The inspiration for this book came from a woman I met from Northern
Germany twenty-two years ago who taught me how to read with rune sticks. Sabine
Morrison also opened my mind to the old ways actual as opposed to the plethora
of modern-day reconstructions by those whose approach remains a mix and match
of foreign traditions and magical streams. We visited several actual pagan
sites in Germany and little-known places and sacred groves as well as worked with
pagan holy wells and the correct way to collect holy water.
There is in my view nothing like this book anywhere on this planet today.
The correct use of Elder Fuþark runes is
explained and given along with how to divine with them using rune-sticks. Also
covered are the 729 elements that every Vǫlva has to know about taking some two generations of learning before
she can actually call herself a Vǫlva. A Vǫlva skilled in all
729 elements was known as a Norn. The overall theme of this book is
focused on the actual practices of a Legendary Vǫlva named Brinjar Guniar Skjoldson’s Dottir who recognized in AD 845
the changes that were coming through Christianity, along with the long-term
impact that would have on the old ways. She performed a powerful ritual to
ensure that the inherited knowledge was preserved through time up to the
present day.
Guniar
Skjoldson’s Dottir and Sabine Morrison who are the main protagonist of the story.
The art of the Vǫlva today has been
reconstructed to death by many modern days practicing neo-pagans. What this
book offers is very different because it is based on a surviving actual living tradition
kept alive by word of mouth that is dying out because by the end of the second
world war, only six of these Vǫlvas were
left. Today there are only two of these women carrying on with the tradition.The appeal in my opinion is to have a surviving Vǫlva tradition brought back to life with future generations of young pagan women who wish to go back to their roots and discover for themselves the real old ways and how it was actually practiced as opposed to modern day reconstructions which is very hit and miss. The modern reconstructed systems that claim to be the seiðr praxis by later day “Vǫlvas” remain oceans apart from the original old ways and the danger is if we not careful, become no longer recognizable from that of the original historical praxis.
If we are to know where we have come from as regards Northern European religious pagan beliefs, it necessarily follows that we also need to know our point of origin or where it all started from. The past takes us to the present and onwards to the future. With the decline of family values in today’s modern society, more and more people, particularly Northern European ancestry women are looking for alternative religions and practices. This is one such practice and a way of life. There are no other books like this one and this alone separates it from the many reconstructionist practices in modern day paganism on fuþark runes, seiðr pronounced sayther or magic in the Old Ways
