The Völva's Staff
The staff of the seeress or völva, who in saga accounts carried a knobbed staff as the badge of her office. Eiríks saga rauða describes the seeress Þorbjörg with a staff topped with a brass knob as she worked her seidr. Iron rods found in Viking-age female graves may be such staffs, though the identification is debated by archaeologists. The staff was more than a tool: it was the visible sign of the woman who could chant the seidr, see the future, and speak with the dead. In Eiríks saga the staff of the visiting völva is described in detail, and its metal knob allowed it to be placed upright i