The Island of WITCHES

throughout history Iceland has displayed an immense tradition of Witchcraft Within the horrifically oppressive landscape magic was not just on the fringes of society it was a tool for everyday survival this tradition persisted through christianization in ways unseen across most of the developed world events that should have Stamped Out paganism entirely only seemed to Galvanize icelander's conviction in their native culture today Pagan tradition lingers in Iceland and weighs both mundane and tremendously significant as a result we now have access to the contents of spellbooks the names of famous Sorcerers and the step-by-step procedures of medieval Icelandic Magic this documentary will cover the entirety of Witchcraft in Iceland from its earliest inhabitants blood sacrifices and the contents of medieval spell books to the surprising presence of pagan tradition in modern day Iceland the subject is dark esoteric and at times bizarre but at the end of it we can take away a tremendous lesson about how we look at history in the late 9th century King Harold heinhair was looking to conquer all of Norway with the political influence of Christian Europe he had agreed to bring the Nation Under a christian-style monarchy citizens were not entirely enthused by the idea so a group of Norwegians left to seek political and religious freedom these people along with their Celtic slaves sailed West to Iceland the society they set up on Iceland was rooted firmly in their native Heritage there's no single King on Iceland but rather the land was ruled by local priest Chieftains these leaders would meet annually at a great assembly called the alting to settle legal cases and decide broader matters of governance even today the all Thing Remains as Iceland's National Parliament the early Icelandic government had very little Central Authority that could make rulings and disputes but had no ability to actually carry out these sentences instead that was left to the family of the aggrieved party often if someone was found guilty of a crime they would be outlawed in the sense that the law no longer applied to that individual they could then be harmed or killed without any legal repercussions alternatively the guilty party could pay a set amount of money to the harmed individual called where Guild to satisfy as punishment each crime was assigned a respective monetary value it should also be noted that the government made no profit on any of these crimes or rulings early Icelandic settlers practiced a religion they brought with them from Norway it was an ancient Germanic based sort of heathenism that is heathenism not as a pejorative but just to say these people did not practice one of the more now widespread religions this Icelandic Pagan religion allowed a significant amount of individual freedom some icelanders may have worshiped Odin while some prayed to Freya or other Norse deities alternatively some likely worshiped nothing at all meanwhile the Celtic slaves they had brought probably had some ties to Christianity this is all to say icelanders were very tolerant of religious differences but still paganism was the prevailing religion at the time and within this paganism existed a strong tradition of sorcery by all accounts Icelandic magic could be separated into two distinct types galther and sather galther is generally a more honorable magic whereas sather was considered shameful essentially light and dark magic these moral connotations though were not of the Contemporary rather they seem to be added later on possibly under a different framework of morality than would have been present at the time so take light and dark magic labels the grain of salt more accurately the differences between these two Magics were technical in nature practice of Galder seems more based in a person's Consciousness could perhaps say it is the more grounded of the two for lack of a better term engultered you would assume a sort of magical Persona an alter ego whereas in sather the practitioner would enter a trance-like state seemingly possessed by something else entirely it is similar to what other parts of the world may call shamanism likely inherited from early Germanic practices early Icelandic magic also sees the frequent use of runes a sort of esoteric alphabet runic magicians would have been the most well known it was likely practiced by the most well-honored members of society these were perhaps unsurprisingly mostly men this male-dominated quality of Icelandic magic will again show its face later when we get to the Witchcraft Trials and executions the general technique of runic magic consisted of three procedural steps first the magician would carve the signs into an object then it would be colored with the magician's blood or the blood of an animal finally a verbal incantation would be spoken over the runes this incantation was said to load the runes with their magical powers but these perhaps primitive old world ways of magic would soon be dramatically Changed by increasing christianization of Europe by the year 1000 most of Northern Europe including Norway Denmark Ireland and England had become officially Christian icelanders though were resistant to this change by most accounts Iceland accepted Christianity quite superficially when the faith arrived very little changed public sacrifices were forbidden but there were no laws against the private practicing of the old Faith Pagan Traditions continued with