GALDRABOK

The

....

GALDRABOK

An

Icelandic

GRIMOIRE

Stephen

Flowers

Primera publicacion en

Y/:SY

by

Samuel Weiser, Inc.

Box 612

York Beach, Maine 03910

01 00 99 98 97 96

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

(C)

1989 Srephen E.

Flowers

All rights reserved.

No

part

of
this

publication

may be reproduced

or transmitted in any form or by any means,

electronic

or me

...

chanical,

including

photocopy,

without permission in writing from

Samuel Weiser, Inc. Reviewers may quote brief passages.

Library

of Congress

Cataloging

in Publication Data

Flowers,

Srephen E., 1953-

The Galdrab6k : an Icelandic

grimoire

edited, translated,

and"

introduced

by

Stephen

E.
Flowers.

p.

em.

Includes a translation of

Galdrabok.

Bibliography:

p.

1. Magic,

Germanic-Handbooks,

manuals,

etc.c.-Earlv

works

ro 1800. 2. Mythology,

Gennanic-Early

works to 1800. 3.

Iceland-Religion-Early

works to 1800.

I.

Galdrabok.

English.

1989.

n.

Title.

BFI622.G3F56 1989

133.4'Y094912-dc20

89-14650

ISBN 0-87728-685-X
Ilustracion de portada

(C)

Susan Sheppard, 1989

Composicion tipografica en 11 puntos Goudy por

N.K. Graphics, Keene,

NH

Printed in the

United

States of America by

Baker Johnson,

Inc.,

Ann

Arbor, MI

Contents

Abbreviations

ix

Acknowledgments

xi

Introduction

xiii

Part

Historical Background

Chapter

I: Historical

Context:
Politico-Religious

Climate

in Iceland

Heathen

Period

(870-1000)

Catholic

Age

(1000-1550)

Reformation

Age

(1550-1650):

Iceland at

the time of

the

Galdrab6k

Chapter

2:

History of Magic in Iceland

11

Heathen

Period

(870-1000)
11

Catholic

Period

(1000-1550)

19

Reformation

Age

(1550-1750)

21

Chapter

3: Icelandic Books of the Black

Art

27

The

Black Books of Legend

28

vi

Contents

Text

of the

Galdrab6k

29

Other

Historical

Manuals of Magic

32
The

Two

Traditions

in the

North

35

Chapter

4:

The

Old

Gods

and

the Demons of Hell 37

The

Heathen

Gods and Goddesses

38

The

Demons of Hell

41

Chapter

5: Runes

and

Magical Signs

45

Chapter

6:
Theory

and

Practice

of Magic

in the

Galdrab6k

51

Part

The

Galdrab6k

The

Galdrab6k

59

Appendices

Related

Spells in

Germanic

Magic

Appendix

A:

Other

Icelandic

Sources

83

From the Huld

Manuscript
83

From

the

Kreddur

Manuscript

92

From

Svend

Grundtvig's

Collection

99

From

the

Collection

of Jon

Amason

99

From Various

Manuscripts

Collected

by

6lafur

Davfdhsson

101

Appendix

B:

Heathen
Magic in

Old

English

Manuscripts

105

Contents

Appendix C:

Heathen

Magic in Old High

German

Spells

Contra

Vermes

The

Merseburg Charms

Notes for Part 1

Notes for Part 2

Bibliography

Abbreviations

Ice.

ON

PGme.

p!.

sg.

st.
Icelandic

Old

Norse

Proto-Germanic

plural

singular

stanza

Acknowledgments

For their help and

continuing

inspiration

during the years in

which knowledge was accumulated to write this work, I wish to

thank Prof. Dr. Edgar Polome, Prof. Dr. Klaus Duwel, Prof. Dr.

John

Weinstock,

and Robert Zoller.

Introduction

The so-called

Galdrab6k,'

or "Book of Magic," is the single

mosi

important

document
for

understanding

the practice of magic ir

late medieval Iceland.

It

is especially

important

in

that

it

give,

a unique insight into the various religio-magical elements thai

went into a

synthetic

national

magical

tradition

in Iceland al

the time of its

compilation.

No

other

document

of

comparable

age gives so many details of the preservation of the archaic

manic gods, cosmology, and magical practices as does this

little

manuscript. Here we are

not

dependent

on folktales or

indirect

reports

through

confessions exacted by the tortures of the In.

quisition or

other

churchly authorities to

reconstruct

the

religious

views of the

galdramenn

(magicians) of

the

day; instead,

we have

direct

evidence of actual practices

written

by the

rna.

gicians' own hands. In many ways the

Galdrab6k

is to the

landic folktales of magic'

what

the runic inscriptions are to

the

accounts of magic recorded in the sagas. They provide factua

corroboration of

what

otherwise might have been

considered,

form of fantasy.

In this volume

the

reader will find

not

only an annotatec

translation

of

the

complete

Galdrab6k

but also a similar treatmenl

xiv

Introduc!ion

of selections from
other

written

sources of

Germanic

magical

practice from all of the

Germanic

peoples. However, in no region

did the old

ways

and the old gods and

goddesses

survive so well

as in Iceland.

And

because we are focusing on these texts for

what is uniquely

Germanic

about them, leaving as secondary

what is common to every European

tradition,

we will

concentrate

mainly on Icelandic sources in this study. Our two principal areas

of interest will be the preservation of the old gods and the

ervation of

the
unique forms of

Germanic

magical practice

herited from

the

heathen

age.

In

preparing this work for modern publication, I've made

every effort to remain true to

the

original text of the

Gaklrab6k.

Irregularities in

capitalization

and spelling are left as in the

inal as they may have special meaning or significance.

HISTORICAL

BACKGROUND

CHAPTER

ONE

Historical

Context:

Politico-Religious

Climate
in

Iceland

establish a

context

for the magic practiced in

the

Books of Black Magic

that

were mainly set down in

the

1500s and 1600s, we must look at the various stages oi

religious and

political

development

in Iceland. These period,

are three: the

Heathen

Age, the

Catholic

Age, and the

formation Age.

Heathen

Period

(870-1000)

The generally

unpopulated

island of Iceland was settled mainly

by Norwegians (along

with

their

Irish and

Scottish

thralls) who

were seeking

political

and religious freedom from the onslaught

of the

Norwegian

king

Haraldr

iuirfagra

(fair-hair), who had set

about to

conquer

all of Norway and to bring it under a single

Christian-style

monarchy.

These

new Icelanders set up a form of social order deeply

rooted in

their

native

heritage-a

sort of
representative

or

publican aristocracy.

There

was

never

a king in Iceland. Rather,

the land was ruled by the local

priest-chieftains

(ON

godhar,

sg.

THE

GALDRAB6K

godhi),

who would meet once a year at the

Althing

(great

sembly), or

parliament,

to setrle legal cases and to pass legislation

for the country. This form of

government

was

minimal
in its

exercise of

central

authority.

Courts

could decide cases but had

no ability

to

carry out

sentences;

that

was left up to the

kinsmen

of the wronged party. Most

often,

those who had

committed

manslaughter, for example, would be "outlawed";

that

is, they

would be declared

to

be outside the

protection

of the law, and

they could

be
killed

without

legal repercussions to the avengers.

Another

principal

feature of

Germanic

law was the idea

that

the

party wronged was the one to be

compensated

by the

criminal.

The

"state"

made no profit on crime. For almost every. crime a

monetary value was set, so instead of being outlawed a man might

be able

to

satisfy the wronged party with a

payment

of some

kind, called

weregeld.

Each godhi

held
an

authority

(ON

hordh,

which means

"authority

as a

godhi"),

which corresponded

roughly to a district.

The

authority

in question was owned by

the

godhi

and could be sold,

inherited,

or subdivided.

The

Icelanders

practiced

the religion they

brought

with

them-their

age-old
polytheistic

Germanic

heathenism.?

ligion

that

allows for as

much

individual freedom as did the

Icelandic system of

government.

One

man

may worship

Odhinn,

another,

Th6rr;

another,

Freyja; and yet

another

may simply

"believe in his own might and

main."

Also, there were a

number

of

Christians
among the

Irish/Scottish

thralls brought to Iceland,

and a few of

their

masters even

converted;

but it is said

that

it

did not last in

their

families.

The

point

to remember is

that

the

Icelanders

tolerated

these differences.

By the year 1000, Ireland, England, Norway, and Denmark

(Iceland's

chief

foreign

contacts)

had all officially become

tian.

It

was under a variety of social,

economic,

and religious

pressures

that

Christianity

was formally

accepted

as the official

religion at the

Althing

of 1000.

Catholic

Age

(1000-1550)

By all accounts the acceptance of

Christianity

by the Icelanders

was highly formalistic, marked by little

conviction

on the part

of even those who voted for it. Public

sacrifices
to the Germanic

gods were forbidden, but the private practice of the traditional

faith-including

the eating of horse flesh and the exposure of

infants-was

allowed to

continue.

Conversion

to the

Catholic

faith was marked by a gradual

transition

period lasting several

generations and by an

undiminished

interest on the part of the

Icelanders in

their

own traditions. In the earliest phase of this

period many of the

godhar

simply had themselves ordained as

priests.

Others

lent

their

religious duties to
other

relatives-as

Viking priests somehow appeared unseemly. Also, there were

leiguprestar

(hired priests) who were bound to a chieftain like a

thrall.

For the first thirty years or so of this period Iceland must

have remained largely

heathen

in its practice of religion and

especially of magic. From 1030 to 1118 there reigned in Iceland

what is called the

Fridhar6ld-

The

Age of

Peace-in

which the

common feuding subsided and a new culture began to take hold

as individual Icelanders examined the new religion. This could

also be characterized as a period of mixed faith in which

tianity actually began to gain a foothold in the culture as scholars

traveled abroad to learn of the new faith and schools were

tablished in Iceland itself. It was toward the end of this time,

around 1100,

that

Icelandic was first used to write histories,

sagas,

and poetry.

There developed in

the

country a general love of learning

that led some men to join the clergy in order to be educated

abroad and others to

enter

monasteries for the same scholarly

reasons.

Some even established schools on

their

private estates,

where they worked as scholars and teachers. These traditions of

THE

GALDRAB6K

learning actually were rooted in the previous age, in which oral

tradition was just as lovingly preserved. It must be remembered

that

Iceland was settled in large part by the conservative cultural

aristocracy of Norway, which led to an unusually high level of

interest in

national

intellectual

traditions even in later times.

Today Iceland has

the

highest literacy rate and the highest per

capita book-publishing rate in the world.

None of these

developments

appreciably changed the nature

of the

church

or clergy in Iceland.

There

was

always

a strong

secular

element

in the Icelandic

church

and a strain of cultural

conservatism

that

fostered the preservation and

continuation

of

national

traditions in statecraft, religion, and literary culture.

And lest one

think

that

those many Icelanders who joined the

church and the monasteries during this time were forced to reject

worldly pleasures for lives of

devoted

and pious learning, it should

be

mentioned

that

celibacy was never enforced for the Icelandic

priesthood, and the fact

that

priests could not legally marry left

the door open for a form of polygamy, or multiconcubinage.

The

heathen

ways simply went forward.

The Age of Peace began to crack apart in a period of civil

strife, beginning about 1118.

At

that

time the old patterns of

feuding,

exacting of blood vengeance, and the like began to

emerge

again-with
the added elements of political conspiracy

and intrigue involving foreign powers and the

offices

of the

church.

Although

elements of this civil strife would

continue

for centuries, in 1262 it was sharply curtailed by the

intervention

of the Norwegian king.

An

age of Norwegian

dominance

lasted

until 1397, when a period of Danish

domination

began. This

was to last

until

Iceland was again able to establish complete

independence in 1944, when the Danes were under Nazi

pation.

Despite the domestic strife and foreign

exploitation

ited between the end of the Age of Peace and the beginning of
Historical

Context

Danish

domination,

this period was a sort of golden age of

landic culture and literature. This was the time when the poems

of the

Poetic

Belda

were

committed

to

parchment,

when Snorri

Sturluson wrote the

Prose

Belda

(1222), and when most of the

great sagas were compiled. Icelanders had become comfortable

with

their

"National

Catholicism,"

which had allowed

nous traditions to survive and native "saints" (some

official,
some

not) to be revered. But foreign

domination

was to prove a danger

to this cultural balance of

the

past and present.

Reformation

Age

(1550-1650):

Iceland

at

the

Time

of

the

Galdrabok

It

was with the background of the

heathen

and

Catholic

past

that the magic

contained

in the
Galdrab6k

and related

scripts was practiced. But it was during this period of

religious

strife and ultimately of religious persecution

that

the work was

actually

committed

to

parchment.

The

Protestant

Reformation, of course, began with Martin

Luther in

Germany

around 1517. It quickly spread in

northern

Europe, where the secular

authorities

especially had long

bored a cultural animosity for the

domination

of Rome. In 1536

the Reformation was

officially

accepted in Denmark, and hence

its

possession,

Iceland, was also destined to follow

that

course.

Because

of Iceland's

continued

isolation and intrinsic

vatism the Reformation did

not

come easily to the island.

Sources of the

Reformation

in Iceland were two: the foreign

forces

of the Dano-Norwegian crown and the domestic

men who had become

convinced

of Luther's doctrines while

studying abroad.

One

of

the

reasons the crowned heads found

Protestantism so

attractive
is

that

it allowed the kings to

tionalize, and in effect to confiscate,

the'

wealth and properties

THE

GALDRABOK

of the

Catholic

church

in

their

respective countries. Resistance

to the Reformation came from the conservative populace and,

of course, from the

Catholic

clergy. From 1536 to 1550 there

was in effect a low-intensity religious war in Iceland.

The

forces

of Protestantism and the crown finally won with the

execution

of Bishop J6n Arason in 1550. But this marked only

the
ning of any Reformation at

the

popular level. It would take a

full century,

until

around 1650, before Protestantism could really

be considered fully accepted by

the

population at large.

This period of "popular Reformation" was marked by

creasing

exploitation

on the economic front and by increasing

Danish

domination

in politics. In 1602 Denmark established a

trade monopoly over Iceland so

that

the island could no longer

trade freely with whomever it pleased, resulting in a time of

economic hardship often reflected in the folktales of the period.

The powerful Danish tradesmen and the

Protestant

churchmen

(who were virtually the agents of the Danish crown) ruthlessly

exploited and oppressed the populace. One fourth of

the
tithe

paid to the

church

and the fines imposed by

the

courts went

directly to the king of Denmark.

The

laws of the country were

changed to impose the death penalty for moral crimes such as

heresy (aimed against the "un-Reformed") and adultery. Of

course, this

net

would eventually be widened to include

craft." Again all or part of the estate of anyone

convicted

of

these, as well as long-established or legitimate, crimes went to

the crown.

Such

measures were especially harsh on the

lation because

until

this time

the

old

Germanic-heathen
legal

codes, which provided first and foremost for the

compensation

of the victims of crimes

(not

the

state or king), were still largely

in place on the island.

Throughout

the 1600s the country was spiraling downward

into general economic and political decay. From our historical

perspective, however, the age was

not

without

its benefits.

The

scholarly

humanism

that

developed to some

extent

in Iceland

but especially in

Denmark

gave rise

to
a

concerted

effort by

scholars to save the Icelandic literary heritage.

It

was probably

as a part of this process

that

the

manuscript

of the

Galdrab6k

was

brought to Denmark. In fact, like the economic wealth of the

nation,

its

cultural

wealth was also syphoned off to

Copenhagen.

Now the manuscripts

collected

at

that

time are being

repatriated,

and, ironically, they were probably saved by Danish scholars from

the cultural and

material

ravages wreaked by Danish tradesmen

and

other

agents of the crown. Many of the manuscripts

that

were

not

collected

by the Danes were

eaten

in times of famine

or, for

want

of

other

materials, were used to make

clothing.

CHAPTER

TWO

History

of

Magic

Iceland

W
are

unusually well informed on all aspects of th.

practice of magic by the Icelanders. Much more thar

any

other

nonclassical

(i.e.,

non-Greco-Roman)

Eu

ropean people, the Icelanders have left

behind

a clear record a

their magical beliefs and practices and have given us clear

idea:

of the

contexts

in

which

this magic was practiced. We

not

ani]

have original

heathen

sources (in the

Poetic

Eelda

and
skaldic

poetry) but also clear reflections of

pre-Christian

practices

sei

down in the saga

literature.

The

sagas are prose

works-semi.

historical yet

embellished

tales-written

down for the most pari

between

1120

and

1400.

These,

however, usually reflect event'

and beliefs of the Viking Age (about

800-1100).'

Heathen

Period

(870-1000)

Sagas regularly feature works of magic and give us vivid picture,

of the lives of several magicians.

Z

The

most famous of these

is

the

Egil's

Saga,

which is essentially a biography of Egill

grfrnsson

(910-990),

an

Icelandic

skaldic poet, runic magician,

12

THE

GALDRABOK

and worshipper of

Odhinn.

Beyond such sources, we have, of

course, the rare finds of actual grimoires such as the

Galdrab6k

represents.

Such

works, along

with

runic inscriptions, legal

ords, and

the

like form

correlation

to the "literary"

material

and

fill in some of the gaps left by the sagas and poems.

The

early period of

Icelandic

magic is divided into essentially

two phases:

heathen

and

Catholic.

The

later

Reformation,

or

Protestant,

period

changed

the picture considerably.

It

was in

the
Protestant

age

that

the

manuscripts

of most of the

galdraboekur

were created. However, to

even

begin to

understand

the magical

world view of the compilers of these books, we must

understand

well the cosmos of the

Germanic

heathen

past in which their

ideas were rooted.

It

should be clear ftom the discussion above,

concerning

the history and

character

of the

church

during the
Catholic

period, how and why we are able to use

documents

actually

written

down at

that

time as reliable sources for the

heathen

practice of magic.

The

Catholic

period is really more an age of

synthesis

than

a radical

departure

from the past as far as magic,

as well as

culture

in general, is

concerned.

By all

internal

accounts, in the

heathen

age there seem

to

have been two kinds of magic

prevalent:

galdur

and

seidh(r).

Although

these later appear to have

taken

on some moral

notations-the

galdur

form being more

"honorable"

and the

seid},

form widely

considered

"shameful" or

"womanish"

-in

reality

there seem to

have

been

originally only
certain

technical

(and

perhaps social)

distinctions

between

the two.

Icelandic

galdur

is

derived from

the

verb

gala

(to crow,

chant)'

and is therefore

dominated

by

the

use of the

incantational

formula

that

is to be

spoken or sung and perhaps also carved in runes.

The
original

meaning of

seidh

may also

have

something

to do

with

vocal

performance (i. e., singing or

chanting),

although

the exact

inal meaning of the word is

unclear.'

What

is relatively clear

is

the procedural

and

psychological

distinctions

between

these twc

of

Magic
in

Iceland

13

techniques.

The

practice of

galdur

seems to be more

ical, conscious, willed, and ego-oriented, whereas

seidh

appears

more

intuitive

and

synthetic.

Typical of

galdur

would be the

assumption of a "magical persona" or alter ego for working

the will, whereas in

seidh

trance

state would be induced in

which the ego would be of relatively less

importance.

It
might

also be said

that

seidh

is closer to what might be understood as

shamanic practice." I

hasten

to

point

out

that

these are really

two

tendencies

in the pagan magic (real

though

they are), and

the "moral"

distinction

is a later

development.

Odhinn

is said

to be the

"father"

of

galdur
and

its

natural

master, but it is

believed

that

he

learned

the

arts of

seidh

from the Vanic

dess Freyja.?

It

is also

tempting

to say

that

seidh

is more based on

"natural"

methods of working magic (especially with animal and vegetable

substances), whereas

galdur

is more based on linguistic/symbolic

ways

of working (with
combinations

of verbal formulas and

graphic signs).

Our

texts show

that

the basic

techniques

and

terminology of

galdur

survived relatively more

intact

than

did

those of

seidh.

This is perhaps because of the relatively simple

technique

of working

galdur.

In the practice of

galdur

the magical

work seems more heavily

dependent

on the powers of the

gician himself.

One

traditional

area of

Germanic

magic from which the

galdur

of our texts

inherits

many of its

methods

is

that

of rune

magic.

The

runes (Ice.

rUnar

or

runir)

constitute

a writing system

used by the

Germanic

peoples from perhaps as early as 200

B.C.E.

to the early
19th

century in some remote areas of

Scandinavia.'

