The wish to be able to control the weather is a deep-seated human desire. In countries where the weather is capricious and frequently wet and stormy it is not surprising that supposed magical control of the weather has been elevated to a high art. In Iceland the importance of climate and weather in daily life is reflected in numerous literary and historical genres. The ‘Sagas of Icelanders’ (Íslendingasögur) contain many references to weather events and climatic conditions, including numerous episodes depicting control of weather by witchcraft or sorcery. Weather magic could be created by ritual acts and also by spoken spells or chants. Poetry, in particular, could be imbued with magic and the so-called kraftaskáld – the ‘power poet’ or ‘magic poet’ – was believed to possess greater powers than others. In total seventy-eight people are named as witches in Sagas of Icelanders, with Vatnsdæla saga, Bárðar saga, Eyrbyggja saga containing the greatest number of these. This last-named saga also contains some of the best-known haunting episodes in the 'Sagas of Icelanders'. Supernatural elements such as nature spirits, witches and sorcerers, shape-shifters and the returning/walking dead (afturgangr) find poignant expression in this rich body of literature, sometimes overlapping or intersecting in interesting ways. Scholars Astrid Ogilvie, Steven Hartman and Vidar Hreinsson are collaborating on new analyses of such supernatural accounts in the saga cycle with special reference to environmental factors in the context of the international research initiative Inscribing Environmental Memory in the Icelandic Sagas. This lecture will present an illustration of Astrid Ogilvie's work on weather and magic, with some reference to the work of her collaborators Steven Hartman and Viðar Hreinsson examining environmental risk as represented in haunting episodes.
Astrid Ogilvie is a leading historian of climate and environment and a human ecologist. Her overarching career goal is to build bridges between the humanities and the natural sciences in order to foster interdisciplinary cross-fertilization. Her wide-ranging research interests include the human ecology of Arctic and Subarctic regions; the environmental, social, and human history of countries bordering the North Atlantic, in particular Norway, Iceland, Greenland, and Labrador/Newfoundland; the historical impact of climate on the development of societies as well as human and social dynamics in the context of climatic and environmental changes; the medieval literature of Iceland; and investigation of primary historical texts in English, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish. She is a Senior Affiliate Scientist at the Stefansson Arctic Institute, Akureyri, Iceland, a Fellow of The Institute of Alpine and Arctic Research (INSTAAR) at the University of Colorado, USA, and a senior research affiliate of the Eco-Humanities Hub (ECOHUM) at Mid Sweden University.