no real resistance these Traditions included the ceremonial sacrifice and eating of horse flesh icelanders also permitted the exposure of infants this practice was a version of infanticide wherein a family left their unwanted newborn baby outside to be killed one way or another by the forces of nature conversion to Christianity was a decades-long quite gradual process but it was accelerated around the year 10 30. around this time Iceland entered the age of Peace domestic conflicts were less frequent in individual icelanders became more open to investigating Christianity Icelandic Scholars began to travel abroad return with Christian knowledge still Icelandic Christianity was not exactly by the book the icelanders who joined the church did not renounce worldly pleasures are from it old traditions like polygamy and Witchcraft persisted even among church members these old practices mixed with the Christian ideas that were being imported by traveling clergy men this era of Icelandic witchcraft will forever be remembered as bizarre and self-contradictory Christian faith explicitly said that witchcraft was heretical but Christianity began appearing all throughout Icelandic magical practices personalities from exclusively judeo-christian Traditions began to appear in Icelandic spell books elements of Catholicism were incorporated into verbal incantations unfortunately this era also represents something of a dark age in our knowledge of Icelandic Magic The Works composed during this time depicted earlier Viking age practices very few original magical materials were recorded during this era instead we must rely on sagas and folk tales written after the fact while not entirely true Icelandic sagas are typically based in reality to a degree they are essentially embellishments of true events most significantly they point to a priest named simunder Sikh fusan he is said to be the most magically learned man of his time said that he attended a mysterious Institute called the black school of Satan which was likely located in Germany or France despite this perhaps frightening resume Lee Fusion was regarded quite well as a good guy indeed this black school of Satan continues to reappear throughout ancient Icelandic magical texts it was apparently quite a popular destination for those who wish to dedicate their whole lives to sorcery the age of Peace began to break down around 11 18. other nations were wrestling for control over Iceland these foreign pressures manifested in political conspiracies and Corruption this instability leaked through Icelandic Society old patterns of domestic feuds and blood Vengeance began to reappear but it was during this time that Icelandic culture specifically literature went into a sort of golden age Icelandic authors composed many now famous National sagas the poet snorri sterlison wrote the prose Etta the poetic edit was also committed to paper it was a great time of cultural balance between the past and present icelanders sort of agreed upon a national Catholicism where an indigenous Traditions were allowed to survive alongside Christianity unfortunately this time would not last the Protestant Reformation began in the early 1500s in 1536 Denmark nationally accepted this reformation and as its property Iceland was expected to follow suit once again there emerged enormous pressure on Iceland to adopt European Christian tradition and once again icelanders resisted the country's isolation and cultural conservatism meant the Reformation did not exactly take quick hold in Iceland there was effectively a low effort war between the years of 1536 and 1550. the Protestants won and executed the Icelandic Bishop John Harrison in 1550. the years that followed were marked by economic and political exploitation by the Danish in Iceland 1602 Denmark effectively prohibited Iceland from Trading with whoever it pleased the result was a period of intense economic hardship Danish Traders and clergymen who were essentially Danish government agents ruthlessly exploited icelanders one-fourth of church tithes in Iceland went directly to the Danish King the death penalty was imposed for moral crimes including heresy the Estates of anyone sentenced to death again went directly to the Danish crown antiquarians both Danish and Icelandic seeing signs of a collapse began a concentrated and intentional effort to save Icelandic literary Heritage among these historical documents were spell books and magical manuscripts and so we have a lot of information about magic from this time later in this video when we discussed the methods and techniques of Icelandic witchcraft most of that will have been produced in this era two Icelandic magicians serve as the bridge into the Protestant age in Iceland one was got skulk nicholasen the cruel gunskok had a reputation for Black Magic and was known to be a ruthless political schemer the other was half Dan arfison little is known about half dander other than he appeared to be a white magician too godskalk's black magician status the sorcerer got skulk's spell book was called the route Skinner written in Gold letters on red parchment this book is said to include the darkest magic known to man mostly sourced from earlier Heathen times after gutskalk's death magician named galdra lofter apparently became obsessed with the practice of necromancy of raising the Dead he desperately tried to raise the ghost of godskalk to get the dark sorcerer's personal spell book called