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Trolldom - Spells and Methods of the Norse Folk MagicTradition
Book description form the publisher:
"The folk magic of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, has been practiced for more than 500 years. Now, after extensive research, Johannes Gårdbäck presents the fascinating occult art of Norse trolldom to an English-speaking audience.
This detailed account of traditional Scandinavian folk magic offers in-depth historical background, divination methods, and descriptions of practical trolldom, paving the way for the 2014 publication of hundreds of collected trolldom spells for love, money, protection, healing, and cursing.
Johannes Gårdbäck is a respected healer, teacher, and spiritual worker of Swedish folk-magic. A practitioner of hoodoo and conjure, he is also a founding member of AIRR, the Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers. He brings solid, firsthand knowledge of Norse, Scandinavian, and African-American folklore to his international practice. He currently lives in Göteborg, Sweden.
The Norse folk magic tradition, called Trolldom, has much in common with the practices of African-American folk magic. This book is a detailed account of traditional Swedish folk magic and offers spells, background, and descriptions of the Trolldom practice."
"The folk magic of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, has been practiced for more than 500 years. Now, after extensive research, Johannes Gårdbäck presents the fascinating occult art of Norse trolldom to an English-speaking audience.
This detailed account of traditional Scandinavian folk magic offers in-depth historical background, divination methods, and descriptions of practical trolldom, paving the way for the 2014 publication of hundreds of collected trolldom spells for love, money, protection, healing, and cursing.
Johannes Gårdbäck is a respected healer, teacher, and spiritual worker of Swedish folk-magic. A practitioner of hoodoo and conjure, he is also a founding member of AIRR, the Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers. He brings solid, firsthand knowledge of Norse, Scandinavian, and African-American folklore to his international practice. He currently lives in Göteborg, Sweden.
The Norse folk magic tradition, called Trolldom, has much in common with the practices of African-American folk magic. This book is a detailed account of traditional Swedish folk magic and offers spells, background, and descriptions of the Trolldom practice."
288 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 16, 2015
Over the last year and a half my magical practices have started to take a change towards more folk magic systems. To me the lack of formalized ritual for spells is much more appealing than the need to invoke deities for every spell or magical action I perform. In many ways folk magic traditions relate to me more than most of the modern witchcraft practices as they do not make magic separate from day to day life. Magic in this instance was a tool for life nothing more or less. Folk magic simply was and is The Magic of the people.
I’ve been focusing on Hoodoo which is an American system of folk magic created during the slave era and deeply tied into African American culture and Southern Culture in general. I figured as an American I might as well look into a system of magic that was born here in this country. Often times I get mixed views on my interest in Hoodoo as I am not Black nor am I from the south. I am a Northerner. I am from Maine and I have never lived outside of Maine. So for some of them I was participating in cultural appropriation. Not being from the South or Black how could I understand all the intracices of the culture? How could I honor those ancestors?
One common theme of advice I was given was to look into my own personal heritage and see what sort of folk magic traditions I could explore. I’d be honoring my ancestors and I would be staying within specific cultural guidelines. For this reason I looked up and did some searching on Germanic or Norse style of Folk Magic. Trolldom was the topic that came up. So when I was given an opportunity to read a book on my own ancestral practices and traditions I was all over it. It felt right to be reading that book and to start looking at adding some of the workings into my own practice.
If you are expecting spells and forumulas that deal with the Norse Gods you wont find a lot in this tome. Most of the spells either deal with a land spirit or they call on Jesus, God,Mary,The Holy Spirit, or the Devil. Like most folk traditions alot of the pagan elements are still there but you will have a hard time to find specific workings with the Norse Gods. There are plenty of books on the market for Nordic witchcraft and magic that deals with those deities.
