Volva
The Norse seeress, a staff-bearing woman who foretells and shapes fate, from the poem Voluspa to the saga of Erik the Red.
Also: völva, völur, vala, seeress
A völva, plural völur, is a woman who sees what is hidden or to come in Old Norse sources. The poem Völuspá, the prophecy of the völva, has one speak to Odin of the making and end of the world. In Eiríks saga rauða, a völva called Thorbjorg visits a farm in Greenland in a blue cloak, with a staff and a catskin hood, and is served a ritual meal before she answers questions. The word is linked to a staff, vǫlr. Graves in Viking Age Scandinavia with iron staffs are sometimes read as those of such women. The evidence is limited, and written accounts come from later Christian times. A modern revival uses the title.