disconnected it is helpful to have overhead lighting but yeah yeah when you're

00:04:42.540 looking for something we were just at madardo's cousin's house and they have like all the bedrooms

00:04:46.160 don't have overhead lighting so it's like you have to plug the lamp into the right outlet to

00:04:51.280 make the switch work for it oh okay that would make me crazy yeah or i don't even i don't even

00:04:58.280 know if that's how that works but yeah i would like that would be hard like i need a light

00:05:03.360 because you have to go in the room turn the light on go in the room turn the lamps on then turn the

00:05:09.220 overhead light off yeah and also like for the amount of times i lose the remote like i definitely

00:05:15.580 need an overhead light because lamps are not cutting out for when i'm like throwing pillows

00:05:20.040 everywhere going where is it why are amazon firestick remotes so tiny the apple tv remotes

00:05:25.120 are obnoxiously small i actually put a tile tracker on our amazon remote because we had lost

00:05:32.240 it so many times but then the glue came unstuck i must actually get super glue for it yeah i was

00:05:37.740 thinking about putting velcro or something on ours because it's like it's so small and skinny

00:05:42.560 and slippery it's always missing they're ridiculous and you should be able to like

00:05:47.900 call them or something i don't know come on jeff bezos honey can you call the remote

00:05:53.340 i would be lost without tile trackers like i have one of my keys i have my phone is obviously

00:06:00.420 connected so if i find my keys and i can't find my phone i can just press my tile tracker

00:06:04.020 and it rings my phone i can also ring my phone from my watch what else do i have my tile tracker

00:06:10.080 on i have a credit card size one in my wallet one in my hand luggage and one in my regular luggage

00:06:14.980 and one in my backpack modardo has the i'm assuming it's the same thing like the apple

00:06:19.320 apple air tags or whatever you can put on stuff he has one for his keys and one on his wallet

00:06:25.780 yeah they're a lifesaver because he loses them all the time the amount of times i was like late

00:06:31.560 for stuff because i just couldn't find my keys and i'm just like i only have two bags i usually

00:06:36.960 put them in one of them and like more often than not it's like where could it be buried at the

00:06:41.180 bottom of my bag there was just other stuff on top shuffled around you need a giant skunk tail

00:06:45.900 key chain like i have my mom has ones that are like bunny tail ones it's so cute that every time

00:06:52.560 she comes to my house my cat like sticks his head in her her handbag oh no and to get it out and he

00:06:58.660 just pulls it out with his teeth and just like wanders off with her keys it's like how does he

00:07:02.480 he's seen it once and he always knows that it's in there like he remembered all that time funny

00:07:06.800 they try to trick you and into thinking that they're not smart but they really are they remember

00:07:12.000 everything so like the cats are like oh look i'm dumb and then it's like one time he was locked in

00:07:18.080 our little laundry room and now every time i go in there he sits outside with screaming at me

00:07:22.560 because he thinks i'm going to get locked in there too oh poor thing he's trying to protect me

00:07:26.800 but i'm just like yeah i can open the door at least he cares you can't

00:07:31.600 anyway welcome to episode 31 of rowan and pine it's the witchcraft miniseries and in case you

00:07:40.440 couldn't tell the difference between our voices this voice is emily's and this voice is neve i

00:07:46.880 definitely don't think we're the podcast where you can't tell the hosts apart especially because

00:07:50.940 i have a weird name too so i don't think it matters the names my i have an irish name and

00:07:55.580 it's weird so they're like oh the irish one the one with the irish accent oh to remember the names

00:08:00.240 yeah that's how people will know who's who i assume yeah i mean but your name isn't weird

00:08:04.760 for an irish person is it no not at all it's very common okay it's it's like so the irish listeners

00:08:09.740 are like emily emily with an l-e-i-g-h you guys know emily loves alternative spellings of common

00:08:19.620 names it's her favorite thing oh my gosh i just the baby name stuff i'm sure it drives everybody

00:08:25.660 else nuts but having just had a child i think it makes me even more crazy yeah why are you doing

00:08:31.840 this to them it's just it feels like such an obvious attempt at being individual but it's

00:08:36.960 also very cliche like that's the thing if you really want an unusual name pick an unusual name

00:08:41.580 don't like have a regular name that will intentionally be spelled wrong forever because

00:08:45.960 people are used to the regular way of spelling it yeah it's annoying we're ranting already and

