Seidr - The Gate is Open by Katie Gerrard

Seidr - The Gate is Open by Katie Gerrard

The seidr current is fresh and vibrant, with the strength and solidity of the Norse deities behind it. - Katie Gerrard

Seidr is the intriguing and powerful early Norse system of shamanistic trance practices. In Seidr: The Gate is Open, Katie Gerrard has contributed a major work on the practices of seidr and trance prophecy, providing a practical manual full of dynamic group rituals and techniques based on known Seidr practices. Foremost amongst these techniques is the prophetic rite of the High Seat, where the Volva (seer) sends her consciousness to the underworld realm of Hel to gain answers to the questions posed to her. Combining more than a decade of research and experimentation, this book is characterised by both its scholarship and its accessibility. Katie Gerrard shares her own experiences on the path of the seer, and also draws inspiration from original sources in the old texts of the Sagas and the Eddas, as well as contemporary researchers and groups working with seidr in Scandinavia, Europe and America. Techniques for achieving trance, levels of trance possession, coming out of trance, the vardlokkurs (chants), necessary equipment, and the requirements for the roles of the different participants, are all discussed in a clear and concise manner, as is the relevance of contacting the ancestors, the dead and the appropriate gods, including the goddesses Freyja and Hel, and the Allfather god Odin. As befits such an inspirational book, the author provides both the relevant background information for the eleven rites contained within, together with explanations of their inclusion and purposes. The rites emanate practical effectiveness, a result of their regular use over many years for successful exploration of the mysteries of trance prophecy, the High Seat rite and Norse witchcraft. This is a spiritual journey laid bare for an audience who are either already treading a similar path or are looking for guidance in order to follow a well trodden path to a similar end point.

Katie Gerrard is a writer, researcher, and workshop facilitator who is fascinated with the Seidr and Runes' enchantment. Since discovering the Norse Gods in the 1990s, when she was at university in West Wales, she has been researching the various forms of Norse magic and working with them. Katie gives talks and organises workshops on the Runes, Seidr, and related topics at national and international events, and she also runs a practical Seidr group on the outskirts of London. Her rune work encompasses comprehension, divination, voice work, and runic magic, which she teaches in and around London (UK). Her research on Seidr concentrates on the High Seat ceremony, and her piece on the subject, titled The Seer, was published in the anthology Priestesses Pythonesses Sibyls.

Odin's Gateways, a practical guide to the knowledge of the Runes through Galdr, Sigils, and Casting, is her first book. She enjoys creative endeavors such as fashion design, sewing, and various handicrafts when she is not doing things of a magical nature. Her husband, daughter, and fat dumb cat live with her in London.