Seidr, Katie Gerrard
Seidr, Katie Gerrard
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Seidr
The Gate is Open: Working with Trance Prophecy, the High Seat and Norse Witchcraft

Author: Katie Gerrard

Narrator: Leslie Howard

Unabridged: 6 hr 28 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 02/09/2021


Synopsis

Seidr is the intriguing and powerful early Norse system of shamanistic trance practices. In Seidr: The Gate is Open, Katie Gerrard has contributed a major work on the practices of seidr and trance prophecy, providing a practical manual full of dynamic group rituals and techniques based on known Seidr practices. Foremost amongst these techniques is the prophetic rite of the High Seat, where the Volva (seer) sends her consciousness to the underworld realm of Hel to gain answers to the questions posed to her.

Combining more than a decade of research and experimentation, this book is characterized by both its scholarship and its accessibility. Katie Gerrard shares her own experiences on the path of the seer, and also draws inspiration from original sources in the old texts of the Sagas and the Eddas, as well as contemporary researchers and groups working with seidr in Scandinavia, Europe, and America. Techniques for achieving trance, levels of trance possession, coming out of trance, the vardlokkurs (chants), necessary equipment, and the requirements for the roles of the different participants are all discussed clearly and concisely, as is the relevance of contacting the ancestors, the dead, and appropriate gods, including the goddesses Freyja and Hel and the Allfather god Odin.

About Katie Gerrard

Katie Gerrard is a writer, researcher, and workshop facilitator with a passion for the magic of the Runes and Seidr. She lectures and facilitates workshops at national and international events on esoteric subjects, as well as facilitating developmental and employment coaching workshops at a London adult education college. Katie is the author of Odin's Gateways and Seidr: The Gate is Open.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Helen on September 22, 2024

One of the best books on Norse magickal practice that I've ever read.......more

Goodreads review by Steve on April 16, 2012

Avalonia Publication have went and did it again. They produced a fine masterpiece on shamanistic practices of the Norse. Katie Gerrard has spent at least a decade developing her technique and methodology to enter into the other world. She has tried what she has written about in her own group and she......more

Goodreads review by Allyson on February 16, 2019

An accessible handbook for those wishing to work in a ecstatic heathen tradition. I would have liked to see an editor for certain omissions that made some sentences unclear but this is an extensively researched book based in a practical working knowledge of seidr. A great resource.......more

Goodreads review by Ashe on October 11, 2022

Covers a lot of group ritual angles. Overall a decent book which goes over references from more primary sources as well as other academic texts. If you're a solitairy practitioner this might not be ideal with the books group focus but im sure theres enough info for you to inspire your own practice.......more

Goodreads review by Wyrd on March 20, 2023

For someone trying to understand the ancient Norse practices of the loose term 'Seidr' this book somewhat falls short. The writer calls herself an academic writer, however her sources are far from academic. However, as an insight into how to develop Norse themed ritual into personal practice this is......more