This is the magic of the people. We are lead to believe that all the magic died out when the Norse Culture became Christianized. That is simply not the case. In fact many of the old workings which dealt with the old gods were simply modified to deal with the spirits and the religion of Christianity. Knowing this now I am still quite happy with the material in this book as I feel it still connects me to those ancestors. Afterall my most recent ancestors would have been Christian. So if they practiced this craft or if they had a family style of Trolldom it is the Christian spells and spirits they would have worked with.
For the reasons above I have read and enjoyed reading Trolldom. It took a long time to read. This book is intense and full of information. I spent a lot of my early days with the book just going back and forth with the glossary at the beginning of the book. There were so many new terms and phrases to learn and understand. The language component in this book is one of the most important elements but it is also one of the most difficult components to deal with.
The language barrier involved in this project is the reason there are two sections based on language. You have a glossary (which is right after the dedication) and then you have a section on different terms for different practices within this particular set of workings and systems. Trolldom encompass more than just Norway and Icelandic magic which is why the language issue is present. This book actually ecompases quite a few different “Nordic” cultures. It covers Norway, Iceland, Sweeden, and Finland as well as having a bit of Anglo-Saxon and some Lore preserved in Powwow or the Pennsylvania Dutch traditions. For this reason the section for the glossary and on the terms is not only important to mark and return to throughout the book, but is an essential part of understanding this practice.
This book is broken into a few different sections. First is the glossary which was the most difficult to get through. The second section is about the History. Here the author showed how and where Trolldom survived. I find it interesting to note one of the places visited and mentioned in the book is in my Home state of Maine. Its not a town I have been to or near but it in some ways brings this book and its workings closer to home. I feel better knowing that there are places in my home region where this practice was passed on in some manner.
After history you had the terms. This section was about how different regions had different names for the practice of Trolldom and the practitioners of Trolldom. Here we also got into the discussion about how one learned Trolldom and how you could become a professional in the art of Trolldom. In this culture Trolldom was not just a practice it was an honored profession that many people would take advantage of. You had your specialists and a few generalists each with unique skills and practices as well as a unique term for their practice.
The next section was on divination on the two different terms and styles mentioned. For me the importance divination plays in Trolldom shows me a relationship with Hoodoo. Trolldom has infact been called the Norse Hoodoo, so I would say that the use of divination in magical practices and how they dictate the works to be done is a key component in folk magic. It seems today more and more people are just doing what ever type of working seems to be the best for them and their situation without taking the time to check the source of the problem or situation.
Finally we get into the workings or the methods. These spells are called Formulas. The book has many different sections from Health and healing, to hunting, protection, curses, and even a group of miscellaneous spells. What I liked best about this section of the book was the fact that there was the English spoken components translated but you could also see the original language as well. For me this shows just the amount of work that went into this tome.
I will say there are several spells and workings that are basically included only for historical accuracy. Some items listed in spells like animal parts or human bones are not as easy to get a hold of as they may have been at one point in time. There are some spells that mention digging up and harvesting things like bones of dead men or going to hanging sites. Many of these practices are not readily acceptable in the world we live in today. However if you wish to understand a tradition that has been around for centuries you really need to understand these historical spells. There is enough material that you can find spells and formulas that are suitable for today’s society.
I hope that the author will continue the work and write a book just on the herbal charms and herbal uses in this book. While you can find several herbs mentioned in the folk name as well as botanical and a common name, only a small selection of the possible herbal charms are even shown in this work. For many people who practice folk magic Herbal magic is a huge part of the practice. So I would encourage the author to work on an herbal trolldom book.
I’ve been focusing on Hoodoo which is an American system of folk magic created during the slave era and deeply tied into African American culture and Southern Culture in general. I figured as an American I might as well look into a system of magic that was born here in this country. Often times I get mixed views on my interest in Hoodoo as I am not Black nor am I from the south. I am a Northerner. I am from Maine and I have never lived outside of Maine. So for some of them I was participating in cultural appropriation. Not being from the South or Black how could I understand all the intracices of the culture? How could I honor those ancestors?