00:08:50.860 it's 10 minutes in

00:08:51.680 wisdom for wanderers and counsel to guests verse 68 most dear is fire to the sons of men

00:09:05.060 most sweet the sight of the sun good is health if one can but keep it and to live a life without

00:09:12.020 shame emily what are we talking about today today i'm covering norse witches i'm excited for this

00:09:20.360 one good this was it was interesting i didn't know that they really had sort of like official

00:09:27.040 forms of witchcraft but they did i thought they just were big into their mythology yeah that's

00:09:32.560 cool like sorry that was just such a shit reaction that's cool 0.96

00:09:39.100 it was the pause in between that got to me 0.96

00:09:44.340 i just looked up at you and you just yeah that's cool

00:09:50.020 so the norse were people who lived in the region of the world where present-day scandinavia is

00:09:56.840 these countries are sweden denmark and norway the term norse refers to settlers traders farmers

00:10:03.560 and seafarers who originally hailed from northern europe when people think of the word norse they

00:10:08.440 typically think of the vikings or odin it's just so cool the whole like thing of mythology there's

00:10:15.840 just i don't know it's annoying annoying that so many um white supremacists have taken over

00:10:21.360 runes and stuff like that almost the entire time i was doing this research i was like 0.98

00:10:26.860 fucking white supremacist it's a whole like rich culture and they should be able to 0.98

00:10:31.200 like people from nordic regions should be able to celebrate it and all of that but then you've got 1.00

00:10:36.580 these fucking assholes who come in and go well we know all these people are definitely white so 1.00

00:10:42.140 we're gonna take it over you know that's the only reason they like it yeah right it's really 1.00

00:10:46.880 depressing i think runes are so cool but now they've got like this such such a dark association

00:10:53.880 that it's so depressing oh my god anyway because odin comes up in this episode i'm gonna give a

00:11:01.080 quick rundown for who he is because i don't think everybody knows who odin is so if you don't he's

00:11:09.180 the main god in norse mythology he's known as the all father he's the chief of norse gods his wife

00:11:17.140 is frig balder and thor are his sons he's considered a god of many things more than most gods

00:11:24.360 but above all he's the god of war and the dead he's not a warrior but he would help those in

00:11:30.540 battle he has the valkyries who are supernatural warrior women who would bring those slain in

00:11:35.920 battle to his warrior paradise valhalla which is quote-unquote the hall of this lane like that

00:11:43.000 oh my god that's just so cool by itself the hall of the sling

00:11:46.040 are you going later to the hall i love that you were like he is the main god it's like he's the

00:11:53.840 main character he's like that like hair behind the ear i'm the main character odin is just like

00:12:03.120 if he was around he would film himself on public transport like just looking longingly out the

00:12:08.240 window oh no with an inspirational music like just sitting there just assuming everybody's

00:12:15.400 falling in love with him yeah that's what him and zeus would have in common

00:12:19.620 odin seems like he's like probably not as full of himself as zeus seemed like he seems like um

00:12:27.200 odin i don't know why i get this maybe it's because anthony hopkins plays him in the marvel

00:12:31.380 movies odin gives me disappointed dad vibes because he just seems to be like he's got a

00:12:36.780 lot on his plate and he's just like oh yeah he's just kind of like a grumpy old man um

00:12:42.500 so another thing that i'm going to talk about in this episode are the norns they're called

00:12:50.280 the norns or the nornir in old norse they're also known as the weepers of fate for all mortals

00:12:56.420 gods and giants so the norns decide the fate of all the beings in the nine realms

00:13:02.120 they're believed to be the daughters of dwarves elves or jotun maidens the norns are said to show

00:13:08.440 up when a baby is born and use their magic to weave the fate of the baby throughout their life

00:13:12.900 and beyond their names are urd verdandi and schooled urd meaning fate or what has passed

00:13:21.400 she's the oldest and looks like a crone which would be kind of like the past verdandi is what

00:13:28.260 is passing into being she is young looking and she sort of represents the present schooled means

00:13:34.700 what shall come to pass she is the one that people fear the most the other two sisters work to weave

00:13:40.580 the fates and she's the one who can tear it all apart she represents the future spooky she's a

00:13:47.140 spooky that's like weirdly metaphorical too you can work as hard as you want but like your future

00:13:53.060 is still up for debate right yeah your future can fall apart if you don't take heed of your past and

00:13:58.760 your present you know yeah and you also you just don't know what the future will bring i was just

