scandinavian travels, meeting trolldom.

I recently asked my students and followers on Instagram what they would like to hear about in a journal format on this new website, and I received a variety of great answers! But one that stuck out to me first asked how I connected more deeply with these practices and with my lineage in my travels through Scandinavia. An excellent question!

It was very important for me to travel to Scandinavia before I teach about our tradition and our lineage, and it was actually required by my teacher before I do so. It was extremely important for me to be in contact with and develop a relationship with the lands of my ancestors. Establishing this relationship is about reconnecting family ties and forging a deeper bond between myself and the spirits of my ancestors, as well as the land spirits that reside in Scandinavia. This was so valuable in taking another step to better understand my heritage and reweaving what is in my blood in beneficial ways.

Before I traveled to Scandinavia, my teacher, a Swedish man living in a rural countryside outside of Gothenburg, had me watch HOURS of long videos throughout my apprenticeship. Videos of someone walking through a village in Sweden in winter at night {silent with only the sounds of boots crunching in the snow}, or an old black and white video of a man describing his farm tasks and chores {in Swedish, and no I am not fluent!}, vintage videos of old wedding ceremonies, women washing grain for beer while singing old songs together… I think some folks might have found this task to be annoying- what can I learn from a man sitting on his farm speaking in a language I don’t understand, in the 60’s, rambling on about topics that aren’t relevant to me now? But I loved it to be honest- and I actually couldn’t get enough.

There is a feeling, a flavor of life in Scandinavia that my mentor was trying to help me understand from afar. A texture to the lives that my ancestors lived, a tone to the lands that my ancestors lived on, a scent of the place where I come from too. And this is where Trolldom comes from- there’s a feeling to how these ways developed and were passed down, and how our practices are steeped in the simple life of the common folk of Scandinavia. This was very important for me to study and experience, because Trolldom cannot really be found or learned in books. Books were written by and for the noble class, and the ways of Trolldom are the ways of the farmfolk: the things these people were doing to relate to their lands, support themselves and each other, and solve problems that arose during their lifetime. The heart of these ways cannot be learned in books, they need to be felt in the soil and in your hands.

Watching the videos, listening to old folk music, studying history- these were all excellent practices for me to begin with and I share these with my students too. But a huge part of being a Trolldom practitioner is developing working relationships with lands and spirits. There is only so much that can be done by studying and watching, so I needed to go and feel the lands and meet the spirits for myself. I had been to Iceland a few years ago, and was completely enamored with it, but I didn’t go with trolldom education under my belt or an intention in my heart. So I was fortunate to be able to take a trip with my husband to Scandinavia at Midsommar in 2022.

Side note- have you ever heard of the Swedish television show Allt För Sverige? It means The Great Swedish Adventure, and the show has 11 seasons featuring Americans who travel to Sweden to connect with their roots and the stories of their ancestors. Needless to say, there is alot of crying and emotions, and stories and feelings, and more crying… I highly recommend watching it! I hadn’t seen it before I traveled, but watching this series now I can truly relate. I wasn’t prepared for the feels I had while I was there. To walk on the bones of my ancestors, to pick herbs that grow from the soil that holds their bodies, to visit the bay my great grandparents left from and sailed to America.

In Sweden, I made 4 major stops: Malmö, Gothenburg, Hedekas, and Stockholm. I was there for about a month and also spent time in Denmark. I stayed in town where my teacher lives in Sweden for almost a week and I visited more historical and nature sites that I can share here. I stood at the feet of a gravemound that held a Stone Age goddess, and I greeted her. I saw petroglyphs carved into rock dated somewhere between 2000 and 200 B.C. that whispered of lessons still relevant to us now. I spent an afternoon with village matriarchs teaching us how to build and decorate a midsummer pole and sing songs and dance to raise the jordmegin, the earth’s energy. I walked an old labyrinth surrounded by gravemounds where I picked my favourite flower, lily-of-the-valley, and left my hair behind as an offering of gratitude. I visited a tiny church built around 1077, and crossed the road outside to visit Odin’s well. I communed with bog bodies, I rowed a Viking ship. I took a traditional sauna and swam nude with Swedish women in ice cold nordic waters. I tasted many traditional foods at the hands of my hostess and friend Sara, I napped on her lands, and I made a midsommar crown of birch and wildflowers from. I was introduced to the Lady of the Forest, the Lady of the Lake, some rå, tomte, elves, and many beings of which I have no idea what they actually are. The experiences are numerous and bring me to tears as I write.

I also had in my mind that I would do a traditional procedure while I was there called utisetta- or “sitting out”, this is a process where you sit out all night alone on the land or on a gravemound, etc. to connect with the spirits of a particular place. I had romanticized this procedure a bit, after being part of a tradition previously that had a somewhat similar procedure called “vision quest.” I thought if I did this it would be an initiation of sorts for me, and perhaps it could have been, or maybe it will be in my future. But I found that walking the lands, visiting sites and taking moments to connect was all I needed, and I could skip sitting in the dark overnight with the ticks and the mosquitoes!

There are deep connections made when engaging in these activities that cannot be fully expressed here, there is a felt sense being “plugged in”, like when you connect a string of lights to a power source and each little bulb connects to the next and makes a full circuit. Connections in the non-physical affect the physical and changed my perception of how I fit into the world, into my family and my lineage. And perhaps the most unexpected gift I brought back was a profoundly deeper connection to the lands that I actually live on now and the spirits that reside there. There is a felt sense of belonging to the nature I live in and a connection to the spirits that surround me at home. That part surprised me!

And so this trip is when I TRULY met Trolldom- and why I think it would be perhaps inappropriate for me to share our traditions before I had developed these relationships in person. I’m committed to returning to Scandinavia every few years to continue to develop my relationship with the lands and spirits further, so I can share them with my students in a way that feels right to me and honors my ancestors, my teacher, and my lineage.

Trolldom is about so much more than magical skills, divination, and cleansings {although I love that stuff too and there’s much value there!} The magical skills aspect of Trolldom could actually be thought of as the “outsider’s perspective” of the tradition. Want to know more? In my next journal entry, I’ll talk about outsider’s perspective vs. insider’s perspective and… what actually is trolldom? Until then, thanks for reading.

May we all get closer to nature and thus closer to ourselves and each other.

M

p.s. If you fancy yourself adept in doing readings of spirits from photos, take a look at the photos below and see what you think {if not, we train this muscle in my Year in Trolldom training series that begins later this year!}