One common theme of advice I was given was to look into my own personal heritage and see what sort of folk magic traditions I could explore. I’d be honoring my ancestors and I would be staying within specific cultural guidelines. For this reason I looked up and did some searching on Germanic or Norse style of Folk Magic. Trolldom was the topic that came up. So when I was given an opportunity to read a book on my own ancestral practices and traditions I was all over it. It felt right to be reading that book and to start looking at adding some of the workings into my own practice.
If you are expecting spells and forumulas that deal with the Norse Gods you wont find a lot in this tome. Most of the spells either deal with a land spirit or they call on Jesus, God,Mary,The Holy Spirit, or the Devil. Like most folk traditions alot of the pagan elements are still there but you will have a hard time to find specific workings with the Norse Gods. There are plenty of books on the market for Nordic witchcraft and magic that deals with those deities.
This is the magic of the people. We are lead to believe that all the magic died out when the Norse Culture became Christianized. That is simply not the case. In fact many of the old workings which dealt with the old gods were simply modified to deal with the spirits and the religion of Christianity. Knowing this now I am still quite happy with the material in this book as I feel it still connects me to those ancestors. Afterall my most recent ancestors would have been Christian. So if they practiced this craft or if they had a family style of Trolldom it is the Christian spells and spirits they would have worked with.
For the reasons above I have read and enjoyed reading Trolldom. It took a long time to read. This book is intense and full of information. I spent a lot of my early days with the book just going back and forth with the glossary at the beginning of the book. There were so many new terms and phrases to learn and understand. The language component in this book is one of the most important elements but it is also one of the most difficult components to deal with.
The language barrier involved in this project is the reason there are two sections based on language. You have a glossary (which is right after the dedication) and then you have a section on different terms for different practices within this particular set of workings and systems. Trolldom encompass more than just Norway and Icelandic magic which is why the language issue is present. This book actually ecompases quite a few different “Nordic” cultures. It covers Norway, Iceland, Sweeden, and Finland as well as having a bit of Anglo-Saxon and some Lore preserved in Powwow or the Pennsylvania Dutch traditions. For this reason the section for the glossary and on the terms is not only important to mark and return to throughout the book, but is an essential part of understanding this practice.
This book is broken into a few different sections. First is the glossary which was the most difficult to get through. The second section is about the History. Here the author showed how and where Trolldom survived. I find it interesting to note one of the places visited and mentioned in the book is in my Home state of Maine. Its not a town I have been to or near but it in some ways brings this book and its workings closer to home. I feel better knowing that there are places in my home region where this practice was passed on in some manner.
After history you had the terms. This section was about how different regions had different names for the practice of Trolldom and the practitioners of Trolldom. Here we also got into the discussion about how one learned Trolldom and how you could become a professional in the art of Trolldom. In this culture Trolldom was not just a practice it was an honored profession that many people would take advantage of. You had your specialists and a few generalists each with unique skills and practices as well as a unique term for their practice.
The next section was on divination on the two different terms and styles mentioned. For me the importance divination plays in Trolldom shows me a relationship with Hoodoo. Trolldom has infact been called the Norse Hoodoo, so I would say that the use of divination in magical practices and how they dictate the works to be done is a key component in folk magic. It seems today more and more people are just doing what ever type of working seems to be the best for them and their situation without taking the time to check the source of the problem or situation.
Finally we get into the workings or the methods. These spells are called Formulas. The book has many different sections from Health and healing, to hunting, protection, curses, and even a group of miscellaneous spells. What I liked best about this section of the book was the fact that there was the English spoken components translated but you could also see the original language as well. For me this shows just the amount of work that went into this tome.
I will say there are several spells and workings that are basically included only for historical accuracy. Some items listed in spells like animal parts or human bones are not as easy to get a hold of as they may have been at one point in time. There are some spells that mention digging up and harvesting things like bones of dead men or going to hanging sites. Many of these practices are not readily acceptable in the world we live in today. However if you wish to understand a tradition that has been around for centuries you really need to understand these historical spells. There is enough material that you can find spells and formulas that are suitable for today’s society.
