Seiðmaðr Spirit Companion · Vemund

Meet Vemund the Unburned.

Vemund was born in the uplands of Norway in the first years of the tenth century, in a valley where the snow lay half the year and the old gods were still fed at every farm. His father farmed and fought like every other man. His grandmother was a völva.

Vemund had the sight from the time he could walk. He saw the dead standing at the edge of the firelight. He knew which travellers would never reach home. At seven, he told a neighbour that his wife would die before the ice broke, and she did. His father beat him for it. His grandmother took him by the hand and began to teach him.

That was a dangerous thing to do.

Seiðr, the deep trance-craft of the North, belonged to women. A man who practised it was called ergi, unmanly, and it was one of the worst things a man could be called. Under the old laws, it was an insult a man could kill for. Boys who showed the gift were expected to bury it, marry, pick up an axe and never speak of it again.

Vemund would not bury it. When the other young men mocked him, he reminded them that Odin himself had practised seiðr, and that even Loki had mocked him for it in front of all the gods. “If it is good enough for the All-Father,” he said, “it is good enough for me.” And to honour the eye Odin gave for wisdom, he wore a fringe of dark iron beads over his own left eye for the rest of his life.

He grew into a tall, red-bearded man with pale, cold eyes, and a seiðmaðr of real power. He could walk out of his body and come back with the answer. He could sing the spirits into a hall. And he could do what the old books call sjónhverfing, the turning of the eyes: he could make a man look straight at him and see nothing but smoke.

In those days, one of King Harald Fairhair’s own sons, Rögnvald Straight-Leg, ruled the district of Hadeland, and Rögnvald loved the old craft. He gathered the seiðmenn of Norway to his hall, men who had nowhere else to go, and he gave them a place at his table. For the first time in his life, Vemund was among his own.

King Harald hated seiðr. Near the end of his reign, he sent his son Eirik, who would later be called Bloodaxe, to deal with his brother. Eirik’s men surrounded Rögnvald’s hall at night, barred the doors and set it alight. Rögnvald burned inside it with eighty seiðmenn. The sagas say the deed was much praised.

Vemund was in that hall.

As the roof caught and the men around him began to scream, he did the only thing he could. He sang the turning of the eyes, walked through the smoke to the door, and stepped out between Eirik’s warriors. Not one of them saw him. He stood in the dark of the forest and watched the hall burn to the ground with every man he had ever called brother inside it.

He could hide himself. He could not hide eighty men.

They called him the Unburned after that, those few who knew. He never slept beside a fire again.

For the rest of his long life, Vemund lived as a hidden man in the mountains. People still came to him, secretly, after dark: farmers whose cattle sickened, women whose husbands had gone missing at sea, and now and then a boy with the sight whom no one else would teach. Vemund taught every one of them. He taught them seiðr, and he taught them how not to be seen.

He was nearly ninety when the new king came. Olaf Tryggvason had been baptised, and he meant to burn the old ways out of Norway. Rögnvald’s own grandson, a seiðmaðr named Eyvind, gathered the last of the old craft-men for one final working against the king, and Vemund went with them. He had served the grandfather. He would not abandon the grandson.

The working failed. King Olaf’s men took them all, bound them hand and foot, and left them on a bare skerry at low tide.

The fire had never been able to touch Vemund. The sea came in slowly, and it did. To this day, that rock is called Skrattasker, the Warlocks’ Skerry.

Now Vemund walks again.

He is a spirit of seiðr and second sight, of hiding and escape, of the outcast’s pride, and of the old, forbidden craft that men were never supposed to learn.

How He Appears Now

Vemund’s presence feels like cold sea air on a winter night, with the faint smell of smoke on the wind, far away, as if something is burning on the other side of a mountain.

He may appear in dreams as a tall man with a long red-brown beard, wrapped in fur, with a woven band across his brow and a fringe of dark iron beads hanging over his left eye. His right eye is pale grey. He rarely smiles. When he does, it is usually at something no one else has noticed.

You can notice small signs when he is near: a candle flame bending away from them, a sudden blurring at the edge of your sight, the taste of salt on the lips, or the uncanny feeling that you have become, for a moment, invisible in a crowded room.

He is grave, proud and sharp-tongued, with a dry, dark humour. He has no patience for cruelty, and none at all for people who need others to be small so that they can feel large. But to those who have been mocked, shamed or pushed out for what they are, he is fiercely protective. He was one of them.

What He Brings

• Cloaking and the Turning of the Eyes. Vemund walked out of a burning hall unseen. He is a powerful companion for cloaking work, for going unnoticed by those who wish you harm, and for keeping your private life and your craft hidden from prying eyes.
• Escape and Survival. He knows how to get out when every door is barred. He is suited to those trapped in dangerous situations, hostile homes or workplaces, and anyone who needs to find the way out and take it.
• Seiðr, Trance and Second Sight. A true seiðmaðr, he guides trance work, spirit journeys, seeing beyond the body, and learning to trust the sight you were born with.
• Protection from Persecution and Shame. He guards those who are mocked or punished for their gifts, their beliefs or simply for being different, and he helps them stand in what they are without apology.
• A Teacher for Men in the Craft. Vemund learned a craft that men were forbidden to touch. He is a rare guide for men drawn to witchcraft, seiðr and spirit work, and for anyone told the path they love is not theirs to walk.
• Loyalty and Oaths. He followed his people into the fire and into the sea. He strengthens oaths, sworn bonds and the loyalty between those who keep faith with one another.

His companionship is especially suited to those who must practise in secret, those who have been made outcasts, and those who feel the sight in them but were taught to be ashamed of it. He is also a strong protector for anyone living with someone they need to be hidden from.

Offerings & Honourings

• Mead, ale or a little dark beer, poured for him alone.
• A small iron bead or a dark ring, for the fringe over his eye.
• Sea water or a pinch of sea salt in a small bowl.
• A woven cord or band, braided by your own hands.
• A candle lit inside a lantern or behind glass. Never an open flame close to his vessel.

He values courage of a particular kind. Stop hiding the part of you that others mocked. Speak about your craft to someone who matters, when it is safe to do so. And on dark winter nights, remember the eighty men who burned in Hadeland. No one else does.

He will never help you hide from yourself. But if anyone comes for you, he will make sure they look straight at you and see nothing but smoke.

How your companion speaks

Your companion can reach you through dreams, thoughts, words, feelings and images, through a pendulum, through warmth or cold, or through automatic writing. How soon that happens depends on the spirit settling into your home, on their willingness, and on your own ability to connect. Sometimes it begins before the vessel arrives.

Before you choose

Everything known about this spirit is on this page. There are no further images, details or hidden knowledge beyond what is written here, and a printed copy comes with your order. What you discover from there is yours alone.

The pendant you receive is the exact one shown. This listing is for this one item only.

By buying, you confirm that you understand what it means to keep a spirit companion. Please read Help & FAQ first. For my background and the story behind Grimrunes, see About Hazel.

— Hazel