your laughter's sin and the moral of the Saga in which he appears is a sort of unending lust for knowledge and Power from this era there's also the grass Skinner this book is supposed to have been compiled of two parts first written in the Roman alphabet the second encoded runes intended to conceal the actual meaning of the text according to the sagas The Souls of those who read the first part could still be saved but if a person were to read the second they were damned for eternity copies of these books did not survive it would not be hard to imagine why Protestant era Crackdown of magic in Iceland meant they would be immediately burned if and when they were found in indeed Iceland eventually did crack down on the so perceived threat of witchcraft on October 12 1617 King Christian IV of Denmark officially outlawed magic in all of his lands which included Denmark Norway Iceland the Pharaoh Islands and Greenland non-sorcerer citizens those who only casually practiced magic would be punished by Exile or through a fine genuine Sorcerers as the king said could only be sentenced to death immediately after the decree went into effect which trials appeared all across the Danish Kingdom with the exception of Iceland there the law took 13 years to be published by local officials and when it was published the degree was met with confusion this widespread European notion of Witchcraft being evil had never really been introduced in Iceland his confusion meant it was very difficult for Icelandic authorities to carry out the laws in an organized effective way people didn't really have protocols for imprisoning and executing a magician nor did they really understand why these punishments were even necessary the result was basically chaos many of the suspected witches in Iceland were executed without a trial only after being executed were there crimes then reported to local councils between 1625 1683 a total of 170 icelanders were accused of Witchcraft 21 people were executed notably only one of these executed people was a woman Icelandic witches were generally men this is a significant contrast to Witch Trials throughout the rest of Europe where victims were overwhelmingly women Icelandic Society was very much divided by gender at the time knowledge like that required to carry out magic was considered a masculine trait in Iceland women were believed to have less knowledge and therefore less understanding of magic however there were some exceptions a handful of women were brought to trial for witchcraft certain genres of magic were in fact decidedly female but they were generally looked down on by other sorcerers in addition to gender Icelandic Witch Trials were drawn along class lines almost all victims of the trials were men in the lower classes on the rare occasion that a person of higher status was accused they would generally be acquitted of any charges most of the detailed records of these Witch Trials were lost if they ever existed at all record-keeping within the courts wasn't as robust as it is today most accounts of which trials would have come from first-hand Witnesses casually writing down what they had seen that said there is one major exception one witch trial over a single man's Grievances and claims of possession and demonic practice spanned the course of five years this is known as the hercu bowl Affair to OK place from the years 1655 to 1660. story tells us the procedural workings of witch trials but it also offers more than that it provides insight into the cultural Dynamics at play when one was accused of being a witch more specifically the power of these accusations when cast from the right person the Affairs centers around a reverend named Jon Magnuson the reverend's life was wholly unremarkable prior to the Kirky Bowl affair born in 1610 in Northwest Iceland his father was a priest as was his brother so yon continued with that familial tradition in 1643 yon became the head of a parish in about a decade later 1655 married and his wife had a child was this year though that Young's sufferings began also in this town lived yon Johnson and his son also named Jonson younger young at this point asked the Reverend for his daughter's hand in marriage the Reverend refused which created a rift between the two families one day the Reverend was walking through town the kirkubal farm where the Johnsons lived was on his route he approached the farm the Reverend claimed to have received a mysterious message in his mind something told him to go visit the Johnsons so he did he spoke with him ate dinner and ended up staying the night at the Johnson's farm during the night the Reverend woke up to the sensation of mice crawling all over his feet but when he looked down beneath the covers there were no signs of any mice the next day the Elder John Johnson drunkenly confessed to having used witchcraft on the Reverend he said that he sent a spirit to haunt the Reverend while he slept but the Elder yawn claimed he was satisfied with the mischief and would never do it again the Reverend Jon believed him and went on his way some days later the town had gathered at church service there the Johnson's servant girl complained to the Elder young about his son the younger young overheard and punched the servant girl in her face Reverend Jon saw it all and made the younger young apologize that night the Reverend was sleeping when he was again startled awake by the feeling of a cat walking across his feet but when