ACCESS THE ARCHIVES
Recorded live worldwide - November, 2021 to July, 2022
Once you register you will receive immediate access to all the past audio and video recordings PLUS will be able to practice and hone in on your skills whilst exploring the Norse animist spirit tradition co-mingled with mediumship, divination, prophesy, healing and the shifting of destiny paths.
Gain Instant Access
Upon registering you will receive:
-
Immediate access to the full VVN Membership!
- Video and audio replays of each weekly Zoom Meetings; and
- 9-Month Deep Dive into the history of the Seidr Practice
Content Delivered Monthly
Upon registering you will receive:
-
Access to the replays delivered monthly for 9-months!
-
Video and audio replays of each weekly Zoom Meetings; and
-
9-Month Deep Dive into the history of the Seidr Practice
What is Völva, Vala, Norn?
Völva, Vala, Norn is a pre-recorded 9-month online weekly course that explores the sacred animistic landscape of Old Norse Seidr as it unfolds from Pre-Viking and Viking culture into a modern and contemporary practice. Seidr encompasses indigenous magic arts, seership called Spadom, chanting called Galdr and prophesy.
The word Völva refers to a wand or staff carrier who practiced the Seidr arts. Practitioners of these arts were called Völvas or Seidrkonas if female and Seidr-madr if male (Seidrman.) They had a respected, if not feared, place in Old Norse Society in pre-Christian times.
The Wands and the Staff of the Völva were made from wood (of many sorts) or iron, sometimes reflecting a mythic connection with the distaff and implements of spinning or weaving. The connection to these fiber arts reflect a deeper magical view of destiny through the motif of spinners, weavers and cutters of life tapestries. Völvas practicing these arts could be high status and clan-based or itinerant practitioners who traveled to various communities with their entourage of apprentices.
Vala is both a more contemporary name for a Völva and at the same time an Old Norse name meaning “fortune teller” or “prophetess.”
The roots of this name were incorporated in the names of various female practitioners who held high status and places in society as priestess and prophetess in Germanic Gaul.
The Norns hold the key to the deeper mysteries of Seidr for it is they who spin the threads of destiny - weave the life tapestries including blessings at birth - and cut the tapestry from the loom at the time of death.
With the long view, the Norns preserve the memory of what has gone before, of what is happening now and what will likely unfold in the future. Völvas and Seidrmen learn at the feet of the Norns and under the tutelage of the Vanir Goddess Freya who shared these arts with Odin and with humanity.
What can you expect from this workshop?
In this course, we will look at the known sources which chronicle Seidr as well as the cultural and historical antecedents of the practice evolving from Neolithic times. The Earth goddess and ancestral worship of the Neolithic era is the first strand. The second strand is of the Bronze and Iron ages with the arrival of the sky gods and metalwork. The tales of the earth-based Vanir and the sky-based Aesir gods, mirror the actual migrations of peoples who arrived in southern Scandinavia. The third strand we will explore is that from the north of the Finno-Ugric people now called Sami, though previously known as the magical Finns. Their contributions to the practice of Seidr, were animistic and shamanistic magics that incorporated connections to land and water spirits, trees and animal totems as well as sacred places. We will empower places and objects to support these practices to be our personal places of the sacred.
Our journey through this course will include historical exploration of these 3 strands, staff work, vocalization, mediumship, spadom, plant magic, divination and prophesy. We will work with weather, shapeshifting, utiseta, and developing these, we will approach the Norns and Freya for further teaching. By entering into a connection with the Wyrd, the general web of fate with its threads that determine much in our lives, we learn to braid and alter the threads and shape our Örlog, or personal destiny. These örlog threads come from our ancestors and from decisions we make along the path of our life. We work with natural and earth-based magical practices to support these unfolding paths. We enter onto the path of the Norn in company with the Elder three: Urde, Verdande and Skuld.
We will also put thought and action to personal, partner, community and ceremonial practice of Seidr. My goal is to help you evolve and develop into unique practitioners of Seidr for contemporary times.
This is a practical application of bringing the Seidr practice into contemporary time so that we can find our professional place in modern society, allowing for each practitioner’s unique style and individual gifts to emerge, evolve and be shared within their communities.
Live Zoom Calls
Jump on live to engage with the energies.
Video/Audio Replays
Re-view and re-listen to the live calls in your membership library.
Seidr Practice/Q&A Calls
Facilitated Partner Practice to deepen your skills.
Who is Betsy Bergstrom?
Betsy Bergstrom is a full-time shamanic teacher and practitioner, considered by many to be the foremost workshop leader specialising in despossesion methods teaching in the world today.
She holds the rare ability to open portals between worlds, archetypes and dimensions for the explicit purpose of gathering knowledge, changing possibilities and attuning to a higher awareness. As a recognised seer and oracle, she brings inspiration and knowledge to her students through constellating mythic landscapes with important stories to tell. For the last decade her gifts have focused on the compassionate release of possessing spirits to create healing for the possessed, the possessor and the world itself.
As well as extensive training with both indigenous shamans and in classical shamanism, Betsy is a lineage holder and dharma protector in the Tibetan Shije tradition of Chöd in the lineage of Machik Lapdron and Padampa Sangye dedicated to sharing Dakini Wisdom.
What do I require to be a part of this?
What does 'online' mean?
Ready to get started?
Gain Instant Access
Upon registering you will receive:
-
Immediate access to the full VVN Membership!
- Video and audio replays of each weekly Zoom Meetings; and
- 9-Month Deep Dive into the history of the Seidr Practice
Content Delivered Monthly
Upon registering you will receive:
-
Access to the replays delivered monthly for 9-months!
-
Video and audio replays of each weekly Zoom Meetings; and
-
9-Month Deep Dive into the history of the Seidr Practice
