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Home » Seidr and Galdr – Spirit and Voice – A different kind of Magic

Seidr and Galdr – Spirit and Voice – A different kind of Magic

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Seidr and Galdr are two forms of magical practice that come from the Norse/ Northern traditions. They are separate practices with the ability to be used together. These are both areas that The Morrigan prepared me for through our work together, and that Kari has taught me how to use.

Seidr is heavily rooted in Spirit and Energy work. It includes aspects of spirit communication and working relationships, in order to gain knowledge and create change. Seidr also deals in spirit walking (out-of-body/ hedge crossing/ astral travel – pick the name that suits you). That time of walking in the liminal spaces of the seen and unseen worlds. By building these relationships with specific Spirits we create allies that can aid us in our workings, divination, and gaining deeper knowledge.

Galdr is a Voice aspect of northern magic. For me, it includes combining runes for a purpose and signing the effect into being. Every Rune holds a specific energy. By combining those energies you are essentially creating a spell. Through combining them in writing, you create a bind rune – which works like a sigil. You can place them onto things, draw them in the air for on-the-fly magical need, enchant items with them, and so forth. By adding voice, the signing aspect, you are adding a physical vibration, along with the emotion, to bring forth the spell into the physical world. It is a layering of magic, and each layer is imbuing more power.

Using Seidr and Galdr together is another way to layer your magic.

We have some written lore that shows us a glimpse of what these two practices looked like and were used for. Like most of our lore though, it is a lot of surface information and guess work as to how they really worked it. Which requires us to experiment and look for Guides that can help us go deeper and gain lost knowledge. For me, that Guide is Kari. He is who has guided me through these lessons, so my way of working these two practices are very much His way.

The work I did with The Morrigan gave me the skills and prepared me for learning from Kari. She taught me how to connect, building strong bonds and working relationships with Spirits/ Deity. Honing my skills in spirit walking, divination, and Spirit communication. Holding my Foundations and boundaries for both my Sovereignty and Theirs, because these are working relationships built on mutual respect and exchange. Understanding Dualities in order to see both sides clearly, how they work together, and the areas they work against each other.

Kari and I have gone deep into Galdr. How it works, and how to use it for a variety of magical, personal, and community needs. One of the first steps of this work though required a journey through the Runes. Like most things, we do not have some ancient and accurate list of the meaning behind each Rune. We have a lot of clues, educated guesses, but also a lot of variations from source to source, person to person. In order to do this work, I needed something more concrete, stories about each Rune directly from my Guides. It was Hela who stepped up for that work. This makes sense as I had a good working relationship already with Her at that point and She was from the same culture. Rune by Rune, I let Her tell me the stories and meanings behind each one. These are all included in my book Goddess, Sacred Words of Transformation.

Once I had the meanings and energy behind all the Runes, from Them, I could move into working with them. Kari, being a God of Voice, and Galdr being a magic of Voice, it made sense for me that it would be Him. He taught me how to bind the Runes and then sing them for the effects of Galdr. We went through the aspects of when to use them, why we use them, their structure within the magical realm, and things that must be considered with them – because He has made clear that “Galdr is a weapon.” There is a huge responsibility that needs to be considered and well thought out when it comes to using this type of magic. I did not understand that at first, but the more I learned the more I understood. The magic contained within the act of Galdr, at least the Galdr Kari teaches me, is very strong, and can easily be used for destruction as it can for creation. It requires deep mindfulness and the ability to see the effects, both immediate and long term, on each side.

Although I have studied Seidr before and have learned various techniques through it, I am an entering another phase of learning. My Guides are moving it into a deeper exploration and more blending of those practices and Galdr together. I feel it is very much The Morrigan and Kari working together in this endeavor and walking me through Their aspects in it. I have a thought that perhaps Hela may even become part of this team Guiding me, but we will see.

So this is my next journey on the magical side of things. I am going to be going deeper in Seidr and blending Galdr into those practices. I am not sure where we are going, but I trust my Guides. So you will be hearing more about this as I dive deeper and explore the new lessons coming in.

If you are interested in learning more about Runes, Bind Runes, and Galdr especially – I highly recommend connecting with Kari. He is a wonderful Deity and has many lessons especially in the aspects of Voice.