he looked down at his feet there was no animal again at this point he said his mind was suddenly plagued with evil demonic thoughts the Reverend began to pray desperately at his bedside while praying he felt a beast jump onto his body he felt its claws ripped through his clothes and into his flesh the pain he said was so intense so red hot and he believed himself to be immortal Danger again though there was no Beast only the feeling these same Sensations occurred for several nights in a row apparently affecting other members of his family during this time deciding that this could only be the work of sorcery Reverend young traveled across the Fjord to visit the town's Sheriff he reported his sufferings to the sheriff and several other Town officials the next day as he was preaching in the church Reverend collapsed onto the ground writhing in front of his Parish in something of a mass spectacle while this was happening the Johnsons attempted to run out of the church but were ultimately stopped they were brought into custody the sheriff sent a man named geesley to the Kirk you both Farmstead to look for evidence of Witchcraft as he walked to the Farm geasley claims to have felt bizarre searing pains throughout his feet at the farm geasley found a book made from calf skin that was filled with magical symbols and spells with this evidence the Johnsons were brought to court the Reverend testified that they were using witchcraft against him invoking Satan to bring him suffering several other Church attendees testified against the Johnsons ultimately the Johnsons were made to renounce any further acts of which craft they agreed in both parties were satisfied with the outcome the very next night the Reverend experienced more of the same painful attacks these attacks in fact continued to the following year that same year 1656 the Johnsons were once again brought to trial the Johnsons were allowed some time to collect Witnesses on their behalf but that very next night the Reverend experienced pain like never before said the sound of whales blowholes shot into his ears keeping him awake giving him an excruciating burning headache the Johnsons were arrested the next day the younger yawn confessed to having an increasing and continuing interest and sorcery he also confirmed that he had basically hated the Reverend since being denied his daughter's hand in marriage throughout the trial the Johnsons both expressed a hatred for the Reverend and treated him with animosity and hostility the two Johnsons apparently confessed in private corridors to town officials they were then forced to make their confessions public the Elder yawn told the crowd that he was responsible for most of the Reverend sufferings that he had borrowed two spellbooks and Enlisted the help of a sorcerer who lived near the town the Elder young confessed to a number of other pieces of Witchcraft too he said he'd used magic to kill people's livestock yon claimed he owned a number of magical books and runes that he had used on the Reverend following his father's confession the younger young admitted to several incidents of his own the younger own essentially confessed to being a sorcerer he'd use magic to hurt other townspeople he said he'd harmed animals with magic and Enchanted a girl to fall in love with him the younger young claimed to regularly pour his own blood onto runic symbols ultimately like the father he too confessed to using Magic on the Reverend the penalty for using magic to inflict pain or death was of course burning at the stake by confessing the Johnson's head forfeited their lives in the eyes of the Court they were condemned to death to be burned alive on April 10 1656. as the father and son were being brought to the stake the Reverend offered them a chance to repent and to be forgiven by God the Elder John repented he begged God for forgiveness the younger John Doe refused wholeheartedly instead in his last words he said only may God grant us a good night two were tied to the stakes in front of a crowd quite ominously it took officials three tries to get the father and son to burn which many the Reverend included hook as an omen of evil eventually though the Johnsons were burned alive in front of the townspeople even after the burning though the Reverend wanted more he said he deserved compensation for the pain and suffering as well as court costs and lost time at work the Reverend also claimed that the younger young hadn't paid his legally required Church tithe for a year he argued that this crime along with the Witchcraft meant Joan's property should be forfeited to the church more precisely to himself the Reverend indeed the Reverend was awarded much of the younger Young's estate but Reverend young was still not finished he also argued that because the Elder gun was responsible for most of the Witchcraft he owed compensation so Town officials sold most of the farm kirkhubal's assets and gave the money to the Reverend the revenue on symptoms eventually returned initially he believed the continuing attacks were the work of the younger young haunting him from Beyond the Grave but these attacks just got worse and worse at one point the Reverend began having seizures there's also a sister in the Johnson family named duri Thor she lived on and off again at the Kirky bull Farm she quite reasonably held a great deal of resentment towards the Reverend for the execution of her family the Reverend believed that whenever third