I'm not a very good reader, so readable academic books would be preferred! Thanks in advance, recently got amazing replies on two posts I made previously about rape in Viking society, and also sexuality and women in Viking society, now I'm looking to read even more. I've got a couple of books recommended by the Viking Answers Lady, any more recommendations? Thanks in advance?
I think your best option might be Neil Price, The Viking Way. Price does an excellent job using both archaeology and later texts to give an idea about how seidr might have been connected with the violent impulses that characterized the Viking Age. If you have library access, there's a good chance it's available for download. If not, it's fairly easy to find online. He also has a brilliant series of three lectures available free online. They get at the heart of what Price is arguing, and like his book, they can be visually engaging.
Two brief warnings. First, Price is an amazing scholar, but not everyone accepts how he interprets the evidence. Pay attention to what the evidence actually shows, and see if you think it means what he thinks it means. Are the rods that archaeologists find in women's graves witches' wands or soup stirrers? It's okay to disagree—that's what scholars do!
Second, two interest groups have heavily invested themselves in the study of early Scandinavian religion: neo-pagan feminists and proto-Germanic white supremacists. I don't think this eclectic audience should discourage anyone from a diligent or even a sympathetic study of Viking Age religion and sexuality, but it should serve as a warning to be very cautious about the information available on the internet. Some of it is highly polarized, and if you're new to the field, you might not recognize the angle.
If you get interested in how seidr has taken on different cultural meanings today, I'd recommend these articles by Stefanie v. Schnurbein and Martin Carver—make your Library Loan staff work for you! That, or do a youtube search for Viking death metal. You're bound to find some interesting stuff.
Stefanie v. Schnurbein, “Shamanism in the Old Norse Tradition: A Theory between Ideological Camps,” History of Religions 43,2 (2003): 116-138.
Martin Carver, “Agency, Intellect and the Archaeological Agenda,” in Martin Carver, Alex Sanmark, and Sarah Semple (eds.), Signals of Belief in Early England: Anglo-Saxon Paganism Revisited (Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2010), pp. 1-20.