Nine Worlds of Seid-Magic: Ecstasy and Neo-Shamanism in North European Paganism [Paperback]

Jenny Blain (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415256518 | ISBN-13: 978-0415256513 | Publication Date: December 1, 2001 | Edition: 1

This accessible study of Northern European shamanistic practice, or seidr, explores the way in which the ancient Norse belief systems evoked in the Icelandic Sagas and Eddas have been rediscovered and reinvented by groups in Europe and North America. The book examines the phenomenon of altered consciousness and the interactions of seid-workers or shamanic practitioners with their spirit worlds. Written by a follower of seidr, it investigates new communities involved in a postmodern quest for spiritual meaning.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'It is good to see this degree of academic research applied to one of the more neglected aspects of our native spirituality and magick. Highly recommended.' - The Cauldron

'... this is an extremely honest attaempt by Blain to remain true to both her academic training and her faith as a seidr preistess.' - Jan Henning, Wood and Water

'Jenny Blain's Nine Worlds of Seid-Magic: Ecstacy and Neo-Shamanism in North European Paganism is a rich and engaging addition to the growing literature on Neopagan religions and modern-day shamanism.' - Nova Religio

About the Author

Jenny Blain is a senior lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University where she leads the Master of Research programme in Social Research. Her research interests centre on issues of identity, gender, paganism and shamanism, social theory and experiential ethnography.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (December 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415256518
• ISBN-13: 978-0415256513
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #683,589 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An exploration of Oracular Seidh, February 22, 2002

By 

Rede Seeker (Cincinnati, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nine Worlds of Seid-Magic: Ecstasy and Neo-Shamanism in North European Paganism (Paperback)

There are many schools of thought concerning seidh. The Author has provided an overview of one area of practice, oracular seidh, as taught by Diana Paxon's Hrafnar group. The student of northern magic will recognize old friends in the bibliography (Bauschatz, Byock, H. R. Ellis Davidson). Other books listed there give further indication of the Author's direction in this study - that of shamanism and gender issues related to seidh. Perhaps the most important aspect of this book is it's emphasis on doing the work - when they aren't mounting the high seat, they are lying under the blankets accessing other sources of knowledge. They are sharing their experiences and building the horde of knowledge needed to reconstruct this magical form. My problems with the book are: 1) lack of definition for some of the terms used, e.g. the nine worlds of sied-magic could refer to the nine worlds of Yggdrasil or something specific to the Hrafnar system; 2) the frequency with which forthcoming articles/books were referenced in the text and appear in the bibliography; 3) the Author references a 1906 edition of Snorri Sturluson's HEIMSKRINGLA: A HISTORY OF THE NORSE KINGS which does not include the Ynglingasaga, there is a more recent edition which does include that saga (HEIMSKRINGLA: HISTORY OF THE KINGS OF NORWAY, Snorri Sturluson translated with introduction and notes by Lee M. Hollander, University of Texas Press, Austin, third printing, 1999. The importance of this particular saga is that it contains a catalogue of the magic powers associated with seidh.); 4) relating the meaning of seidh to the word "seethe" - refer to WITCHDOM OF THE TRUE: A STUDY OF THE VANA-TROTH AND THE PRACTICE OF SEIDHR by Edred Thorsson (Runa-Raven Press, 1999) for the etymology of the word "seidhr"; the Author provides alternative translations of "illrar brudhar" as found in the Voluspa of the POETIC EDDA however pointing out that she is neither a philologist nor an etymologist - this limits the usefulness of her alternative translations, making them little better than hearsay until someone with the appropriate credentials validates them.

This book deals with a narrow sector of the range of seidh practices which appear in the Icelandic sagas. For a discussion of other aspects of seidh, I recommend HOSTILE MAGIC IN THE ICELANDIC SAGAS by H. R. Ellis Davidson and OLAF TRYGGVASON VERSUS THE POWERS OF DARKNESS by Jacqueline Simpson, both appearing in THE WITCH FIGURE, Venetia Newall editor, Routlage & Kegan Paul Ltd., 1973.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Good, January 15, 2002

By 

S. parker "Ian Corrigan" (Madison, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Nine Worlds of Seid-Magic: Ecstasy and Neo-Shamanism in North European Paganism (Paperback)

The author is both a sociologist by profession and a Norse Pagan and magician by training. This book looks at the practice of 'seidr' - norse shamanic-style magic - both from a scholastic and a practitioner's viewpoints. But Blain is no mere participant-observer, she is anactive carrier of the modern Asatru tradition, and her efforts to explicate that tradition in ways that are useful to her academic discipline are fascinating. A good introduction to the practice of seidr for Pagan readers, and a fine examination of an obscure corner of the modern religious landscape for scholars.

37 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars BUYER BEWARE, April 13, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Nine Worlds of Seid-Magic: Ecstasy and Neo-Shamanism in North European Paganism (Paperback)

if you are a practitioner looking for mythological context, techniques or methods for magical and/or shamanic practices of northern europe, i recommend that you do not buy this book ... it does not explore the nine-world mythology of northern europe, magic practices or shamanic practices

the author openly admits that she is an academic who is writing primarily for an academic audience ... however, she also admits to being a practitioner who is supporting rediscovery and/or reinvention ... the result, in my opinion, at best this book is primarily an exploration of academic definition ... at worst, it is a justification to academia for the author being an academic and a practitioner ... i believe that it would have served better if the author had written two books, one strictly for academia and one strictly for practitioners ... it seems to me that the author is certainly capable of both ... however, dealing with both roles in one writing seems to result in the author's testifying to a "split" in purpose, and with a decisive prejudice towards academia ... having received this impression early in and repeatedly throughout the reading, i believe she conveys as much in a concluding comment on page 157 when she writes:

"to me, the shaman becomes a metaphor for the ethnographer of post-modernity, moving through the worlds, moving between levels of analysis, in an attempt to reconstruct something in her own understandings, her own life, that approaches wholeness, an understanding of living that is complete, not fragmented, returning in her journeys to a pole of being, a world tree"

i do not judge dealing with such a split in this context as inappropriate, only that i had not expected nor desired subject matter motivated by an attempt to define and justify (perhaps heal?) one's academic/experiential split ... i had hoped to learn more about northern mythology, seid-magic and nordic shamanism in context to contemporary issues ... to me, this is what the title suggests is available ... however, this is not what i found to be the case

the bottom line: outside of the author's relatively brief, anecdotal reporting of personal experience with oracular-seid, there is nothing here for the practitioner concerning northern cosmology/mythology, seid-magic or nordic shamanism ... thus, BUYER BEWARE

from the perspective of a practitioner seeking practices, my review results in one star ... as a philosophical attempt to academically define the subject matter, my review results in three stars ... hence, two stars total