These runes, or rune staves (Ice.

runstafir)

as they were often

called, seem to have been used exclusively for

nonprofane

poses from

their

beginnings to the

Scandinavian

Middle Ages

(beginning about 1100

C.E.)

The

word

rUn

in Icelandic

signifies

not

only one of these "staves" used in writing

but

also, and more

originally, the idea of

"secret,"

or "secret
lore."

14

THE

GALDRABOK

Table 1:

The

Older

Rune-row

Phonetic

Number Shape Value

Name

Meaning of Name

'fehu

livestock,

wealth

1\

"'iiruz

aurochs

\>

th

'
thurisaz

giant

'"

ansuz

the god

1\

'raidho

riding

<

'kaunaz

sore

gebo

gift

·wunjo
joy

'hagalaz

hail

10

1-

'nauthiz

need

11

"'isa

ice

12

t{

jera

year (harvest)

13

ei

'

eihwaz
yew

14

r::

'perthro

dice box (?)

15

-z

'

elhaz

elk

16

'"

sowilo

sun

17

...

teiwaz

the god

Tyr

18

&
b

'berkana

birch (-goddess)

19

'ehwaz

horse

20

P'\

*mannaz

man

21

!'

'laguz

water

22

ng

*ingwaz

the god Ing

23

!Xl

'dagaz
day

24

'

6thala

ancestral

estate

"Indicates

reconstructed

Proto-Germanic

form.

HisWry

of

Magic

in

Iceland

15

From

the

origins of

the

tradition

to about 800 c.

E.

the
older

system of

twenty-four

runes

prevailed

(Table 1). This system was

subsequently reformed in an orderly

and

uniform fashion

out

Scandinavia.

But as some formulas in our late texts show,

the magical value of the

number

24 seems to have

continued.

In

the

so-called Viking Age (from about 800 to 1100) the

last

heathen

codification

of

the

runes took place.

It

was from
this period

that

many of

the

pre-Christian

aspects of magical

practice found in our

galdrabrekur

seem to have grown. During

the Viking Age

the

rune staves were reduced to

sixteen

in

ber. As in earlier times,

each

rune had a

name

as well as its

phonetic

value (usually

indicated

by

the

first sound in its

name.)

There were also

interpretative

poetic

stanzas

connected

to each

rune."

These are of special

interest

since they were at least

corded in Iceland and Norway in

the

1400s and

1500s-a

time

very close to

that

when

our earliest magical texts were being

compiled.

Therefore,

we

can

speculate

that

the

galdramenn

gicians)
might

have had some

detailed

knowledge of the esoteric

lore of

heathen

runology,

Many of them were

certainly

literate

in runes.

The

system of

the

Viking Age runes, as it would have

been

known

to

the

Icelanders,

is shown in

Table

on

page 16.

This table has several things to

teach
us directly about the

significance of

what

we will

encounter

in the spells found in the

galdrabrekur.

First of all,

the

number

16 is

often

found underlying

the

composition

of

the

stave forms in

the

spells. They are usually

not actual rune staves,

but

they

do reflect

the

formulaic

icance of
the

number

16. Also,

the

old rune names show up

not

only in the

spells-where

they

apparently

signify

the

runes they

name

(e.g.,

see Spell 46 in Part

2)-but

also in the curious

names of

the

"magical

signs" (Ice.

galdrastafir)

themselves, such

as

hagall.

In pagan times
the

runic

magicians were well-known and

honored

members of society.

Traditionally,

runelore

had

been

16

THE

GAWRABOK

Table 2:

The

Younger Rune-row

Phonetic

Number

Shape

Value

Name

Meaning of

Name

¥'

te
money, gold,

livestock

f\

ufo

ur

aurochs (or drizzle/

slag)

\>

rh

thurs

giant

liss

the god (or estuary)

reidh

a riding

k/g

kaun
sore, ulcer

*-

hagall

"hail"

(special runic

name)

i-

naudh(rJ

need, distress

i/e

iss

ice

10

.(

ar

good year, harvest

11

s6l

sun
12

tid

Tyr

(the

god) Tvr

13

p/b

bjarkan

birch (goddess)

14

madhr

man

15

I'

logr

water

16

Rly

yr

yew (bow)

the preserve of members

of

the established social order

interested

in

intellectual

or spiritual pursuits. For the most part, these men

were followers of the god

Odhinn,

the

Germanic

god of magic,

ecstasy, poetry, and

death."

It is also worth

noting

that

men

were more

often

engaged in runic magic

than

were

women-a

social

phenomenon

that

is reflected in the later statistics of the

witchcraft trials in Iceland.

History

of

Magic

in

Iceland

The

general

technique

of rune magic in pagan times

sisted of

three

procedural steps performed by a qualified

rune

magician:

(1)

carving the staves

into

an object, (2)

coloring

them

with

blood or dye,

and

(3) speaking a vocal formula

ovei
the staves to load

them

with

magical

power."

This direct

tech

nique,

which

is

not

dependent

on the

objective

intervention

01

gods or demons, will later be in

continued

evidence in

the

galdrabrekur.

It clearly shows the

continuation

of a practice frorr

early

Germanic

times right up to the

modem

age.

Several examples from old Icelandic

literature

will show

this

kind of magic at work.

One

of the most

interesting

examples

fo:

our purposes is found in the

Poetic

Edda

in the lay called,

natively, "For Skfrnis" or the "Skfmisrnal" (st. 36). This poerr

probably dates from

the

early

tenth

century. Here the

rnessengei

of the god Freyr,

named

Skfmir,

is trying to force the beautifu

giantess

(etin-wife)

to love his lord, Freyr. Skfrnir

threatens

her

with a curse:

thurs-rune

for

thee,

and

three

of

them

lechery

and

loathing

and

lust;

off

shall

scrape

them

as
on

did

scratch

them

if of

none

there

be

need.

12

The

basic

motivation

and

stance

of the runic magician,

a,

well as

technical

aspects such as the

enumeration

of the stave,

and the actual style of the

incantation,

will be found in late:

spells.
Another

famous example

that

clearly shows

rune-rnagica

techniques

is one in the

Egil's

Saga

(chap. 44). In order to

deteci

poison in his

drinking

hom,

Egill drew out his knife and stabbec

the palm of his

hand.

Then

he took the

hom,

carved runes or

it, and rubbed blood on them. He said:

18

THE

GAWRABOK

I
carve

rune

on

the

horn

redden

the

spell

in

blood

these

words

choose

for

your

ears

The

hom

burst asunder, and the drink went down into the

straw.

13

Besides

runic magic, but

often

in

conjunction

with it, we

find magic worked in

pre-Christian

times with

certain

holy or

otherwise powerful

natural

substances.

There

must have been a

whole magical classification system of sacred woods only dimly

reflected in the

galdrabrekur.

In any

event,

the woods of various

trees played a special part in the

Germanic

magical technology

as well as its mythology.

The

world is said to be

constructed
around the framework of a

tree-

Yggdrasill

(the

World-

Tree).

Humankind

is said to have been shaped by a threefold aspect of

Odhinn

from trees: the man from the ash and the woman from

the elm

(embla?).

Another

substance of

extreme

importance

is blood.

The

runes were

often

reddened

with

it, and it was generally

thought

to have

intrinsic

magical powers, especially when it was

either

human or

that

of a sacrificial animal. In many

pre-Christian

sacrificial rites the blood of the animal was sprinkled

onto

the

altar, temple walls, and even rhe

gathered

folk, all of which were

said to be hallowed by this

contact.

14

The

etymology of the

English verb "to bless" reflects this

heathen

practice as it is

ultimately derived from a

Proto-Germanic

form L

blothisojan

(to

hallow

with

blood; PGmc.
'blotham,

blood).

Other

than

woods of trees, herbal substances were also

widely used in

pre-Christian

magical practice. Especially

alent were forms of the leek (Ice.

laukur),

the name of

which

commonly occurs as a magical runic formula

even

as early as

450

C.E.

IS

It is also

noteworthy

that

several herbs bear the names

of Norse gods or

goddesses,

for example, Icelandic

friggjargras
History

of

Magic

in

Iceland

1'

(Frigg's

herb:

orchis

odoratissima

or

satyrium

albidium)

and

bal

dursbra

(Baldur's brow:

cotula

foetida

or

pyethrum

inodorum,

perhaps eye-bright).

Additionally,

certain

small stones, called in Icelandic

lyf

sceinar

(herb-magical healing stones), are

thought

to have

power:

to heal disease magically. These were sometimes even

carvec

with runes or

other

signs.

Catholic

Period

(1000-1550)

The latter part of the age just before the time when the

ga/d.

rabrekur

began to be set down is called the

Catholic

period. A,

will be remembered from our discussion of the

politico-religiou,

history of Iceland, a peculiar kind of

Catholic

Christian

churcl

existed in Iceland from 1000 to the middle of the 1500s. In al

facets of life this represented a period of mixed faith in

which

elements of

the

ancient

native

heritage and the new foreigr

religion were being syncretized.

Heathen

elements in the magical

tradition

would naturally

be diminished

both

as new material was introduced and as

edge of

the

technical

aspects of the pagan

tradition

began to fad,

through neglect and lack of the old

establishment

support.

theless, the old material and techniques must have

continued

in
a real way for many generations. In a way this is a "dark

age"

for our knowledge of the actual practice of magic in Iceland

because the works composed at this time depicted the

Viking

Age practices, and we have no actual

gaklrabrekur

from the period

itself.

From what we have in the Refonmation Age, it is

possible

to speculate

that

the

heathen

tradition

was kept alive on its own

tenms

for a long time but eventually was syncretized with the

Christian

tradition.

It must, however, be understood

that

prac-

20

THE
GALDRAB6K

tieing magic at all was considered by

orthodox

forces to be

retical and somewhat diabolical.

(That

is why there is an active,

explicit merger of the old gods and the demons of hell. See

chapter 4.)

The

influence of the foreign

Christian

tradition

seems tc

have been most keenly felt in new elements introduced in the

formulas.

These would include personalities from

explicitly

Judea-Christian

mythology (e.g., Solomon, Jesus, Mary).

yond these personalities

certain

formulas must have been

porated at this time: the use of

the

trinity, formulas of benediction

peculiar to the
Catholic

church,

and so on.

Other

elements,

such as

Judea-Gnostic

formulas (e.g.,

[ehova

Sebaoth

[Yahweh

Tzabaoth],

Tetragrammaton)

must have come directly from

ical books imported from the

Continent

at this time. As far

as

the actual methods of working magic are concerned, there musl

have been a relative shift in emphasis to the prayer formula,

it

which the magician bids for

the

intercession of some supernatural

entity on his behalf.

Although

this was probably known in sam,

form in

the

heathen

age, it had limited application; whereas il

predominates in the

Judea-Christian

tradition.

The

information

we have about magicians and magic of this

period is very indirect.

Although

many texts were composed ir

this period, they mostly harked back to the

heathen

age wher

magic came into play.

The

later folktales, mostly collected ir

the 1700s and 1800s tell of two famous magicians of this

age.

however.

One

was Saemundur Sigfusson the Wise

(1056-1133).

who was the

godhi
(priest-chieftain) of Oddi. He is reputed tc

have been the most learned man of his time, but all of his

writing:

are now lost. Further, he was said to have acquired magica

knowledge as a captive of the Black School of Satan. This legem

may be due to the fact

that

he studied Latin and theology ir

France. Saemundur has the

reputation,

despite the origins of hi:

knowledge,

of being a "good" magician.

It

seems

that

the rep

History

of

Magic

in

Iceland

21

utation for "white" or "black" magic

that

the historical magiciaru

acquired was due more to literary stereotyping and regional

flicts

than

to any historical or practical facts. Seemundur's sister

Halla also

"practiced

the old

heathen

lore," as one text describing

her puts it, although the writer feels obliged to add

that

she was

"nevertheless

...

a very religious woman.

"16

Reformation

Age

(1550-1750)

With

the advent of

Protestantism

in Iceland, beginning about

1536, a radical new

situation

began

to
prevail. As learning

creased in qualiry and persecutions of magic increased in

sity, elements of Icelandic magic already in place began to reach

knowledge and practice as far as the

establishment

was

cerned, so it therefore became more wrapped up in the mixture

of

previously

rejected

heathenism.

At the close of the

Catholic

period there were two

porary Icelandic magicians with very different reputations.

skalk Niklasson the Cruel (bishop of Holar from 1497 to 1520)

had a

reputation

as an evil magician. He was the compiler of

the fabled

Raudhskinni

book of magic

discussed

in chapter 3.

Gottskalk is well known in Icelandic history otherwise as a

less political schemer who conspired against secular political

ures for his own

selfish

ends.

I?

This as much as anything else

probably led to his

reputation

in the folk tradition.

An

imate contemporary of

Gottskalk

was Halfdanur Narfason (died

1568), vicar of Fell in

Gottskalk's

diocese of Holar. Little is

known of Halfdanur's life, but there is a rich body of folktales

concerning

him."

He seems to have been the legendary "white"

counterpoint

to the "black" Bishop Gortskaik.

Halfdanur and Gotrskalk form a kind of bridge between the

Catholic and

Reformation

ages in the history of Icelandic magic.

22

THE
GALDRABOK

Deep into the

Protestant

period we again have a pair of

contrasted magician

figures:

Eirfkur of Vogs6sar and Galdra

Loptur. Eirlkur, who was a quiet and pious vicar, lived from 163'

to 1716. He is little known in history but shares with Seemundu

the

reputation

of a

practitioner

of good magic, wholly

deriver

from godly

sources-although

he was not above practicing

tlu

most dreaded arts (e. g. , necromancy) for "pedagogical purposes.

'

Here I refer to one of the most telling anecdotes in the

histor

of Icelandic magic, one

that

emphasizes the

character
and leve

of humor necessary to practice magic:

Two boys once came to Eirikur the priest and asked him

t<

show them how he would set about raising ghosts. He told then

to come with him to the churchyard, and they did. He muttere:

something between his

teeth,

and the earth began gushing

UI

out of a grave.

The

boys reacted differently; one laughed, an,

the

other

burst into tears. Eirtkur said to the latter: "Go

hom

again, my good fellow, and

thank

God you did

not

go out c

your mind. As for this

other

boy, it would be a pleasure to teacl

him.

"19
This might be compared with an episode involving Galdra

Loptur (Loptur the Magician)

that

is supposed to be one of hi

most depraved

acts-raising

the

draugur

(ghost) of Bishop

Gotts

kalk in order to recover his famous "black book,"

Raudhskinnl

Little is known of the historical Loptur, but we do know tha

he was a scholar at the school at H61ar and

that

he died in 1722

In Galdra-Loptur we have a kind of Icelandic Faust, whose majc

sin is his insatiable desire for more knowledge and power.

20

The use of folktales to trace the history of magic is a risk

task. They really tell us more about the changing attitudes (

the folk toward magic and

other

human

motivations

than

abor
the actual practices of any given time. However, in this

area,

in so many others, Iceland provides remarkable

technical

detail

and often surprisingly value-free renditions of

events-eve

History

of

Magic

in

Iceland

though

the

teller of the tale may feel the need to comment

negatively Ot positively as an aside.

When

we look over the

whole body of Icelandic folktales dealing

with

magic we see

certain

trends. For example, men of high rank are rarely chided

with charges of black magic, even

though

their
reported practice,

seem little different from those against whom the charge

was

leveled.

In the early phase of the

Christian

period,

heathen

lore

was

looked upon with some

ambivalence,

and the

Christian

Devil

was hardly understood.

It

seemed to be a moral watershed as

to

the source of a magician's know ledge and power

-of

the

tian God or of some

other

source

(i.e.,

heathen/diabolical).
Later, especially in the

Protestant

period, all magic was looked

upon with

suspicion-all

wizards

were "gray" at best. This

titude in the folktales is perhaps most

eloquently

symbolized in

the

Galdrab6k

in those spells in which the old gods are equated

with infernal demons and

Valholl

is somehow equated with hell.

Because of Iceland's

peculiar

church

organization

in the

Catholic

period and the general isolation of the

country

from

Continental

affairs, the practice of magic was

not

officially

secuted or prosecuted during

that

time.

The

Inquisition

became

active on the

Continent

following Pope

Innocent

Ill's bull of

1199.

That

was mainly

directed

against organized heretics, but

its circle gradually widened to include sorcery

even

when heresy

was

not

involved

(in a bull by Pope Nicholas V in 1451). But

even this failed to

penetrate
the dark mists of

Thule.

In large

measure this

phenomenon

is probably due to the fact

that

it was

clergymen themselves who were most actively engaged in sorcery

in Iceland!

The

Protestants

on the

Continent

were no less severe in

dealing

with

witchcraft

than

the

Inquisition

had been, and in

many cases they were more

devastating

in

that

their
focus on

individuals and small groups made more

indiscriminate

perse-

24

THE

GAWRAB6K

cutions easier. It was under cover of the

Reformation

that

witch.

craft

persecutions

came to Iceland.

These

persecutions

nevei

reached

the

genocidal

levels

known

on the

Continent,

when

hundreds of
thousands

were

executed,

but they are

nevertheles

historically significant.

The

first

trial

for

witchcraft

in Iceland is recorded in 1554

the last at

the

Althing

of 1720. Records were poorly kept in thi:

period; however, it is

estimated

that

during this time some

35C

trials were held,

although

records for only 125 survive.

Of

these

125 accused persons only 9 were

women."

This

is in markec

contrast

to the general

pattern

of

witchcraft

accusations anc

certainly suggests

something

of the demographics of magical

tice in Iceland.

This

is generally a reflection of

long-standing

Germanic

tradition,

in

which

men were at least the equal

0:

women in the

occult

arts. We have records for only

twenty-six

executions (mostly by
burning)

for

witchcraft.

Only one womar

was actually

executed.

Others

who were

convicted

of this crime,

but whose

sentence

was

short

of

death,

were

flogged

or outlawec

(in effect

banished

from the

country).

The

period of most

intensive

witchcraft
persecutions

iI

clearly marked

between

the first

execution

in 1625 and the

last

in 1685. However, it is worth

pointing

out

that

during this tim,

Iceland suffered

generally

under a moral code of extremely harsl'

laws,

which provided for

capital

punishment

for a wide varier,

of

crimes-murder,

incest, adultery,

theft-as

well as witchcraft.

Also, finding rune staves carved on a stick or

written

on

parch

ment

was

evidence

sufficient to

convict

someone of witchcraft.

All of this is a far cry from

the

saga age when great men

knew

the runes and the

Althing

could

not

impose the

death

penalty

Finally, it is

noteworthy

that

although

it was

not

necessarily
the

poorest or most

ignorant

folk who were accused of sorcery,

the

rich, powerful, or scholarly (who were in

historical

retrospect

the chief

practitioners)

were largely immune. L

History

of

Magic

in

Iceland

25

Ai;

to the kinds of magic

practiced

in this period, we have

direct

evidence

in the form of the

Galdrab6k

itself,
which

was

compiled over a period

between

about

1550

and

1680,

including

many years of

the

persecutions.

Here we are

not

dependent

on

secondhand

descriptions

but

have the practical manual itself as

it was used by

actual

magicians.

The

same

can

be said for the

other, later

material

recorded in

Appendices

A and B.

The

maining

chapters

treat

the various aspects of magic as

practiced

in the

Galdrab6k.

In the

1550-1680

period Iceland developed a

national

thesis of magic

that

was worked by members of the highest levels

of its society. But it is perhaps because of the relative lack of a

strict set of

socioeconomic

and

educational

class

distinctions
in

Iceland at the time and afterward

that

the synthesis survived as

long as it did. Even today Icelanders are

noted

for

their

ularly strong beliefs in

occult

matters"

and

their

unabashed

pride

in their

heathen

past.

23

CHAPTER

THREE

Icelandic

Books

of

the

Black
Art

esides

the

Galdrab6k,

which

is the focus of our study

here, the

apparently

once rich

textual

tradition

of

landic magic is in fragments and shreds.

The

folktale,

of Iceland report on the

existence

of famous books of the black

arts owned by

notorious

magicians of history and housed in

nowned schools where magic was practiced. These kinds of

book,

were also

reported

in more reliable historical sources, some

ot

which even

contain

summaries of

their

contents.

Otherwise we

are

dependent

on

later

collections

and on stray references in

manuscripts whose

contents

are generally

other

than

that

oi

galdur.

Some of the later books

containing

spells are profiled in

Appendix

A.

In legend, the earliest of the famous Icelandic magicians oi

the

Christian

period, Bishop Seemundur the Wise, is said to have

learned the arts of magic at a mysterious Black School of Satan

somewhere on the

Continent,

perhaps in

Germany

or France.'

