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Here are some of the most common terms and concepts that occurs in Scandinavian Folk Magic.
Most of these words used below are Swedish but the equivalent concept and very similar words
also appears in Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic.

Names of the Art and the practitioners

The most common word for magic is Trolldom. A name appearing in the Eddas in various forms and the same in most Scandinavian languages.
Other names are Spaedom, Svartkonst, Signeri, Loevjeri, Kuckel... Names of male practitioners may be Trollkarl, Trollgubbe, Galdraman, Gerningamann ("a man who does deeds"), Aatgaersmann (Norwegian; "A man who takes measures")Kuckelgubbe, Noejd, Omlagare, or Besvaerjare.
Names of female practitioners thrugh the ages have been Trollkvinna, Spaekvinna, Spaegumma, Loevjerska, Lifkona, Omlagerska and Signerska
In the old days a female proffessional seer were called Voelva... The most common term for both gender is "Klok", a word meaning wise or cunning. Others may include Lijfolk, Trollkunning or Tietaejaes. ...Professionals could also be called according to their speciality...
For example; A woman skilled in curing by melting lead over a patient head could be called "smaeltgumma",
meaning "a woman who melts"...
These professionals and semiprofessional practitioners were all over Scandinavia for hundreds of years but started to decrease in number
at the beginning of the 20th century and the practice as a profession was practicaly eradicated by the 1940-1950.
After 400 years, ferocious Protestant propaganda and the philosophy of "reason" together with modern medicine payed off.
Or so they thought. Today the interest in alternative medicine flourish in Scandinavia and the professions of both healer and seer has returned. Still, pure magic proffessionals are rare and hard to find and these, like myself, mostly had their training in
a foreign tradition...

Common Terms and Concepts

Even though many of the concepts and methods occuring in Trolldom have their roots far back in time
the folk magic tradition I am describing is mostly regarded to belong to the "younger tradition", by academic folklorists.
Some of the basic terms and concepts I will talk about below will be from the old tradition and not neccesarily have been
kept by the majority of folk magic practitioners during the ages. The reason for including them is that the concepts have become very
popular again in recent days and much is written about them in Neo Pagan books making it look like they have been a part of a widespread
magical practice, unchanged through time. This is not the case. Runes, for example, have hardly been a part of folk magic
the last 800 years or so since latin letter became the main alphabet in Scandinavia, and using them as a divinatory tool is a good, but new invention.
Other old concepts such as Sejd, Galder and Blot have become the property of Non Magic Asatru Neo Pagans and people claiming to practice nordic shamanism.
Now, shaman is a russian term and in my opinion is not a term appropriate to the real practitioners of Nordic folk magic.

Staella
The word means "made to stand still" and the concept applies to a family of binding spells in which people, thieves, diseases, evil, domsticated animals
or wild prey are made to stand still on one spot. Ways to do this is include; to spread a staellpowder around the item you wish to protect from theft
or in a circle around the spot where you wish wild animals to gather and to read any of the specific formulas for the purpose.
The spell often engage spirits of the dead and utilize bones or graveyard dirt.

Staemma
This word means "to hinder", "to stop up a flow" and is most commonly mentioned as a way to stop blod. If done to a person without a bleeding injury it is sometimes used to kill.
Some people use one of the multitude of formulas for the purpose, muttered softly while thinking intensively on the blood of the patient stopping or just focusing on the words of the formula.
Some say this is an inherited ability, some say it the inheritance of the formula that does it. Most workers can perform this at a distance and will only need the name of the patient,
others require the mothers or the fathers name and the location of the patient as well.
If the worker is near the patient, they sometimes place their left ringfinger, or "nameless finger" as it was called in the old days, on the bleeding wound while reciting the formula.
Most of the formlas are of a Christian type refering to Jesus stopping the waters of Jordan or similar biblical notions.

Stilla - "To make still"...making the fire to be still..

