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Some thoughts on Magic in the Sagas
Oct. 10th, 2021 12:35 pm"There was a man called Svan, who lived on a farm called Svanhill in Bjarnarfjord, to the north of Steingrimsfjord. Svan was extremely skilled in witchcraft; he was Hallgerd's maternal uncle, and a very unpleasant person to have any dealings with." This is from Njal's Saga, page 57-58 (translated by Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Palsson) In the saga as a whole, Svan has a rather tiny part, but it was quite notable to me as someone with an interest in historical accounts of heathen magic. In the story, Svan is a renowned magician, who apparently has some power over the weather, as he causes a thick fog to settle in the path of his friend's pursuers. His friend is Thjostolf, who is the foster father of Svan's niece Hallgerd, who's husband was killed by Thjostolf after hitting her. The account of the magic is rather interesting: "Svan took a goat-skin and swung is round his head, chanting: 'Let there be fog / And let there be phantoms, / Weird marvels / To baffle your hunters." (pg 61) Fog and darkness then enveloped Thjostolf's pursuers until they decided to go back home. This is where I might wish that I had an Icelandic version of the text, and a reading knowledge of Icelandic, because I would like to know what words these were translated from. But I don't, and it doesn't matter too much for this essay.
Now, it should be stated that the Icelandic sagas were written about 300 years after the events that they are said to record, many years after Iceland became Christian, so we cannot be sure that this is really a completely accurate portrayal of heathen magic. But, the time, place and culture of the saga writers are certainly much, much, closer to the pre-Christian period than we are. As Peter Hallberg says in The Icelandic Saga (translated by Paul Schach) "Judging from the contemporary document Sturlunga, the leaven of the new religion, even in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, had scarcely permeated the habitual manner of thinking of the Icelanders." (page 113) So, whether or not these are completely accurate portrayals, they're definitely not completely false, or completely useless to us, in fact, I think they can be very helpful, especially if read with the knowledge of a critical perspective.
Overall though, Svan's little ritual is a pretty small snippet. In another part of Njal's Saga Queen Gunnhild lays a spell on her lover Hrut, who has decided to leave Norway and go back home to his native Iceland, where he has betrothed. He lies to Gunnhild about this though, saying that he doesn't have a woman back home. Gunnhild gives Hrut a gold bracelet and tells him "If I have as much power over you as I think, the spell I now lay on you will prevent your ever enjoying the woman in Iceland on whom you have set your heart. With other women you may have your will, but never with her. And now you much suffer as well as I, since you did not trust me with the truth." (pg. 49) When he goes back home, he is never able to consummate his marriage, which ends in divorce.
Svan's act of magic was about protection from enemies, Gunnhild's a vindictive act towards a lover leaving her. Both of these fit in with a lot of magic practiced across the world, though one might consider both of these more "low" magic, if "high" magic means "theurgy" or "initation." The last place that Svan appears in Njal's Saga is when his fishing boat "encountered a fierce easterly gale that drove their boat ashore at Veidilaus with the loss of all lives. Some fishermen at Kaldbak thought they had seen Svan being warmly welcomed into the innermost depths of Kaldbakhorn Mountain; other people denied this and said that it was all lies. But no one could deny that no trace of Svan was ever seen again, either living or dead." (pg 68) I was very intrigued when I read this, as I found two very different interpretations forthcoming in my thoughts. One one hand, it is very interesting that this wizard who used the weather to foil his enemies is destroyed by the weather. Were his wizardly powers so deficient that he could not foresee the gale or avert it? Was this a 'karmic' repercussion for using the weather to destroy his enemies? Or a magical reprisal from a different enemy? (there aren't many details of his life given, but I might remind the reader that he was "a very unpleasant person to have any dealings with.") Or, was he such a great magician that he entered into the earth as an Initiate, as Elijah rode the chariot of fire into the heavens? Of course, we do not know. He may have been a real historical figure, he might have been a literary device. If he was a just a literary device, he also may have been based off of oral legends of heathen magicians. What is remarkable to me is that this ambivalence and ambiguity is preserved in this Christian-authored saga. Well, that and of course the image of the widely feared magician being welcomed as a guest of the great mountain.
Svan was a well-known wizard, and Gunnhild an infamous witch, but the sagas are chock full of more normal persons with psychic powers. Premonitory dreams, second sight, and fateful pronouncements seem to be rather common, even if they also fulfill many literary functions. It seems like these sorts of psychic powers were taken for granted amongst the audience of 13th century Iceland. This of course brings up to me the question of fate in Icelandic society. These psychic powers showed people their fates, their doom. And it seems to me that in many cases, the characters, being forewarned, acted as if they wanted to manifest their doom.
In The Icelandic Saga, Peter Hallberg argues that "If one were to try by some sort of magic performance or incantation to exert an influence on his destiny, that would in fact mean that one did not really regard that destiny as destiny in the strict meaning of the word." (pg 88) That must mean though, that when Sven wrapped a goat skin around his head and made an incantation to confuse his enemies, he was destined to do so. Or, that he didn't really believe in destiny in the "strict meaning of the word." Hallberg later states that "Even the greatest hero was unable to influence fate as such. What he did have control over was his own bearing and attitude toward fate" (pg 99) This may have been what the viking age heroes believed, it certainly seems like that when one considered the Voluspa, but this may also have been just what the later saga writers believed. This level of fatalism seems absurd to me though, and it seems like something that you can't prove one way or another. I prefer to act as if I have free will, whether or not I do, or how much of it I have.
