CHAPTER XXX. 



SUPERSTITIONS. WlTCHCliAFT. 



T\vo kinds of witchcraft Use of runes with incantations Power of witch- 

 craft Ceremonies attending it The Finns great masters in the art- 

 Magical characters on weapons Witchcraft Knowing women - 

 liaising dead people Power of the eye to blunt weapons Charmed 

 swords The life-stone Charmed garments Ocular delusions 

 Appearance of ghosts at feasts considered lucky Protection against 

 ghosts Punishment of witchcraft in later times. 



THE worshippers of the Asa creed were strong believers in 

 witchcraft ; it is most difficult for us now to comprehend such 

 superstition, but we need not go back to that remote period 

 to find the same diseased state of mind in Europe and 

 America. 



Two kinds of witchcraft, Galdr and Seid, were practised. 

 Galdr, derived from gala, to sing, was a form of sorcery ; Odin 

 was called the father of galdr, and those who practised it 

 were called galdrasmid, or galdr-smiths, and sometimes galdra- 

 meu, who, while singing their formularies, used at times to 

 mark certain mystic runes 1 which were used with the incanta- 

 tion ; and it appears that caution in the use of these runes 

 was necessary, as their use by an impostor was held to cause 

 danger. 2 It was supposed that such gald were able to cure 

 wounds and sickness, allay fire and storm, rouse up the dead 

 in order to consult them as to the future, and win the love of 

 women. 



"He (Odin) taught with runes and with songs called 

 galdrar; therefore the Asar are called galdra-smiths. Odin 

 knew and himself practised the greatest of idrottir, which 

 is called seid : by it he could tell the destiny of men and 



1 Egil's Saga. 44. | - Egil's Saga, 75. See p. 165. 