But in later times the two

cathedral

schools of Iceland at

H61al

(in the

north)

and

Skalholt

(in the southwest) were the hotbed;

of magical activity.

As

noted

before, the legendary

material

alsc

tends to divide the master magicians

into

two main types: be-

28

THE

GAWRAB6K

neficent and malificent. Seemundur the Wise is the model of

goodness,

and

Gottskalk

the

Cruel

is the archetype of evil. It is

curious, however,

that

their

sources of magical lore are the same

(as often from

Satan

or

Odhinn

as from the

Christian

God); and

in the books

that

have survived, all kinds of magic are merrily

mixed

together.
It

seems

that

ro the magician himself

(not

essarily to the

nonmagicians

who might sit in

judgment

of him)

magic is a

neutral

thing

that

can

be used in causes just and

unjust.

The

Black

Books

of

Legend

There

are two main texts of legendary

importance

in the history

of Icelandic books of the black arts.

It

is impossible to tell where

legend ends and history begins

with

these accounts, but one

thing

that

is borne out by

hard

evidence

is the importance of

such books

and

the

nature

of

their

contents.

The

most famous and sinister of all of these books was

Raudhskinni

(Red

Leather),

which

was said to have been compiled

by the most evil of all magicians, Bishop

Gottskalk
N iklasson

the Cruel, Bishop of Holar from 1497 to 1520.

Raudhskinni

is

said to be a book of the blackest magic, drawn from the

heathen

age. It was supposed ro have been

written

with

golden letters on

red

parchment

(hence,

the name "Red

Leather").

It is also said

to have been

written

in runes.?

Gottskalk

is reported

to

have

been buried

with

the

Raudhskinni,
and it is further said

that

he

did

not

teach

all of the magic compiled in the book. Therefore,

the text was assumed to be of enormous secret power. Some two

hundred

years after

Gottskalk's

death

there was said to be a

scholar at the school of

Holar

named

Loptur, or

Galdra-Loptur.

Loptur wished

to

gain the knowledge

contained

in

Raudhskinni,

so he set about to raise the dead

Gottskalk

and force him to give

Icelandic

Books

of the

Black

Art

2'

up the book. Loptur was

unsuccessful,

however, and was lef

shattered by the

encounter

with the powerful ghost of Gottskalk.:

Another

famous magical book of semilegend was

Grdskinn

(Gray Leather).

There

were perhaps at one time two books

b1

this name, one at H6lar and one at Skalholt,

both

originalh

compiled from the same source.

The

description of this book

i1
interesting in

that

the text is supposed to have consisted of twe

parts, the first part

written

in normal letters

(i.e.,

in the Romar

alphabet) and

containing

information

on lesser magical arts,

foi

example,

glimugaldur

(wrestling magic) and

Infalis!

(palmistry).

The souls of those who read just the first part could still be saved,

but those who read

the

second part of

Grdskinni

were damned.

This second part was said to be

written

in
villurunir

(erring runes,

i.e., coded runes designed to conceal their actual meanings).

These were black magical spells the magician Galdra-Loptur had

mastered.

Of course, these books may never have actually existed, but

certainly ones with

contents

like those described in folktales did

exist. In fact, our

Galdrab6k

is a surviving example. We do not

need to repeat

what

the usual fate of such books was once

they

were discovered by the

establishment

authorities. However, it

is

useful

to recall

that

there was an active campaign against such

books for centuries, and given

that
circumstance it is remarkable

that the

Galdrab6k

was able to survive.

Text of

the

Galdrab6k

The original manuscript of this

collection

of black magical

spells

was written in Iceland beginning sometime during the latter part

of the 1500s. It is therefore a product of the Reformation Age.

The manuscript does not represent a comprehensive

tion, but

rather

it is a

collection

of spells, more or less randomly

30

THE

GALDRABOK

pieced

together.'

As we have the book now, it has been

addec
to by four scribes working over a period of as long as a hundrec

years.

The first magician, working in Iceland during the

latter

hal

of the

sixteenth

century, wrote down spells

1-10.

Soon

thereaftei

it was passed on to

another

Icelander, who added spells

11-39

Perhaps sometime later a third Icelandic scribe came into pas·

session of the book and added spells

40-44.

This latter

galdra.

madhur

wrote in the cursive style of the 17th century.

What

i,

remarkable about his work is

that

it contains such a rich

store

of references to the older gods and to Germanic

lore-and

thi:

was around 1650, more

than

half a millennium after that fatefu

Althing of the year 1000!

Not

long after this third scribe hac

added his spells, the book was taken to Denmark, where it cam,

into the hands of a Danish magician who wrote in spells begin.

ning with the last section of 44 through 47. This Dane

musi

have also had the use of

other

Icelandic books of magic,

no"

lost, from which he collected these spells.

In 1682 the book was acquired by the Danish philologis

J.

G. Sparfvenfelt and was later acquired by the Swedes (some

time between 1689 and 1694) for their great collection a

"Gothic"

monuments and manuscripts. Eventually it found it,

way into the Academy of Sciences (State Historical

Museum:
in Stockholm, where it is now.

A survey of the

contents

of the manuscript reveals

some

interesting tendencies.

There

are essentially two kinds of magk

worked here.

One

works by means of a prayer formula in whicl

higher powers are invoked and by which the magical end

i:

effected indirectly. This is the case only with a minoriry (a tota

of eight) of the spells in the

Galdrab6k.

Far more common

an

the

spells

that

work as direct expressions of the magician's will

This will is expressed through signs.or through written or spoker

formulas.

Often

these methods are combined so

that
the overal

Icelandic

Books

of

the

Black

Art

31

ritual formula is very similar to the kind practiced in

ancient

times and reported of Egill

Skallagrfmsson,

for example. There

are a total of

twenty-three

spells using

galdrasrafir,

while eight

make use of spoken or

written

spells. Two, 33 and 45, make use

of formulas

that

mix the prayers with the use of

galdrasrafir.

Three
spells

employ

neither

prayer nor signs but

rather

make use of

natural substances

that

are supposed to work a magical effect.

This is the kind of natural magic most often found in the

books," or physicians' manuals.

The

religious outlook expressed in the spells is also of central

interest. A full twenty-one of the spells have a predominantly

non-Christian

or overtly

heathen

(or even diabolical) viewpoint.

This is not unexpected, as the whole practice of magic had been

associated with the

heathen

past and with demonic sources from

the time of

the

introduction

of

Christianity.
In spite of this,

there are some nine spells

that

have a "purely

Christian"

outlook

in that they overtly cite

Christian

figures

or use

Christian

mulas.

There

are also eight spells

that

demonstrate

[udeo-Gnostic

roots: 5, 10, 11, 12, 31, 37, 39, and 42. These often make use

of Judaic or

Greco-Gnostic

formulas but

cannot

be

classified

as

Christian. They were, no doubt, borrowed from the

Continental
tradition along with the overtly

Christian

formulas.

ally, there are

five

highly curious spells

that

mix ovettly Germanic

pagan

contents

with overtly

Christian

contents.

It is worth

ing

that

four of these were added by the last two scribes. This

might indicate

that

the pagan and especially the

Christian formulas were receding further

into

the category of

rejected knowledge and were thus increasingly becoming

didates for use in magical formulas.

There are roughly six different magical motivations

pressed
in the spells of

the

Galdrab6k.

By far the most common

are apotropaic, or protective,

formulas,

of which there are no

less

than

eighteen. Besides these spells, which are

consttucted

32

THE

GALDRAB6K

so as to

protect

the magician from some active harm (e.g.,

shot or the

wrath

of powerful men), there is a group of nine

generally

beneficent

spells designed to bring the magician good

fortune or beneficial circumstances.

An

overriding
concern

of

the magicians who compiled this book was the discovery of

thieves.

There

is a total of six such spells. These are curious in

that they are spells for the acquisition of some form of

ance or magical knowledge (Ice.

kunnatta;

see Spell

44)

by which

the magician will be able to "see" an image of the man who stole

from him.

The

last spell

(47)

is a formula for invisibility.

Besides

these

protective

and otherwise passive formulas,

there is a sizable group of spells devoted

to

more

aggressive

forms
of magic. These are ten in number, of which four or so are among

the most mischievous yet recorded in the annals of sorcery. If

Icelandic magicians went around casting these spells, it is no

wonder they spent so much time and effort worrying about the

"wrath of powerful

men."

Other

Historical

Manuals

of

Magic

Of

course, besides

the

Galdrab6k

no

coherent

and archaic book

of its kind exists anymore. But there are a number of books

that

contain

various amounts of

interesting

lore.

One

of the main

problems in research in this area is

that

the sources have not

been collected, and/or

convenient

editions of

them

have not

been made.

There are historical records of books from

the

l Zth century

that give us some idea of their basic

contents.

The

magical books

of Pastor J6n the Learned

(1574-16501)

fell into the hands of

Pastor

Gudhmundur

Einarsson of

Stadharstadhur

in

1625.

Gudhmundur

used these books to write a tract against the prac-

Icelandic

Books

of

the

Black

Art

3.

tice of magic in 1627.

Jon was said

to

be a learned but super

stitious man who spread

the

lore of magic in the form of

kreddur

or superstitious beliefs. We know from secondary citations of thi

now lost tract by

Gudhmundur

that

Jon's books

contained

spell

using the

sator-square?

and "runes"

connected
with biblical pas

sages

(mostly from the Psalms).

Gudhmundur,

who was at pain

to

connect

this lore with the worship of Satan, ventured at

interpretation

of the sator-square as a scrambling of the

sentenci

Satan

operor

te,

operor

te

Satan.

This he translates as

"Satan

1 an

in thy work, I am in thy

toil.:"

As a result of this publicity an,

the

efforts

of

Gudhmundur,
Jon was

condemned

for witchcraf

at the

Althing

of 1631 but was

not

executed.

There also exists a detailed catalog of the

contents

of :

galdrabok

found by the schoolmaster of Skalholr in the bed

two students in the year 1664.

The

schoolmaster

handed

it ove

to Bishop Brynjulfur Sveinsson, who made a listing of its con

tents.

The

book itself was most certainly burned, but the student

were spared the same fate. They were

not

even tried, but the'

were expelled from the school and exiled to England. One

them returned after some years.

The

descriptive list made by Brvnjulfur contains eight

items. Here are translations of some of those

that

are most in

teresting for our purposes. No. 14: "To wrestle in a differen

way,

with carvings and the drawing of blood. Additionally

[four

signs:

hedge-hog tooth,

ginfaxi,

and

satrix."

No.

2e

kgishjalmur

(helm of awe). No. 24:

"Conjuration

for a fox. Her

Thorr and

Odhinn

are invoked, with

twenty-three
signs." No

26:

"Conjuration

for a mouse, with a

human

rib-the

Devil i

invoked in complete trust in

Thorr

and

Odhinn

with the

verse

sator arepo,

etc."

No. 27:

"To

give someone the sleep-thorn

with the drawing of blood and two signs." No. 29: "To mak

someone

sleepless,

with a cursing verse and one sign. Addition

34

THE

GALDRAB6K

ally the Devil is called upon as well as twelve arch-devils by the

power of Lucifer." No. 39: "To find out who stole from someone,

with two signs

hagall

inn

minni [hagall the lesser]." No. 74: "Sc

that

a troll of

utburdhur

[the ghost of an unbaptized

baby]

will

not drive someone mad, with four signs." No. 77: "To carve the

sleep-thorn for

someone."

No. 80: "Against theft: conjuring

hrimthurs

[rime giant] and

grimthurs

[cruel giant] and the

Father

of all Trolls [Odhinn] with

twenty-nine

signs."

The

contents

01

this list may be compared beneficially with the

contents

of the

Galdrab6k

and with the later collections found in the

appendixes

of this book.

At least one old Icelandic leechbook (physicians' manual)

from the late 1400s contains several leaves at the beginning that

are more magical

than

the average

contents

of the book.

10

These

contain

some of the oldest

representations

of the

regishjalmur

anc

similar signs, as well as prayer formulas in which the old

gods

(i.e.,

6dhinn

[also as Fjolnir],
Th6rr,

Frigg,

and Freyja)

are

mixed with

[udeo-Christian

figures.

The

other

Icelandic sources treated extensively in Appendix

A are collections made in the 1800s.

Their

contents

usually gc

back to the 1700s, and their substance, as can be seen directly,

goes right back to the medieval period and beyond.

The

readei

is advised to see the introductory material in Appendix A

fOI

the historical details of these collections.

Besides

the Icelandic material, which is the core of this

study, I have also appended material from

other

Germanic

areas.
Appendix B has a selection from an Old English leechbook thai

gives

an insight into a different

traditional

mix but nevertheles,

often retains much of the more archaic underlying Germanic

lore. Finally, Appendix C has the most famous spells in the

history of

Germanic

magic, which are from the

Continenta

German

tradition

and which have

important

Indo-European par·

allels.

Icelandic

BooI<.I

of

the

Black

Art

The Two

Traditions

in
the North

35

Although

the

situation

is actually much more complex

than

am able to present it here, from the perspective of the

northern,

or

Germanic,

region

there

were essentially two great

traditions

of magic, the

northern

and the

southern.

They

are

not

of

riding

importance

to our study, since we are

concentrating

on

the Icelandic

tradition,

which

was by far the most conservative

of the

Germanic

lands. But

when

we look at the magical

ditions of England and

Germany

as early as the

tenth

century

or at the magical

teachings

in Sweden in the

sixteenth

century,

we see the transmission of virtually pure magical

traditions-in

the form of

literature

often

translated
in part

into

the

lar-from

the

Mediterranean

to the

northern

lands.

Of

course,

it must be understood

that

the

Mediterranean

"tradition"

was by

this time an

entirely

artificial and composite one made up mainly

of elements from

Greco-Egyptian,

[udeo-Christian,

and even

"eastern"

features from various Near Eastern and

Indian
cults

(e.g.,

Manichaeanism).

This

synthetic

Mediterranean

tradition

marched steadily against the

northern

tradition,

not

(as with

religion) by brute

economic

and military force but by the gentler

force of prestige.

In no region is this whole process clearer and more polarized

than

in Germany.

There

the second Merseburg spell is the last

record of

Wodan's

name being used in a magical

context.

ever, the use of his name

continues
into

the 1700s and beyond

in Iceland and remote regions of

Scandinavia-and

perhaps even

in the countryside of England. In

Germany

we find

that

the old

folk

tradition,

although

to a great

extent

superficially

tianized,"

retained

heathen

spirit."

This

tradition

continued

to be

practiced

at the level of the

common

folk in the countryside

and on the

heaths,

but in the cities and university towns the

Mediterranean

tradition

was being developed,

articulated,

and,

36

THE

GALDRABOK

typically, improved by

German

scholars and magicians from the

semilegendary Georg

(Johann)

Faustus

(1480-1539?)

to Albertus

Magnus

(1193-1280),

Theophrastus

Bombastus von

Hohenheim
(Paracelsus)

(1493-1541),

and

Cornelius

Agrippa von

sheim

(1486-1535).

The

influence of the two

traditions

was

mutual. An

examination

of the

German

hermetic

magicians will

show a high level of

interest

in and use of the local folk traditions.

In turn, the folk

traditions

were

saturated

with

non-Germanic

ligures
and

entities

that

have largely replaced the pagan ones.

CHAPTER

FOUR

The

Old

Gods

and

the

Demons

of

Hell

traditional

gods

and

goddesses of the

Germanic

people,

had an

uncanny

way of surviving in the

Icelandic

national

tradition
of magic

and

folklore.

Although

we find

only

isolated

mention

in the oldest sources of

German

or English

01

even in

other

Scandinavian

traditions,

we find a widespread and

vigorous life for

the

old gods in the

Icelandic

world.

The

reasons

for this should be obvious from the foregoing discussions of the

peculiarities of

Icelandic
socioreligious history.

As far as the old gods in the

other

Germanic

traditions

of

magic are

concerned,

the

reader

should

consult

the

relevant

appendixes in this book.

The

texts in those

sections

have been

selected

principally

on the basis of

what

they tell us of the most

traditional

levels of magic,

which
includes the use of

not

only

the names of

the

old

divinities

but

also the

contexts

in which

they occur.

Here we will look at the

complete

picture

of the

"theology"

and/or

"demonology"

presented

in

the

Galdrab6k

and related

Icelandic texts.

It

is our
principal

aim to look at the survival of

the

heathen

divinities

as such, but we will also

examine

their

relationship

and

apparent

assimilation

to the my

tho-magical

ures from the

[udeo-Christian

tradition,

both

evil and good.

The

Heathen

Gods

and

Goddesses

In the

Germanic
tradition,

as well as in every

other

indigenous

tradition

over

which

Christianiry

was laid, the old popular

vinities survived in at least two ways:

(l)

by being

driven

derground,"

where they

often

lived alongside the

other

rejected

entities

(e.g.,

demons),

or (2) by being assimilated to

accepted

or

established

entities.
This

latter

method

was by far the more

common

throughout

all

traditions.

In some cases

the

old gods

were

identified

with

Jesus, his disciples, the apostles, and most

commonly

with

various saints.

These

saints were sometimes

preexisting ones, but in some cases

there

seems to have been a

virtual

canonization

of the old

divinities
under

new

ized" names

and

circumstances.'

This

is really a separate study,

as we

can

be

concerned

here only

with

those

instances

found in

magical texts.

However,

it is

worth

realizing

that

this was a

general and widespread

phenomenon

not

limited
to

the

magical

arena.

By

far

the

most vigorously

represented

of

the

old gods in

the Icelandic sources is, not

surprisingly,

the Galdraf6dhur (Father

Frey,

Fjolni'

Fengur

Thundur

Thekku,

Thrumui

Figure

1:

Six

galdrasta/ir

recorded
by

Jon

Amason.

The

Old

Gods

and

the

DemoT15

of

Hell

39

of

Magicj-s-Odhinn.

Not

only does his name appear in virtually

every litany of names of the old gods, but also his

heiti

(Ice.;

nicknames) frequently appear as names of magical signs or in

other

litanies. For

example,

J6n

Amason

records a series of six

galdrastajir,

each with a

distinctive

name." (See Figure

1.)

Of the six, four.

(2-5)

are well

attested

Odhinn

nicknames.

These

and

other

such magical bynames of

Odhinn

show

that

knowledge

concerning

the

complex lore of

Odhinn's

various

functions

was kept alive,

not

merely his most usual name. In the

Galdrab6k

Odhinn's

names are recorded in a

total

of six spells

(33, 34, 41, 43, 45,

and

46).

Of

these, two

(33

and

45)

are for

uncovering

thieves,

two

(34

and

43)

are love spells, and

41

is

to allay the anger of

another-which
is

needed,

given the

ificent curse formula of Spell

461

A review of those spells will

show

that

Odhinn

can

be found in any

company

and for a wide

spectrum of magical aims. Every

indication

points to the

tinued

active-even

if

corrupted-knowledge

ofOdhinn

and his

magical

functions.

Of

all of the names of

the
old ones,

Odhinn

is, as Spell

43

puts it, the

megttugaste

(mightiest).

Perhaps the

second

most actively

represented

of the old gods

is

Thorr.

This

is

not

surprising

either,

since he seems to have

been the most popular god in

pagan

Iceland. In the

Galdrab6k

he is

not

represented
outside the litanies of divine and

monic names in spells

43, 45,

and

46.

However, there is

other

evidence

show

that

Thorr's

role in

Icelandic

magic was significant

through

galdrastafur

called the

Th6rshamar

(Thorr's

hammer).

The name of this sign was

attached

to several forms over a long

history. At one time it was ascribed to

the

solar wheel, or
tika, and is recorded in

the

folktale

material

of Jon

Amason

with the form

which

seems

reminiscent

of the old solar

wheel."

Curiousl y

enough,

the

names of these two gods appear to

have survived right up to

modern

times in

locations

remote from

40

THE

GAWRABOK
Iceland. In England during the late

19th

century

the following

magical

incantation

was recorded in the

dialect

of Lancashire:

Throice

smoites

with

Holy

Crok,

with

this

mell

[hammer]

Oi

throice

dew

knock,

One

for

God,

An'
one

for

Wad,

An'

one

for

Lok.

The

Wod

mentioned

here

is obviously Wod{

en),

and the Lok

probably refers to

Loki-all

of

which

points to a survival of an

odd mixture of English and

Scandinavian

lore. In this century

German

woman in

North
Carolina

was found to be using the

name of Thor{r) in

combination

with the Holy

Trinity

in a

healing

rite."

Besides these two

prominent

divinities

mentioned

in various

spells, at least two of the elder

divinities'

names appear as part

of the names of

certain

herbs.

Friggjargras

(the

herb of Frigg) is

mentioned

in Spell 40, and

another

herb is called
Baldursbra

(the brow of Baldur). Frigg was the wife of

Odhinn,

and Baldur

was one of his sons, who was

known

for his

invulnerability,

his

perfection, and his murder at

the

hands of Loki and

Hodhur,

At

least one

myth

is alluded to directly in Spell 46 of the

Galdrab6k,

which

says:

"thou

wilt be as weak as the fiend Loki,

who was bound by all the gods." This shows

that

the mythic

material recorded in the

Poetic
and

Prose

Eddas

was well known

to the

galdramadhur

who composed the spell.

Although

there

are some spells in

which

single

Germanic

god names appear, it is more usual for

them

to

be

used in litanies

of god names. We see these in spells 33, 43, 45, and 46.

There

are several things

worth

noting

about

these litanies.

They
contain

the names of the great gods and goddesses of the

ancient

Ger-

The Old Gods and

the

Demo",

of

HeU

41

manic religion, but they do

not

seem to be organized in any

way

especially meaningful to the pagan theology. Also, the last three

of these four litanies are really syncretic compositions in which

the

Germanic

names appear right alongside names from

Christian

and

Mediterranean

myth and magic. But the overall

impression is

that

the
[udeo-Christian

elements are newcomers

in an already

established

magical system.

This impression is

strengthened

by the fact

that

not

only

are the great

divinities

of the

Germanic

high mythology present

but also

that

the so-called lesser

divinities

of the pagan

Germanic

cosmos give shape to the magical world view of the

Galdrab6k.

There

are several

mentions
of the belief

that

trolls or elves could

be responsible for afflictions by means of magical

"shots,"

or

projectiles

hurled

at people (see spells 21 and 39), whereas the

"giants,"

or more precisely, etins (Ice.

jiimar)

are

mentioned

twice (see spells 33 and 34).

Perhaps one of the most

interesting

survivals is the name

of the dwelling place of the

gods-Walhalla

(Ice.

Valholl).

holl is the

"hall

[or perhaps "rock"] of the slain" and is held

to
be a dwelling place in

Asgardhur

(court

of the gods) in which

Odinic warriors who died in

battle

are housed in the supernal

realm. This shows a

certain

continuance

of cosmological

tions from the

heathen

past

that

impressed itself on the structure

of the new

entities

coming to the

north.

The

Demons

of

Hell

Not

only are the old gods of the

Germanic
peoples said to be in

Valholl, but in the view of the

galdramenn

who wrote this book,

so too were demons of

Hebraic

mythology-Satan

and

bub-to

be found

there.

The

most revealing formula is found in

42

THE

GALDRABOK

Spell 43, where we read: "Help me in this, all ye

gods:

Thorr,

Odhinn,

Frigg,

Freija, Satan,

Beelzebub,

and all those gods and

goddesses

that
dwell in

Valholl."

The

fact

that

Saran had

come

to Valholl was a significant

event

in the history of Icelandic

magic. This symbolically and eloquently shows how the southern

magical elements were at

first

assimilated in the

north

on

term,

set by the

northern

tradition.

From the

standpoint

of the new establishment culture,

ever, this had the

net

effect of "diabolizing" the old Germanic

gods.
To a great

extent,

but certainly not exclusively, the ole

gods

were equated with devils in the

Christian

mind. As

tim'

went on, especially beginning at the time of the

Galdrab6k,

aggressive

magical spells would be more likely to use the old

god.

or demons in their

formulas,

whereas protective spells were

more

likely to make use of

Christian

elements. This is obviously

nOI

a hard and fast rule at the time of the

Galdrab6k

but only

general tendency.

As
noted

earlier, the old characteristics and functions

the multifaceted

traditional

deities became split up by the

more

dualistic and dichotomizing

Christian

dogmas, so for a while the

old gods could feel at home alongside Jesus or Satan. But wher

all was said and done, because of fundamental defects in Christiar

doctrine, the old gods and

goddesses

of Valholl ultimately

founc

the company of

Beelzebub

and

Satan

more to their liking.

It might be convincingly argued

that

the way for this proces

in Scandinavia had been prepared centuries earlier.

That

is be
cause the

Christianization

of various Indo-European people

(Greeks, Romans, Celts, and the kindred Germans) was gen

erally accompanied by a suppression of the pagan gods througl

campaigns of diabolizing

them-turning

them into devils.

It

then no wonder

that

the

heathen

deities of the

north-or

mon

precisely

their

sympathizers and

followers-would

recognize

thei

kith and kin in the guise of the

Christian

"devils." Nowhere i
The

Old

Gods and the

Demons

of

HeU

43

this process more

blatantly

shown

than

in a Low German

tismal

oath

from the

ninth

century:

Forsakest thou the devils?

et

respondet:

I forsake the devils.

and all devilish

sacrifices?

respondet:

and I forsake all devilish

sacrifices.
and all devilish

works?

respondet:

and I forsake all the works and words of

the devil, and

Thunar

and Woden and

Saxnote

and all those who are their

panions.

Dost thou believe in God the Almighty Father?

respondet:

I believe in God the Almighty Father.

Believest

thou

in

Christ

the Son of God?

respondet:

I believe in

Christ

the Son of God.

Believest thou in the Holy Ghost?

responder:

I believe in the Holy Ghost.

On the
other

hand,

and especially in the

Catholic

period,

the new religion was heavily impressed with

heathen

ideas.

tain aspects of the old faith were

superficially

Christianized, and

many old traditions were given a

Christian

veneer. In the world

of the magicians this

meant

that

Christian

figures

could

times be used right

next

to pagan deities.

And

as our wondrous

example in Spell 46 shows, the

norrhem
sorcerer was so free

magically

that

he could use the names of

Odhinn,

the Savior,

and Satan in the same litany.

It

might also be true

that

many times when the words "lord"

(Ice.

dr6ttinn)

or "god" (Ice.

gudh)

are used, they are not free of

heathen

connotations.

The Icelandic magical triangle of

Germanic

entities,

tian entities, and

Christo-demonic

entities

is a peculiar one in

44
THE

GALDRAB6K

that

the old gods

remained

relatively

stronger in Iceland

than

anywhere else, and they survived most vigorously in magical

practice. Even in the folktales

"heathen

knowledge" is equated

with sorcery. Further, it seems

that

taken

as a whole and as far

as magic is

concerned,

the

demonic

entities

were never as

"evil"

nor the

Christian

figures

ever quite as "good" as they seem to

have been in

other

regions.

CHAPTER

FRVE

Runes and

Magical

Signs

the

16th

century

the

ancient

lore of the runes was in

highly

corrupt

state.

However,

the

history of magic

shows

that

confused
forms

can

apparently

still be used

meaningfully by skilled sorcerers.

What

is of

interest

for us here

is the way in

which

essential

methods

of

runic

magical

nique-very

different

from those of

the

magic

that

could have

been

imported

from

the
Mediterranean-were

handed

down in

the

Icelandic

tradition.

The

two

major

distinctive

graphic

tures are

the

use of runes or rune like signs

and

the

use of magical

signs

(galdramyndir)

that

mayor

may

not

have

runic origins.

Another

striking
feature

is

the

very

technique

by

which

this

magic was worked, as it is

virtually

identical

with

that

of the

rune magic of

the

heathen

age.

The runes

themselves

continued

to be

known

as a

practical

script in

Iceland,
and we see

them

used to write

inscriptions

in

and

around

some of

the

magical sigils in

Appendix

A, for

ample. But these

relatively

clear

instances

of

runic

writing were

far less

prevalent

than

the

use of

encoded

runic

forms called
viUuletur

or

viUurunir,

which were

meant

to confuse and

conceal

46

THE

GALDRABOK

rather

than

actually

reveal

meanings.

One

of

the

ways in which

runelore was

apparently

used by the wizards who

compiled

these

spells was to

have
certain

numbers

of rune like

figures

arranged

in a way

that

suggested the

runic

system. Notes to spells

12-19,

for example, show a

variety

of ways in which

the

numerical

systems

and

the

forms of

the

runes

themselves

were used in

magical "staves. "

There

seems to be an effort to
have

a significant

number of figures to make up complexes of signs, so

there

are

twenty-four or

sixteen

or

eight

of

them

in the formulas.

Another

feature

apparently

inherited

from

ancient

runic

magical

practice

is the very

terminology

used to describe the

figures

and ways of using

them.
Most

often

the

figures are referred

to in

Icelandic

as

stafir

(sg.

stafur)-"staves."

This

is

inherited

from the old

technical

designation

of runes as staves or sticks

because they were

often

carved

on

such wooden objects for

ismanic purposes.

The

execution

of these

figures
for magical

purposes is

indicated

by the

Icelandic

verbs

reisa

(to

scratch)

01

rista

(to

carve).

These

are used in

contexts

that

show

that

actual

cutting

or

carving

is

intended

(e.g.,

into
wooden objects) but

also in

contexts

that

show

that

what

is actually

intended

is more

like writing, as

with

ink and quill

on

parchment

or paper.

ever, the old magical

runic

terminology

died hard.

Probably

the

most

outstanding

single feature of

the

Icelandic
books of magic is

their

use of

complex

magical signs. Most effort,

at classifying

these

signs try to come

to

grips

with

their

ships to the runes

and

their

magical

functions.'

There

seem tc

be three

main

types of such signs:

(1)

bandmnir

(bind

runes,

made up of more or less obvious

combinations

of runes), (2)

galdrastafir

(magic staves,

which

were

perhaps

originally binc

runes but

which

have

become

so stylized as to take on

pendent

lives of

their

own),

and

(3)

galdramyndir

(magic signs,

which seem to

have

always

been

nonrunic

abstract
signs,

sud

Runes

and

Magical

Signs

41

as the

Thorr's

hammer

discussed above}. Many of

the

signs appeal

to be

combinations

of runes

and

abstract

cosmological signs. The

main

problem

in any effort to

"decipher"

these signs is the

standing

tradition
of

stylization

and

simplification

(or artificial

complication).

Another

form of classification has to do

with

their

magical

functions.

If they were

intended

to be

protective

amulets,

they

might

be

called

by

the

Latin

name

innsigli

(sigils) or by the
Icelandic term

vamastafir

(protective

staves).

The

term

stafir

would

then

indicate

magic of an

operative

nature,

meant

to cause

alterations

in

the

environment.

Protective

magic could

be

Christian

and

would

often

use biblical passages to charge the

figure

with

intent,

but

operative

magic was very

often

considered

heathen

(or

devilish).

Again,

it is almost impossible to read any linguistic meaning

in the

galdra.stafir

(and

many of

the

bandrunir)

without

having

some lead given in

the

commentaries.

These

leads usually come

in the form of names

given

to these signs. Examples of these are

given in Figure

1,

on page 38,

with

the

bandrunir

that

have been

stylized in

the

medium

of

pen

and

ink.

Nevertheless,

many of

their runic features are obvious.

However,

many of the names

given to magical signs seem to

have

ro do

with

their
functions

and

not

their

forms.

The

names themselves are usually unique

words

that

are

highly

obscure in

meaning.

The

two most famous

names of such signs are

",gishjdlmur

(the

helm of awe, or

terror)

7B

and

svefnthom

(sleep-thorn)

The

",gishjdlmur

could
become a very

complex

kind of figure, but its basic form was

that

of a

four-

or

eightfold

cross

with

branches

at its terminals.

With

these two signs we are lucky because we have mythic survivals

that

give us some

insight

into

their

origins and meanings.

The

",gishjdlmur

is

mentioned

in the

material

concerning
Sigurdhr

Fafnir-bane.

When

Sigurdhr

slays the great etin-worm,

or serpent,

named

Fafnir

in

order

to win

the

treasure hoard of

E
N

Figure

2:

Sator-square.

the Niflungs

(Niebelungs),

one

of

the

"objects"

of power thai

he gets is the

aegishjalmur.

This

object
is

not

helmet

but

more

of a general

covering

that

surrounds

the

"wearer"

with

an

awing power

to

terrify

and

subdue his enemies.

The

power i,

concentrated

in or

between

the

eyes and is

often
associated

wit}

the power

serpents

have

to

paralyze

their

prey.

This

is

apparenth

an

ancient

Indo-European

concept,

as is shown in the erymolog,

of the

Greek

drakon-the

one

with

the evil eye. We also

think

of the

Gorgons'

ability to paralyze
with

the gaze of

their

eyes sei

in a

head

surmounted

with

serpents.

Whatever

the origins

01

the

Icelandic

magical sign, its

function

remains essentially the

Runes

and

Magical

Signs

49

same, but

here

there

are
practical

indications,

not

just mythic

lusions.

The

svefnthorn

is also

mentioned

in

Old

Norse mythic

erature as the magical device with

which

Odhinn

placed one of

the

valkyrjur,

Sigrdrffa (or

Brynhildr),

into

a deep slumber, from

which she could be awakened only by one who could cross the

magical barrier of fire placed around

her

by

Odhinn.
3

This feat

too was

accomplished

by

the

Odhinic

hero Sigurdhr

Fafnir-bane.

Spells

intended

to

put

people

into

a deep slumber from which

they can be

awakened

only by the magical will of the sorcerer

are

common

in the

Icelandic

books, but the signs used and given

the name

svefnthorn

are numerous.
Besides these two

well-attested

signs there are many names

given to signs, for example,

gapaldur

(see

note

on Spell 34),

vedhurgapi

(weather

daredevil, to cause a

storm),

kaupaloki

(deal

closer, for good business),

Ginnir

(a name

ofOdhinn),

Angurgapi

(reckless one of anger). But quite

often

the same name may be

given to two or more different signs.

Despite the fact

that

it is obviously of

southern
origin, no

discussion of magical

figures

in the medieval

north

would be

complete

without

mentioning

the so-called sator-square." This

most

often

appears inscribed

with

Latin letters (see Figure 2).

This formula has already

been

touched

on in

connection

with

the magic books of Jon the Learned.

The

formula was apparently

well known, as magical

instructions

often call for reciting the

sator-arepo.

It

is difficult

to

tell

what

exactly is

meant

by this.

Was there a secret decoding (such as pastor

Gudhmundur

pected), or were the letters of magical syllables to be recited?

Another

interesting

aspect of the sator-square in the

north

is the

fact

that

not

only is it

mentioned

in books of magic, but it is

also found in at least seven runic inscriptions!

One

fragmentary

example was
recently

found on the

bottom

of a bowl in

Sweden,'

and it reads as shown in Figure 3 on page 50.

50

THE

GALDRAB6K

or

ee

'"

n
'"

Figure

3:

Inscription

on

the

bottom

of a

bowl

found

in

Sweden.

The

bowl dates from the end of the

BOOs,

so it

can

be seen that

the use of this formula is several

hundred

years older

than

OUI

magical books would

indicate.
CHAJPTER

SIX

Theory and Practice

of

Magic

in

the

Galdrab6k

x amp les such as the sator-square

point

up the fact thai

there

were definitely influences coming

into

the north

from the

southern

traditions

of magic. But to some extent

these examples serve also to show the remarkable degree to which

basic

northern

ideas of how magic works and how to work magic

remained

intact

even under this superficial influence.

In this

chapter

I want to look at the underlying theories of

magic as expressed in the

Icelandic

grimoires, at the powers by

which it is

thought

to work, and at some of its

consistent

ritual

techniques.

One

of the ways we

can

see the

northern

component

is by

observing how these magical

elements

were dealt with in the

north

in

contrast

to the

south.'
The

typical

structure

of

terranean

magic involves five steps

with

five

particular

functions:

I.

Preparation

(specific to working)

2. Circle

3.

Conjuration

of spirit

4. Address to spirit

5. License to

depart

52

THE

GALDRAB6K

The

preparation

typically involves two main aspects: (1) the

procurement

or

arrangement

of tools and substances particular

to the

operation

and (2) the

determination

of an auspicious time

for the

operation.

The

latter

usually involves

technical

edge of astrology. (By the way, Icelandic magic is almost free of

astrological

elements.)

circle-really

a complex of magical

diagrams

drawn on the surface of the space of

operation-is

erected. This typically includes a circle in

which

the magician
stands and a triangle outside

that

circle in

which

the spirit

pears.

The

circle

functions

as a shield to

protect

the magician

from the spirit, and the triangle serves to

constrain

the spirit.

The

entity

is

then

called to appearance by a series of

conjurations,

which are a mixture of prayer formulas and

commanding

threats.

Usually the spirit in

question

is
threatened

with

the wrath of

spirits above it in the

hierarchies

of

heaven

or hell.

Once

the

spirit arrives, the magician addresses it, asking or commanding

what he wills.

Traditionally

(and despite

whatever

revisionist

theorists may say), the spirit does the work for the magician.

The

rite is

concluded

by a license to

depart,

which banishes the

spirit away from the magician.

There

are

certain
traits in this

theoretical

working model

that

remain foreign to the Icelandic magician.

There

rarely seems

to be any

preparation

for

the

specific working.

It

would seem

that

the

Icelandic

magician

constantly

prepared himself in a

general way and

then

applied his spells almost in a

ready fashion.

This

is very

reminiscent
of the way Egill

grfmsson worked. Further, the Icelandic magician never seems

. to need to

protect

himself from the powers he is calling on. (He

appears more

concerned

with

other

humans.)

Although

spiritual

entities

are involved, it seems closer

to

the

ttuth

to say they help

the magician work his will

than

work it for him.

And

since the

magician has no need to

protect

himself from

the
entities

he

summons, he has no need to

banish

them.

Theory

and

Practice

of

Magic

in

the

Gaklrab6k

5:

Generally,

medieval

Icelandic

magic seems to have

workec

through one of a

combination

of

three

media: (1) graphic signs

(2) spoken or

written
words, and (3)

natural

subsrances. Spel

46 in the

Galdrab6k

shows a

combination

of all three elements,

for example.

Graphic

signs

(including

runes and

other

written

characters:

are

thought

to be

conduits

or doorways

through

which variow

powers or

entities

are

directed
to do the will of the magician.

These signs are generally called

stajir

(staves).

The

actual physical

sign seems to have

little

power on its own; it is only in

nation

with the will of a

trained

magician

that

any results

car

be expected.

That

is why, in the folktales

concerning

the

famous

galdramenn,

such emphasis is placed on

their

scholarly

character;
and on the fact

that

the signs had to be learned by a

process

that

involved more time and effort

than

just memorizing their

external forms. Also, the fact

that

except

for

the

most common

signs

(e.g.,

the

regishjalmur

or

Th6rshamar)

the shapes of the

"staves" are rarely

repeated,

even

when

they might be called

b)
the same name, indicates that

it

was an inner

form,

not

an

external shape,

that

was mainly being

"learned."

Words (spoken or

written)

are the medium often used to

activate the signs, or words can work alone

either

to direct

01

command some power or

entity

or to beseech an

entity

to act

on

behalf

of the magician. This

latter

prayer-type formula is
usually found only in spells of a

Christianized

kind. In the

dieval

Icelandic

formularies words and names can

activate

the

corresponding power or

entity

in a way desired by the magician

and as formulated in his verbal spell.

The

"power of the name"

is a well-known

phenomenon

in the annals of magic.

We know

that

such a belief reaches back

into

the

Germanic

past. Its most

famous

depiction
is in the lore

surrounding

Sigurdhr

Fafnir-bane:

after fatally wounding the

serpent

Fafnir,

Sigurdhr

attempts

to

conceal his name from the dying

giant

(etin)

because, as we read

54

THE

GALDRAB6K

in the Fafnismal,

"it

was the belief in

olden

times

that

the words

of a doomed man had great might, if he cursed his foe by name."?

This
ancient

Germanic

lore was, of course, further reinforced by

the

importation

of]

udeo-Gnostic

names of God or words of power

that are heaped up in some of the

Christian-type

spells (e.g., in

the

Galdrab6k

spells 1, 3, 12, and 21). In all cases these verbal

elements are seen as being

Vitally

linked

to

the

actual things

they name, and therefore willful and trained

manipulation

of

such words and names

constitutes

manipulation
of the actual

things or

entities.

Certain

substances were

thought

to have a predisposition

for use in magical operations, the most typical being blood and

woods

of various kinds. Both are well represented in the

heathen

type of spell.