Now, it should be stated that the Icelandic sagas were written about 300 years after the events that they are said to record, many years after Iceland became Christian, so we cannot be sure that this is really a completely accurate portrayal of heathen magic. But, the time, place and culture of the saga writers are certainly much, much, closer to the pre-Christian period than we are. As Peter Hallberg says in The Icelandic Saga (translated by Paul Schach) "Judging from the contemporary document Sturlunga, the leaven of the new religion, even in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, had scarcely permeated the habitual manner of thinking of the Icelanders." (page 113) So, whether or not these are completely accurate portrayals, they're definitely not completely false, or completely useless to us, in fact, I think they can be very helpful, especially if read with the knowledge of a critical perspective.
Overall though, Svan's little ritual is a pretty small snippet. In another part of Njal's Saga Queen Gunnhild lays a spell on her lover Hrut, who has decided to leave Norway and go back home to his native Iceland, where he has betrothed. He lies to Gunnhild about this though, saying that he doesn't have a woman back home. Gunnhild gives Hrut a gold bracelet and tells him "If I have as much power over you as I think, the spell I now lay on you will prevent your ever enjoying the woman in Iceland on whom you have set your heart. With other women you may have your will, but never with her. And now you much suffer as well as I, since you did not trust me with the truth." (pg. 49) When he goes back home, he is never able to consummate his marriage, which ends in divorce.
Svan's act of magic was about protection from enemies, Gunnhild's a vindictive act towards a lover leaving her. Both of these fit in with a lot of magic practiced across the world, though one might consider both of these more "low" magic, if "high" magic means "theurgy" or "initation." The last place that Svan appears in Njal's Saga is when his fishing boat "encountered a fierce easterly gale that drove their boat ashore at Veidilaus with the loss of all lives. Some fishermen at Kaldbak thought they had seen Svan being warmly welcomed into the innermost depths of Kaldbakhorn Mountain; other people denied this and said that it was all lies. But no one could deny that no trace of Svan was ever seen again, either living or dead." (pg 68) I was very intrigued when I read this, as I found two very different interpretations forthcoming in my thoughts. One one hand, it is very interesting that this wizard who used the weather to foil his enemies is destroyed by the weather. Were his wizardly powers so deficient that he could not foresee the gale or avert it? Was this a 'karmic' repercussion for using the weather to destroy his enemies? Or a magical reprisal from a different enemy? (there aren't many details of his life given, but I might remind the reader that he was "a very unpleasant person to have any dealings with.") Or, was he such a great magician that he entered into the earth as an Initiate, as Elijah rode the chariot of fire into the heavens? Of course, we do not know. He may have been a real historical figure, he might have been a literary device. If he was a just a literary device, he also may have been based off of oral legends of heathen magicians. What is remarkable to me is that this ambivalence and ambiguity is preserved in this Christian-authored saga. Well, that and of course the image of the widely feared magician being welcomed as a guest of the great mountain.
Svan was a well-known wizard, and Gunnhild an infamous witch, but the sagas are chock full of more normal persons with psychic powers. Premonitory dreams, second sight, and fateful pronouncements seem to be rather common, even if they also fulfill many literary functions. It seems like these sorts of psychic powers were taken for granted amongst the audience of 13th century Iceland. This of course brings up to me the question of fate in Icelandic society. These psychic powers showed people their fates, their doom. And it seems to me that in many cases, the characters, being forewarned, acted as if they wanted to manifest their doom.
In The Icelandic Saga, Peter Hallberg argues that "If one were to try by some sort of magic performance or incantation to exert an influence on his destiny, that would in fact mean that one did not really regard that destiny as destiny in the strict meaning of the word." (pg 88) That must mean though, that when Sven wrapped a goat skin around his head and made an incantation to confuse his enemies, he was destined to do so. Or, that he didn't really believe in destiny in the "strict meaning of the word." Hallberg later states that "Even the greatest hero was unable to influence fate as such. What he did have control over was his own bearing and attitude toward fate" (pg 99) This may have been what the viking age heroes believed, it certainly seems like that when one considered the Voluspa, but this may also have been just what the later saga writers believed. This level of fatalism seems absurd to me though, and it seems like something that you can't prove one way or another. I prefer to act as if I have free will, whether or not I do, or how much of it I have.
To me, it makes sense that every action that one performs is etched on their character, and the grooves that are produced by these actions determine one's future possible actions. It is possible to change the grooves, but only by much time and effort. Magical ritual is one way to work towards changing the grooves towards what one wants to become. At this point though, one must ask, what do I want to become? And why do I want to become that? The perspective that one has of the world, and one's place in the world, is of vast importance in the answering of these questions.
Here it might be useful to recite JMG's recent contribution to definitions of magic: "magic is the art and science of participation in the spiritual forces of the cosmos" Using this definition, we can see ourselves as a node in a massive, living, interrelated cosmos. A cosmos with beings much greater than we are, ones we can ask for help. But also beings who might use us for their own ends, as so many innocent (and not so innocent) characters were used by those more conniving in the sagas. So what do we do? Keep working, treat others well, keep seeking towards a higher and deeper understanding. Or at least, that's what I'll be doing.Tags:
