Seiðr

Seiðr (sometimes anglicised as seidhr, seidh, seidr, seithr, seith, or seid) is an Old Norse term for a type of shamanistic sorcery.

Seiðr was an exclusively female elite matriarchal order of seiðkonur, lead by a chief-shaman sorceress-seeress, who bore the title of 'Wōtan', from which the name Oðin was later derived. Several other elements of Ásatrú polythieism were also derived from seiðr terms, concepts and traditions. Freyja is associated with Seiðgalðr as the 'matron goddess of spinning and weaving'. The mushroom Amanita muscaria, native to Scandinavia, was used as an entheogen by the shaman seeress, to enter a transcendental state, in order to perform 'Spágalðr' meaning 'soothsaying'.