Norse magic, known as seiðr, was a mystical practice primarily performed by women called völva. These practitioners held a complex and often contradictory place in society, both feared and respected. In times of need, their personal magic could be transformed into public rituals for the community. Seiðr encompassed a range of practices, including spå (fortune-telling), shapeshifting, and interpreting omens. Central to seiðr was galdr, a powerful song capable of unlocking hidden forces and connecting to other realms. Odin himself was called galdrs faðir (father of galdr), and these songs, often sung in falsetto, were believed to have diverse magical effects: from healing the sick and blunting weapons, to raising the dead and controlling the weather. Male practitioners would even don women’s clothing to perform galdr and adopt a female voice. Shapeshifting, another key aspect of seiðr allowed the practitioner to separate soul from body and travel through the cosmos in animal form, as part of a shamanic ritual. Warmest of welcome to the lecture where we travel back in time to an era where magic was a central part of society and everyday life.
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- the total duration of the event is 1 hour ( ~ 50mins lecture and 10mins Q&A)
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SPEAKER – LENA HEIDE-BRENNAND
Lena Schattenherz Heide-Brennand is a Norwegian lecturer who holds a master’s degree in language, culture, and literature. She has been lecturing and teaching various subjects since 1998. Her field of interest and focus has always been topics that others consider strange, eccentric, and eerie, and she has specialised in a variety of dark subjects linked to folklore, mythology and Victorian traditions and medicine. Her students and audience often point out her thorough knowledge about the subjects she is teaching and lecturing, in addition to her charismatic appearance. She has worked as a curator and lecturer for the famous London based Last Tuesday Society and Viktor Wynd Museum for Fine Art and Unnatural History since 2021 and holds the all-time record in the museum’s history with more than 21000 interests on her online lecture on Erotic Folktales in 2022. She refers to herself as a performance lecturer and always gives her audience an outstanding experience.
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