The Saga of Vanadís, Völva and Valkyrja

Seiður – singing magic
Valdi henni Herföðr
hringa ok men
fékk spjöll spaklig
ok spá ganda
sá hún vítt ok of vítt
of veröld hverja.
Völuspá st. 29
Warfather granted her
rings and gemstones
acquired wise spells
and wonder visions
she saw far and wide
into the worlds.
Hermann Pálsson, - who in 1954 (the year I was born) was the advisor of Guðni
Jónsson, editor of the Sagas and Eddas I use for reference in this thesis -, has done more
research on völvur than most of his colleagues. In an unpublished chapter “Völur og
galdranornir” (1997b), he gives accounts of over a hundred women who in one way or
another are displayed in the Sagas or poems as völvur or related to seiður or other magic
in some way.
Most of these women have names, some are however nameless, and are referred
to by their title, as völva, spákona, seiðkona, norn, tröll, forn 117 , fjölkunnug 118 ,
vísindakona 119 , kveldriða 120 or valkyrja etc. All refer to women of magical or strong
powers. At times they exist in the mist between myth and history, some are clearly
women of the human realm, others obviously fiction and still others of the otherworld
realm. Freyja, in her many incarnations through time, has been referred to with most of
the above descriptions.
The völva (the one who turns, bends and evolves), is the one who sits at the hub,
(or völur) of the wheel, thus having a view into every direction. She could not only see
into the wheel of time, she could turn it and bend, influence the future with her
prophesies. She was an evolver. She stored memory and from that memory she could
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