Heiðr

Now she [the seeress recounting the events of the poem] remembers the war,
The first in the world,
When Gullveig
Was studded with spears,
And in the hall of the High One [Odin]
She was burned;
Thrice burned,
Thrice reborn,
Often, many times,
And yet she lives.

She [Gullveig] was called Heiðr
When she came to a house,
The witch who saw many things,
She enchanted wands;
She enchanted and divined what she could,
In a trance she practiced seidr,
And brought delight
To evil women.[1]

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“The hall of the High One” is a reference to Asgard, the celestial fortress of the Aesir gods. Gullveig had evidently come to Asgard from elsewhere – in context, almost certainly from Vanaheim, the homeland of the Vanir – and was performing magic that the Aesir deemed to be gravely antisocial and dangerous. Their response was to burn her, which should be unsurprising given the instances of witches being put to death in the sagas due to the frequent malevolence of magic noted above. But, by means of the same abilities that got her into trouble in the first place, she survived.

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Magic wasn’t the only alluring yet disruptive force that Gullveig introduced to the Aesir. The name Gullveig is a compound word comprised of the words gull, “gold,” and veig, “alcoholic drink, intoxication” or “power, strength.”[2] Its meaning, then, can hardly be anything other than “the madness and corruption caused by this precious metal.”[3] She is also called Heiðr, which, as a noun, means “fame,” and as an adjective, means “bright, light, clear,” another probable reference to gold. This second name, like the first, has to do with wealth and prestige. Also, it’s surely no coincidence that witches called Heiðr are likewise found in Landnámabók and The Saga of King Hrólf Kraki.[4]

Norse society’s ambivalent attitude toward magic was mirrored by its similarly ambivalent attitude toward wealth. On the one hand, wealth was desirable for the prestige, comfort, and pleasure that it brings, but on the other hand, it was seen as a potentially socially disruptive thing that had to be distributed in such a way that social harmony was preserved.