I hope that the author will continue the work and write a book just on the herbal charms and herbal uses in this book. While you can find several herbs mentioned in the folk name as well as botanical and a common name, only a small selection of the possible herbal charms are even shown in this work. For many people who practice folk magic Herbal magic is a huge part of the practice. So I would encourage the author to work on an herbal trolldom book.
September 21, 2021
I really can't recommend this book when the author who's supposed to be an "educator", belittles, insults and attacks people for asking a question.
I've been intrested in this book for sometime, I had it in my cart about to purchase when I thought to read the reviews, most good but some main ones were that the author near preaches Christianity and Christian concepts and also calls upon Jesus, Mary etc during ritual. That had me a bit concerned as my family (German/swedish roots) always had rejected Christianity for as long back as we knew and could recount (at least 7 generations, and even still we stipulated further back also rejected it). So while I am wanting to learn the historical impacts and how the folk practices changed and incorporated the aspects of Christianity as it emerged. That said I don't want to be preached too, or a book which is purely about Christianity, which I feel is understandable. As is my rights to choose which topics interest me and I want to learn about (notice I said "learn" and not practice). I'm primarily intrested in pre Christian folk magical practices and culture from Scandinavia.
I did some research into the author, I quickly found he also has a website which has a course of a similar name. The price of which is around $100US a month for access to his course. I then saw a link to the Facebook page and I thought "hay who better to ask a question too than to the people who'd know!".
I found the facebook page and simply asked a question about if the course content was pre-Christian folk practices/magic and how much included Christian practices compared to the book. What I thought was a simple question with a simple answer, the author clearly took offense to my question. His response to my question (rather than answering it) was to belittle me saying I'm insulting my ancestors? Mind you, he had no idea who they are, what kind of people they are and how much they hated Christian ideologies which many of my ancestors rejected strongly because of the impacts if had upon their lives and contributed to the loss of their culture and built resentment in them.
He then went on to belittle me further by saying "...its a living tradition, not a selective smorgasbord of religious flavours used to build identity". With zero knowledge about myself, he assumed I'm going to start practicing this culture, when all I merely wanted to do is learn more of what my ancestors lives, pre Christianity, would have been like. Not try to replicate this in a modern era. All assumptions on his part.
He then got more ridiculous with an analogy, asking me "do you ask for only white Caucasian males when selecting a doctor too? Do you prefer class mates of a noble class only?", rude and irrelevant. He then went on to be rude further by saying "we don't serve such childish perspectives on magic here".
So, instead of answering a simple question with yes, no and how much of the course covers my areas of specific interest, this is how the author chose to reply. Someone who's supposed to be a teacher and educate students and this is his angle? Instead of answering the question & then making a point for education to change perspectives, he insults, belittles and is rude straight away.
I've emptied my cart of his books. I wouldn't purchase his book or course content. Someone who attacks people instead of educates when they're supposedly a "teacher" is not an educator at all and is in fact apart of the problem.
I've been intrested in this book for sometime, I had it in my cart about to purchase when I thought to read the reviews, most good but some main ones were that the author near preaches Christianity and Christian concepts and also calls upon Jesus, Mary etc during ritual. That had me a bit concerned as my family (German/swedish roots) always had rejected Christianity for as long back as we knew and could recount (at least 7 generations, and even still we stipulated further back also rejected it). So while I am wanting to learn the historical impacts and how the folk practices changed and incorporated the aspects of Christianity as it emerged. That said I don't want to be preached too, or a book which is purely about Christianity, which I feel is understandable. As is my rights to choose which topics interest me and I want to learn about (notice I said "learn" and not practice). I'm primarily intrested in pre Christian folk magical practices and culture from Scandinavia.
