Quick Facts About the 9th-Century Völva
- The Völva: Literally a 'staff-bearer'. A respected seeress and ritual specialist within North-Germanic paganism.
- Seiðr Magic: An ecstatic form of shamanism closely connected to the gods Óðinn and Freyja, centered around soul journeys and divination of the future.
- Oseberg Discovery (834 CE): A royal Norwegian ship burial containing the remains of two high-status women, a ceremonial wagon, and a unique, elaborate wall tapestry.
- 9th-Century Context: The early Viking Age, marked by the expansion of the Great Heathen Army in England and the flourishing of trading hubs like Dublin and Birka.
Introduction: Europe and Viking Expansion in the 9th Century
The 9th century was a dynamic period in which the Scandinavian world tore open with brute force toward the rest of Europe. Norse Vikings established a powerful trading hub in Dublin around the year 838, while the Danes with the Great Heathen Army conquered large parts of England in 865 and established the Danelaw. In the east, Swedish Vikings sailed up the rivers deep into Russia, where they laid the foundations for Kievan Rus and traded from flourishing centers like Birka. At the same time, the missionary Ansgar tried to plant the first seeds of Christianity in the north.
In the middle of this century of migration, bloody confrontations, and emerging networks, the spiritual core of those who stayed behind remained deeply rooted in animistic paganism. The absolute pinnacle of this early Norse culture was buried in the ground at Oseberg, Norway in the year 834. Among the fabulous treasures lay a silk and wool wall tapestry that gives us the key to the most mysterious figure of the Viking Age: the völva.
The Völva: The Staff-Bearer and Her Seiðr Magic
The word völva derives from the Old Norse word for staff (vöndr) and literally means 'staff-bearer'. She was no marginalized witch, but a respected and authoritative spiritual specialist who played a crucial role in the society of her time. Her position stood in a long tradition of wise women and priestesses that we already know from Germanic societies of the Roman period.
The Magic that these seers practiced was known as seiðr. This form of Magic was closely connected to the gods Óðinn and Freyja and was performed mainly by women. Seiðr was usually performed on an elevated wooden platform, where the völva entered a deep, ecstatic trance. This ritual was carefully accompanied by supporting singers who raised ritual chants, the so-called galdr.
During this trance, her soul (hugr) loosened itself from her body to undertake a soul journey to other worlds and the spirit realm. This specific ability shows strong parallels with the shamanic practices of the neighboring Sámi and other circumpolar traditions. Once in contact with her spiritual allies, she could divine the future, influence the weather, heal the sick, or manipulate the outcome of an impending battle.
The most important instrument of the seeress was her magical staff, also referred to as a gandr. This staff served as a spiritual aid during her ecstatic journeys. In archaeological völva graves, these staves are consistently found, confirming their central symbolic value within Norse worship.
The Oseberg Wall Tapestry: Visual Witness to a Procession
The Oseberg ship burial, excavated in 1904, contained the remains of two women of exceptional high status. One of them was possibly queen Åsa of the Yngling dynasty, but many suspect that the older woman was a powerful priestess or völva of the goddess Freyja. This is supported by the discovery of a wooden ceremonial wagon, decorated with cats (Freyja's sacred animal), and the presence of seeds of hallucinogenic plants in her pouch.
The absolute centerpiece from the grave is the Oseberg wall tapestry. Although the textile became heavily fragmented over the centuries, it shows a fascinating, ritualistic procession that places us directly into a 9th-century cultic ceremony. The tapestry depicts a procession of three horse-and-wagon combinations accompanied by figures on foot. In the foreground wagon sit two figures; possibly a god image and her priestess. This tradition of riding a god image in a covered wagon to bless the fields was already described in the 1st century CE by Roman historian Tacitus among the continental Germanic peoples under the worship of the fertility goddess Nerthus.
At the head of the procession walks a horned figure with spears, an iconic depiction associated in Norse art with Óðinn and ecstatic rituals. Behind the wagons walks a group of eight women. Their presence on the tapestry, as well as on other carved stones like the Garde Bote stone from Gotland and finds from the royal grave at Kivik, suggests an organized cult community of women who supported the völva during public rituals.
Masks, Animal Transformation, and Amulets
The Oseberg wall tapestry demonstrates that transformation and disguise were essential within Norse ritual. In the fragments we see, besides the horned spear dancer, also an armed man entirely dressed in an animal hide. This is a possible reference to the berserkers (bear-warriors) who entered an ecstatic battle fury.
Furthermore, there are women depicted wearing boar hides and a figure dressed as a bird of prey, complete with wings and a bird's head, standing before a temple building.
This reflects the shamanic trance in which the völva assumed the form and properties of an animal to travel through the cosmos. The boar was revered for its brute strength and aggression, an ancient tradition tracing back to the Proto-Indo-European warrior bands, the koryos, who migrated from the steppes to Europe thousands of years earlier.
Archaeological finds strengthen this idea of ritual disguise. In the harbor of the trading hub Hedeby, 10th-century felt animal masks have been found, and similar masks have also been excavated in Novgorod. Moreover, so-called mask amulets made of silver and amber are widely distributed in both male and female graves throughout Scandinavia. Although these pendants often symbolize the god Odin (under his nicknames Grímnir or Grímer, meaning 'the masked one'), they reflect the deeper meaning of the shamanic ecstasy that belonged to both the völva rituals and the military traditions.
The Reconstruction of a 9th-Century Völva Costume
Based on the textile remains from the Oseberg grave and similar find sites, we can accurately reconstruct the ceremonial dress of an early Viking Age seeress. Her clothing was a mix of traditional status, functional attributes, and deep spiritual symbolism.
As a basic undergarment the woman wore a serkr, or under-tunic. This was likely made of fine linen or wool. Although linen is difficult to dye, the fabric was treated in those days with plant-based tannins and alum, which made the red dye from madder adhere better. This resulted in a warm, brick-red hue. Hygiene was essential here: for religious rituals, one had to wash thoroughly to demonstrate piety. Wealthier women therefore carried a grooming set with tweezers and an ear spoon attached to their brooches.
Over the under-tunic was worn the traditional hanging skirt, the smokkr. This woolen overdress had loops on the front and back that were fastened at the shoulders with oval shield brooches. For an accurate 9th-century appearance, these brooches are executed in the recognizable Oseberg style, based on the original from Gjerstad, Norway. For the colder hours outdoors, the völva wore a rectangular woolen cloak, the skikkja, preferably woven in a rich diamond twill. On her feet she wore leather turnshoes, the model of which is directly based on finds from the Oseberg ship burial.
In contrast to ordinary women, who hung their tools directly from their shield brooches, the völva wore specific magical objects from her belt. Although most women of the time wore a belt of woven wool, the völva chose a leather belt with a buckle and belt end, fitting the 9th-century fashion trend of reusing metal fittings as ornament. Attached to this belt hung pouches full of herbs and protective amulets.
In such graves, archaeologists often find striking animal materials, such as claws from wild felines (which symbolized the goddess Freyja), parts of snakes (for healing), or raven motifs. Finally, she wore a heavy arm ring as an oath ring, the design of which is inspired by the woodcarving of the dragon ship's prow from Oseberg, intended to frighten away enemies.
The ritual was completed with an ash-wood seiðr staff, which symbolizes deep connection to nature, and an animal hide such as a boar hide. Additionally, the völva wore a round object whose meaning remains ambiguous on the wall tapestry: it can be interpreted as a shield for war divination, or as a shaman drum with which she, like her Finno-Ugric and Sámi neighbors, awakened the rhythm of her ecstatic trance.
