Shared Facilities: The Fabric of Shamanism, Spiritualism, and Therapy in a Nordic Setting

Abstract

In the fall of 2013, a spiritualist Medium Congress was held in Norway. The aim was to assemble the business sector of mediums and clairvoyants in order to achieve mutual understanding of the present situation and discuss a vision for the future.¹ In addition to numerous mediums, both Norwegian and foreign, who attended as speakers, the chief physician of the Norwegian alternative spirituality scene, Audun Myskja, gave a speech on the “Dying Process.” Additionally, the Swede Lars Magnar Enoksen was invited to address the congress. A resident of Norway and a master of the Old Norse fighting tradition of Glima,² as well as a chanter of Old Norse runic songs known as galdr, he was introduced by the congress chairperson in the following way: “Today a lot of people turn to the Sami shaman tradition, acknowledging the Sami people’s spiritual knowledge and guidance. They thus forget that we have our own Viking tradition to explore and utilize.” Given this rather ethnocentric framing, Enoksen’s task in the congress was to teach the mediums the secret lore of runic galdr, that is, the chanting of magical words following the metrics of the Old Norse Edda. He did this in a leather Viking suit, his long hair flowing and his voice resounding in the conference room, with all the attendees trying to howl the galdrs in a manner similar to Enoksen’s.