Books

I’m the author of ‘Gods and shamans in Northwest Europe’ and ‘Breath’ (short stories about death and dying) My third book about ancient Nordic spirituality and seidr will be released in spring 2010. The books are currently only available in Dutch. Hopefully they will be translated in English soon.

Seidr, the Nordic path, working with magic en shamanism in Northwestern Europe.

Currently available in Dutch.

My third book, ‘Seidr, the Nordic path, traces of magic en shamanism in Northwestern Europe’, will be released in Dutch in February 2010. The book is divided in two sections: the A chapters, containing facts, saga’s and sources in wich seidr as a magical discipline is mentioned and described. They include background information about what seidr could have been and what it could have meant to the people of ancient Scandinavia, based on scientific research, archeological finds, and the scarce evidence available.

What was seidr? Wat it a form of shamanism, magic, witchcraft? Was seidr influenced by de Finn-Ugric people and/or the Sami first nations?  Was it a magical discipline brought to Scandinavia by early immigrants of the Western part of old continental Europe? Are there any traces found on the continent itself?

The B chapters contains my own research. These sections contain accounts of ritual work, done by me and some of my students, stories, research about landwights, trance, gods, burial mounds, death cults, sacred places and more in Norway, Norse Lapland and the Netherlands.

The book contains the following chapters: Prologue: Seeing in other worlds- Chapter 1: Seidr and the Vala- Chapter 2: The history of the Scandinavian people- Chapter 3: God, Goddess, male, female -Chapter 4: the Norns: weavers of the web- Chapter 5: The dark side of seidr- Chapter 6: The deathcult and the ancestors- Chapter 7: Corpsroads and utiseta- Chapter 8: Seidr and healing- Chapter 9: Galdr -Chapter 10: Landwights- Chapter 11: Oraclework- Chapter 12: Hedgeriders: working on the boundaries-Chapter 13: Taufr, Knife and staff.

Breath: stories about death.

Currently available in Dutch.

Death was visiting me on a regular basis in my daily and spiritual life. I could not ignore his presence and decided to investigate.  I did a lot of research about rites of passage in different times and cultures, especially rites surrounding death and the afterlives. For a while I took care of people in their last stages of life: in a retirement home, where our Elders come to die. My images of death changed, the intimate presence of Death resulted in a careful friendship and mutual understanding. Some stories in ‘Breath’ are based on own experiences, others come from stranger sources. The stories have different cultural backgrounds and are situated in different times.

Gods and shamans in Northwestern Europe.

Currently available in Dutch.

We Europeans do have an old shamanic tradition. Most knowledge from our ancestors is hidden in myths, fairytales, old lullabies, folklore, and deep in our genes. Who where our ancestors? How did they live and wich gods did they serve? Next to theoretic knowledge of our Northwest European past the book contains new ritual suggestions. A lot of the old spirituality is lost. We do not have to reconstruct. We can learn a lot from our ancestors, our roots. But every ritual was once new. I want to restore the line between ancestors and descendants We still try to live in harmony with our environment, we still worry about health, happiness, our family, just like the old ones did. In this book Linda shows how shamanism still can have a place in our daily, modern life.

The book contains the following chapters: The Germanic people- The Celts- Scandinavia- The nomadic Sami- Witchcraft in Northwestern Europe-The wheel of life-The elements-rituals- Power-animals-Objects of power-Sacred trees-Magical plants-The magic of dreams-Shamanism and healing- Singing and voice-The ancestors-The realm of the dead- Descendants.

Short stories.

Short stories, small ones, just to catch a moment in time (PDF)