'Iceland'

The vÀ¶lva was the most powerful spiritual figure in Viking society. A female shaman practicing seiÀ°r — a form of trance journeying — she traveled between communities, was received with ceremony, and was asked questions about the future, about the dead, about what was hidden. In the Eddas, Odin himself seeks out a dead vÀ¶lva and raises her to prophesy for him. The most powerful being in Norse cosmology goes to a woman for the knowledge he cannot access any other way.

The VÀ¶luspÀ¡ — the Prophecy of the VÀ¶lva — is the creation and destruction story of Norse mythology, spoken in her voice. Everything that exists and everything that will end is known to her. The world tree, Yggdrasil. The Norns weaving fate. RagnarÀ¶k. And after RagnarÀ¶k: a new world rising, green, from the sea. She has seen all of it. She is telling you.

This is for the woman who has been asked to see what others cannot look at directly.