00:14:03.480 talking to a friend about this about about putting lots of money away for when you get older it's

00:14:08.900 kind of one of those things that feels like yeah you should be prepared but there's also an element

00:14:14.360 of it that's kind of like you don't know if you're gonna be around the future to use all that i always

00:14:19.780 think this and i always think about you know they say that like a lot of people once they stop

00:14:25.180 working is when they start getting really sick once they hit retirement age their body just

00:14:29.420 doesn't know what to do and they're not like working and stuff anymore it's so devastating

00:14:32.880 that so many people like reach retirement age and then either die or like have a debilitating event 0.88

00:14:39.120 and you're just like you worked your whole life for that it's shit yeah there's a song by that 0.92

00:14:45.440 band ways away it's called uh working class suicide pact and it's all about that it's just 0.96

00:14:51.240 being like is this all there is and i'm like i think the line is like working working 50 years

00:14:56.260 for a hole in the ground i'm just like oh dark but also very true in a lot of contexts neve's

00:15:03.260 putting in her notice on monday your husband can work to support you that's actually what i was

00:15:09.440 thinking like see actors or whatever they get suddenly famous would you feel comfortable like

00:15:13.800 giving up your job and letting them support you like say for me i spent so fucking long in college

00:15:19.500 if you and suddenly got really really famous or something and like had to support me how would i

00:15:24.760 feel about living off of them yeah like would you keep working i don't think i would though

00:15:29.360 hell no you'd enjoy it but then you see also there's a lot of these men especially who

00:15:34.740 get famous and just dump their wives barry kogan broke up with his baby mama oh my gosh yeah now

00:15:41.780 he's dating a 22 year old good for him how old is he uh 30 oh that's not the worst yeah it's not

00:15:49.480 it's not too bad it's not a leo and also i yeah i don't know the context of their breakup either 0.98

00:15:56.120 she broke up with him maybe she was like sick of a shit yeah we don't know but what we do know 0.88

00:16:01.920 is that we're talking about the norse witchcraft so the word norn yeah um with a lowercase n was 0.99

00:16:09.900 also the term that people used for someone who was a witch so it was the norns capital n yeah

00:16:17.040 it's the famous ones and then lowercase n that was the the ladies that were chilling

00:16:23.860 getting herbal remedies and things like that. The kind of magic that was practiced in Old

00:16:29.480 Norse society during the late Scandinavian Iron Age was called Seder. This was in pre-Christian 0.98

00:16:35.160 times. This type of magic was mostly practiced by women, whereas other types of magic or sorcery, 0.82

00:16:41.180 as I'll talk about further on the episode, was practiced by men or women. If men were to practice

00:16:47.660 satyr they were bullied or looked down upon because it was seen as unmanly or effeminate 0.99

00:16:53.880 oh fuck off right masculinity and honor was rooted deeply in viking culture 0.98

00:17:01.120 men who practiced satyr were at risk of being labeled arger which was the term that was used 0.99

00:17:06.620 to describe a man who had abandoned his traditional masculine role isn't that fun

00:17:11.900 so they've always had a word for this the worst thing you can be is like girly or effeminate

00:17:18.140 and they probably weren't even they were probably just male nurses you know right

00:17:22.520 like male nurses are completely able to like carry out caring duties yeah that's so weird

00:17:31.480 i don't i don't understand that man is nurturing the quote-unquote man or woman jobs yeah but if a

00:17:39.340 man were to practice it they could lose their social standing this would mean he could risk

00:17:43.760 losing alliances or forming alliances he could also risk finding a suitable marriage partner

00:17:49.360 it's theorized that the reason it was seen as quote-unquote unmanly was because of the

00:17:54.820 association with the norns who were weavers in viking culture strictly women would weave threads 0.96

00:18:00.840 okay but men can't be weavers what the fuck um and even though this was the case some men still 0.94

00:18:08.420 practice satyr including the all-father odin okay so he's the biggest manly man of all manliest man 0.98

00:18:15.360 ever yeah he's the disappointed dad come on yeah are you gonna tell somebody's disappointed dad

00:18:22.440 that they're girly right i feel like the disappointed dad is like the picture of

00:18:28.220 manliness they're like the one at their retirement home that's uh picking up a cool craft going yeah

00:18:33.200 I've always liked crocheting.

00:18:34.600 My mom taught me when I was a kid.

00:18:37.040 It reminds me of her.

00:18:39.040 You know, like the Hell's Angels when they'll be, like, 0.56

00:18:41.880 picking up something that's traditionally, like, feminine? 0.65

00:18:44.720 Try telling them that they're feminine. 0.62

00:18:46.340 You wouldn't.

00:18:47.220 Seder may have been influenced by other indigenous cultures,

00:18:50.560 such as the Sami or the Finno Ugric.

00:18:52.960 The main purpose of Seder was divination and communication with other realms.

00:18:58.000 Because if there's the one thing the Vikings were able to do was travel.

00:19:00.920 in space and time they were very good at getting on boats the norns were masters of satyr because 1.00

00:19:08.600 of their ability to weave someone or some being's fate they were all powerful female practitioners 0.65

00:19:14.380 of satyr were called volvas or said konur freya is the archetype of the volva as she is a

00:19:21.500 practitioner of satyr it was freya who brought this art form to the gods volvas would wander

00:19:27.280 from village to village performing commissioned acts of magic in exchange for room board and other

00:19:32.100 necessities the wolwa were set apart from society they were powerful and respected by the upper

00:19:38.440 echelons of society but they were simultaneously sought after feared high ranked and reviled they

00:19:45.600 had status in our world and access to other realms both above and below they played essential roles

00:19:51.540 in society due to offering guidance and protection to the community through the practice of magic 0.63

00:19:57.360 I would like to be a vulva when I grow up.

00:20:00.060 Is it vulva or vulva?

00:20:01.780 It's like vulva.

00:20:03.740 Vulva.

00:20:04.860 I know.

00:20:05.680 It's like two W's, but kind of like a soft V sound.

00:20:09.900 Okay.

00:20:10.500 Vulva.

00:20:11.420 Vulva.

00:20:12.060 I would like to be a vulva when I break up, when I grow up.

00:20:16.240 When you what? 0.79

00:20:19.280 I would like to be one.

00:20:20.920 Because that sounds great.

00:20:22.360 You're powerful.

00:20:23.500 You're sought after.

00:20:24.620 You're kind of rich.

00:20:25.500 you probably get invited to really good parties and when you get to those parties you can freak

00:20:29.740 everybody out by standing in the corner yeah people think you're kind of upsetting and mysterious and

00:20:35.020 like you don't want people to love you completely yeah and like you're too scary to not be invited 0.97

00:20:41.980 to things yeah but also too scary to like be fully involved so people leave you the fuck alone 0.79

00:20:47.720 also imagining far too much eyeliner definitely too much eyeliner and something like painted on

00:20:54.140 the forehead i'm assuming they probably have like a long cool dress there was actually um i found

00:21:03.220 pictures and they had like a lot of cool stuff that they would have on them let's see if i have it

00:21:12.000 wait i will just put it in the chat

00:21:16.980 so they would have these um like pendants that would they would wear on a belt and they were

00:21:24.480 duck foot shaped pendants that were made of silver it was cool i don't really know it doesn't

00:21:30.640 really say what or what it what it was representing or anything like that so that's how they denoted

00:21:37.560 when they find the graves that it was like somebody who had power or was thought to have

00:21:43.100 had power yeah or like somebody who practiced magic wow or practice um satyr and they had

00:21:50.080 like specific ways that they were buried incredible yeah it's it's sort of like an

00:21:55.540 understated like almost like a mark of office or like showing that that this is um like this is

00:22:03.060 who this person was like she had status but it wasn't like it's not like you know loads of like

00:22:09.720 jewelry and loads of different stuff buried with her like clearly she lived like a simple enough

00:22:13.600 life even if she was highly respected right yeah so it was it was a way to distinguish them from

00:22:21.460 other people but it's not yeah it's not like she was buried in like king tut's tomb was surrounded

00:22:26.720 by gold and things like that yeah um the wolwa were masters of different types of techniques

00:22:34.140 such as divination healing and manipulating the threads of fate in addition to practicing magic

00:22:39.860 they were also counselors and mediators when other people were having disputes this made them even

00:22:45.640 more of a respectable part of their society cool so they got to know everybody's gossip on top of

00:22:50.940 everything else yeah right they were also therapists

00:22:56.600 practicing a seder ritual often required the practitioner to enter and enter an altered

00:23:05.320 state of consciousness or a trance so that they could travel between realms and communicate with

00:23:10.580 different beings this was such an important part of the process because it could bridge the gap

