The Volva's Staff
As published in Oak Leaves
In the practice of Seidhr, a known magical practice of the Teutonic peoples, one of the Völva’s most important and impressive tools is the staff. Historically, the staff was the size of a walking stick, just tall enough to reach your hand. Neil Price in the 4/04 issue of Viking Heritage Magazine states that the staff is the main attribute of the Nordic sorcerer.
There are no less than nine different types of staffs that can be found in the lore each one used in different ways by different types of magic workers.
The reason we can say that these staffs are used for mystical purposes is the other grave finds that are laid in the grave along side the individual and their staff. These finds include charms, exotic clothing and on occasion, drugs that are commonly associated with otherworld workings. However, with or without the charms and clothing in the grave, the staff distinguishes the grave as that of a sorcerer.
Price goes on to describe the staffs themselves.
“Three typical examples of such staffs have been found at Birka, recovered from chamber graves. All slightly under 80 cm in length, they are made of square-section iron bars broadening at one end into a cage-like structure of separate iron rods. At either end of the ‘cage’, and at intervals along the shafts, are bronze polyhedral mounts, decorated with various patterns.”
These finds are scattered around the Norwegian west coast with some staffs found in Ireland, Iceland and as far east as Russia.
The cage-like structure is pierced with holes barely large enough for a small ribbon or wire to go through, suggesting that they were created this way for elaborate decoration or to hold rings for pendants. However, due to the commonality between this ‘cage’ and other objects such as the handle on keys and the bows on ships, one would have to imagine that it held some sort of symbolic meaning for the Ancients. Perhaps it was created to symbolize Frigg’s Distaff, that would explain the similarity to the keys, but why the bows of ships? One of the largest staffs was found in a cremation grave at Klinta on the island of Öland. This staff went so far as to have a small model of a building in bronze mounted on the top. The less durable organic items such as ribbon would not have held up in the grave and how the staffs looked in their full glory has yet to be fully imagined by archeologists
Price states; “It is worth remembering how these objects would originally have appeared, with the matt blacked iron of the shafts off-setting the bronze mounts that would have shone like gold - these would have been very imposing pieces indeed.”
Obviously the staff of the Völva was one of her most distinguishing features. A feature, that causes awe and perhaps even a little fear in those around her. It was a symbol of her profession, and her otherworldliness. But why? What purpose, besides a marker of her profession, did it serve? Surely, with the mystical aspects of her charms and herbs, the staff too would hold some mystical significance
As a Völva -in-training I have created two staffs for my own use. Both are wood. I have used mine as a way to 'ride' the tree Yiggdrasil. The following is an excerpt of one of my first journeys with the second staff that I created. It should be noted that I don’t normally ‘Journey’ with my seidhr sessions. I focus mainly on Healing work, which requires a totally different set of techniques than those used by many of today’s modern Seidhr-workers. Also, when I am called to Journey forth I don’t normally sit upright as I tend to get dizzy or wobbly in the first few moments of trance and the effort it takes to stay upright distracts from the work.
I was upstairs in the purple room standing near the purple massage table. I held the staff I had just made close to me. I lit the candles on the harrow and took my glasses off. As I was taking them off, I said "I take off my glasses so you can show me the true way" and set them down on the Harrow. I then moved, still with staff in hand, to the massage table. I set the staff on the floor along the table, stepped over it and climbed up on the table. As I lay down I instantly felt the presence of two people standing by the table. They grabbed the staff from the floor and gently impaled me with it. It entered my stomach, ran straight through the table and hit the floor.
I felt no pain. I felt no emotion at all.
That void of emotion seemed so fleeting, as awe filled me, as I seemed to turn in on myself. I seemed as if I was falling forward and backwards all at once. Suddenly the staff, which was now an impossibly large tree looming in front of me, was no longer impaled in my stomach. I WAS the tree and I was looking down upon the tree from farther than I had ever been before
Most of the time I can ‘ride’ the tree without the staff by feeling the tree expand out behind me, as if it was growing from my spine. But this was different. The connection was very powerful and I was very much aware of the staff and it’s importance in my journey.
As I stated before my staff is created of wood, not iron like those of the grave finds, and I am not sure if an iron staff would make the same symbolic connection. From what I can tell Iron is a ground element, usually identified, in my mind, with the dwarves. Perhaps these older Völvas connected more with the ancestral mounds and graves rather than the tree. This is certainly heavily documented in the lore with moundsitting, outsitting and ancestor work being an important part of the Völva’s mystical toolbox. Modern Heathens have also suggested that the initiation into the Völva’s vocation was partly associated with a recreation of the self, both physical and spiritual, by the dwarves. Could the Staff be a symbol of her newly created body? That might go a ways to explain the ‘cage’ structure that seems to be a part of most staffs. Perhaps it was created to hold her heart, as the sorcerers from the oldest of fairy tales all seem to do. Either way, it gives us great food for thought.
Just as we must research the past to enhance our faith, we must also be able to function within the faith. Research without practice is not faith; it is an interest, a hobby if you will. Thus, the idea of the staff is as important to our workings as the authenticity of the materials of the staff itself. The practices of our ancestors will take on different aspects as our creativity and spirit grow and blossom.
