Divination and seidr
Seidr was the word for various kinds of magic and was performed by means of galdr, that is, singing in a shrill voice. It was often described as a way to harm people, but could also be used as a remedy to cure illness.
Heroes of the Icelandic sagas were often afflicted by nefarious kinds of seidr. Egill Skallagrimson was disturbed in a crucial moment by a swallow sent from a witch (Egill was composing a poem that would save his life, but the bird distracted him with its twittering; Egils saga ch. 59) and Kormak Ogmundson became impotent when kingdom people lived for ever, in what was called “the land of the living” (Eriks saga vidforla ch. 1). The idea of eternal life is reflected in the concept of the ddainnsdkr, “fields of the immortal” (Lincoln 1991: 26), perhaps related to the holy fields dedicated to gods and goddesses such as Torsaker and Friggesaker. These fields are related to the evergreen meadows of the creation. A Muslim traveller, who in 921 CE met a tribe called rus, probably Norsemen, witnessed a funeral held for their chieftain. A young girl, who accepted voluntarily to die with the chieft ain, had a vision of her parents in a green meadow with trees before she was executed (ibn Fadlan 66-8). In the Hdkonarmdl (13) the dead king approaches the “green world of the gods” (groenar heima goda) (Sogu Hakonar godi ch. 94).Valhall, “the hall of the slain”, was an image of an aristocratic ideal and was conceptualized as a great hall. As in life on earth there were banquets with an abundance of pork and beer, served by Odinn’s Valkyries. The pork came from the boar Saerimner, who was slaughtered every night and revived every morning, a symbol of eternal life. The paradise of the Vikings was a place filled with sensual, even carnal delights, a blessed existence based on abundance and enjoyment (Gif ch. 38).
This was the heaven of martial men, but there were other heavenly abodes for other people, including women and children. Hel was the opposite of Valhall and the other abodes of the deities, with their rich houses, well-stocked larders and storehouses, and a never-ending feast.
Famine, illness and poverty befell those who entered Hel (Gif ch. 34). The sources say that evil men go to Hel, and those who are even worse to Nifelhel. Hermod, son of Odinn, rode nine days and nine nights though dark valleys to the border of that region, the bridge over the river Gjoll in the north. A maiden, Modgud, watched over the bridge but Hermod continued into the kingdom of the dead, where hellhounds guarded the entrance (Gif ch. 49; Bdr 2-3).The journey to the other world was occasionally described as a voyage by boat. Sometimes Odinn appeared as the ferryman of the dead, as in the Volsunga saga. Men were usually buried in wooden boats or in stone ships. Women went into the other world with numerous objects that they were thought to need, such as needles, hair nets and jewels (Roesdahl 1989: 72).
Some of the heroes and heroines were reborn, such as Helgi Hundingsbani and his beloved Valkyrie Sigrun (Helga kvida Hundingsbana IT). Some prominent kings were reputed to be incarnations of their ancestors. When the Norse king Saint Olav once rode along the mound of his predecessor Olav Geirsta-alf, his servant asked him: “Tell me master, were you buried here?” Saint Olav, a good Christian, felt uneasy and answered: “Never did my soul have two bodies...” (Flat II: 106).
Dead people could haunt the living, as in the case of the abominable Tdrrdlfr Baegifot (Clubfoot), a draugur, ghost, who appeared after sunset and strangled everyone he met. His grave mound was therefore opened and the body was burnt, as a second death. From then on, the haunting ceased (Turville-Petre 1964: 269-70).