00:23:15.740 between our world the living waking physical realm and the supernatural realm they would

00:23:21.800 enter a trance state by drumming chanting or eating psychoactive substances found in certain

00:23:26.800 plants in these altered states of mind they could gain insights into the past present and future

00:23:32.560 during the trance they would receive visions journey to other worlds within norse cosmology

00:23:37.440 or even communicate with spirits

00:23:40.120 it's so cool i'm just like can i do this sitting around like when you think about um

00:23:47.680 there's like all those people in silicon valley who are like micro dosing and stuff now

00:23:51.460 um because they believe it like yeah it helps their creativity that's the equivalent now and

00:23:58.840 they're rich it helps me unlock my creativity are they sorcerers

00:24:06.080 being able to practice this kind of sorcery helped them provide insight on the present

00:24:18.360 day physical world to those who did not have access to other realms or moments in time

00:24:22.940 the practitioners could also use satyr to communicate with the gods the dead and other

00:24:28.560 entities to seek guidance or gain knowledge in addition to all of this they could use their

00:24:33.460 magic to access the altar oh my god in addition to all of this they could use their magic to

00:24:40.100 access and alter the threads of fate yeah you could um ask them to intervene on certain things

00:24:47.360 yeah like they could use their magic

00:24:52.720 to try to intervene on

00:24:54.620 that would be handy if you

00:24:55.600 say the love of your life was about to marry somebody else

00:24:58.400 and you'd be like

00:25:00.520 no

00:25:01.020 wait

00:25:03.120 you can't crash the wedding from here

00:25:04.660 but you could do this

00:25:06.200 what if like your pet

00:25:10.680 was getting really old

00:25:11.700 that would be so great

00:25:13.020 no

00:25:14.020 yeah

00:25:15.340 can you make it live forever

00:25:18.240 only if it's healthy forever

00:25:19.180 yeah hold on

00:25:20.320 they light a cigarette

00:25:21.640 stacking onto an already impressive resume 0.98

00:25:26.520 the Woolwaz could use their magic

00:25:28.760 for protection and healing 0.97

00:25:30.400 often acting as a medicine man

00:25:32.780 or woman or person

00:25:34.200 because of their use of herbs, runes

00:25:36.240 and other magical techniques

00:25:37.800 the tools that Seder practitioners

00:25:40.400 used were staffs 0.60

00:25:42.360 and distaffs, as well as symbols to aid in their rituals. As with magic in most other cultures,

00:25:48.520 past and present, symbols and objects act as conduits for magic and spells.

00:25:54.360 The design and construction of these ritual items often incorporate a deep meaning,

00:25:59.820 reflecting the cosmological beliefs and principles of the Norse people. For instance,

00:26:05.680 a Seder practitioner might adorn their staff with runes, symbols of the gods or other iconography

00:26:11.080 that held particular significance for the individual or their community these intricately

00:26:15.680 designed items not only served as functional tools also as powerful symbols of the practitioner's

00:26:21.140 connection to the spiritual world another type of magic performed in this period of time and

00:26:26.400 region was called galder this type of magic was acceptable for men to perform probably because

00:26:32.440 they weren't weaving anything the difference between satyr and galder satyr is shamanistic

00:26:39.880 and it involves altered states of consciousness it involves fate manipulation divination healing

00:26:48.300 hidden realms threads of fate and mostly women practice seder galder focuses on runes incantations

00:26:58.600 chance reciting runic formulas as poems to invoke specific outcomes and mostly men do it

00:27:06.620 I don't know I'm just biased but it sounds a lot less intricate

00:27:10.560 than Seder

00:27:12.140 Seder seems to be a lot more about like

00:27:14.140 personal relationships and

00:27:16.140 like day to day life

00:27:18.520 and stuff

00:27:18.980 that's just my first observation

00:27:21.620 yeah to me

00:27:23.720 to me

00:27:25.840 Seder feels like

00:27:27.580 more intuitive

00:27:29.040 and more

00:27:30.920 like it makes sense why more women would practice it

00:27:34.340 it just seems more 0.71

00:27:35.380 kind of like sensitive and quiet just because it involved it was more involved like working

00:27:42.900 one-on-one whereas galder was like this big sort of thing they would have these big ceremonies and

00:27:48.620 stuff like that and like chanting and the drumming and all of that kind of stuff

00:27:52.800 so of course men are like i need all eyes on me the best galder practitioners could use their

00:28:00.680 magic to raise and question the dead. In the Hovemal, his powers range from healing the ill

00:28:06.680 to making a corpse come down from the gallows tree to converse as though he is alive.

