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12 A Journal of Contemporary Shamanism Volume 6 Issue 1 SPRING 2013 fish back into a barren fjord and Halgrim uses seidr to make his spear axe invincible. Seidr can be done alone in nature as the few ambiguous hints in the eddic poem Volusp The Vision of the Seeress might be indicating. As in all shamanic work there is always a purpose for the seidr. And in short it can be used to transform both to harm and heal and to seek vision including knowledge about the future. Earlier academic researchers held the view that seidr for the purpose of change or transformation is by nature harmful black magic. There is no more substance to this claim than similar claims about shamanic work as such. Whether an act is harmful or helpful is determined by the intent of the practitioner not by the method. Recent researchers in the past fifteen years seem to have broken free of the black seidr idea. Still it has created uncertainty among modern seidr students leading some communities to settle on doing only divinatory seidr to avoid the whole issue. Academic and Experiential Research Seidr has been the object of academ- ic research for several generations and many aspects of the art are still discussed contested or plain unknown. Since the middle of the nineteen-eighties differ- ent groups and persons from shamanic circles to satr communities have joined the research asking What can we learn about seidr by combining scholarship with experiential practice of the method itself What distinguishes seidr in relation to other magic Some researchers and modern practi- tioners view seidr as a generic term for all Norse magic as well as a distinct method. The way I understand the written sources reading with shamanic eyes seidr is one kind of Norse magic. But not all kinds of Norse magic are seidr. In the earlier sagas at least seidr is clearly distinguished from both other branches of magic and from the shamanic noaide tradition of the Sami. There are four main branches of magic described in Norse tradition galdr rune magic seidr and utiseta. Utiseta sitting out overnight for wisdom shares many traits with the vision quests of other cultures and it was practiced by laymen as well as professional magically trained people. Galdr an art of magic singing rune magic and seidr are skilled magic traditions not found elsewhere. They are arts demanding substantial even professional training to learn. Froei translated to skill wisdom is a word used about seidr song indicating it takes a certain effort and patience to learn. An experienced fjolkunnigr practitio- ner of old might combine the different kinds of magic in a session if the task demands it. In Oddruns lament a biting galdr is combined with runes cut on the wrists to aid a difficult childbirth. In Volusp the ambiguous poetry hints that the volva may be combining seidr and utiseta to call forth her deep visions. Experiences of the New Seir Since my first introduction 25 years ago to experimental and ecstatic seidr through the Swedish shamanic network called Yggdrasil I have practiced seidr with countless groups in many countries. During the years different aspects of seidr slowly revealed themselves in an ongoing exchange between critical text studies and shamanic exploration. I find it is far more than an exotic ancient speciality. I call what we do new seidr ac- knowledging that it must of course be different from the old one. My feet are planted here in modern Northern European shamanism and my aim has never been to reconstruct the past or do Viking-age seir. Rather my passion has been to find out how it works and then ask What does the seidr tradition bring to the magic and spiritual practices of today and what shamanic skills does it demand of us Today there are several different ap- proaches to the new seidr. I have found working with seidr as a distinct method defined as a shamanic work using staff song and magic seat in combination to be consistent with both the historical sources and the shamanic tradition. In other words there are four Ss in a seidr Staff Song Seat and Spirits. If any of those four is missing it is not seidr as I see it but some other method which we may call seidr-inspired rather than proper seidr. The Ritual Forms and Variations Let us take a look at each of the four elements to better understand how they play together. The account of Thorbjrgs seidr outlines a ritual recipe for a com- munity seidr. It has proven a great way of working for a group of people with a common purpose like finding a guiding vision for a project or re-empowering a neighborhood. Apart from the results of the work just being part of such a com- munity seidr can be very empowering for both the unity of the group and for the individuals in the circle. However a big group seidr is far from always being the most appropriate or effective method. It all depends on the task. Often a simpler version done indoor or outdoorcan be a better choice for your mission. If you are just a few people together you can still let one person journey carried by the song of the others. There is also a related practice for when you work alone which I call solitary seidr. The term solitary seidr is not used in the old literature but in the mythic poem Volusp it is indicated that such a ritual method was used. If you do it in nature your seidr seat might be a rock or a root of a tree. With your purpose or intent clear in your heart you simply sit with your staff and sing