Poul Anderson Appreciation: Search results for Seidh

Showing posts sorted by relevance for query Seidh. Sort by date Show all posts

Friday, 12 January 2018

Seid Or Seidh

Woden sends seidh. See here.
Or Odin sends runes and trolls send seid? See here.
We pointed out this difference here.

Religious traditions change:

Old Testament priests practiced divination;
A Liberal Jewish Synagogue in Manchester has stained glass windows with representations of scriptural characters;
some Christians practice what other Christians regard as idolatry;
Muslims retained the Kaaba;
Sikhs began by trying to unite Hindus and Muslims but then of necessity differentiated themselves as a third tradition;
Northern European paganism incorporated two pantheons whose practices could have merged.

Monday, 26 June 2017

Seidh

"'We always have a seidh session at Yule - it's a good time for divination...'"
-SM Stirling, The Sword Of The Lady (New York, 2009), Chapter Sixteen, p. 482.

The kind of Scandinavian magic called seid was regarded as unwholesome in Poul Anderson's Mother Of Kings (see here) but is respectable in the Norrheim of Stirling's Emberverse and maybe the divinations will shed some light on what is going down with all these suddenly active gods?

Tuesday, 27 June 2017

Seidh II

"There was a man called Orm the Strong..."
-Poul Anderson, The Broken Sword (London, 1977), I, p. 15.

"There was a man named Orm the Strong..."
-SM Stirling, The Sword Of The Lady (New York, 2009), Chapter Seventeen, p. 501.

A heroic fantasy novel on Earth Real becomes a chanted ancestral epic in the Emberverse. There are two versions of the text. I have a copy of the revised text whereas the Emberversers remember the original words.

Impressive Seidh (clairvoyance):

the repetition of "'...Would you know more?'" (Stirling, p. 511) is from Voluspa;

"'The sword he seeks is more potent than Tyrfing...'" (p. 514) (see also here and here);

Mathilda intends to attend but not participate but instead questions Odin who manifests through the medium;

when, later, the enemy of mankind is identified as Loki (p. 521), this name is used because it fits with the local mythology.

Do Wiccans go to the Summerland and Asatruar to Valhalla? I am all for a "many mansions" approach to the hereafter.

Tuesday, 5 December 2017

A Pre-Change Historical Novel

How might a text acknowledge a source? Read on and learn.

The leisurely train journey (see here) continues. The land lit by the rising sun is described:

the Blue Mountains;
fields;
poplars;
vineyards;
orchards;
manors;
villages;
gardens;
woods;
banners flying from barons' castles;
towns;
monastries;
convents;
almshouses;
hospices;
ox-wagons;
carriages;
gaudy riding nobles;
peasants;
peddlers;
monks;
pilgrims;
autumnal trees.

Orlaith reads, then:

"She laid aside her book - it was The Broken Sword, a pre-Change historical novel of grim gritty realism by a knight named Sir Bela of Eastmarch, and more accessible to modern tastes than the more fanciful efforts of the time." (p. 102)

Have you read The Broken Sword? Very realistic! It has already been quoted in the Emberverse. See Seidh II. And we do not need to explain why the Emberversers attribute this realistic novel to "Sir Bela of Eastmarch."

Wednesday, 4 October 2017

There Was A Man Called...

My copy of Poul Anderson's The Broken Sword is not to be found on the shelf at present. This happens from time to time. However, I want to quote its opening line, which I can do by linking to an earlier post, Literary Styles. This post also quotes the similar opening line of Anderson's Hrolf Kraki's Saga. The opening of The Broken Sword is also quoted in a work by SM Stirling. See Seidh II.

Similar opening lines:

"A man called Geirolf dwelt on the Great Fjord in Raumsdal. His father was Bui Hardhand, who owned a farm inland near the Dofra Fell."
-Poul Anderson, "The Tale of Hauk" IN Anderson, Fantasy (New York, 1981), pp. 21-47 AT p. 21.

"There was a man called Kalava, a sea captain of Sirsu."
-Poul Anderson, Genesis (New York, 2001), Part Two, II, p. 109.

But where is Sirsu? The difference is that Genesis is set in the future and Part Two is set hundreds of millions of years in the future. However, extinct humanity has been re-created and is living at a pre-technological level. Anderson reflects this by reverting to an earlier style of narration - although the confused reader does not understand what is happening yet.

Friday, 12 January 2018

His Eye

"The All-Father gave battle-fury and victory to His chosen warriors, but He also sent the mead of poetry to inspire men...and to some, the knowledge of seidh, the workings of things beyond common ken. After all, had He not given His eye for wisdom?"
-SM Stirling, The Sea Peoples (New York, 2017), Chapter Four, p. 57.

"'...tell me about your Wodan character in fourth century eastern Europe.'
"'He still has two eyes,' I explained..."
-Poul Anderson, "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 333-465 AT p. 390.

"...how did you happen to lose your eye, Lord?'
"Eodan smiled. It was a wry smile, not ungentle, but wholly without youth. He had known too much ever to be young again. He said, 'I gave it for wisdom.'"
-Poul Anderson, The Golden Slave (New York, 1980), XXI, p. 279.

Tuesday, 27 June 2017

Feast Before Seidh

SM Stirling, The Sword Of The Lady (New York, 2009), Chapter Seventeen, p. 499ff.:

potato soup;
braised red cabbage;
potatoes prepared in half a dozen ways;
moosemeat tortiere;
ale;
mead.

Since food has become a major sub-theme, here are some observations on it:

cook is an important position in a Buddhist monastery;
a few people claim to live without eating;
are they all fakers or is there a rare physical condition that would allow for this?;
it would change everything if everyone were able to do it.

Sf idea: an intelligent race able to get all the energy it needs from air and sunlight.

(i) Ythrians are canivores but also super-charge themselves by pumping oxygen into their bloodstreams. Would an improved super-charger system enable them to dispense with eating?

(ii) Kryptonian body cells store and maximally use solar energy, bestowing enhanced strength, speed, flight and visual powers and making eating an enjoyable extra, not a necessity. Is this feasible?