What's the latest thinking on what constituted seiðr in Norse society?

by Kelpie-Cat

I know this is a much-debated topic in the scholarship, so I'm looking for some pointers on what to read to get the most up-to-date theories. Preferrably anything that's accessible online via Shibboleth since it's not possible to get to libraries right now, but if not that's fine too.

y_sengaku

As for the theoretical side of seiðr study, I suppose you have somehow to access the works written in Scandinavian languages, like Brit Solli, Seid : myter, sjamanisme og kjønn i vikingenes tid, Oslo: Pax, 2002.

Neil Price, The Viking Way: Magic and Mind in Late Iron Age Scandinavia, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxbow, 2019 is the latest work in English on the topic(, though I only have the 1st edition).

While these two works are written by archaeological anthropologists, historians and other scholars tackle this problem from a more conservative point of view, mainly based on written evidences:

  • Mitchell, Stephen A. Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages. Philadelphia, PA: U of Penn Pr., 2011.
  • Tolley, Clive. Shamanism in Norse Myth and Magic. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedakatemia, 2009.

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Reference (up-to-date state of research essay):

  • Clunies-Ross, Margaret. 'Pre-Christian Religions of the North: The Reception Now'. In: The Pre-Christian Religions of the North: Research and Reception, Volume II: From c. 1830 to the Present, ed. Margaret Clunies-Ross, pp. 593-612. Turnhout: Brepols, 2018.