I did some research into the author, I quickly found he also has a website which has a course of a similar name. The price of which is around $100US a month for access to his course. I then saw a link to the Facebook page and I thought "hay who better to ask a question too than to the people who'd know!".
I found the facebook page and simply asked a question about if the course content was pre-Christian folk practices/magic and how much included Christian practices compared to the book. What I thought was a simple question with a simple answer, the author clearly took offense to my question. His response to my question (rather than answering it) was to belittle me saying I'm insulting my ancestors? Mind you, he had no idea who they are, what kind of people they are and how much they hated Christian ideologies which many of my ancestors rejected strongly because of the impacts if had upon their lives and contributed to the loss of their culture and built resentment in them.
He then went on to belittle me further by saying "...its a living tradition, not a selective smorgasbord of religious flavours used to build identity". With zero knowledge about myself, he assumed I'm going to start practicing this culture, when all I merely wanted to do is learn more of what my ancestors lives, pre Christianity, would have been like. Not try to replicate this in a modern era. All assumptions on his part.
He then got more ridiculous with an analogy, asking me "do you ask for only white Caucasian males when selecting a doctor too? Do you prefer class mates of a noble class only?", rude and irrelevant. He then went on to be rude further by saying "we don't serve such childish perspectives on magic here".
So, instead of answering a simple question with yes, no and how much of the course covers my areas of specific interest, this is how the author chose to reply. Someone who's supposed to be a teacher and educate students and this is his angle? Instead of answering the question & then making a point for education to change perspectives, he insults, belittles and is rude straight away.
I've emptied my cart of his books. I wouldn't purchase his book or course content. Someone who attacks people instead of educates when they're supposedly a "teacher" is not an educator at all and is in fact apart of the problem.
October 19, 2016
Finally a book on Norse Folk magic! The book is mostly a collection of various spells used for a variety of reasons. The spells are based on pre Christian methods but in reality a variety of spiritual entities are called upon. Occasionally Thor and Odin will show up in a spell, on even more occasions the devil and his demons will be summoned, and finally most of all the Christian deities of Jesus, Mother Mary and the Holy Ghost are invoked. The reason the methods survived and not the belief in deity is that when Christianity took over, the Norse used the same spells and prayer but adopted them too different saints and other spiritual creatures in the Christian Pantheon. So the saints after a while get the prayers.
Trolldom is any sort of magic that falls outside the official purview of the Church. The spells include the usual gambit of blessing the field and cattle, protecting the cattle and farmstead from both magic and regular human assault. There are a variety of spells for revenge, hunting luck, getting Justice , so forth and so on. There is also extensive discussion on divination and talk of the different spiritual creatures that are still worked with.
While I am not too sure about how many people use this magic, I think the numbers are dwindling. The spells are relatively simple which would qualify this as low magic, or magic to obtain things. Some of them are impractical cause they ask you to take the parts of a dead man, or hair of an intended lover or put something in their food. No one is going to do that. There are other spells that can be used and they are simple to perform.
Trolldom is any sort of magic that falls outside the official purview of the Church. The spells include the usual gambit of blessing the field and cattle, protecting the cattle and farmstead from both magic and regular human assault. There are a variety of spells for revenge, hunting luck, getting Justice , so forth and so on. There is also extensive discussion on divination and talk of the different spiritual creatures that are still worked with.
While I am not too sure about how many people use this magic, I think the numbers are dwindling. The spells are relatively simple which would qualify this as low magic, or magic to obtain things. Some of them are impractical cause they ask you to take the parts of a dead man, or hair of an intended lover or put something in their food. No one is going to do that. There are other spells that can be used and they are simple to perform.
October 30, 2024
Good read; however, that being said . . . this is a modern take on Trolldom. Not to mention that the Yronwodes were involved in the writing of this book - you can even see it in the pages. I don't need a hoodoo professional trying to speak on something they literally know nothing about. I was expecting a great deal more from Johannes, but sadly, it's not different than most other folk traditions out there now. This is a gnosis, at best. Good read, decent info - but please, read with a grain of salt and understand the underlying tone of the book.