00:28:13.300 From a song of spells, verse 156, a twelfth I know, if high on a tree I see a hanged man swing,

00:28:22.060 so do I write and color the runes, that forth he fares and to me talks.

00:28:30.680 oh i would like to see that yeah okay come on odin show us your magic

00:28:37.400 even though galder and satyr had differences they were the same in many aspects both were

00:28:45.160 integral to the spiritual beliefs of the vikings and played significant roles in their society

00:28:49.660 both relied on deep understanding of mythology symbolism and norse cosmology both were risky

00:28:56.420 in the sense that people who practice both kinds

00:28:58.540 of magic could be feared or persecuted

00:29:00.380 by others in society who were

00:29:02.440 unhappy for whatever reason.

00:29:05.180 They had to work hard to

00:29:06.520 navigate the complexities of Viking society

00:29:08.740 and their beliefs in magic.

00:29:11.060 They also had to navigate the

00:29:12.520 manliness.

00:29:14.160 The toxic masculinity.

00:29:16.540 Yeah, I feel like the Vikings are like

00:29:18.440 prime example

00:29:20.740 of toxic masculinity.

00:29:21.980 um both of these types of magic give us insight into the vikings beliefs and

00:29:28.900 relationship with the supernatural world

00:29:31.140 it's so like fascinating that there is such a rich world of like

00:29:39.780 norse mythology and witchcraft considering when i was researching for my witch trials episode

00:29:49.120 which is coming up next I actually came across a Swedish witch trial which some people might have

00:29:57.140 heard of I heard of it in passing I know there's a few podcasts that might have covered it the

00:30:02.900 largest witch trial in Swedish history and one of the largest mass killings of witches in recorded

00:30:08.200 history saw 71 accused witches including 65 females or roughly one-fifth of all women in

00:30:14.620 the region beheaded and burned in a single day and this took place in torsaker in sweden between

00:30:22.200 1674 and 1675 a little bit of background on it uh minister laurentius christopheri horneus

00:30:30.340 of the etherlanus what a name i know wait it was his last name horneus horneus yeah

00:30:40.320 was instructed to investigate witchcraft

00:30:43.600 within his parish. He ordered two

00:30:45.500 young boys to stand at the doors

00:30:47.420 and investigate witches by the invisible

00:30:49.760 devil's mark on their forehead

00:30:51.380 as they walked into the church.

00:30:53.660 The invisible

00:30:54.540 devil's mark.

00:30:57.200 Yeah. Do you want to know how badly this backfired on him?

00:31:01.440 One of the people identified

00:31:03.040 was the minister's wife.

00:31:06.600 Yeah.

00:31:07.160 uh this was very quickly hushed up it's like no no everybody but my wife that's fine

00:31:14.620 wait wait wait just kidding just kidding just kidding they accused witches were suspected of

00:31:20.120 abducting children and taking them to satan's sabbath which is eight festivals celebrated

00:31:26.480 by wiccans and neo-pagans at blocula which is a meadow popular in swedish folklore we should

00:31:32.760 actually look into blockula a little bit because it's it seems to be like an amazing historic site

00:31:38.820 that's what i i covered this in a previous episode i don't remember it's spelled b-l-a-k

00:31:47.400 u-l-a right i have b-l-o-c-k but i could be wrong blockula in swedish folklore was said to be where

00:31:54.960 the devil held court so they did a great job of extracting testimonies through whippings

00:32:01.620 forced bathing in frozen 0.87

00:32:03.900 lakes by threats to bake the children

00:32:06.040 in an oven. There were very few

00:32:07.920 records of these trials and the primary source

00:32:09.920 was recorded 60 years after their

00:32:11.980 conclusion by the grandson of

00:32:13.920 Minister Harnace.

00:32:15.640 So, might be a few embellishments there.

00:32:17.620 Yeah. The grandson recorded

00:32:19.740 his grandmother's eyewitness account

00:32:21.580 to the proceedings, which

00:32:23.180 I can't remember stuff from like 20 years ago.

00:32:26.600 So,

00:32:27.520 she's recording 60 years back.

