The Saga of Vanadís, Völva and Valkyrja

when the nine sisters performed the seiður together, one sitting up high, the others
standing in a circle around her, creating the protective closure and chanting the song
called Varðlokur, all dressed according to the custom, honoring Freyja and the spirits of
nature.
Heiður in the Sagas
The völva in Örvar Odds Saga (Fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda) lived and worked
in Norway at least a century and a half earlier than Þorbjörg lived in Greenland
(according to the saga it was 300 years earlier, but that is not plausible). Her name was
Heiður and she traveled around with a raddlið (voice team or choir) of 15 young men and
15 young women. She must have been quite successful in her work, since this kind of
luxury is not mentioned in other stories at the time. This could, however, have been the
custom earlier, but as so often we must remember that we are dealing with a saga of
mostly fiction. We should note that the name of this völva is Heiður, like that of the völva
in Völuspá. Whether or not she is the same, or inspired by her we don’t know. Six völvur
in the literature bear this name, so it could be a common name or even a title for völvur
(see chapter on Gullveig above), or/and some of the stories might refer to the same
woman. Of more than a hundred women who Hermann Pálsson has defined as völvur or
galdranornir, other than the six Heiður, there are four Gríma (mask) and five Grímhildur,
four Gróa 125 and over twenty with names beginning with Þór-, Þor- or Þur- which is s
reference to Þór. I will look more into this connection between Þór and the goddess
below in the chapter on Þorgerður Hörgabrúður.
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