Clive Tolley
Shamanism in Norse Myth and Magic, Vol I
The Kalevala Society
Folklore Fellows’ Communications 296
First published 2009, reprinted with minor corrections and with additions 2023
Helsinki 2023
613 pages
ISBN 978-952-9534-06-7
Available at the Tiedekirja bookstore, 58 € (The set of vols I & II, 70 €)
Medieval Norse written sources, ranging from poems originally handed down in oral tradition from pagan times to prose sagas composed in literate Christian Iceland, as well as histories and laws, present acts of magic and initiation, performed both by humans in fictionalised histories and by gods in myths. The summoning of spirits, journeys to the otherworld, the taking of animal shape, and drumming are some of the features of these rites that have prompted many to see in pre-Christian Scandinavian practices some form of shamanism. But what exactly are the features of shamanism that are being compared? And how reliable are the Norse sources in revealing the true nature of pre-Christian practices?
In this study, Clive Tolley presents the main features of Siberian shamanism, as they are relevant for comparison with Norse sources, and examines the Norse texts in detail to determine how far it is reasonable to assign a label of “shamanism” to the human and divine magical practices of pre-Christian Scandinavia, whose existence, it is argued, in many cases resides mainly in the imaginative tradition of the poets.
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Shamanism in Norse Myth and Magic, Vol II – Reference Materials
The Kalevala Society
Folklore Fellows’ Communications 297
The Kalevala Society
Folklore Fellows’ Communications
First published 2009, reprinted with minor corrections and with additions 2023
Helsinki 2023
318 pages
ISBN 978-952-9534-07-4
Available at the Tiedekirja bookstore, 28 € (The set of vols I & II, 70 €)
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Clive Tolley on the second printing of Shamanism in Norse Myth and Magic:
“I am glad it has proved possible, some fourteen years after its first appearance, to reprint Shamanism in Norse Myth and Magic. This is not a new edition – such an undertaking would be beyond my or the series’ scope – but a number of small errors have been corrected, and, far more rarely, a slightly more significant rewriting of certain passages has been made (particularly in the chapter on Heimdallr). Whilst many details in the book might profitably be reconsidered, I hope it will be seen to have stood the test of time.
I do not, in any case, see any reason to revise the central point that our primarily late (and Christian) sources, often of an imaginative nature, preclude our drawing many firm conclusions about pagan Norse magical practices and associated myths, still less any justification for calling them “shamanism” – while at the same time it remains legitimate to bring in comparisons with other magical practices, including in particular shamanic ones, to assist in our understanding of the scant evidence we do have and in the disentanglement of the contexts of such traditions as are recorded.”