The

blood of

the

magician or

that

of an animal is

used in spells 34, 45, 46, and 47. Four kinds of

wood-oak,

rowan, alder, and

ash-are

mentioned

in six spells (9, 29, 32,

33, 36, and 47). In all but the last of these, staves of one kind

or

another
are to be carved

into

the

wood. Again, this is a direct

continuation

of runic magical practice. Herbs are also

mentioned

in several spells.

The

most useful are millefolium (yarrow) and

Friggjargras

(orchis

odoratissima

or

satyrium

albidium).

Many

other

spells make use of various substances on which staves are

to

be

carved. In each case there seems to be an underlying analogical

reason for the use of the substance, which must be evaluated on

case-by-case

basis.

In the spells of Icelandic magic the emphasis is laid heavily

on the person of

the

magician. He is rarely said to have the

explicit help of outside forces, and the rituals, such as they are,

are quite simple procedures, This is again in sharp

contrast

with

the hocus-pocus of the complex grimoires of the southern

dition.

Since there is such a heavy emphasis on

the

person of the

magician, it is necessary to take a closer look at what makes up

Theory

and

Practice

of

Magic

in

the

Galdrab6k

55

the psychophysical complex of the individual

human

being.

The
ancient

Germanic

peoples

had

a complex and well-developed

structure for these psychic aspects of the

human

being. We can

know this to a fairly exact degree because they had such a

developed set of

technical

terms for the psyche. In

heathen

times

this body-soul

structure

could have been described as having

(1)

a physical body (ON

Uk),

(2) a shape or semiphysical body image

(ON

hamr),

(3) a faculty of

inspiration

(ON

6dhr),
(4) a vital

breath (ON

lind),

(5) a

volitive/cognitive/perceptive

faculty (ON

hugr),

(6) a reflective faculty (ON minni), (7) a "shade" or

death image (ON

sal

or, figuratively,

skuggi,

shadow), (8) a

manent

magical soul, or fetch

(ON

fylgja),

and (9) a dynamistic

empowering subsrance

that

gives luck,

protection,

and the ability

to shape-shift (ON

hamingja).4

Unfortunately,

with
the

coming of

Christianity,

the refined

native psychology, or lore of the soul, was assailed and began

to

decay and become very confused. In our

Galdrab;.,kur

we only

have the bare

remnants

of a fragmented system.

What

is clear,

however, is

that

the Icelandic magicians preserved some of the

technical

lore in the ways rhey believed magic worked. It seems

fairly clear

that

even in the period in which those spells were

being used the magicians realized (1) an

animating

or vital

ciple, (2) a personal image, and (3) a separable power

entity
by

which "sendings" (Ice.

sendingar)

were sent, and (4) an essential

core faculty of

"heart

and

mind"

(ON

hugr).

For example, it is obvious

that

curse formulas are meant to

deplete the vital energy of a person or animal, and

protective

formulas are

meant

to build up this faculty.

Other

formulas are

intended

to change the quality of the

contents

of the

for example, to cause someone to fear or love the magician.

The

ability to see shades, or images, of

other

people, especially ones

who have

stolen

something

from the magician, is also frequently

mentioned.

56

THE

GALDRAB6K

To

conclude

this discussion of the theory of magic implied

in the spells of the

Galdrab6k

and

related

texts, perhaps a careful

analysis of one spell would bring things into

sharper

focus.

I refer to Spell 34 in the

Galdrab6k.

This is a spell to get

the love of a woman. It is an

attempt
to

tum

her free will

genuinely toward the magician, but it is

couched

in the magical

forms of

threats

and curses. A review of the magical procedures

would include a

complex

set of actions. First, the woman's being

is linked to the formula by means of

location

(placing of staves,

etc.,

"in

a place where she will go over it") and essence (writing

her name

with

staves);

then

the magician's (sexual?) being is

linked with the woman's being and with the magical formulas

by means of the

"etin-spear

blood" (semen?); and finally, the

magical signs

that

graphically embody the aim of the

operation

are inscribed

and

the whole

contained

in a ring of water. All of

this has

linked

the woman, the magician, and the aim in an

essential but as yet only general way. This symbolic and graphic

series of

actions

and signs is

then

empowered and given a highly

specific

direction

by the words of the spell spoken over the

forms.

This spell includes references

to

how the formula is to work

within

the psychological scheme as

understood

by the magician.

It includes graphic imagery

and

a prayerlike

entreaty

to

Odhinn

for success.

(Odhinn

is, by the way,

known

in the

ancient

ology for his

interest

in spells of this

kind.)

Just about all elements

common in medieval

Icelandic

spells are to be found in this

operation.

And

again, it should

not

be missed
that

the general

procedure is quite the same as

that

practiced

by the

heathen

runic magicians of the

north.

THE

"

GALDRABOK

THE

GALDRAlBOK

I. A

prayer

for

protection

against

all

kinds

of

dangers

This

prayer
ought

to be

worn

on

oneself

in all kinds of dangers

that

threaten

from water, sea,

and

weapons.

It

should

also be

read just before

one

sees

one's

enemies:

lesus

Christus

Emanuel,

pater

et

Domine.

Deus meus

Zebaoth,
Adonaij,

Unitas,

Trinitas,

Sapientja,

Via, Vita, manus, Homo, usiono, Caritas et

terus.

Creator,

Redemtor,

Suos,

Finis,

unigienitus,

Fons,

Spes,

jmas,

et tu Ergomanus,

Splendor,

Lux,

Grarnmaton,

Flos,

Mundus

imasio,

paracletus,

Columba,

Corona,

prophetas,

Humilas,

For
tissimus,

Atanatos,

Kyrias, Kynos, Kvrieeleison.

lamas,

Lux, tua,

Grammaton,

Caput,

Alpha

et prime

Genue,

isus, Agnus, ovis,

Vitulos,

Serpens, Leo, Vermus,

unu

Spiritus

Sanctus,

Helio,

Heloj,

Lamasabactanj,

Consumatum

est

jnclinate

capite,

Spiritus

jesus

vinset,

jesus
imperat,

Redemtor

Deus

Abraham,

Deus jsaac, Deus jacob.

Uriel,

Tobiel,

Geraleel,

Gabriel,

Raphael,

Michael,

Cher

ubin,

Cheraphin,

Caspar,

Fert

miram,

Meloiorus,

Balthasar

Aurum,

et

trjva

nomi,

qvis

Super

pontavit,
Solvetur,

Avisibet

petate,

Adam,

Eva, jesus

Nazarenus,

Rex

judiorum,

jesus Chris

tus Filj

Dei;

Miserere mej.

Petrus,

Andrias,

jacobus,

jahannes,

Philippus,

Bartolomeus

Simon,

judas,

Matthias,

Lucas, Paulus, Barnabas.

qvi me

Defendit

Canibus,
in manus

Comentuum

Spiriturr

meum,

Redemisti

meum

Verita

tue

Amen.'

60

THE

GALDRABOK

2. For

protection

against

weariness

arul

affliction

The

prayer

wrirten

above

must

also be read if

anyone

is
bored

or

sick in any way,

and

it will be

stopped.

3.

Agains

trouble

with

childbearing'

Read

the

three

following

words

three

times

into

the

ear of a

woman

who

cannot

be made to

part
with

her

child

in

birth

and

say

the

Pater

Noster

three

times

in

between;

then

things

will get

better:

GALA

TH,

MALGALA

TH,

SARA

THIM.

After

this

lows
three

Pater

Nosters

in

Latin:

Pater

Noster

qvi es in

Celis,

Santilicetur

nomen

tuum,

veniat

Regnum

tuum,

fiat

voluntas

tua, Sic ut in celo, et in

terra

panem

nostrum

qvotidianum,

da nobis

hodie,

et

Dimirte

nobis,
debita

nostra,

Sic ut et nos,

Dimirtimus,

Debitoribus

nostris,

et

ne nos

inducas,

in

tentationern,

Sed libera nos a malo

Amen

qvja

tuum

est

Regnum,

tua

potenja

et

Gloria

in

Secula

Secuorum

Amen.

4.

To
stanch

blood'

To

stanch

blood

that

is flowing from a

man's

body, read this

verse

three

times,

with

Pater

Noster

in

between;

but

if you

want

to

stanch

blood

on

the

head,
then

hold

your

thumbs

against

the

eyes

and

say:

Sangvis

maneat

in te,

Sic

ut fecit

Christus

in se,

Sangvis

maneat

in

tua

vena,

Sicut

fetit

Christus

in Sua

pena,

Sangvis
maneat

fixus,

Sicut

qvando

Christus

fuit Crussifixus.

Pater

ter.

To

stanch

nosebleed

for

someone,

write

these

words on

his

forehead

in his own nose blood:

CON

SUMMA

TUM

EST.

5.

Against

headache
arul

insomnia

Against

headache

and

sleeplessness

write

this verse and leave it

in his

nightcap,

or

under

his

head

in

the

evening

without

him

The

Galdrab6k

knowing it, and it will help him:

MILANT

A
VIT

Al.O'Tl

jEOBOA

FEBAOTH.'

6.

spell

against

evil

when

some

other

incantations

are

problem

If you

want

to

treat

someone,

but some

incantations

(galldrar.

are upon him,

then

read this over him

three

times, and also Ie

him read the following

himself

if you wish:

Vulnera

Sub qvinis, te

Subtrae

Christe

Ruins,

Vulnen

qvinqve Dei,

Sunt

medisina

tuj.

But if you let him read it himself,

then

also have him

reac

the following (you should also read this if you are reading ove:

yourself):

VULNERA

SUB

QVINIS,

ME

SUBTRAE

CHRISTI
RUINIS,

VULNERA

QVINQVE

DEI,

SUNTT

MEDISINA

ME]

7.

Against

fainting

or

pestilence

of

livestock

One

has

to

clip or cut these helms of awe'

onto

one's livestocl

if it is swooning or diseased; the first one should be put on

the

left

shoulder

and the

other

one on the right.

8.

To

win a

girl's

love

Likewise,

you should, while fasting, make the second helm

awe with your saliva in your palm

when

you greet

the

girl whorr

you want to have; in such a case it should be in your right hand.

62

THE

GAWRABOK

9. To

cause

fear

in

an

enemy

If you want your foe

to

be afraid of you whenever he sees you, ther

carve these staves on an oak

branch'

and wear it in the middle

your

breast-and

see

to

it

that

you see him before he sees you

10. To

get

one's

wish

fulfilled

Read this verse

three

times forward

and

three

times backward

and you will get

the

outcome

that

you want.
Forward:

Sprend

manns Hoc, flijde tuui

boll'

Backward: Boll tuui flijde, Hoc

manns

Sprend"

11.

Against

the

hate

and

poison

of

fiends

and

enemies

Whoever

carries

the

following sigil on

himself

will

never

be

harmed by any of

the
Fiend's

temptation,

and

his enemy wi!

not be able to work any

active

hate

against him.

Nor

will he

b<

exposed to any

poison

in his food or

drink,

and he will neve]

fall victim to any

treacherous

dealings.

The

GaUJrab6k

63

12.

Against

distress

at
sea,

dangerous

weapons,

and

sudden

death

Whoever carries this name on himself

cannot

be drowned in the

sea, nor be struck by hostile weapons; nor will he die an

pleasant death, and

neither

come to harm;

Helon Heloui

Helion

Saa bonaij lux tetram

Gramatus'

13.

Against

harm

from

an

enemy

If anyone carries these staves on himself,

nothing

can harm him

all day, and his enemies will not have any power over him.
10

14.

Against

all

kinds

of

suffering

and

danger

The person, man or woman, who carries these staves on himself

will be stricken with no

torment.

And

no sword can harm him,

nor any of his enemies, and no

worm"

will get inro his food or

drink."

64

THE

GALDRABOK

15

. To

win

the

love
of a

person

You should write this one and have it with you, and men will

love you very much.

13

\7:<):

s:

.:p.:

16.

To

cause

fear

in

your

enemies

If you want your enemies to fear you,

always

carry this stave

under your left arm.

14

17.

To

win

the

favor

of

powerful
men

You should write this. and

always

have it with you, and powerful

men will like you very much.

The

Galdrab6k

65

18.

For

protection

against

aU

kinds

of

evil

If you wish to elude

something

that

is evil

[illt],

then

carry these

staves with you so

that

nothing
can harm you, no sword and no

torment;

neither

[will there bel any worm nor poison in your food

or drink.

IS

19. To

cause

fear

Carry these following staves with you, and your enemies will fear

you.

16

20.

washing

verse

WASH

MYSELF

in thy dew and dales'? in the brilliance of

thy

fire,

my lord. I set thy blessed form berween my eyes. I wash

away all of my foes and

their

spells

[{omulltl.
I wash away from

myself the power and anger of mighty men.

The

world shall be

kind to me,

with

friends and kind deeds.

The

earth

[fr6n]

shall

be gracious to me in goods

[{*I

and acquisitions. Everything will

66

THE

GAWRAB6K

be

successful

that

I need to do, to speak,

to

think.

This I bid

thee, lord, king of glory

[dyrdarkonungur],
so

that

everyone who

sees me today will have to cast kind glances at me and will be

delighted with me, as the blessed MAID

MARION

was with her

blessed,

lovely son when she found him by the river

jordan,

and

when she found him in the minster, and when she sought him

as a mourner. Likewise, I bid thee, lord of lords and king of

kings,

that

thou wilt turn away from me and remove all ruin and

ill luck, all malice and all treachery on the part of others, who

want to deceive me in words and through words, in deeds and

through deeds, in

incantations

[I

golldrum]

and through

tations, or in

whatever

way they want to ruin me. Hear thou

my prayer, my dear lord. I have faith in thee and I trust in all

good things. Amen.

18

21. Bymie

l9

-praver

HEAR

THOU

ME, HOLY TRINITY, Father, Son, and holy

ghost

[andi],

sale lord, Shaper of all things, ruling in glory with

all the saints. Be thou a bvrnie and a shield for my soul

[sal],

my life, and my body

[lfkama],

inside as well as outside, for seeing

and hearing, tasting, smelling, and feeling, for flesh and blood,

veins and sinews, cartilage and bone, bowels and all of my body's

movements and

connections.

Indeed, for thy name's sake, lord,

may all my joints and limbs receive life and spirit,

to

move, and

to be

strengthened

and become whole. Protect me, my lord, on

the right and left sides, forward and backward, above and below,

20

from the inside and outside, when I bow down and when I rise

up, in hard weather, in waters great and small, in the sea, in

high waves, and in confusing darkness, when I am walking,

standing, sitting, in sleep and while awake, in silence and while

talking, and in all my body's workings. Protect me, my lord, days

and nights; help me, almighty God in holy

trinity-AOONAI]

AGI]OS

OTHEOS

AGIjOS

YSKYROS

AGIjOS

ATHANA-

The

Galdrab6k

67

THOS

ELEYSON

YMAS ZEBAOTH

EMANUEL-save

me,

my lord, from deadly dangers

that

threaten
from land, from the

waters and sea, from all beasts and monsters of the ocean, birds

and beasts

that

go on four feet, and all creeping beasts.

Protect me, my lord, from all evil, from

fire

and claps of

thunder

[reidar

thrumum],

from snow and hail, from rain and

wind, from earthquakes and all kinds of movements in the earth,

and from all dangerous phases of the moon, from magical poison

[af

eitre

{iolkinga],

from all glances of envious eyes, from evil

words

and

works

and dangerous situations, from

worms,

from all the

devils of darkness and midday, and

flying

shots from
them"

that

daily are going out inro the darkness of this world. Protect me,

my lord, from all the hostility of the enemy, who wants

to

withhold from me all good things, here before death, and in

death, and in the other world after death, thou lord god, who

ever lives and rules in holy, perfect trinity, one god in all

ages

of

ages.

Amen.

22. Days

that

bring

bad luck

These are the

days

that

the old ones held to be unlucky; they

seemed especially so for the Egyptians:"

In January the Ist and 7th

In February the 3rd and

4th

In March the 1st and 4th

In April the
8th

and

lath

In May the 3rd and 7th

In June the

lath

and 15th

In July the

lath

and 13th

In August the

lst

and 2nd

In September the 3rd and

lath

In

October

the 3rd and

lath

In November the 3rd and

5th

In December the 7th and

lath

68

THE

GAWRAB6K
23. To

be

able

to

count up

playing

cards,

which

are

face

down

13

1 : 739 King : 6 : 5

4:

Knave:

8:

Queen

10.2

24.

The

109th

Psalm

of

David

Z4

God do

not
be silent

concerning

my praise, for they have

locked

their'

ungodly mouths against me and speak against me

with a false tongue.

And they speak venomously against me everywhere and

strive against me

without

cause.

Because I love them, they are against me, but I pray. They

repay me ill for good and

hate

for love.

Set a man who does

not

fear god over him, and the fiend"

should stand at his right hand.

When

his case comes. to judgment, he will go out con-

demned and his prayer will become sin.

Z6

May his days be few and may

another

take his

office.
May his

children

be fatherless and his housewife a

widow.

May his

children

wander aimlessly and beg for alms and fare

about like poor men who are ruined.

May the usurers suck out everything

that

he has, and may

strangers grab all his wealth.

And may there

be

none who will show him any

goodness

and

may there be none who will have pity

on

his fatherless children.

May his descendants be rooted out and may their name be

wiped out in the

next

generation.

May the misdeeds of his

fathers be remembered and put before the face of the lord, and

the sins of the

mother

never be blotted out.

May the lord never forget them and the memory of them

will be wiped away from the earth.

The

Galdrab6k

69

Because he was so merciless in every endeavor, and

cuted those poor and needy, he would send

even

those

filled

with grief to Hel [i.e., kill them].

And

as he desired cursing, so let him have it, and as he did

not desire blessing, therefore it will stay far away from him.

And

as he

clothed

himself with cursing, just as with a

ment, so it will run into his bowels like water and into his bones

liken to

butter.

May it be to him like a

garment

in which he is clothed,
and liken to a belt with

which

he is girded all the time, as is

fitting. May

that

happen

to those who are my enemies and who

speak maliciously against my soul.

27

But thou, lord, will be with

me for thy name's sake because thy mercy is my

consolation,

deliver thou me, because I am poor and

helpless-my

heart

is

broken in two

within

me.

I go away from here as a

shadow"

as it fades away, and I

am driven away as a swarm of locust.

My knees are weak from fasting and my flesh is lean and

does not have any fat.

And

I must have become a disgrace for

them; when they saw me, they shook

their

heads. Show me aid,

my lord god, and help me according to thy mercy.

So

that

they may know

that

this is thy hand, and

that

thou,

lord, acted thusly. They may curse, but thou wilt

bless;

if they

should rise against me,

then

have

them

come to shame, but thy

servant

rejoice.

May my enemies be at the same time

clothed

in disgrace,

and may they cover themselves with shame as with a kirtle.

Greatly, I want to

thank
the lord with my mouth and to praise

him among the crowd.

Because he will stand at the right

hand

of the poor man,

so

that

he might deliver him from those who want to pass

ment on his life.

29

70

THE

GALDRAB6K

25. A

washing

verse

I wash myself in the dew and in thy day-bach;'? and in the

brightness of thy

fire,

my lord. I wash away all the power of my

enemies, and the wrath of mighty men and of all those who have

evil

intentions

toward me.'! May wrath run away and may strife

be stemmed, so

that
they will greet me gladly and may they

laughingly look into my eyes, and the greatest good deeds will

be on my tongue.

May god behold me, and may good men, as well as every

other man, behold me with eyes

that

bring

nothing

but

ings-it

is the helm of awe"

that

I bear between my

may the world and the land be gracious to me. May my enemies

become as delighted with me as much as the child who takes

milk from its mother's breast, and just as the

Saint

Maria

was

delighted with her son when she sought him for three

days

and

found him in the minster among his teachers.

33

May

their

wrath run away and their strife be stemmed, may

their breasts cool down and may the bottoms [of their hearts] be

thawed before the might and craft of the mighty

shaper-Jhesu

Christi. May

their

wrath run away from me just as the sun

rum

down into the sea, may god release their wrath and hate

from

me as he released Susanna from her long disgrace

an<i

Daniel

from the pit of fierce beasts, Moses from the power of the pagan

people. Read this while you wash yourself and look three

times

into the bowl of your hands.

34

26.

For

the

wrath

of

mighty

men

I wash all of my enemies away, and the power and wrath

01
mighty men, so

that

they will greet me with good cheer and

look

upon me with laughing eyes. My eyes project love and I car

settle disputes of life, I can settle cases concerning the mightiesl

of men. God will behold me, every man will gaze upon me

witl:

The

Gaklrab6k

71

eyes

that

bring good

fortune-I

bear the helm of awe between

my

brows-may

the world and land be gracious as friends.

Read this three times down into the bowl of your hand,

while having water in your hands, and also read a Pater Noster

each time.

27. To

play

joke
on

someone,

so

that

he

cannot

hold

his

food

down

the

whole

day

long

Carve these staves

into

cheese or fish and have whoever you

want to make fun of eat it, and

whatever

he eats

that

day will

be of no use to him.

J5

28. An

antidote

for
the

previous

enchantment

If he does

not

get any

better

by himself,

then

give him warm

milk, with

bleached

and dried albumin scraped off

into

it; this

can also be

done

against cholera and it won't go wrong.

29. To

hinder

person

from

coming

to

your

house
If you

don't

want

a man to come to your dwelling,

then

carve

this stave

into

rowan

wood"

when the sun is in

her

highest stead,

and go three times

with

the sun

[riett

s",lis]

and three times

widdershins

[ranga-s",lis]

around your farm and hold onto the

wand of rowan wood

onto

which

the stave has been carved, and

72

THE

GAWRAB6K

onto some sharp

thorn

grass

[thistle]"

and

then

lay both of them

together up over your door.

30.

To

kill

another's

animal

One should inscribe these staves

onto

a leaf and cast it into the

footprint of

another's

horse;

then

the animal will die, if he has

offended you

without

cause.
Conceal

the stave in the horse's

hoofprint.

31.

Against

troll-shot

38

If any kind of shot

flies

toward you,

then

read this verse right

away:

BUMEN

SITTIMUS

CALECTIMUS

ME T ASUS

ELI

ELOI SIEBAHOT

ELEM

VE A 0 NAJ

The

Galdrab6k

73

32. To

put
someone

to

sleep

If you want to put someone to sleep,

then

carve these staves in

alder wood" and lay it under his head, and he will surely sleep

until you take it away.

33. To

find

out a

thief

In case of theft you should carve these staves on the bottom of

a dish of ash wood, put water in it, and strew

millefolium

40

into

the water [and

say]:

"This I ask according to the nature of the

herb and great might of

the

staves,

that

the shade

[skuw141

of
the one who has taken it appear in the water, and

that

the name

of this person be carved on a fish gill with etiri's bewilderments

[iotun

villum],

42

and carry these on yourself [and

say]:

Odhinn"

Loki, Fro, Baldur, Njordhr, Tvr, Birgur, Hcenir, Freyja, Getjon,

Gusta, and all those gods and

goddesses

who dwell and have

74

THE

GAWRAB6K

dwelt in Valholl from the beginnings of heaven, they must help

me so

that

I will have

success

in this matter.

34.

To

bewitch
a

woman

and win

her

love

If you want to bewitch a woman so she will came to no one

except you, make a hole in the floor in a place where she will

go over it, and pour in some etin-spear blood

[iotun

geira

blod]"

and draw a ring of water around it, as well as her name and these

staves:

and threefold

divlngf

Molldthurs-

45

and Madhr-runes,

bladh,

naudh,

komia,

and

gapalldur"6

and

then

read this

tionr"
I look upon thee and thou givest me the lust and love

01

all thy

heart

[hugur].

Thou

canst nowhere sit, thou canst

be

nowhere at home, unless thou lovest me. This I bid of

Odhinr

and of all those who can

read"

"women-runes":"

that

thou

will

nowhere in the world be at home nor thrive, unless thou

lovesi

me with all thy heart. This shalt thou feel in thy bones as i

The

Galdrab6k

75

thou

burnest

all over, and in thy flesh

half
as badly.

Thou

wilt

meet with ruin unless thou lovest

me-thou

shalt

freeze on thy

feet and

thou

wilt

never

meet

with

honor

or happiness.

Sittest

thou as if

burning,

with

thy

hair

rotting

out;

rent

are thy

clothes-unless

thou
wilt have me of

thine

own free will.

35. To

find

out a thief

Carve these on a man's leg

bone

and

then

he will come and spit

out whosoever stole from you:

36. To

find

a thief

Carve these on an oak twig

SO

and lay it

under

the turf over a

grave and let it lie

there:

76

THE

GALDRABOK

37. A
way

to

get

satisfaction

in

legal

case

If

you want

to

have fulfillment in a legal case, read this verse

three times forward and three times backward: VIENIA T MICHl

MYSERACIONIS TVE VIVAM

QUIA

LEX

TUA

MEDI

TASIO

MEA

ESP

Backward:

EST MEA T ASIO

MEDI

TUA

LEX

QUIA
VIVAM TUE

MISERACIONIS

MICHl VIENIA

T.

38. For

the

protection

of

your

horse

Read this verse over your horse when you come to unsafe

places;

then

no harm will come to it:

COGNOVI

DOMINE CUIA

ECUIT AS JUDIJSIA

TUA

ET IN VIRI TATES TUE HUMI·

HASTE

MIE.52

39.

Against

troll-shot

If any kind of shot comes

flying

toward you, read this verse at

once: BUMEN

SITTIMUS

CALECTIMUS

ME T ASUS

ELI

EWE

SIEBAHAT

ELEM

VE A 0

NAJ."

40.

To

find

out a

thief

Against

theft

take Frigg's grass" and lay it in water so

that

it

might lie there for three nights at a stretch;

then

go back

then

and you will be able to see the one who stole from you.

The
GaldrabOk

77

41.

Against

wrath

To still all kinds of wrath make rhis stave on your forehead with

your left index /inger, and say: It is the helm of awe

that

I bear

between my

eyes-wrath

runs away, strife is stemmed. May every

mother be delighted with me as Maria was delighted with her

blessed

son

when

she found him on the rock of victory,

55

in the

name of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit:

And read:

0lvir,

Odhinn,

Evil

One"

All will you bewitch!

May God himself, with skill

Send love between us

two!"

42.

Against

hate

If anyone harbors hate against you, sign

yourself"

at once with

these words:

Trepa

f·

tetra

15

Grammaton

+:

Alpha

Et

+:

Ageos

+:

agios

otheos
+:

adonaij

43.

To

make

woman

keep

quiet

If you do

not

want [a woman] to tell about what you did [with

her

1],

then

take this stave,

Homa,"

and put it in her drink, and

78

THE

GAWRAB6K

then she will

not

be able to come out with anything.

And

you
should have this stave next to your breast.

And say: Help in this all ye gods: Th6rr,

Odhinn,

Frigg,

Freia,

Satan,

Beelzebub,

and all those gods and

goddesses

that

dwell

in

ValhOll.

In thy mightiest name,

Odhinn!

44

To

find

out a thief

If

you want to learn,

through

magical knowledge, who stole from

you,

then

take a little
thorn

bush"

and wear it so

that

you are

never separated from it.

take a little copper pin, together

with a copper hammer.

Then

make the following stave on the

cross-beam of the house from which the thing was srolen;

then

stick the pin in the right

eye,61

and say at the same time: IN

BUSKAN

LUCANUS

the stave

And

say:

FORTUM

ATUM

EST .

The

Galdrab6k
79

Write this stave on

the

cross-beam with chalk, and the hammer

shall be cast by

the

shaft when rhe sun is the

strongest.v

and

that

[should]

be [made

of]

material which has never been used,

unstamped copper or brass.

63

45.

Another

way

to

uncover

thief

If anyone wants

another

way to learn who stole from him, then

he should make this stave on

the

bottom

of a bowl with a

handled knife. Make the blood

flow

from under your big toe and

from your right hand, and drip the blood around the stave.

Then

take pure water, with

millefoUum,

which is spread out on it. The

water should

be

taken

midsummer

night after midnight, and should

be taken with gloves, so

that

none of it gets on the hands.

The

wort should be smeared with blood, as well as these three staves:

And

then

ask on

account

of the gloriously great might of

the herb and

the

never-ending

working of its power,

that

the

gods

will send as a help, Rafael,

their

mightiest servant, and he

will show himself here in they mightiest name, Th6rr,

Frigg,

Beelzebub,

6dhinn.

Read three Our Fathers afterward.

46.

Fart

runes

Write these staves on white calfskin with your own blood; take

the blood from your thigh and say: I write you eight

ass-runes,

80

THE

GALDRABOK

nine naudh-runes,

thirteen

thurs-runes
64

- t h at

will plague thy

belly with bad shit and gas, and all of these will plague thy belly

with great farting. May it loosen thee from thy place and burst

thy guts; may thy farting never stop,

neither

day or night; thou

wilt be as weak as the fiend Loki, who was bound by all the

gods:

in thy mightiest name Lord, God,

Spirit;"

Shaper,

Odhinn,

Thorr, Saviour, Frey, Freyja, Oper, Satan,

Beelzebub,

helpers,

mighty god, warding with

the

companions of Oteos, Mars,

Notke,

Vitales.

't

r-

;;').

4-E'lJ;
47. How one

can

get

the

helm

of

hiding

If you want to make a helm of

hiding,66

then

get a hen's egg,

and pour blood from under your big toe on your left foot onto

it.

Then

the

egg goes back under the bird, and let it sit upon

it. Afterward, take

the

chick and

bum

it on oak-wood.

Then

put the burned chick in a linen sack and wear it on your head.

RELATED

SPELLS

IN
GERMANIC

MAGIC

APPENDIX

Other

Icelandic Sources

From the Huld Manuscript

Huld

Manuscript

was

collected

by

Geir

Vigfusson of

Akureyri, who died in 1880.

The

material

contained

in

these spells is, however, much older, as can be seen when

compared to the

contents

of the

Galdrab6k.

As presented here,

each of the
galdrastafir

or

galdramyndir

is named, and the

tions for making it are given, occasionally along with its effects.

1.

Galdraholl

(hall

of

magical

incantations):

Carve on the skin of the water-rail. (Runes read

Araton

Helga

Adona,

etc.)

84

THE

GAWRABOK

2. A

galdrawluskip

(ship

of

magical

numbers):

To ruin ships. (Signs named

Ginnir

and

Gapi,

cf.

Angurgapi.)

3.

Kaupaloki

(deal-closer"):

Cut

this sign on a stave of beechwood and wear it in the middle

of your breast when you

want

to have success [victory] at

buying

and selling.

4.

Another

kaupaloki:

Cut

on a piece of beechwood and you will have

success.

Appendix

5.

Brynslustafir

(whet
sign):

Carve the upper sign on your whetstone, the

other

one belov

then lay a bit of grass over it;

then

whet under

the

sun and don

look at the edge.

6.

Draumstafur

(dream

stave):

Carve rhis sign on fir wood and sleep upon

it:

then

you wil

. dream what you want.

86

THE

GALDRABOK

7.

Draumstafur:

Carve this sign on so-called man-killing oak

(manndrepseik)
and

lay it under the head of the one who should, according to your

will, receive dreams,

without

him knowing it.

8.

Draumstafur:

Carve this sign on St. John's

Night

on silver or on white leather,

and if anyone sleeps on it, he will dream what he wants when

the sun is at the deepest.

9.

Svefnthom

(sleep

thorn):

This sign would be carved on oak and laid under the head of

the one who is supposed to sleep so

that

he can

not

awaken until

it is taken away.

Appendix

87
10.

Lukkustafir

(luck

staves):

Whoever

carries these signs

with

him will

meet

no bad luck,

neither

'on sea

nor

on

land.

11.

Solomon's

innsigli:

This one is

carried

for

protection.

12.

Rodhukross

(crucifix):

Insignia of St.
Olafur,

which

one

carries fot

protection.

88

THE

GALDRAB6K

13.

Vegvisir

(signpost):

If this sign is carried, one will never lose one's way in storms

0:

bad weather, even when the way is not known.

14.

Herzlustafir

(strengthening

staves):

Wear this on your left breast to

strengthen

your courage.

15.

Ottastafur

(terror

stave):

Carve these signs on a small oak plate and throw it at the feet
of your foe to frighten him.

67

Appendix

8'

16.

Dreprun

(killing

rune):

If

you want your foe to lose his livestock and

possessions,

ther

lay this sign in the

hoofprint

of his horse.

68

17.

Feingur

(catch

or

booty?):69

If

you want a girl to become

pregnant

by you, cut this sign in :

piece of cheese and give

it

to her to eat.

18.

Ldsahrj6tur

(lock

breaker):

Lay this sign on the lock and blow into it. [The runes read

Troll

all

taki

(mellu,

taki

djofu[ll]

so

braki,

which translates: Al

90

THE

GALDRABOK

trolls reach

into

the lock, the Devil reach into it, so

that

it will
break.]

ott

"'An

'tAYI

11HHttJ

19.

Th6rshamar:

This sign is used by magicians to call out thieves and

other

witcheries.??

20.

Thj6fastafur

(thief's

stave):

Put this sign under the

threshhold

of your enemy and he will

collapse

when

he steps over it if he has

committed

an act of

thievery against you.

Apperulix
A

91

21.

Thj6fastafur:

If you want someone to steal,

then

carve this sign on the bottom

of the [wooden] plate

that

he eats from.

22.

Thj6fastafir:

To see a thief, carve these signs in so-called

man-killing

oak and

have it under your arm.

71

23.

Thj6fastafir:

Carve these signs in maple

[valbjiirk]

wood and lay them under

your head, and you will see the

thief

in your sleep.

72
92

THE

GALDRABOK

24.

Thj6fastafur:

This sign is to be

carved

at

the

full

moon

at

high

tide on the

inside and

outside

of

the

bottom

of a

washbasin."

From

the

Kreddur

Manuscript

This

manuscript,
found in Evjafjodhur, was

written

or copied in

the late

nineteenth

century,

but

linguistic

evidence

shows it to

be copied from a

seventeenth-century

original.

1.

Have

this

sign

on

gray

paper

under

your

left

arm

when

you

are
talking

to

somebody.

Appendix

93

2. To

have

victory

in

business

with

all

people:

Draw this sign on blotring paper and wear

it

under your left arm

and let no one know

that

you have it.

3. When you

carry

these

staves

with

you,
you

will

surely

overcome

your

foes.

4.

Dunfaxi:

If you want to win a law case, carry this sign with you if you

believe in it. It is

cal1ed

dun

faxi

[the manuscript is defective

here] before you go to where the trial is

to

be held.

It

should be

on a piece of new oak.

94

THE

GALDRAB6K

5. So that

you
will

not

die

in

the

water:

Wear this sign under your left arm.

6.

Against

sleeplessness

and

bad

dreams:

Carve this sign with a magnetized iron on a piece of coal.

7.

For

the

bite

[of a

fox]:

Carve these signs on oak and

put

them

over the house doo

Appendix

A
8.

Carry

this

sign

with

you;

it

protects

from

all

sorcery.

74

9.

Have

this

sign

in

your

right

hand

against

all

fear

of

witchery.

.
LfJ

=-'

CJ'-..e

hrh

10.

Have

this

sign

in

calfskin

in

front

of

your

breast

if you

want

to

send

back
to

him

that

which

he

has

sent

to

you

[i.

e.L any

harmful

sending].

96

THE

GALDRAB6K

11.

So

that

you won't

get

any

shame,

whatever

comes

up
against

you,

make

this

sign

with

the

ring

finger

of

your

right

hand

with

spittle

on

your

forehead.

)))

12.

Against

foreboding

when

you

go

into
the

darkness:

Carve this sign on the rice-oak [Ice.

hriseiki]

and wear it unde

YOUt

left atm.

+ffXf

13. To

put

someone

in

bad

mood:

Carve this sign on lead and stick it in the person's

clothes

at

tho

small of the back.

Appendix

97

14. To

discover

a
thief:

Cut one of these signs on a bronze plate and have under it the

hair of a black

uncastrated

tomcat

and have it under your head

on the three

nights

of the old moon until the

thief

appears to

you in a dream.

15

. To

discover

thief:

Draw blood from above the nail of your left middle finger and

therewith

draw this sign on paper. Have a cat hair behind it.

Stick it under your cap and sleep with it by the old moon until

you dream of him. Tried out.

16.

1f you want

to

get

a
good

and

true

friend:

Have two silver rings made and leave

them

lying for nine nights

in the

nest

of a water wagtail or a sparrow

{titlingur:

anthus

pratensis

or

plectrophanes

nivalis}.

Then

take one ring and wear it and give

the

other

one to your friend and say in jest to him

that

this is

your ring of friendship and

that

you wish

that
it never part from

98

THE

GALDRAB6K

him. Take care, however,

that

he does

not

find out about thi

procedure with the rings.

One

must work in a similar way to ge

the love of a good woman.

17. To

discover

thief:

Take

friggjargras

[an orchid,

habonaria

hyperboreaL

let it lie fc

three nights in water, and lay it under your head when you ar

sleeping;

then
you will see him.

18.

To

make a

helm

of

hiding

[Ice.

hulinshjalmurl:

Get a completely black dog

that

has

not

one white hair; kill i

and take out its heart. Take a piece of spruce wood and split i

at the end and stick the

heart

in the split and bury it in

th

earth where the field and unfertilized land come together, an,

let it lie there for the

nine

nights before St. John's Day.

Ther

will have been

created

a stone there in
that

place. Carry it

wit!

you.

19.

So

that

woman

will

love

man

very

much:

Give her finely

chopped

dove

heart

in her food or in her drink

Or have the tongue of a water wagtail under the root of you

tongue, and the one whom you kiss first will love you above al

others. Or take two gold or silver rings and lay them in th

nest of a water wagtail or a sparrow [Ice.

titlingur]

so

that
the

are there for

nine

nights. Take

them

out again and give he

one of them and keep the

other

one

yourself.

Then

she

wi]

love you.

20. If

someone

wishes

to

still

the

anger

of

his

foe:

He should go to some water and before a raven

flies

over it h
should hold his hands in the water and make the following rune

Appendix

on his forehead with the fourth finger of the right hand an

afterward not wash himself

off:

From

Svend

Grundtvig's

Collection

This

collection

was made in the middle of the

nineteenth

cen

tury.

It

is now in the Royal

Collection

in

Copenhagen.

Then

are four recorded signs from this collection, all very complex an,

of an obviously late date. Here we give one example:

Astros:
The

protective

sign

that

comes now is called

Astros.

protects from all runes and carvings of all sorts

that

can be used

According to Snorri.

75

From

the

Collection

of

Jon

Amason

Amason

published a great

collection

of Icelandic folktales ir

the

nineteenth

century

that

contained
many bits and

piece!

100

THE

GAWRABOK

of magical lore.

The

following are three of the most inter

esting:

1. The use of two

magical

signs

named

gapaldur

and

ginfaxi

can

be used

in

glfrnagaldur

(wrestling

magic).

The

gapaldur

is placed under the heel of the right foot and th

ginfaxi
is placed under the toe of the left.

Then

a verse is to b

spoken, for which four variants are given. They all begin

Gapaldur

under my heel

ginfaxi

under my toe,

and conclude:

stand by me, fiend

now lying upon me! [Le.,

possessing

me]

or

stand by me, my ogre! [lee.

skratti]

or

strengthen

me now, Adversary! [lee.

andskoti]

or

Devil, support me!

16

2.

There is a

simple

helm of awe
working:

Make a helm of awe in lead, press the lead sign between th

eyebrows,

and speak the formula:

Pegishjalm

er

eg

ber

bear

the

helm of awe

milli

!>rUna

mer!

between my brows!

Thus a man could meet his enemies and be sure of victory.

3. A

washing

stave:

Fj6n

thvrer

eg

af

mer

fjanda

minna,
rann

og

reidhi

rikra

manna!

wash the hate from me

of my foes,

and the robbery and wrath

of rich

[powerful]

men!

Appendix

101

One

other

intresting

and

detailed

set of

instructions

for

using

the

Thorr's
hammer

is given by

Amason

and has been

translatec

by Jacqueline Simpson.

77

From

Various

Manuscripts

Collected

by

Oldfur

Davfdhsson

few

other

manuscripts were used in

Davfdhsson's

collection

published in

'903'

Three

involve magical signs, and four are

kreddur

instructions.

1.
Brynslustafir

(whet

sign):

Carve on a

whetstone

with steel.

"

l'

11.

.s

:t

l'

11\

1-

It

'k

r
s

"'k.

11

2.

Sdttgjafar

(reconciler):

If someone else hates you, write these signs on

parchment

and

put them under his head

without

his knowing it.

102

THE

GALDRAB6K

3.

Varnastafur

Vladimars

(Waldemar's

protective

stave):

It increases

popularity

and luck for everyone who can work it.