Thor came to town his sufferings became worse so he accused her of practicing witchcraft to exact revenge for her brother's deaths worrying that this would develop from accusations into an actual trial three Thor left the town permanently the Reverend attempted to charge her with witchcraft in three different courts all of which basically threw the charges out immediately even after Dory Thor was found innocent the Reverend did not let up he kept accusing her of Witchcraft claiming in public that she was a demon on one occasion the two got in an argument and he spat in her face so it was time for 30 Thor to get her actual Revenge she basically countersued the Reverend she said he'd spent years hurdling false allegations at her family and had caused the unjust deaths of her father and brother most of her family's estate had been given to the Reverend over charges that she claimed were meaningless at the trial she said that the Reverend had never showed Mercy against her family so why should the court show Mercy against him unfortunately no one really knows the outcome of the trial people generally believe 30 Thor to have won there was no evidence of her having ever practiced witchcraft the restorer was well liked by the public while they increasingly looked on the Reverend with disdain she also had very influential prosecutors on her side it's likely she won but we don't know what she won the three Thor's name appeared in a 1703 census showing that she lived to be at least 65. the Reverend grew impoverished and likely disgraced as he aged though he eventually moved in the Kirky bull Farmhouse there he died at age 86. people have provided plenty of theories for different diseases that the Reverend yawn may have suffered from no one really knows what caused his painful episodes but most Scholars agree that yon was not mentally within full capacity regardless his writings and the court records surrounding the kirku bull Affair provide a singular and detailed account on how which trials operated in Iceland the historical contexts and consequences of Icelandic witchcraft are certainly interesting however now that we understand to a degree the era in which all of this took place we can get into the technical details and methods of Icelandic Magic there are a number of Icelandic books that contain lore spell work or other forms of magical tradition there are books from a John the Learned which contains spells and Rune work there's an Icelandic Physicians manual from 1400 which contains distinctly magical remedies for ailments invoking Odin Thor and Freya there are dozens of such materials which are mostly piecemeal and incomplete just by virtue of time but one Spellbook does remain fully intact indeed it is the most important and most famous of All Icelandic magical texts given the historical context of its time it's truly remarkable that the galdra book survived written sometime in the latter 1500s this book is an index of 47 spells it was likely assembled by a combination of Icelandic magicians and danish scribes during the Protestant period 1682 the book was acquired by a Danish villagist before being transferred to Stockholm and included in the National Academy of Sciences this is where it lives today book offers no editorializing or opinioning about magic but rather just the specific incantations spells Theology of early Icelandic Sorcerers the spells in the Galder book cover a diverse range of ends the most common is that of protection 18 of the Spells promised protection from some harm be that magic or man nine spells promise good fortune in one way or the other six spells offer protection against thieves a concern which seemed quite important to the authors one final spell provides invisibility these spells together are pretty harmless they are mostly positive in nature I think but besides these the gowder book offers darker forms of magic these range from low-level Mischief there's a spell to make the victim fart to more malevolent one kills another's livestock another forces a woman to fall in love there is also a surprising amount of Christianity in the spell book nine of the Spells have a paradoxically Christian framework in that they cite Christian works or ask for assistance from Christian figures eight spells express some kind of judeo-nostic roots and five still overtly mixed Christianity with Germanic paganism when combined with other Icelandic sources the Galder book also outlines a Theology of pagan gods goddesses and demons in Icelandic magic a number of deities are specifically invoked Odin Thor Free and falder among others Loki also makes frequent appearances many spells make references to trolls or elves that could be responsible for fulfilling magical spells Giants are mentioned twice valhall the dwelling place for honorific warriors who die in battle also appears in the gowder book interestingly demonic figures from Christianity also find themselves invoked in the book in spell 43 the invocation is help me in this all you Gods Thor Odin frig Freya Satan Beelzebub and all those gods and goddesses who dwell in valhole the fact that Satan has come to valhall is remarkable it shows the increasing Fusion between Christianity and the old Pagan religion the true purpose of this though was to literally demonize old pagan gods traditional Icelandic pagan gods are not categorically good or evil this dichotomy doesn't really exist in the way that Christianity offers it between Satan and Jesus But as time went on Christians began to assign pagan gods into these roles more specifically the old gods found home among Satan rather than Jesus aggressive and dark magic would be more likely to invoke the name of pagan gods on the other hand Christian elements appeared overwhelmingly in protective spells as ever in Iceland this didn't take root as firmly as it did in other places the Icelandic Trinity of Germanic pagan gods Christian entities and Christian demons remained in place Pagan deities never became entirely evil in Christian entities were never accepted as holy good we've talked at length about methodology and technique and even spell books but there is one distinct question that comes to mind still how did Icelandic Sorcerers believe magic actually worked through what powers forces or entities did they believe their magical ends were fulfilled well most likely they didn't really think much about it if their spell worked it worked and that was enough but by reading between the lines of these spell books we can kind of understand the causality to which Icelandic Sorcerers attributed their work the most pronounced is willpower Icelandic magic often seemed to function on a sort of uber concentrated version of one's will really willpower is something like the foundation for the entirety of Icelandic magic and much of other European brands of witchcraft many spells feature instructions to that point telling the practitioner to have a strong faith or say what you desire with anger other spells implore the magician to skip prayers in the evening so that their day wouldn't have a sort of close in this way the practitioners will power and train of thought wouldn't be interrupted by any sort of psychological conclusion to the day other spells still required the user to fast or undergo physical hardship with the idea that discomfort could further concentrate one's emotions this willpower would then be converted into something more mystical via runes incantations human blood or a mixture of these things these implements serve to transmit one's will from shallow desire into Magic the historical aspect of Icelandic witchcraft is fascinating undoubtedly but just as interesting it's the way early Pagan Traditions have persisted within Iceland today it would be simply outlandish to categorize Iceland as even a remotely Pagan society today Christianity is the dominant religion and in some surveys Iceland ranks highly among non-religious nations but early Icelandic Traditions have persisted in ways rarely seen across other developed countries Icelandic or al-satru is a neo-pagan religion that was founded in 1972 and still enjoys significant membership in the country indeed it is the largest non-Christian religion in Iceland though still a distant second while not inherently linked to Witchcraft or magic really in any way the neo-pagan religion provides a fascinating bridge between ancient and modern Iceland before I proceed there is unfortunately an elephant in the room of AO satru that I must address Icelandic outside through is a non-political movement it is not a right-wing movement in any way shape or form outside of Iceland certain people in America and Europe have stolen the name of ausa through to create their own hateful organizations which have no relation to or basis in the Icelandic church the church itself has condemned the use of Elsa through in pursuit of any hateful supremacist or race-based ideology on the contrary Icelandic alcat through has been characterized by Scholars as open-minded in the church itself is involved in vaguely left-wing environmentalist causes but again it is not an inherently political organization in the early 70s a group of icelanders were increasingly dissatisfied with having to pay taxes to the Christian church the group was interested instead in establishing a religion that was more in touch with traditional Icelandic culture and the natural landscape of the island a group of like-minded individuals gathered around this idea and in 1972 the religion was officially established the following year AO set through was officially recognized by the Icelandic government the first meeting in 1973 there were 21 members this number immediately began to grow and today there are over 5700 icelanders practicing outside through modern ausa through cannot entirely recreate the old ways for one thing the ancient Nordic religious practices varied by time place and social environment moral attitudes have also changed Human Sacrifice is certainly unacceptable animal sacrifice likewise in North sagas it was common to sprinkle blood over a group of people during ceremonies today this would be messy at best and quite dangerous at worst today I'll set through we used together a tapestry of elements from pre-christian Iceland though it is a religion with a temple and high priests and regular ceremonies outside through exists more within diversity than Dogma participants don't worship a strict Pantheon of gods nor do they follow a meta-narrative of creation or eventual salvation instead they find the sacred in values traditions and myths associated with the most ancient Icelandic texts also sacred are the history and cultural heritage from these times I'll set through further reaches a reverence for the forces of nature that have historically been imagined or experienced as Supernatural together these things comprise the outset through idea of four Seether or our custom which is a foundation of Pride and inspiration for the religion I'll set through represents a small portion of the Icelandic population and I should not overstate its relevance to Modern Iceland it's not hugely responsible to speak in such broad Strokes to say that modern Iceland is an island of pagans despite it once perhaps having deserved that title long ago within Any Nation the experiences of individuals will vary there are icelanders who feel a deep connection to pre-christian Traditions but others probably don't care at all or would be happy to forget about these Traditions entirely it is a fact though that Iceland's Pagan history has survived into modernity in ways rarely seen throughout other developed Nations through its reverence for Pagan pre-christian aspects of Icelandic history I'll set through provides us with a profound link to this past and to this culture while the events discussed in this video certainly contributed to historical paganism and Witchcraft Within Iceland there are other factors we should look at as well perhaps most foundationally we should examine the landscape itself Iceland is a dramatic harsh and unforgiving place it is battered by the ice cold Waters and storms of the North Atlantic it is a land of radical polarities on the island you can find both volcanoes and Glaciers quite literally it is a land of Fire and Ice Winters are Long Summers if you could call them that disappear as quickly as they arrive spring and Autumn are essentially non-existent farmable land is rare and livestock struggles to find reasonable grazing space between earthquakes and volcanic eruptions it is a place where the Earth regularly shakes and rumbles these Natural Forces all compete for the Lion's Share of hardship and suffering inflicted on the Island's population Iceland squeezes and demands the most from its inhabitants in a time before modern technology the idea of magic would have been very helpful and simply surviving the Spells outlined by Icelandic texts do not express any interest in the metaphysical or unlocking profound secrets to man's existence rather they offer solutions to Life's then everyday problems here's how to avoid thieves here's how to catch more fish here's how to protect yourself from danger these solutions would have felt incredibly useful to Old World icelanders perhaps because of this necessity Icelandic magic seems tremendously accessible there were some particularly ambitious individuals who devoted their lives wholly to sorcery but broadly old Icelandic magic could be practiced by just about anyone there was rarely ever mentioned for the need of intense training the implements required by these spells were largely commonplace enough Iceland is also the only country where witch burning records reveal a significant possession of Magic books among victims victims who again were almost exclusively of the lower classes this further tells us that access to magical knowledge was not just the purview of some Elite Priestly people instead it was uniquely widespread among common icelanders it is not just magical knowledge that has a strong tradition in Iceland but all knowledge Iceland was originally settled by the cultural conservatives of Norway that is to say people who had great interest in preserving Norwegian now Icelandic cultural heritage Christianity arrived it brought opportunities to learn people entered into formal scholarly Pursuits through new churches schools or Journeys abroad the foundation of curiosity combined with this new opportunity for knowledge meant Iceland generated a remarkable level of national intellectualism even today Iceland consistently ranks highly in literacy rate and education levels country boasts the highest rate of books published per capita of anywhere in the world of course there are other factors at play here but this love of Academia can be traced right back to the country's founding throughout its history Icelandic people have demonstrated an intense resilience whether that has been to the very nature of their landscape or external political forces many of Iceland's cultural values only seem to have been strengthened by forces that could have ripped them apart entirely and indeed we end up with a culture that has been actively explored recorded and preserved by its people today we are shockingly well informed about historical magic in Iceland but still to truly understand Iceland's History of Magic perhaps any history of anything there is one more thing we must be sure to keep in mind as we examine history especially when that history leans so heavily on stuff we don't really believe in anymore we should remember perspective it's easy for us to wave our hands dismissively and every mention of sorcery and Witchcraft Within our rational science loving Society we can look at the idea of magic quite casually but context is important in early Iceland people did not believe magic was real it was just real to them it was not a matter of belief at all witchcraft wasn't something you believed in it was fact in the same way that today this is red and this is blue this is the moon and this is the Sun it's important to consider this context and look at these Traditions through this lens with this empathy we can achieve a truly authentic view of our world as it once was

Channel: Horses

Views: 2,034,898

Keywords:

Id: jdOrz4E2UH4

Length: 41min 28sec (2488 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 13 2023