The Völur Grave Project

My Birka grave Bj. 968 reconstruction, completed in 2024, was the first leg of a much larger project that I am hoping to undertake- an interpretative reconstruction of a collection of graves belonging to suspected Norse priestesses, or völur.  These women were practitioners of a divination magic called seidr and held a power and status unique in their culture.  Also called by many other names meaning “prophetess”, “staff bearer”, “wise women” and “sorceress”, they were said to have the ability to foretell the future and practice sorcery.  They were able to predict battles, change the weather, cast spells, and control things beyond themselves.  Often traveling to where they were needed most, they were called upon to predict the future for the communities and individuals who attended their divination rituals. Within the sphere of prophecy, these women held positions of power over both nature and man.  

 

The rituals of the völur were conducted on a high seat, or on some occasions, on a high seat built upon a higher platform.  They were often accompanied by younger women who would sing ritual songs to invoke the spirits, who would instruct the priestess on the matters in question.  The iron staffs they carried were the mark of their station and several have been found in the graves of high status women.  

 

They are present in the sagas, the most famous being the Völupsa, or “Song of the Völva”, in which such a priestess, awakened from the dead, instructs Odin on the events of Ragnarök.  They are more difficult to find in the actual archaeological record, and we often have to use grave goods such as the iron staffs, as well as pendants and the remains of hallucinogenic plants, to identify the deceased that are believed to have been völur.

 

I find these women fascinating because of the power they were able to wield, within their faith as well as within the greater community.   In the tenth century, these women and Norse society in general were at the cusp of a revolutionary change as leaders converted to the Christian religion.  But even as the world around them shifted away from the old ways, these women were buried with exceptional wealth and honors- showing how they continued to be revered within their communities.  In a very short time, Christianity would bring massive change to the roles women were permitted to hold both in and out of the home, and women who claimed to be able to see the future and speak with spirits would be outcast as witches.  But the graves of these elite women give us a glimpse into a time when the power they held was vital to the destinies of their communities.