The Distaff : Tool of the Heathen Sorceress

Tree carved sculptures of the Norns, Jutland, Denmark

I am a little pressed for time this week so I thought I would write a quick post about the distaff, and it's historical and traditional use as a female tool of sorcery and magic, specifically within the tradition known as Seidhr. Seidhr is the magic art of sorcery that Freyja, Lady Vanadis, taught to Odin. Some believe that these teachings were part of what enabled Odin to take up the Runes, thought this is only speculation.

The distaff is a traditional women's tool used on a practical level to hold unspun fibers, keeping them untangled during the process of spinning yarn. though some were attached to spinning wheels, the older version was simply a staff with the fiber twisted and tied about the top. This all sounds very mundane but the process of spinning, weaving, and knotting has a noted connection to magic and fate throughout Norse folklore as well as that of other Scandinavian cultures, such as the Saami.

Frigga, with distaff in hand on the High Seat

This connection is widespread, so I will give some short examples for brevity's sake.

• The three Norns at the roots of the World Tree spin/ weave wyrd, a concept of both time and fate withing Norse mythos.
• Frigga is often depicted with a distaff, and is connected deeply to the idea of prophecy. In the Lokasenna, the Goddess Freyja states that Frigga knows all things, but does not speak them. She is also the only other god who is allowed by Odin to sit upon the High Seat and look out over the entire Universe.
• A Saami legend tells of a woman whose husband was away on a long sea voyage. Though he is thousands of miles away, she wishes him to return home before Yule, so she takes her distaff upon the highest mountain and sings while using her distaff, conjuring winds which allow her husband's ship to make the long journey in only three days time.
• Magicians often sold "wind-knots" to sailors, which were believed to create favorable winds when the knots were untied.
• Sailors refused to sail with spinning wheels on board a ship for fear they might magickally create tempests at sea.
• Knots in folklore from Scandinavia may also contain spirits, which the witch or sorcerer can release at will to do their bidding
• There are many instances of magical garments woven by women which contain special powers, such as the inability for the wearer to be harmed in battle.
• In Saami legend, the wind knot is also connected to the soul of person, and invites the idea that ones life or fate can be manipulated by spinning
• The high seat used in oracular seidhr may be connected to the use of a distaff, as one traditionally sits in an elevated space when spinning 
• There are instances in Viking age graves of women being buried with distaffs which resemble the description of the volva's (prophetess) distaff described in Erik's Saga 

Woman with distaff feeding poultry circa 1330 AD

This is only a small sampling of some of the evidence for the distaff's use as a heathen tool of magic by women. For this reason, I believe that spinning and weaving and knot magic were an integral part of the tradition of seidhr, and as such of great interest to Vanatru and Asatru alike. 

The modern focus on oracular seidhr for me is like addressing a part of the puzzle as if it were the whole. The real manipulative use of seidhr as a method of spellcraft seems to have fallen by the wayside, when one focuses solely on it's prophetic use. The distaff as a tool should be seen not only as a tool of prophecy, but also as a powerful example of the practical magic that seidhr also encompasses. Of course this is my opinion, and all are free to their own. 

In Frith

Cena

Most examples taken from the article "Spinning Seidhr" by Eldar Heide, University of Bergen

full pdf of article available HERE
A fascinating article about the translation of a runic inscription, first thought to be on a piece of arrow wood but now thought to be a distaff, with a runic charm inscribed HERE