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Podcast: Bone and Sickle
Episode: The Seeress: Germanic Tribes, Vikings, and Witches
Description: In pagan Germanic cultures, the seeress played an extremely important role, not only as a clairvoyant, but also often fulfilling the role of a priestess, wisewoman or witch.
We begin with a short clip from Robert Eggersâ The Northman, in which Björk plays a seeress.  Old Norse words used to describe this role include spĂĄkona, or völva (pl. völvur, völur) â the last meaning âstaff bearer,â as a staff was a signifying attribute of the völva, one possibly also used as a magic wand.  Staffs discovered in graves of certain high-status women, as suggested by lu...