April 27, 2020
There's a small amount of historical information about old Scandinavian folk magic and beliefs, but the book was ultimately worthless. The spells are mostly just prayers to the Christian god or Catholic saints. Even though I tried to think of a way to dismiss the Christian elements of the spells, I couldn't really think of any because the concept is so deeply connected to the entire thing.
I bought the book online, which is why I missed how Christian it is. If I had been able to flip through it in a bookshop, I'd have seen that and put the book back and not wasted my money on it. So now it's going into the pile I have reserved for sale to a second hand bookshop. What a disappointment!
I bought the book online, which is why I missed how Christian it is. If I had been able to flip through it in a bookshop, I'd have seen that and put the book back and not wasted my money on it. So now it's going into the pile I have reserved for sale to a second hand bookshop. What a disappointment!
February 6, 2022
Read as research for secondary characters in my next book. It was great for delving into the history of Norse magic and had a lot of information about Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian folklore and the immigration history of these countries as well—which was of special interest to me as some of my characters are Swedish immigrants.
I’d recommend this for anyone researching Norse folkloric magic and old world traditions. It’s by a Swedish author, living in Sweden, so it’s an authentic, first-hand resource.
I’d recommend this for anyone researching Norse folkloric magic and old world traditions. It’s by a Swedish author, living in Sweden, so it’s an authentic, first-hand resource.
December 16, 2021
I don't feel comfortable giving this book any higher grade than 3 stars as it only contains 4 pages of sources within the bibliography in a 280 page book.
The book is fine, and if you want to read it for entertainment purposes, go for it. It doesn't stray far from other books I've read on the topic of Scandinavian folk magic. But I so badly wish it was sourced better.
The book is fine, and if you want to read it for entertainment purposes, go for it. It doesn't stray far from other books I've read on the topic of Scandinavian folk magic. But I so badly wish it was sourced better.
March 28, 2021
Första delen ger en bra grogrund för att förstå vad som läses in trolldomsbegreppet. Därefter är det rena formler och vad de ska uppnå. Lärorikt att ha läst, lärde mig lite historia om spelkort, tarotkort som jag aldrig hade snappat upp annars. Extra roligt att författaren är en tidigare kollega.
May 24, 2021
The history in the book is very interesting - it shows how magic in Scandinavian countries has been practiced since the spread of Christianity. However, it's not really a practical grimoire, as most of the ingredients are obscure or hard to come by.
November 3, 2020
I found this book fascinating! It's well-structured and informative. I love the tone and the way the material is presented.
September 27, 2023
I wish there was an index and bibliography, although several sources are listed throughout the book. This is a very good companion piece to the works of Kathleen Stokker
October 17, 2015
Trolldom - Spells and Methods of the Norse Folk MagicTradition This is by far one of my favorite books. It's extremely difficult to find authentic and useful information on northern tradition folk magic, let alone find something in English. This book is a true gem! So much useful information packed neatly into a decent sized book. The cover art is beautiful, the content is easy to find and reference again and again, and the application of this books contents are practical (don't ya just love folk magic!?). I truly have nothing but amazing things to say about this book, and its author. The author expresses himself genuinely in his book, and it radiates authenticity and practical use. Bravo Johannes! I look forward to more from you in the future!
March 8, 2016
This is an excellent piece of occult scholarship. Johannes provides a clear overview of Norse folk magic from the sixteen hundreds to the nineteen hundreds, covering both theory and practice. What I found particularly helpful were the multiple examples of how specific spells and practices changed over time as needs and circumstances changed, and how they might be further adapted to contemporary usage. Between this and Smith's Icelandic Magic, I'm a lot closer to being able to develop a northern grimoire practice.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews