SCHOOL OF SACRED ART & SHAMANISM

General Introduction

Since I was 14 years old I have dreamed of a house in Scandinavia, in a place where the Forest meets the Sea and where you catch glimpses of trolls and elves going about their business. A place where rare wild flowers grow and the language of plants remains a native tongue. In 2016 this house turned out to exist and called us. 

This house is set in vildmark (literally "the wild", in our case pristine ancient forest land) stretching for miles in all directions  and situated a brief walk from a lake called Sibbofjärden. Technically speaking this is not a lake, but a fjord,  because it is connected by a small canal to the open sea (and the Stockholm archipelago with its 3000 islands). My husband  owns a small boat for explore this watery Eden. We have called our boat  Otter's Ransom, honouring the Norse sagas!

For any shamanic teacher having access to land where students can work completely undisturbed for days on end is a priority concern. Sweden operates a law called Allemansrätten (freely translated as The Public Right of Access), giving people the right to walk and even camp on land everywhere. (There are some rules regarding private dwellings and grazing animals etc.)

In the immediate surroundings there are many Bronze Age sites: grave mounds, rune stones, ship burial sites and standing stones etc. Uppsa Kulle is right on the doorstep (see the picture in the header above on the far right!)

A one week introduction course to Seidr/Fornsed has been offered once a year since 2014.  In May 2016 the people who participated in that course made a strong request for a 2 year practitioner training in Seidr and Northern Tradition studies, allowing people to work in all areas of shamanic practice within an indigenous Northern European tradition. In other words: a professional training in all aspects of working as a seiðmaðr or seiðkona.   

This project (this dream, this passion!) is my response to that request!

Please note that I will next teach the Seidr/Fornsed Introduction course in London 27 April - 1 May 2020. A course description is available!

 Why offer a 2 year program in Norse Shamanism

In May 2016 I received a strong request for a 2 year  in-depth practitioner training in Seidr and Northern Tradition practices, allowing people to work in all areas of shamanic practice within an indigenous Northern European tradition. In other words: a professional training in all aspects of working as a seiðmadr or seiðkona.

Thia request from the Fornsed students brought on a period of serious contemplation at my end. As a shamanic teacher I am well aware of the great need for people to have access to quality training in indigenous European wisdom traditions. 

Early peoples have always traveled and we know how far the Vikings traveled. Today there are many people all over the world who have a percentage of Norse blood and Scandinavian ancestry. Going on the volume of emails I receive, many of those people now hear the voices of their ancestors (in their dreams, in their blood) and wish to learn about The Northern Tradition.

For several decades it has been fashionable for people to study e.g. Native American or Peruvian shamanism - even when they have no ancestral ties to that culture. This has brought us a global awareness of the issue of cultural appropriation: white people pushed native peoples off their land and obliterated their traditions - and today we stake claim to their traditions and teachings - but not always with their encouragement and permission. This causes "bad blood". A "stolen" spirituality will lack integrity and power!