It came here from

Germany
and is therefore the best of these

ancient

signs. It should

not

be carved or

written

on anything

except when someone is being

tormented

by

something

evil, and

then

it should be

written

with

fish guts on the skin of a hen's

egg and

put

in the headdress

of

the person.

.,

()

'0)

?
4.

For

"ghost

spots"

(Ice.

draugablettir):

If

a ghost

that

has been sent to

attack

someone"

is successful in

touching him,

then

its fingers will leave

behind

black spots.

The)

will become sores

that

will eat away at the person and

eventually

kill him if

nothing

is done to stop them.

The
means to

use

against this is

explained

here:

One

should draw around the spot,

with an

edhalstlil

or

segulstal

[1.

e., a steel magnet] and sing

the

Pater

Noster

three times;

then

they will

not

spread out an)

farther.

Then

one should go to lukewarm water prepared

f01

washing and hold the spots in it.

Then
hack

three, six, or

nine

wounds in it and pour the lukewarm water over it.

If

all this i,

done right, it will be enough.

Appendix

103

5. To

bring

forth

deceptions

of

the

eye

79

and

to

know

how

to

do

them:

Take eagle claws, sparrow claws, raven claws, falcon claw, dog
paw, cat paw, mouse paw, and fox paw.

Take

the claws and paws

of all these animals and boil

them

in water

that

[was drawn from

a stream that]

flows

to the east.

Then

take the substance and

put it in an unused

linen

bag

drink the

extract.

Then

hold

the bag over your

head

and

command

what kind of

deception

of the eyes you

have

thought

up for him.

6.

Sleep

thorn:

Take the

heart

sac [pericardium] of a dog; pour pickling

broth

into it.

Then

dry it for

thirteen

days long, in a place where the

sun does

not

shine

on it, and when the one to whom you wish

to do this is asleep, hang this in the house over him completely

without

his knowing it.

7. Take

the

needle

with

which
one

has

sewn

dead

man

into

his

shroud:

Stick it from

underneath

into

the table at

which

the people eat

and, if they know

nothing

of your actions, they will

not

be able

to get

their

food

down-even

if it has been very well

until the needle is

taken
away.

APPENDIX

JB

Heathen

Magic

In

Old

English

Manuscripts

excellent

collection

of magical spells from many Old

English manuscripts has been provided by G. Storms

in his

Anglo-Saxon

Magic.

80

The

two main manuscripts

that

contain

magical charms are the so-called

Leechbook

(MS
Regius

120

XVII, from the

mid-tenth

century) and the

Lacnunga

(MS Harley 585, from the

eleventh

century).

Both of these texts

are primarily filled with medical charms, and much of what they

contain

is directly

translated

from

Greek

or Latin source works.

The

Lacnunga,

especially,

contains

a good deal of basically

manic magical practice.

There

are some twenty or so

other

manuscripts in which
Old English magical spells have been found. Because of the vast

foreign influence present in these manuscripts, explicit reference

to the

Germanic

heathen

pantheon

is rare. Here we present as

an example of Old English magical procedure what is perhaps

the most

interesting

spell from a comparative point of

the Nine

Wort

Spell"

for

snakebite

from the

Lacnunga:

Remember

thou,

mugwort,

what

thou

madest

known,

what

thou
hast

adorned

at

the

"Great

Proclamation"

melde]

106

THE

GALDRAB6K

Una

thou

wast hight-oldest of

worts,

thou

hast

might

against

three

and

against

thirty,

thou

hast

might

against
venom

and

flying

shots,

thou

hast

might'

gainst

the

loathsome

one

that

fares

through

the

land.

And

thou,

way

bread,

mother

of

worts,

open

from

the

east,
mighty

inside.

Over

thee

creaked

carts,

over

thee

rode

queens,

over

thee

brides

sobbed,

over

thee

bulls

snorted.

All

thou

withstoodest

and

hast

rushed

against

them.

Thus
mayest

thou

withstand

venom

and

flying

shots,

and

the

loathsome

one

that

fares

through

the

land.

"Stune"

hight

this

wort,

it

waxed

on

stone,

it

stands

up-
against

poison,

it

strikes

against

pain.

"Steady"

it

is

hight,

it

strikes

against

venom,

it

drives

out

the

hostile

one,

it

hurls

out

venom.

This

is

the
wort,

that

fought

with

the

worm,

it

has

might

against

venom,

and

against

flying

shots,

it

is

mighty

against

the

loathsome

one

that

fares

through

the

land.
Make

fly

now,

thou,

venom-hater,

the

greater

venoms,

thou

the

greater

conquer

the

lesser

venoms

so

that

he

is

cured

of

both.

Remember

thou,

mayweed,

what

thou
madest

known,

what

thou

sought

at

Alorford,

so

that

never

a man

should

lose

his

life,

after

mayweed

was

made

ready

for

his

meat.

This

is

that

wort
hight

"wergulu."

It

was

sent

by

seal

across

the

sea-ridge,

vexing

to

venom,

boon

to

others.

Appendix

It

stands

against

pain

and
strikes

against

poison,

it

has

might

against

three

and

thirty,

against

the

hand

of

the

fiend

and

against

great

fear

against

the

witching

of

mean

wights.

There
the

apple

did

it

against

venom,

so

that

[the

loathsome

serpent]

would

not

live

in

the

house.

Chervil

and

fennel,

two

very

mighty

worts

were

wrought

by
the

wise

Lord,

holy

in

heaven

as he

did

hang;

he set and

sent

them

to

the

seven

worlds

to

the

wretched

and

rich,

as a

help

to

all.

11

These
nine

are

mighty

against

nine

venoms.

worm

came

slithering,

but

nothing

he

slayed.

For

Woden

took

up

nine

wonderous

twigs,

he

struck

the

adder

so

that
it

flew

into

nine

pieces.

Now

these

nine

worts

have

might

against

nine

wonder-wights.

against

nine

venoms

and

against

nine

flying

shots

against

the

red

venom,

against
the

wretched

venom

against

the

white

venom,

against

the

purple

venom,

against

the

yellow

venom,

against

the

green

venom,

against

the

black

venom,

against

the

blue

venom,
against

the

brown

venom,

against

the

crimson

venom,

against

worm-blister,

against

water-blister,

against

thorn-blister,

against

thistle-blister,

against

ice-blister,

against

venom-blister.

If any

venom

comes

flying

from

the

east,
or

any

from

the

north,

or

any

from

the

south,

or

any

from

the

west

over

the

people.

108

THE

GALDRABOK

Krist

stood

over

all

sicknesses.
r

alone

wot a

running

stream

and

the

nine

adders

beware!

Mayall

weeds

spring

up

by

their

roots,

the

seas

sliP

apart,

all

salt

water,

.,;hen

blow
this

venom

from

you .

Mugwort, waybread,

open

from the east, lamb's cress,

leather,

mayweed,

nettle,

crab-apple,

chervil, and

fennel.v

old

soap; work the worts to a powder, mix

them

with

soap and the

juice of an apple.

Then

work up a paste of water and ashes, take

fennel

and

boil it

with

the
paste and wash it

with

beaten

egg

when you put on the salve,

both

before

and

after.

Sing this spell

three

times over each of

the

worts [herbs]

before you prepare

them,

and

on

the apple as well.

And

sing

the

spell into

the

mouth

and
into

both

ears,

and

on

the

wound before

you put on the salve.

APPENDIX

Heathen

Magic

In

Old

High

German

Spells

T:

is no

ancient

German

collection

of spells as there

is for England or Iceland. However, whar are perhaps the

mosr

ancienr
formulas of all surviving Indo-European

mulas are preserved in two Old High

German

spells-the

Second

Merseburg

Charm

from the early

tenth

century and the

Contra

Vermes

spell from about the same time.

Correspondences between these charms and two Vedic

mulas from India, which are perhaps as much as a millennium

older

than

the

Old

High

German

manuscripts, were first noticed

by A. Kuhn in 1864.

83

Another

remarkable historical aspect of

the Second Merseburg

Charm

is the absolutely transparent

way

in which it was Christianized by merely substituting

figures

from

Christian mythology for the original

Germanic

ones.

The

fact

that

these Christianized versions appear outside the German

gion also points to the probability of lost

heathen

versions

throughout the

Germanic

world.

The

overall historical

pattern

demonstrated by this formula also strongly

suggests

that

many,

if not most, of the

"Christian"

charms first written down in later

centuries actually go back to now lost

heathen

originals.

The

First Merseburg

Charm

shows close affinities to magical stanzas

110

THE

GAWRABOK

in

the

Poetic

Edda-for

example,

in

the

"Havamal,"

stanza

149

and

in

the

"Gr6galdr,"
stanza

10,

where

magic to

break

fetter

is

mentioned.

Contra

Vermes

Go

out,

worm,

with

nine

wormlings,

out of

the

marrow

into

the

bone,

from

that

bone

into

the
flesh

out

from

the

flesh

into

the

skin,

out

from

that

skin

into

this

arrow.

84

Lord,

so

will

it

be!

The

Vedic

correspondence

is from

the

Rig-Veda,
X, 163, whicl

catalogs

the

various

parts

of

the

body from

which

the

disease

removed

in a very

similar

way.

85

The

Merseburg

Charms

Once

there

were

sitting

lofty

ladies"
sitting

here

and

there

some

bound

bonds,

some

hemmed

the

warrior

bands,

some

picked

at

the

fetters,

so

the

hasp-bonds

break,

and

the

warriors

escape.

II

Phol"
and

Wodan

were

riding

in

the

wood

when

the

lord's

[or

Baldr's]

foal

Apperulix

sprained

its

foot.

Then

Sinthgunt

enchanted,

and

her

sister

Sunna;

then
Frigga

enchanted,

and

her

sister

Valla;

then

enchanted

Woden,

as

he

could

so

well:

for

bone-sprain

as

well

as

joint-sprain;

bone

to

bone,

blood

to

blood,

limb
to

limb,

so

that

they

are

linked

again!

11

The

Vedic passage

corresponding

to this is found in the

Atharva

Veda

IV, 12, from

about

500

B.C.E.

which

can in part be trans

lated: "Let thy marrow come

together

with marrow, and thy join

together

with

joint;
together

let

what

of thy flesh has fallen apart

together

let thy bone grow

over."88

But

the

formula also survived in a variety of forms

through

out the

Germanic

world. In these Jesus replaces

Woden,

perhap

Voll or Balder is replaced by saints, and so on.

One

of the mos

recent

recordings of this

ancient

formula is from 1842 in

Scot

land:

The

Lord
rade,

and

the

foal

slade;

he

lighted,

and

he

righted,

set

joint

to

joint,

bone

to

bone,

and

sinew

to

sinew.

Heal

in

the

Holy

Ghost's

name!S'
Introduction

1. Edition by

Nat.

Lindqvist, En

isliinsk

Svartkonstbok

fran

talet

(Uppsala: Appelberg, 1921).

2. Icelandic folktales were collected and published by J6n

nason,

islenzkar

Thj6dhsogur

og

IEfintyri,

2d ed., 6 vols., ed.

A. Bodhvarsson and B. Viljalmsson (Reykjavik: Thj6dhsaga

Prentsmidhjan

Holar,

1954-1961).

Amason's

edition was

first

published in

1863-1864.

Convenient
translations of

some of these tales are provided by Jacqueline Simpson in

two books,

Icelandic

Folktales

and

Legends

(Berkeley:

versity of California Press, 1972) and

Legends

of

Icelandic

Magicians

(Cambridge: Brewer, 1975).

Chapter

1. For a survey of the legal system in Iceland, see Gwyn Jones,

History

of

the

Vikings

(London: Oxford University

Press,

1973), p. 282ff.

2.

The
best survey of

Northern

religion and mythology avail-

114

THE

GAWRAB6K

able in English is

that

of E. O. G.

Turville-Petre,

Myth

aruJ

Religion

of

the

North

(New

York:

Holt,

Rinehart

and

Win·

ston, 1964). However, the most comprehensive is

that

oi

Jan de Vries,
Altgermanische

Religionsgeschichte,

2d ed., 2

vols. (Berlin: de Gruyter,

1956-1957).

3. Probably the most

convenient

history of Iceland is

that

oi

Knut Gjerset,

History

of

IcelaruJ

(New

York:

Macmillan,

1924).

4.

An

excellent

history of Icelandic literature is given by Stefan

Einarsson, A

History

of

Icelandic

Literature
(New

York:

johns

Hopkins Press, 1957).

Chapter

1. See Einarsson, A

History

of

Icelandic

Literature,

p.

122ff.

2. Several

surveys

of magic in the Icelandic

sagas

exist, but

unfortunately,

none

is in English. Perhaps the best recent

treatment

in English is

that

of H. R. Ellis Davidson, "Hostile

Magic in the Icelandic Sagas," in

The Witch
Figure,

ed. V.

Newell (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1973), pp.

41.

3. This term is virtually universally used in the

Germanic

alects for "magic," for example, in Old English

gealdor

and

in Old High

German

gals

tar.

4. This is the sound a raven is said to make.

5. No clear etymology of

seidh(r)

has been developed, and it

may indeed be a borrowing from some foreign terminology.

6.

Seidhr

has been compared to shamanism by Dag Stromback,

Sejd

(Stockholm: Geber, 1935).

7. Snorri Struluson,

Heimskringla,

trans. Lee M. Hollander

(Austin: University of Texas Press), pp. 8, 11.

8. The only comprehensive study of academic runology in En-

Notes for

Part

glish is

that

of Ralph Elliott,

Runes:

An

Introduction

(Man.

chester:

Manchester

University

Press,

1959). A more

imaginative approach is

that

of Edred Thorsson,

RunelorE

(York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1987). Records of rune,

being used in the

nineteenth

century are/found in

Wolfgang

Krause's
work,

Runen

(Berlin: de Gruyter, 1970), pp.

m.

9. A complete, if old,

edition

and translation of the major rune

poems is provided by Bruce Dickens,

Runic

and

Heroic

Poems

of

the

Old

Teutonic

Peoples

(Cambridge: Cambridge

sity Press, 1915); see also Thorsson,

Runelore,

pp.

93-104.

10. For

convenient

interpretations

of the god

Odhinn,
see

ville-Petre,

Myth

and

Religion

of

the

North,

pp.

35-74,

and

Georges Dumezil,

Gods

of

the

Ancient

Northmen,

ed. Einar

Haugen (Berkeley: University of California

Press,

1973),

pp.

27-42.

Fora

more imaginative look, see Thorsson,

lore,

pp.
178-182,

189-199.

11. For an academic

treatment

of this magical process, see

phen E.

Flowers,

Runes

and

Magic

(New

York:

Lang, 1986),

pp.

153-166.

12. See also the

translation

of Lee M. Hollander in

The

Poetic

Edda,

2d ed. (Austin: University of Texas

Press,

1962),

p.72.

13. See also the

translation
of

Hermann

Palsson and Paul

wards,

Egil's

Saga

(Harmondsworth,

UK: Penguin, 1976),

p. 101.

14. The most famous depiction in the

sagas

of the blood being

sprinkled in the temple is found in the

Eyrbyggja

Saga,

chap.

4. See the

translation

of

Hermann

Palsson and Paul

Edwards

(Toronto: University of

Toronto

Press,

1973), p. 40.

15. See
Flowers,

Runes

and

Magic,

p.

249ff.

16. See Simpson,

Legends

of

Icelandic

Magicians,

p. 33ff.

17. See Gjerset,

History

of

Iceland,

pp.

270-272.

116

THE

GAWRABOK

18.

See Simpson,

Legends

of

Icelandic
Magicians,

pp.

37-44.

19.

See Simpson,

Legends

of

Icelandic

Magicians,

p.

56.

20.

See Simpson,

Legends

of

Icelandic

Magicians,

pp.

73-79.

21.

For statistics on Icelandic witchcraft trials, see

¢lafur

vfdhsson, "Islandische Zauberzeichen und Zauberbiicher,"

Zeitschrift

des

Vereins

fur
Volkskunde

13 (1903):

150-151.

22. For a popular view of modern Icelandic attitudes toward

occult

phenomena,

see Erlendur Haraldsson, "Are We

sitive or Superstititious?" Atlantica

and

Icelandic

Review

17:4

(1972),

30-34.

23.

The

most dramatic aspect of this is the official revival of the

Norse religion in Iceland by

Sveinbjorn

Beinteinsson, who

is the leader of what are called the

Asatruarrnenn-those

who believe in the

fEsir.

Chapter

I.
See Simpson,

Legends

of

Icelandic

Magicians,

p.

19.

2.

See Davidhsson, "Islandische Zauberzeichen," p.

157.

3.

See Simpson,

Legends

of

Icelandic

Magicians,

pp.

73-79.

4.

See Davidhsson, "Islandische Zauberzeichen," pp.

157-158.

5. For a survey of the history of the manuscript, see Nat.

Lind-

quist, En

isliinsk

Svartkonstbok,

pp.
21-23.

6.

See Davidhsson, "Islandtsche Zauberzeichen," pp.

160-167.

7. See Figure 2 on page

49.

8. This is certainly a forced

interpretation.

9.

See Davidhsson, "Islandische Zauberzeichen," pp.

267-270.

10.

An

edition

of this book was done by Kristian Kalund,

De"

islandske

lregebog

(Copenhagen:

Luno,

1907).

11.

See Irmgard Hampp,

BeschwOrung-Segen-Gebet

(Stuttgart:

Silberburg,

1961),
p. 11

Off.

Notes for

Port

11

Chapter

1. Hampp,

Beschwiirung-Segen-Gebet,

p.

11

Off.

2. The classic text on this topic is by Erich [ung,

Germanisch

Giitter

und

Heiden

in

christlicher

Zeit,

2d ed.

Leh

mann, 1939).

3. See

Amason,
islenzkar

Thj6dhsiigur,

vol. 1, p. 432.

4. See Hjalmar Falk,

Odensheite

(Kristiana:

Dybwad,

1924)

pp. 8, 9, 29, 31.

5. Details of this were given by Amason,

islenzkar

Thj6dhsiigur,

vol. 1, pp.

431-432,

conveniently

translated by Simpsor

in

Icelandic

Folktales,

pp.

181-182.

6. See

also H. R. Ellis Davidson, Gods

and

Myths

of

Northerr
Europe

(Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1964), p. 180.

7. See Lee R. Gandee,

Strange

Experience

(Englewood

Cliffs,

NJ:

Prentice-Hall,

1971), p. 119.

8.

full account of this myth is given by Snorri Sturluson if

The

Prose

Edda,

trans. Jean

1.

Young

(Berkeley:

University

of California Press, 1954), pp.

85-86.

9. For the original Old High German of this text, see Wilhelm

Braune and Ernst Ebbinghaus,

Althcchdeutsches

Lesebueh,
15th ed. (Tubingen: Niemeyer, 1969), p. 39.

Chapter

1. In this set of definitions I am generally following those

given by Davidhsson, "Islandische Zauberzelchen," pp.

154.

2. See the prose following st. 14 in the "Reginsmal'' and st.

16 and following in the "Fafnlsmal" in the

Poetic

Edda

(trans.

Lee M. Hollander) and in the

Prose

Edda

(trans. Jean

1.

Young), p. 112. It is

specifically

mentioned

that

Sigurdhr

118

THE

GALDRAB6K

takes

the
helm

in

chap.

19 of

the

Viilsunga

Saga;

see

th

translation

of

William

Morris

and

Eirikur

Magnusson

(Nev

York:

Collier,

1962),

p. 148.

There

are several

editions

the

Morris
and

Magnusson

translation,

as well as

many

othe

translations.

3. See, for

example,

the

prose following st. 4 in

the

"Sigridrt

furnal"

in

the

Poetic

Edda,

trans. Lee M.

Hollander,

p.

234

4.

The

sator-square

has

been
much

written

about.

For its origin

and

history,

see

the

fairly

recent

study by

Walter

O.

Moeller

The

Mithraic

Origin

and

Meanings

of

the

Rotas-Sator

Squar,

(Leiden: Brill, 1973).

5. See H.

Gustavson

and
T. S. Brink,

"Runfynd

1978,"

Fom

viinnen

(1979):

233ff.

Chapter

1.

A variety of

[udeo-Christian

grimoires

have

been

publisher

or

republished

in

recent

years.

Among

the

best

known

these are
The

Book

of

the

Sacred

Magic

of

AbI-a-Me!in

th

Mage,

trans. S.

L.

MacGregor

Mathers

(Chicago:

de Lau

renee, 1932);

The

Greater

Key

of

Solomon,

trans. S. L

MacGregor

Mathers

(Chicago:

de
Laurence,

1914);

Tt«

Book

of

the

Goetiaof

Solomon

the

King,

trans. S.

L.

MacGrego

Mathers,

ed.

Aleister

Crowley

(New

York: Ram, 1970).

2. For some

interesting

insights

on

the

power of

the

name
it

Norse

magical

thinking,

see H. R. Ellis

(Davidson),

Til.

Road

to He!

(Cambridge:

Cambridge

Universiry

Press, 1943)

pp.

137-148.

3. See

"Fafnismal"

prose following st. 1 in

the

Poetic

Edda

trans. Lee M.

Hollander,

p. 223. A whole study has beer

devoted

to

the
magical

power

of

the

speech

of

the

dyinl

Notes

for

Part

11

man: Falke Strom,

Den

doendes

makt

och

Odin

tradet

(0"

teborg: Elander, 1947).

4. Probably the most comprehensive

treatment

of the Nors
conception

of the soul readily available in English is H.

Ellis (Davidson),

The

Road

to

Hel,

pp.

121ff.

For a mar

imaginative view, see Thorsson,

Runelore,

pp.

167-173.

1.

This

list of

divine

names

perhaps

represents

an

encoded

message of some sort.

The

numbers of names in
each

of the

three

lists seem

significant.

The

latter

two consist of

four and twelve names, respectively; the first one is probably

supposed to

contain

seventy-two.

2.

The

use of magic in

helping

women

in

childbirth

goes back

into

the Eddic

tradition;

for example, we find it in the

"Sigrdffumal,"

st. 10:

"Also
learn

help-runes

/ if you wish

to

help / a

woman

bring

forth

her

baby."

The

term used in

this

context

is ON

bjargrunar

(help

[in bearing children]

tunes).

3. To be able to

stanch

blood was a

popular

healing

art in old

Germanic

times.
It

is well

known

in the

Lacnunga

and

other

Old English

leechbooks.

4.

These

last two words are obvious misspellings or

alterations

of the name

Jehova

Sebaoth

(Yahweh

Tzabaoth),

the

ancient

Hebrew war god.

5.

The

helm of awe

(ON

aegishjalmr)

is
the

most

interesting

single feature of this

manuscript.

Both the word and its

underlying

meanings

are

intriguing.

It occurs four times in

122

THE

GAWRABOK

the

Poetic

Edda,

all in

connection

with

Fafnir,

the

serpent guarding the Niflung hoard.

With

the power of this

helm he could strike terror into the

heart

of anyone who

might

attempt

to win the treasure.

It

is said

that

Sigurdhr

took it with him as a part of the

hoard

after he killed the

serpent. Here it seems to have been symbolized as an actual

helmet; however, it originally

meant

simply

"covering,"

which is the oldest sense of the term

"helm."

Therefore,

the whole formula would signify a "covering of awe or

ror."

The

first part of the word,

regis-

(possessive

form from
regir,

"terror")

is derived from

Proto-Indo-European

'

>

Proto-Germanic

'egis-

>

Gothic

aigis

> Old English

egesa

and

ege

(hence,

our

modem

"awe"),

and > ON

agi,

all

meaning terror.

The

spelling

regir

is explicable as an
ablaut,

llgir

>'6gir

>'regir

(in later

Proto-Germanic).

This helm of

awe was originally a kind of sphere of magical power

to

strike

fear

into

the enemy.

It

was associated with the power of

serpents to paralyze

their

prey before striking

(hence,

the

connection

with

Fafnir).

In our time this meaning is again

clear.

The

helm
of awe as described in the

manuscript

is a

power,

centered

in the

pineal

gland and

emanating

from it

and the eyes. It is symbolized by a crosslike configuration,

which in its simplest form is made up of what appear to be

either

four younger

Mvrunes

or older Z-runes. These

figures

can, however, become very complex.

6. This

manuscript

is valuable for the

hints

it gives

concerning

the

Scandinavian

lore of trees and

their

magical

dences.

The

oak has been associated

with

the power of the

thurs-rune

and with the god

Thorr,

Here it seems

to be acting as a terrifying

apotropaic

talisman.

7. This seemingly

macaronic

verse has

not

yet been

torily

interpreted.

8.

Neither

has the second line,

but
it has been said to

contain

mnemonic

device for the

Danish

runic alphabet.

Notes for

Part

123

9.

The

last two words here represent the

GnosticlKabbalistic

formula

Tetragrammaron,

the

four-letter

name of the

brew god (YHVH), also found in Spell 42.

10. This series of staves, which

contains

none

that

are obviously
rune staves,

nevertheless

seems

to

be an expression of the

system of the younger runes, since it

contains

the numerical

formula 2

16

32.

11.

In the medical theories of the

ancient

Germanic

peoples,

diseases

were sometimes

thought

to be caused by tiny,

visible "worms" (serpents) in the food or drink.

12. These staves are

sixteen

in number, plus the solar cross,

again an expression of the

continuing

potency of the number

system of the younger futhark.

The

first stave is perhaps the

elder

[-rune,

which

continued

to be used as a

galdrastafur;

the

tenth

stave appears

to

be a younger A-rune (

l'

),

which was perhaps

intended

as

a:

:;

and the row ends

with two elder H-runes.

13. Here eight staves are represented, which could be part of

either

a sixteen- or a twenty-four-based system.

The

four-based system

continued

to be used in the

contruction

of magical fomulas in the younger period.

14. Again the

number

8 could be the key to this stave (number

of staves radiating from the ring).

The

shape of the staves

could be

intended

as

thurs-runes

),

and/or the whole

could be a runic code: 3:5 (read: third

eu,

fifth

either:

1\:

(in the special cryptic reordering) or :

,j..,;

in the

normal order. For a

convenient

discussion of runic codes,

see Edred

Thorsson,

Runelore,

pp.

87-91.

15. This row of twenty-four staves

contains

many recognizable

rune staves, for example,

:h

t'

(stylized

Mvrunes),

(later

"dotted"

T-rune

[d

or dhJ),

(S-rune),

R
(Rvrune),

(Hvrune),

tV

(A-rune),

(older

H-rune).

16. These eleven staves also

contain

several runic forms found

in Spell

18,

plus

(s),

f"

(k),

(final

-R

or y).

124

THE

GALDRAB6K

17. "Thy dew and dales" has been

interpreted

as

Christian

bols for

the

blood and wounds of

jesus,

However, this seems

to be a

Christianization

of older pagan material relevant to

the Earth mysteries.

18. The

technique

of this "prayer" is pure contagious magic

based on the transference of negative force from the body

to the water,

which

is washed

away.

19. A byrnie is a breastplate or

battle

sark used by Germanic

peoples-here

the symbolism is obvious.

20 This formulaic

protection
from all

sides,

based on polar

posites, is very

ancient

and probably common to all peoples.

21.

Another

of the common old

Germanic

ideas

concerning

the

origin of disease and misfortune in people and animals is

that

of projectiles

shot

by

either

trolls or elves.

22. This is only one of many

indications

of the wide variety of

traditions synthesized in this manuscript.

23. No further

instruction

is given in this book to this mysterious

spell.

24.

Psalms

and

other

portions of the Bible were often used in

magical rites of all kinds, which is only fitting since many

of the Psalms are actually adaptations of

Canaanite

my

magical songs. This is from the Icelandic

translation

of the

Bible made in 1584.

25.

The

fiend, or enemy, would appear to be

Satan,

who would

help God prosecute the enemy.

The

Icelandic word used

here is

andskotin

(adversary), which is a normal

translation

of the Hebrew
SaTaN.

26. Ice.

synd

(sin) originally borrowed from Old English

synn

(sin). Most

patently

Christian

terminology comes into

landic from Old English.

27.

Another

example of Old English

Christian

terminology is

provided by "soul" (Ice.

sill

<

OE

silwel).

This term was

originally part of the common

Germanic

storehouse of psy-

Notes for

Part
2

125

chological

conceptions,

probably with the meaning of

"shadow, shade" in the vocabulary of life and death;

ever, it was Christianized at an early date.

28. The word

skuggi

usually more properly reflects the concrete

idea "shadow," but it has clearly moved into the field of

meaning of "soul" here.

29. Ice.

lif

(life), the living essence of a

human

being.

30. See also Spell 20; "day

bath"

(Ice.

daglaug)

is perhaps a

metaphor

for

"blood."

31. Literally, "who have an evil mind [Ice.

hugr]
toward me."

The

hugr

was originally the seat of the

intellect

and will (see

6dhinn's

raven Huginn, Master of the Mind), but it later

took on more magical

connotations

and could be sent out

to do deeds for its owner.

32. Here again we see the

regishjalmur,

as it forces all to fear it

and be kind to its

possessor.

33. Perhaps this indicates some knowledge of Arian

iry, the form of

Christianity

that

several Germanic tribes

converted to in the fourth and fifth centuries.

34. Ice.

gaupnir,

the bowl formed by cupping the hands together.

35. These sixteen staves seem to be all highly

stylized

runic

symbols

arranged in two rows of eight.

Their

full meaning

has yet to be decoded. It is

not

hard

to

see why the

ramenn

in

possession

of this book were in need of spells

against

their

enemies!

36.

Rowan wood has a life-giving power and can control

worldly things.

It

is also used in a contrary sense as a bringer

of death.

The

use here

either
means

that

it was intended to

protect the house from evil visitations or

that

it was meant

negatively as a method of terrifying those who would come

to the house.

37. Here thistle is probably meant. This is an herbal

dence to the F-rune.

126

THE

GALDRAB6K

38. Again we see the use of the

concept

of something

flying

toward a person (a shot) to bring misfortune.

39. Alder is usually associated with fire and

wakefulness;

it

responds to

the

S-rune. Here we again see the use of

innate

polarity to evoke the opposite effect.

40. The herbological

element

in this spell is twofold:

(l)

ash

wood and (2)

miUefolium

(yarrow). Ash is of well-known

properties in

Germanic

myth and magic. Here it

signifies

the ability to make

contact

with

other

worlds.

Yarrow,

which

was

either

ground up or its

flowers

made into an essential

oil to be mixed with water, also has tremendous powers for

making

contact
with

"the

other

side," the unconscious.

Not

only did the

ancient

Chinese

know of this (see the I

Ching

literature), but it was also well known among the

Europeans as a divinatory tool. In later times it was dedicated

to "the Evil

One"

(see Spell 41) and was popularly called

the Devil's

Nettle

and Bad Man's Plaything; it was used in

magical rites.

41. Again we see the use of the term

skuggi

in the sense of

human soul, or shade, and here its use is more obviously a

part of the psychic terminology with references to living

persons-s-a kind of psychic double.

42. The manuscript term

iotun
viUum

(standard

nominative

form

jiitna

villur)

literally means the bewilderments of the etins

(giants) and refers to some as yet unknown formula of murk

staves used by the etins to delude and confuse. Human

gicians can also

control

such things.

43. Here

the

manuscript reads

iotun

geira

blod

(standard

native form

jiitungeira

b16dh),

literally

"the

blood of

spears."

]iitungeir
(etin-gar) is a kenning for a worm and/or

serpent. This forms a magical link with telluric

powers.

44.

The

problematical word used in the manuscript is

thrijsteipta,

literally

"three-diving"

(inversed, or inverted). This

OCCUI'l

Notes for

Part

127

45.

46.

47.

48.

49.

50.

51.

also in

another

Icelandic manuscript where the

galdrastafur
appears. See also note 45.

The

word

moldthurs

clearly means

earth-thurs

(-giant),

which perhaps indicates a

reversed

(i.e., murk)

Tl-l-rune

or"V"),

which is a powerful cursing sign (see "Sigrdrffumal,"

st. 36).

The

mold-

could also refer to

both

the

TH-

and

Mvrunes

and reinforce the image of the staves

connected

to

the ground as seen in note 44 and in the staves in Spell 34.

The

shape of the

gapal(l)dur

is identified in the

galdrastafir

complex. Its name also occurs in

other

manuscripts. The

word

(gap-aldur)

could mean

"the

age or eternity of space

(void)."

The

meaning of the primary structure of the stave

is open to speculation, although it is highly

suggestive;

ever,

the

lines

extending

from the main form are perhaps

coded runic references

(i.e.,

on the left side 3:6

=
V

and

on the right 3:3/3

).

The

manuscript

uses

the

term

srering,

and

it

is

glossed

in the

margin as

exorcismus.

This term is generally used only in

Christian

contexts.

The

word

that
is translated "read" in the text is Icelandic

rMha,

which, in the

technical

terminology of the runes, has

the deeper meaning of "to interpret, fathom" in the whole

sense.

Kvennrnnar

were originally formulas used to win the love

of women (and were therefore sympathetic to them); they

may have been

attached

to

certain

specific runes and rune

staves.

Again we see the oak (see Spell 9 and note 6 above). Here

it is used to make

contact

with the realm of the dead; this

is done

not

by drawing the dead out of

their

graves but by

forcing them out through the placement of the oak in their

realm, thus driving the dead to the surface.

Altered version of the Vulgate

translation

of Psalm 119:7.

128

THE

GAWRAB6K

52. A version of

the

Vulgate

translation

of Psalm 119:75.

53. Same as in Spell 31.

54.

The

manuscript reads

friggiar

gras,

"the herb of Frigg." This

has

been

attached

to various types of herbs.

One

is the

orchis

odoratissima,
or

satyrium

slbidium,

from which love potions

were brewed. This

plant

is also known in Icelandic as

agras

(herba

conjugalis)

the

herb of marriage. However, it

may be

connected

to the mandrake.

55. Here the manuscript reads a

sigur

hellunne,

"on the victory

rock."

The

significance of this is still unclear.

It

is perhaps

heathen
reference applied to a

Christian

context

or an

otherwise

unknown

Hebraic myth

that

the Icelanders

served from some

heretical

text.

56. This threefold

Wodenic

invocation

includes the name

Odhinn

beside

/lie,

"the

Evil

One,"

which may have been

an old name for

Odhinn

since he was called Bolverkr,

Worker,"
and was called

"the

father of all evil" in pagan

times.

0lvir

is interesting. It is our name Oliver and comes

from

Proto-Germanic'

Alawih-az,

"the

All-Holy

One."

This

is similar in meaning to the name Wlhaz (ON

Vel.

the third

name in the primal threefold

Wodenic

formulation.

57. In the manuscript this whole verse

reads:

01vir

Odenn

Ille

II Allt

thijtt

vilid
vijlle

II

Sialffur

Gud

med

snijlle

II

Sendi

ockur

ast

mylli.

58.

The

sign of the helm of awe, later

the

sign of the

cross.

59. Probably the name of a magical sign. It is unclear whether

the two staves referred to here correspond to

the

stave

resented in the manuscript.

Homa

perhaps refers to an image

of the

Iranian
tree

of life (and the

ancient

sacred drink

haoma,

cognate to the Sanskrit

soma).

It is certainly possible

that

the

galdrastafur

represented here is a highly

stylized

version of such a treelike sign.

60.

Probably

hawthorn

or sloe.

Notes

ior

Part

129

61. As represented in the stave.

62.

When
it stands at the highest

point

in the sky.

63. Here a new

handwriting

style begins, a

seventeenth-century

cursive hand.

The

language of the original is in the Danish

dialect.

64. The

representations

of the

galdrastafir

do not seem to

respond to the numerical

formulas.

However, the numerical

formulas

contained

in the text of the spell are very potent:

4(

=
32

16

8(

'f.

72

24

13

3(

39

13

143 13
x

11

65.

The

manuscript reads

Ande,

"breath,

spirit."

66. The manuscript reads

Hulenn

hialmur,

"a covering of

cealment. " See the Middle High

German

tamkappe,

"a cape

[not cap] of

concealment,"

and

tamhiit,

"a hide or skin [not

hat!] of

concealment,"

both

of which occur in the

genlied.

67. If a speculation offered by Prof. Dr. Klaus Duwel is correct,

this formula may be the ancestor of one going all the way

back to about 200 c.

E.,

where we

find

a spearhead with the

runic

inscription

"oj ingar, " which might have become

6tti

in icelandic. See Flowers,

Runes

and

Magic,

p. 255.

68. Compare this

figure

to

that

found in Spell 30 in the

rab6k!

It

is rare,

other

than

with the

regishjdlmur,
to

find

this

close correspondence in different manuscripts.

69. Feingur may be a nickname of

Odhinn

(miswritten for

gur?); see Falk,

Odensheite,

p. 8. Or it may be related to

icelandic

feigur,

"bound

to die, fey."

70. This is a most unusual Thor's hammer!

It

may be a depiction

of how the hammer is supposed to work.

130

THE

GALDRABOK

7!.

The

exact

meaning

of
mandrepeik

is unknown.

72.

The

valbjork,

"birch

of the

slain,"

is a kind of birch or maple

tree

unknown

in Iceland.

73.

Bowls

are very typical objects on

which

runes are carved;

see the

Galdrab6k.

74.

The

formula may be the

Christian

IHS:

in

hoc

signum.
75.

The

invocation

of

Snorri's

name may refer to Snorri of

safell or Snorri

Sturluson,

author

of the

Prose

Edda.

This

kind of extremely complex magical sign is very rare in the

corpus of signs in Iceland and is a clear

indication

of a late

date and foreign origin.

76.

The "Devil"

(here

the Icelandic word

of course

rowed from the

Latin/Greek

diabolus)

is used. It must be
remembered

that,

especially in the magician's world view,

the old gods and the demons of the

Christian

hell had been

unified.

Hence,

this may ultimately refer ro some

heathen

deity.

77. See Simpson,

Icelandic

Folktales

and

Legends,

pp.

181-182.

78.

An

animated

corpse, or

draugur,

could be magically

activated

and sent to do

the
malevolent

will of a sorcerer, in which

case it is referred to as a

daudhingur.

See Svale Solheim,

"Draug,"

Kulturhistorisk

Leksikon

for

Nordisk

Middelalder

(1958): 298.

79.

This kind of magic is

known

in Icelandic as

sj6nhverfing,

"sight

twisting,"

a way of

distorting

the

perceptions

and

causing illusions. See Ellis Davidson,

"Hostile
Magic in the

Icelandic Sagas," p. 21ff.

80.

The

Hague: Nijhoff,

1948.

8!.

See Storms,

Anglo-Saxon

Magic,

pp.

186-197.

82.

The

botanical

designations

of the

nine

herbs are (1)

wort,

artemisia

vulgaris;

(2) waybread or

plantain,

plantago

major;

(3)
"stune"(?),

lamb's cress,

cardamine

hirsuta;

(4)

venom-leather,

cock's spur grass,

panicum

crus

Galli;

(5)

Notes

for

Part

131

mayweed,

camomile,

anthemis

cotula;

(6) "wergulu"(?),

tle,

urtica

dioica;

(7) (crabi-apple, any of several trees of the

genus
Pyrus;

(8) chervil,

anthriscus

cerefolium;

(9) fennel,

foeniculum

vulgare.

83. See

A.

Kuhn, "Indische und germanische Segenspruche,'

Zeitschrift

fur

vergleichende

Sprachforschung

13 (1864):

49-73.

84.

Then

the infecting "worm" would be shot

away,

magically

bound to the arrow.

85. For the parallels to the Vedic tradition, see the

passages

translated by H. H. Wilson,

Rig-Veda

Sanhita
(New Delhi:

Cosmo, 1977),

voL

7, pp.

392-393;

and by Ralph T. H.

Griffith,

The

Hymns

of

the

Atharva-Veda,

3d ed. (Varansi,

India: Master Khelari

&

Sons, 1962),

voL

2, p. 412.

86. Here the Old High German word

idisi

is used,

which

may

be related to Old Norse

dis,

pl.

disir,
a group of

divine

mother-goddesses

or protective spirits.

87. Phol is probably an alternative spelling of Vol(l), the

mas'

culine counrerpart to the fertility

goddess

Valla

(ON

Fylla),

sister of

Frigga,

also mentioned in

text.

88. William Dwight

Whitney,

Atharva-Veda

Samita

(Delhi:

tilal

Banarsidass,

1962), voL 1, pp.

166-168.

89.

Other

parallels are
discussed

by Jacob Grimm,

Teutonic

My"

thology

(New

York:

Dover, 1966),

vol,

3,

pp.

1231-1233;

Turville-Petre,

Myth

and

Religion

of

the

North,

pp. 122-124;

Storms,

Anglo-Saxon

Magic,

pp.

109-113.

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