Slow Havamal: 155

[kylec]

In verse 155, Odin says he knows a tenth spell: if he spots witches flying about, he casts it so that they get lost and are unable to find their skins or their minds.

The tenth spell in Havamal highlights some rather interesting clues about how witches operated in the Norse world. Not only do they have problems with witches, hence the spell, but the countermeasure reveals something of the witches’ methodology, namely that they projected a double outside of their body.

If the witch was physically present, it would be strange to separate them from their skin, though driving them mad might be reasonable. Instead, if we consider the practice of projecting consciousness into another form, typically an animal but possibly something else, the spell becomes clear. Odin can make it to where the witch can never reunite with their body, effectively killing them. In modern magical practice this is sometimes called projecting an etheric double, a cloud of subtle energy—indeed, the very life force of the mage—in order to roam about and perform certain works while the physical body remain elsewhere.

Berserkers might have done this, and we have examples in Norse myth of warriors who enter into a trance and appear on the battlefield as a bear, for example, though the man meditates in a tent away from the site. It also seems like the etheric “shirt” could simply be worn outside the skin of the physical body, which might be what berserkers were actually known for. But in the case of these witches flying around, they reside elsewhere while sending out their consciousness and life force.

There are many cultures who claim some such ability, so it’s no surprise that the Norse do as well. But Odin and perhaps his human friends have a handy way of batting them down.