luck than to success, and the literature is rife with story after story about destructive evil
forces, personal ill-will and greed.
DÍSIRThe dísir comprise yet another collective of female deities involved with fate and
prosperity who are hard to distinguish from the fylgjur. Indeed in the sagas, a vo ̨lva is
also referred to as spádís, or female diviner. Conceptual figures in these texts are often
mentioned in conjunction with ritual activities, although of the three groups mentioned
here – the fylgjur, hamingja and the dísir – only the dísir appear to have been the
recipients of cult. The dísablót is mentioned in some texts as a form of sacrifice or feat in
the wintertime, and shows similarities to fertility rituals of a more private character. In
popular divisions of high and low mythology, the dísir are often consigned to a lower
realm, despite the fact that they most certainly played a vital role in everyday ritual life,
and were not without their connections to the major gods. Freyja, for instance, is known
as vanadís, the dís of the Vanir.
The function of the dísir is understood to have been the protection of the prosperity
and good fortune of a specific place. Thus they are more closely connected to the land
and also have a more pronounced protective aspect as compared to the largely abstract
fylgjur. The fylgjur are invariably attached to a particular individual or family, whereas
the dísir are more attached to a particular location or space. There are some texts,
however, that draw no meaningful distinctions between dísir and fylgjur, considering
them both to be guardian spirits of a sort.
At the close of this section it should be mentioned that there are also evil-minded
dísir whose wrath is spoken of with fear in the Grímnismál ( 53 ): if the dísir are against
a person or family, only destruction can follow. When the valkyries are occasionally
associated with revenge and struggle they are known as Óðinn’s dísir.
VO ̨LSIThe story of an embalmed horse phallus (vo ̨lsi) that is worshipped as an idol in the most
remote region of northern Norway is part of the saga of St Óláfr. The subject of the
saga concerns the saint’s encounter with pagans who had no previous contact with
Christianity – a motif which, according to the text itself, is based upon an old lay
(kvæði).
The prepared object is said to be kept in a casket from which it is brought each night
so that the family may gather about it to perform a special ceremony that is led by
the lady of the house. In the ceremony each member of the household sings over the
phallus and the verses are concluded with a prayer requesting the mo ̨rnir to receive their
offering. And while the mo ̨rnir are never explicitly defined in the text, they appear to be a
collective of spirits similar to dísir or vættir.
The emphasis on the horse, fertility and the potency of the object is thought to be
indicative of the cult of Freyr. Whether the text should be taken as a scurrilous Christian
portrait of pagan ceremonies or a glimpse into rural worship remains a matter of some
controversy.
–– Catharina Raudvere––