Threads of the Underworld: The Potent Uses of Trollhár in Old Norse Black Sorcery.

Warning: This knowledge is rooted in the ancient art of Norse svartkonst, not modern Wicca or “light” witchcraft. It is a solemn, powerful practice—never to be undertaken lightly. If you are under the influence of any substance, or suffer from serious mental health conditions such as psychosis or severe anxiety, do not attempt these rites. Trollhár and related workings demand clarity of mind, unwavering will, and physical and spiritual strength. Only the disciplined, the resolute, and those prepared to bear the weight of their own pact should proceed.

In Old Norse society, the practice of black magic—particularly seiðr—was both deeply feared and socially condemned. Seiðr, a form of magic associated with prophecy and altering fate, was often linked to female practitioners known as vǫlur or seiðkonur. While seiðr was a recognized aspect of Norse spirituality, those who practiced it, especially men, faced significant stigma and were sometimes exiled from their communities due to the perceived threat they posed.

One of the most feared elements in Norse black magic was the use of "trollhår" (troll hair). Trollhår was believed to be a potent ingredient in various magical practices, including curses and protective spells.

The crafting of trollhår involved collecting strands from areas frequented by trolls, such as dense forests, caves, and swamps. These strands were then woven into cords or threads, often combined with other natural elements like bog iron or specific herbs known for their magical properties. The process was meticulous and required precise timing, typically during specific lunar phases or seasonal changes, to harness the maximum magical potency.

Trollhair—known in Old Norse as seiðrband or Trǫllhár—is a historically rooted magical implement within the Norse tradition of black magic, where trolls were considered formidable beings with immense strength and magical abilities. Trolls were often depicted as dwelling in remote mountains, caves, and forests, embodying the untamed forces of nature. This form of magic, practiced during the Late Scandinavian Iron Age, involved shamanistic rituals aimed at discerning and influencing fate. The term seiðr itself is believed to derive from Proto-Germanic saiðaz, meaning "cord" or "string," highlighting the significance of binding and weaving in these magical practices.

The most horrific troll in Old Norse folklore is often considered to be the "Skogsrå," a forest-dwelling creature known for luring men to their doom. Legends describe the Skogsrå as a seductive female figure with a hollow back, resembling a rotting tree, who would enchant men and lead them into the forest, never to return. The fear surrounding such creatures underscored the dangers associated with the wild and the unknown, reinforcing the taboo against engaging with black magic and its components like trollhår.

Krákualjóð: The Black Tongue Rite of Raven-Calling in Norse Troll Witchcraft.

 𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍-𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆

—For the Summoning of Corvid Spirits & Trollish Familiars in the Black Tongue of the North—

This ritual pertains to the summoning and command of raven-spirits, both flesh-bound and spirit-wrought, through the old arts of black Norse magic. It is not symbolic, nor metaphorical. It is functional sorcery—troll-seiðr wrought in accordance with the laws of blood, breath, and ancestral current.

The raven holds a high seat in the tradition of svartkonst and northern baneful magic. Known in the tongues of our dead kin as hrafn, it is not merely a creature of the battlefield, but a bearer of fetches, a scout of the unseen roads, and an enforcer of the sorcerer’s will.

To the old ones, ravens were not pets or totems, but servants and watchers—beings that walked between the corpse-road (helvegr) and the breath-road (öndveg) with ease.

They consume the eyes of the fallen to see what lies beyond. They speak not in riddles, but in clear signs—if one is trained to listen properly.

This rite—Krákualjóð, “The Chant of the Raven’s Maw”—is not for novices, nor those seeking gentle counsel. It is for those who require the eyes of the raven in the dark, the claws of the raven in their working, and the call of the raven to pierce the veil between worlds. This is true summoning, not symbolic. It draws upon ancient trollkunnig methods from the hinterlands, where animal-bond, blood, ash, and binding are used to enforce obedience from the spirits summoned.

The rite must be performed under correct conditions or not at all. The place must be wild, preferably a high or liminal site—such as beneath bare rock, at the edge of bog or forest, or near a carrion place. It must be conducted beneath a waning moon, ideally on the thirteenth night before the dark moon, in the hour before midnight. The time is chosen to fall within the svartvindur—the black wind—when the boundary between the breath-world and the under-roads thins, and the hrafn may cross freely.

This chapter provides the correct construction of the rite, including tools, ingredients, vocal methods (throat-sung overtones), protective boundaries, and instructions for binding a raven-ally into service. This is not Wiccan fluff, and it contains no rhymes or false light. It is ancestral, brutal, and effective.

If you proceed, do so knowing the raven remembers all. It watches the hand that calls it—and it punishes the hand that misuses its trust.

Proceed with discipline. Or not at all.

The Casting of Bones in Trolldómr – Ráðbeining Bein (Counselling Bones)

What Are the Ráðbeining Bein?

Pronounciation- 

"Ráðbeining": Rath-bay-ning
"Ráð"pronounced like "rath" with a rolled "r."
"Beining" sounds like "bay-ning" with the "e" in "bay" sounding long.
Bein: Bane
"Bein" is pronounced like "bane," rhyming with "rain."
So, it would sound like: "Rath-bay-ning Bane."

 

The practice of casting bones—known as Ráðbeining Bein, or "Bones of Counsel"—is an ancient and sacred form of divination. This ritual was once employed by seiðfolk, cunning folk, and the solitary witches who roamed the northern wilds. It is believed that the bones, once marked and empowered by those who wielded the craft, carried the whispers of the spirits from the animals they came from. These bones became more than mere remnants of life; they were the vessels through which the hidden forces of the universe were called upon. They became oracles—quiet, powerful, and sometimes cryptic—offering answers to questions of fate, death, omens, and the unseen truths that weave through the fabric of reality.

The practice of bone casting is deeply intertwined with the animistic beliefs of the Norse and other pre-Christian cultures of Scandinavia. These beliefs held that every part of a living being—their bones, blood, and breath—possessed intrinsic power. In this view, the very essence of a creature lived on in its bones, even after the flesh had rotted away. The bones were not simply fragments of the dead; they were sacred relics, imbued with the spirit of the creature that once inhabited them. This belief extended beyond the realm of animals—human bones, too, could be used in divination, provided the spirit of the deceased gave its consent. Thus, bones gathered from the wild were treated with the utmost reverence, carefully marked and inscribed with runes or sigils to empower them for their role as messengers of fate.

Bone divination was not a common practice in the halls of kings or the courts of learned scholars. It was an art kept largely in the shadows, practiced by those on the fringes of society—hermits, outcasts, and those who sought knowledge hidden from the eyes of the world. In a time when the wild and untamed lands of the North were believed to be teeming with spirits—both benign and malicious—the casting of bones was seen as a powerful method of communion with the unseen. To cast the bones was to open oneself to the wisdom of nature itself, listening to the subtle guidance of animal spirits, ancestors, and the forces of the land.

Shadows Distilled: Compound Sorcery of the Autumnal Veil.

Preservation, Tool Cleansing & Ritual Labelling.

The crafting of ritual compounds—especially those involving baneful or toxic materia—demands more than botanical knowledge. Preservation of their potency, safe containment, and the metaphysical cleanliness of the tools involved are vital components of responsible and effective sorcery.

Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere arrives not with gentle fading but with a veiled descent. Shadows grow long and secrets rise with the mist. This is the season when compounds are not merely mixtures but conjured echoes, tools of threshold-walking, and containers of will. In the craft of the nocturne and the shadowed, materia is not selected for beauty or fragrance but for resonance with death, silence, memory, and hidden vision. This chapter is not for the surface practitioner. It demands that the witch harvest with understanding, handle poisons with awareness, and infuse each preparation with intention sharpened like obsidian. The use of native Australian botanicals is not a matter of novelty but necessity: the land speaks in its own tongue, and our spirits are shaped by what grows under its stars. Some of these plants are baneful, some dream-singing, some protective in their silence. Each is treated with gravity, marked for its spiritual and physical nature.

Materia magica in shadow craft is not an accessory—it is a binding force. The oil stirred on the eve of a waning moon holds the echo of that descent. The dust scattered along a windowsill at dusk is not symbolic but operative. Here, each recipe serves a ceremonial function: a ritual bath, a spell of veiling, a circle drawn not in chalk but in rust and ash. The compounds offered in this chapter are not mild. They are deliberately complex, sometimes toxic, and intended for seasoned hands. Every measurement is exact, every plant included for its magical and ecological essence. Harvesting must be done in ritual, not haste. Storage is part of the spell. The labelling of each vessel becomes a charm in itself, a ward, a contract, or an omen.

Compound Recipes for Shadow Work in Autumn.

Featuring Australian Botanicals & Toxic Plant Handling (Southern Hemisphere). 

This chapter provides detailed formulations for complex ritual compounds used in Shadow and Nocturnal Witchcraft during the Autumn season in the Southern Hemisphere. Each recipe draws from both traditional materia and regional botanicals, including native and toxic plants. Compounds include powders, oils, incenses, inks, and tinctures for baneful, ancestral, protective, and trance-related work. Every ingredient has been selected for its energetic properties, seasonal availability, and ritual function.

Note on Toxic Botanicals:

All poisonous plants included in this chapter are for external ritual use only. Do not ingest or allow contact with mucous membranes or broken skin.

Handle with gloves and proper ventilation. Always label your tools and store safely, away from children, animals, and food preparation areas.

1. Shadow Walking Powder

Used to anoint the soles of feet, cloak the body in energetic obscurity, or scatter in ritual paths to enter altered states or cross thresholds unseen.

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp burnt wattle ash (Acacia spp., native to Australia)

• 1 tsp powdered dead eucalyptus bark (collected dry from the forest floor)

• ½ tsp dried and ground datura flower (handle with gloves)

• 1 tsp grave dust (ethically gathered from a family or spirit-allied grave)

• ¼ tsp powdered charcoal from storm-fallen ironbark

• Optional: 3 drops patchouli essential oil (to anchor in the physical plane)

Harvest Notes:

• Eucalyptus bark: gather only dry, fallen pieces. Do not strip live trees. Break into small pieces before grinding.

• Datura: harvest only fully dried flowers. Use gloves. Dry in a sealed paper bag away from sun. Store in airtight glass.

• Grave dust: Offer coin or blood at grave. Use a dedicated spoon or bone scoop.

Instructions:

Grind all dry ingredients to a fine powder using a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. Add essential oil last and stir with a wooden stick. Store in black glass or stone jar in a cool, dark place. Use sparingly—this is not for physical invisibility, but spiritual obscuration.

Instruments of Decay: Materia Magica for the Autumn Witch in the Southern Hemisphere.

In the practice of Shadow and Nocturnal Witchcraft, materia magica refers to the tangible, physical elements used to anchor and conduct ritual power—plant, bone, soil, mineral, water, ash, feather, and decay. These materials are not symbolic tokens; they are carriers of living force, each possessing an indwelling virtue or current that can be activated, bound, or conjured through precise ritual use. They are not chosen for beauty or poetic association, but for their resonance with specific forces: death, severance, silence, time, shadow, ancestral wisdom, or the liminal.

Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere—from late March through June—is the season of descent. It is a time of rupture, decomposition, threshold crossing, and transmutation. The land recedes. Heat drains. Leaves blacken and fall. Growth ceases. The surface world thins, and what lies beneath begins to stir. During this season, the witch must not cling to the remnants of light. Instead, they move with the darkening tide, gathering from what dies, what breaks, what is shed, what haunts.

The materia magica of Autumn is therefore imbued with these powers. What is harvested in this season is rich in spiritual entropy, ancestral charge, and transmutative potency. These materials are not static—they continue to change after collection. Some rot, some dry, some crack, some fade. The witch must learn to listen to the way they break down. This is their voice.

Timing, place, and method of collection are essential. Autumn materia should be gathered during specific moon phases—especially the Waning and New Moons, when forces of decay and shadow are strongest. Many are best taken from liminal or forgotten spaces: graveyards, ruined buildings, riverbanks, thresholds, crossroads, and storm-lashed land. When taken properly—with silence, with offering, and with clear intent—they do not merely aid the working; they become part of its body.

The list that follows details the most potent and relevant materia for Autumnal rites in the Southern Hemisphere. This is not an aesthetic catalogue. It is a working arsenal for those willing to step fully into the season of shadow.

The Shifting Veil — Shadow and Nocturnal Witchcraft in Autumn (Southern Hemisphere).

Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere unfolds from late March to late June, its essence marked by contraction, deepening shadows, and the descent of spirit into matter. The equinox in late March signals the pivot from outer projection to inner descent. The land exhales, offering up the final fruits of the sun’s labour as the nights deepen and ancestral currents stir beneath the soil. In Shadow and Nocturnal Witchcraft, this season is a threshold: not a time of harvest celebration, but a deliberate entering into the liminal, into decomposition, reflection, and sorcerous transformation. The rites of Autumn are grave, introspective, and aligned with underworld tides. You do not harvest here—you bury, you call, you cross.

The practitioner working within nocturnal paths engages Autumn through complex conjuration, ancestral communion, lunar shadow rites, and materia magica drawn from decay and ruin. Bones, rust, withered vines, grave dust, storm water, fallen feathers, burnt herbs, and serpent skin hold potency. These are not symbolic—they are tools of the dead season, containers of autumnal virtue.