Galðr: Galdr is the singing or chanting of magical charms and incantations, particularly runes. It possibly meant ‘incantation’, ‘charm’ ‘charm way’. This involves chanting, or singing of whatever charm or spell being done. Also it employs a combination of herbs, ritual actions, and (of course) runes. A lot of galdr involves healing but it has many other purposes as well. It can be used for protection and even warding off unwanted influences.
One of the magical practices in Norse Heathenry is the practice of galdr. The Anglo-Saxon word galdr (Old Norse galdr) refers to a kind of magical charm that is chanted or sung. Among the verse forms Snorri Sturluson lists in the section of his Prose Edda called Hattatal, he includes an example of galdralag –the Galdr metre, so it’s possible that galdr charms had a particular rhythmic structure in Old Norse.
Little information concerning the use of galdr has come down to us, although they seem to have been a well known form of magic in heathen times. The Old Norse terms galdrakona (galdr-woman) and galdramaðr (galdr-man), and the Anglo-Saxon term galdra, were used to designate a witch or sorcerer. The Anglo-Saxon Journey Charm, for personal protection while traveling, includes the words: Sygegealdor ic begale, ‘a victory galdr I sing’.
The noble narrator of the Anglo-Saxon Riming Poem looks back to days when he was happy and prosperous and reminisces: ahte ic eadorstl, galdorwordum gol ‘I sat on the high seat, sang galdor- words’. The Icelandic Grettis Saga describes how an old woman called Thurid brought about the downfall of her enemy, the hero Grettir. She carved runes into the flat side of a tree stump, reddened them with her blood, and ‘kvað yfir galdra’, recited galdors over them.
Though galdr chants could clearly be used for constructive as well as destructive magical purposes, galdr users were vilified in Christian times along with those who practiced other heathen forms of magic. In the preface to his law code, King Alfred the Great states that women who are accustomed to harbor gealdor-cræftigan (those skilled in galdr) should not be permitted to live.
Although the Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse literary evidence suggests that galdr charms took the form of poetic verse, modern practitioners of rune-magic often use the term ‘galdr’ to refer to the act of chanting the names of runes (or the sounds represented by runic characters). Such chanting may be done during a ritual to invoke the energy of the rune, or over an object when imbuing it with runic energy.
The concept of galdr as rune sound was popularized by Edred Thorsson, whose 1984 occult-category offering Futhark: A Handbook of Rune Magic states: “The galdr is the root form of incantation (or if you will, mantra), which is the vibratory embodiment of the rune.” Other authors seem to have adopted this terminology. In Teutonic Magic (1994) Kveldulf Gundarsson defines ‘Galdr-Magic’ as ‘runic magic, ritual magic (as contrasted with the shamanic seidhr-magic)’ and ‘Galdr-Sound’ as ‘Mantra consisting of the actual sound associated with a rune’.
Galdr is now used commonly in ceremonies to “attune” runes to an individual. After the carver creates the runes, they chant the names of the runes over them to embue them with “runic energy” this is a popular method discussed in great detail in many of Edred Thorsson’s books as well as Freya Aswyn (CD-Songs of Yggdrasil) and many “Rune” sites.
Sources
http://www.wyrdwords.vispa.com/heathenry/galdor.html
http://www.sunnyway.com/runes/galdr.html