Spaedom
The word litterary means "a divination" but is often used as an old synonym to Trolldom and doing magic. In the old tradition the word "ofaerdsspaedom" is often mentioned and refers to predicting an evil
future for a person. This was a kind of a curse and the method has been widespread and is still in use.

Sejd -

Nid - ...another old form of cursing...

Onda ogat - The evil eye...evil tounge..

Foergora - "to destroy"..."jinx", "curse", "hex", "crossed conditions"...bring destruction over a person, animal, place or object...

Bota
Litterary the word means "to cure". A very common saying in Trolldom is "Ta boten daer man faett soten", which roughly translates: "take the curing thing where you got the sting".
Meaning if you got some disease by offending the spirits of a certain place you take the cure from that place. And often times the remains after a ritual is deposited at the place
where one thinks one have gotten it in the first place (or where the Trollman divines it to have come from).
In modern terms this means if you divine (or just think) the disease is inherited one could go to the grave of a diseased relative and get the curing items and/or dispose of ritual remains there.
,if you know the person who cursed you may take the items from their front yard and/or dispose of the remains there, if you got it at work..well..you get the picture.
A very common form of divination to see where the disease, destruction or other kind of problem came from is to take three stones; one from a mountain, one from a steram or ocean and one from
the graveyard. Then they are baptised; picking up each one and naming them; "You are the water stone", "You are the graveyard stone" ..etc. (They can of course be named after different people if
evil eye or curses are suspected). The stones are then heated up in a fire. (Not any kind of fire, mind you -- A "Cold Fire" or a "Twist Fire" are the best and most powerful)
The stone that crackles the most in the fire will show where the problem came from and where it should be brought back.
Another way is to throw them in separate buckets of water and listen which one crackels the most. The rocks are usually thrown and broken against a bigger rock afterwards, thus breaking the disease. Or the water
given to drink and take a ritual wash in and then disposed of at the place where it came from. When doing this the clothes should always be worn with the outside in. Why? Because the act is an act in
The Spirit World/ The World of the Dead/ which is percieved as being reversed and the mirrorimage of ours. Thus all the backwards reading, acting or counterclockwise movements etc. As well as reinforcing the intention to bring the disease out/away/back, being reversed to its origin.

Blota - Old term...to strengthen with magic...

Signa - ...verbal magic...

Trollpaesar & Lyckopaesar - ...conjure bags...

Sedlar - ...folded paper talismans...

Nedsaetta - ..."to put down"...earthbind the dead..curse preventing marriage...

Trollskott - Alvskott, Villarpaskott, Finnskott, Dvaergskott...gand...

Lycka - ..."happiness" or "luck"...gambling luck, house luck, hunting luck, field luck, court luck, love luck...

Vard - ...spirit..ancestor... a haug or a vard tree...Vardlokkur - a trollsong to call upon...closely associated with sejd...

Vaettar - Elfs, Tussen, Huldror, Raedare, Nature Spirits...ancestors transformed into..mixed concept...beings drawing or removing good luck...

Bjaera - Dolls brought to life...stealing and drawing things from...other varietys of this are made from...

Runes - Older tradition and among modern revivalists...writing unusual and, of course, magical...the myth of runic divination...

Doeva -Litterary: "to make deaf" meaning to take away she sharpness of a sword, a mans nature, the pain, etc...

Maktstulen/Modstulen - ..."to have ones might stolen", "to have ones courage stolen"...

Mana - "To drive on/up/forward" ...used to describe the conjuring of a dead persons spirit or a vision. Swe: "Att mana fram" means "To conjure up"...

Hugvaenda - "to turn the hug/hugr/haeg/"...turning a persons desires and will...

Haerd - "Hard"..to make oneself haerd against weapons, blows...

Results
Most people want to know how long they have to wait before results will come after having done an act of Trolldom.
In the old days they had a saying which translates to this; "As long as you had the problem before you came, that long will it remain".

more to come...

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