00:32:29.020 you don't know if we trust her

00:32:32.980 just kidding

00:32:33.600 the trials were in truth thought to have shaky legitimacy

00:32:36.800 since the commission and local courts

00:32:38.700 failed to report the death sentences

00:32:40.300 to a higher court before carrying them out

00:32:42.560 it's almost like they just wanted to go rogue 0.98

00:32:44.740 and start beheading all of these 1.00

00:32:46.800 women 1.00

00:32:47.120 so damn Sweden what happened 1.00

00:32:50.880 how did you go from all this 1.00

00:32:52.740 runic and divination

00:32:54.660 and threads of fate

00:32:56.900 to massacring 1.00

00:32:58.800 65 women 1.00

00:33:00.500 a fifth of all the women in the region

00:33:02.280 you had people working with

00:33:04.200 Odin and Freya

00:33:06.620 and you just

00:33:08.880 turned on them

00:33:09.540 well we know what happened

00:33:11.060 you know why

00:33:12.140 it was

00:33:14.120 the church 0.96

00:33:16.700 capital T

00:33:17.320 the church

00:33:20.760 the church ruins the party again

00:33:24.120 on forever

00:33:25.620 so yes if that wet your appetite

00:33:28.540 a little bit for

00:33:30.580 some witch trial content. You're going to have

00:33:32.680 a whole episode of it in two weeks

00:33:34.200 if you'd like to come back then.

00:33:36.380 We think it'll be pretty good.

00:33:38.460 I think it'll be decent.

00:33:39.980 I have a hunch.

00:33:42.280 As always, please get in touch

00:33:44.280 if you have any comments, questions, feedback.

00:33:46.980 If there's anything that we cover

00:33:48.380 that you want to know more about, if you'd like a mini

00:33:50.340 episode, you get to do that.

00:33:52.080 Because we're very easily reachable.

00:33:54.180 We're not like those big, like,

00:33:56.200 intimidating podcasts that you send

00:33:58.380 them a dm and they'll never see it we'll see it yeah they never respond we respond they go you

00:34:04.320 guys you guys got us to where we wanted to go and now we are too good to respond to you

00:34:08.720 they mumbled bitterly no we are very grateful for all the people who like our podcast if you

00:34:16.660 like our podcast if you've left a review if you've left your rating if you've left a comment

00:34:22.260 if you've engaged with anything that we've put on social media thank you so much and keep doing

00:34:28.180 that yeah yeah we love it um all of our contact details are in the description as always along

00:34:37.320 with our sources all right everybody thanks for coming along on our journey through all of these

00:34:44.280 different witches and their practices and their sorceries and their runes and all the fun stuff

00:34:50.160 that they do they're herbal cabinets would you like a herbal cabinet i did say herb on purpose

00:34:58.340 yeah it started better just saying

00:35:01.720 i had a friend when i was a kid whose mom had a friend named herb oh god was that a mom yeah

00:35:11.940 Oh, like Herbert?

00:35:14.480 Oh, maybe.

00:35:16.040 Because I was like, Herb.

00:35:17.500 Huh. Interesting.

00:35:19.380 Weird thing to know.

00:35:20.840 Herb would be a good name for an old dog.

00:35:23.840 Yeah, it really would be.

00:35:25.580 Because I remember telling my mom,

00:35:27.540 I was like, oh, we're going to her friend's house

00:35:29.960 and he's got a swimming pool.

00:35:32.000 His name is Herb.

00:35:34.600 And my mom was like, Herb?

00:35:36.320 It's not Herb?

00:35:41.940 okay herb if you're listening let us know yeah what up herb thanks for letting us swim in your

00:35:49.360 pool okay we'll be back in two weeks i'm emily folklore i've been neve i always forget to say 0.99

00:35:58.200 first i didn't i didn't forget this end is a mess i've been neve i'm emily fuck you 0.98

00:36:06.220 Folklore. Bye, everybody. 0.97

00:36:07.420 Folklore. Bye.

00:36:12.060 Oh, God.

00:36:16.580 Wisdom for wanderers and counsel to guests, verse 68.

00:36:21.640 Most dear is fire to the sons of men, most sweet the sight of the sun.

00:36:27.400 Good is health if one can but keep it, and to live a life without shame.

00:36:31.840 do you want me to do the witch trial thing first or

00:36:37.640 with your banshee bones in your mouth please looking for your next obsession the creators

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Rowan & Pine: A Feminist Folklore & Mythology Podcast - February 21, 2024

Episode Thirty-One： Norse Witchcraft - Disappointed Dad, Odin

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