In the practice of Seidhr, a known magical practice of the Teutonic peoples, one of the Völva’s most important and impressive tools is the staff. Historically, the staff was the size of a walking stick, just tall enough to reach your hand. Neil Price in the 4/04 issue of Viking Heritage Magazine states that the staff is the main attribute of the Nordic sorcerer.
There are no less than nine different types of staffs that can be found in the lore each one used in different ways by different types of magic workers.
The reason we can say that these staffs are used for mystical purposes is the other grave finds that are laid in the grave along side the individual and their staff. These finds include charms, exotic clothing and on occasion, drugs that are commonly associated with otherworld workings. However, with or without the charms and clothing in the grave, the staff distinguishes the grave as that of a sorcerer.
Price goes on to describe the staffs themselves.
“Three typical examples of such staffs have been found at Birka, recovered from chamber graves. All slightly under 80 cm in length, they are made of square-section iron bars broadening at one end into a cage-like structure of separate iron rods. At either end of the ‘cage’, and at intervals along the shafts, are bronze polyhedral mounts, decorated with various patterns.”
These finds are scattered around the Norwegian west coast with some staffs found in Ireland, Iceland and as far east as Russia.
The cage-like structure is pierced with holes barely large enough for a small ribbon or wire to go through, suggesting that they were created this way for elaborate decoration or to hold rings for pendants. However, due to the commonality between this ‘cage’ and other objects such as the handle on keys and the bows on ships, one would have to imagine that it held some sort of symbolic meaning for the Ancients. Perhaps it was created to symbolize Frigg’s Distaff, that would explain the similarity to the keys, but why the bows of ships? One of the largest staffs was found in a cremation grave at Klinta on the island of Öland. This staff went so far as to have a small model of a building in bronze mounted on the top. The less durable organic items such as ribbon would not have held up in the grave and how the staffs looked in their full glory has yet to be fully imagined by archeologists
Price states; “It is worth remembering how these objects would originally have appeared, with the matt blacked iron of the shafts off-setting the bronze mounts that would have shone like gold - these would have been very imposing pieces indeed.”
Obviously the staff of the Völva was one of her most distinguishing features. A feature, that causes awe and perhaps even a little fear in those around her. It was a symbol of her profession, and her otherworldliness. But why? What purpose, besides a marker of her profession, did it serve? Surely, with the mystical aspects of her charms and herbs, the staff too would hold some mystical significance
As a Völva -in-training I have created two staffs for my own use. Both are wood. I have used mine as a way to 'ride' the tree Yiggdrasil. The following is an excerpt of one of my first journeys with the second staff that I created. It should be noted that I don’t normally ‘Journey’ with my seidhr sessions. I focus mainly on Healing work, which requires a totally different set of techniques than those used by many of today’s modern Seidhr-workers. Also, when I am called to Journey forth I don’t normally sit upright as I tend to get dizzy or wobbly in the first few moments of trance and the effort it takes to stay upright distracts from the work.
I was upstairs in the purple room standing near the purple massage table. I held the staff I had just made close to me. I lit the candles on the harrow and took my glasses off. As I was taking them off, I said "I take off my glasses so you can show me the true way" and set them down on the Harrow. I then moved, still with staff in hand, to the massage table. I set the staff on the floor along the table, stepped over it and climbed up on the table. As I lay down I instantly felt the presence of two people standing by the table. They grabbed the staff from the floor and gently impaled me with it. It entered my stomach, ran straight through the table and hit the floor.
I felt no pain. I felt no emotion at all.
That void of emotion seemed so fleeting, as awe filled me, as I seemed to turn in on myself. I seemed as if I was falling forward and backwards all at once. Suddenly the staff, which was now an impossibly large tree looming in front of me, was no longer impaled in my stomach. I WAS the tree and I was looking down upon the tree from farther than I had ever been before
Most of the time I can ‘ride’ the tree without the staff by feeling the tree expand out behind me, as if it was growing from my spine. But this was different. The connection was very powerful and I was very much aware of the staff and it’s importance in my journey.
As I stated before my staff is created of wood, not iron like those of the grave finds, and I am not sure if an iron staff would make the same symbolic connection. From what I can tell Iron is a ground element, usually identified, in my mind, with the dwarves. Perhaps these older Völvas connected more with the ancestral mounds and graves rather than the tree. This is certainly heavily documented in the lore with moundsitting, outsitting and ancestor work being an important part of the Völva’s mystical toolbox. Modern Heathens have also suggested that the initiation into the Völva’s vocation was partly associated with a recreation of the self, both physical and spiritual, by the dwarves. Could the Staff be a symbol of her newly created body? That might go a ways to explain the ‘cage’ structure that seems to be a part of most staffs. Perhaps it was created to hold her heart, as the sorcerers from the oldest of fairy tales all seem to do. Either way, it gives us great food for thought.
Just as we must research the past to enhance our faith, we must also be able to function within the faith. Research without practice is not faith; it is an interest, a hobby if you will. Thus, the idea of the staff is as important to our workings as the authenticity of the materials of the staff itself. The practices of our ancestors will take on different aspects as our creativity and spirit grow and blossom.