Costumes, Equipment

There is much excitement over the previews for Robert Eggers' The Northman, and a fair bit in certain circles has to do with Bjork. Former lead singer for The Sugarcubes, and accomplished solo musician, the Icelandic Bjork features as "The Seeress" - apparently a volva or spaekona. She is shown in a magnificent wheat head-dress, eyes half-hidden behind cowrie shells, and dramatic makeup that is in keeping with recent depictions of Viking-age magic practitioners. It's stunning. We can expect to see a lot of people taking inspiration from these images and posting pictures here and there. Many will think this is what they need to look like to be taken seriously as practitioners, and that anyone not so dressed is just (ironically) an actor.

Do you need that head-dress? No. If you want it, think about why. Religious clothing and objects are practically universal, and dressing the part as it is conceived can lend an air of authenticity to onlookers, as well as help to center you in a separate space, if you will, from the mundane tasks of every day life. Or it can explode and become too distracting to allow you to work freely. If that head-dress allows you to feel more in contact with the spirit, go ahead. If you consider that it is necessary to have it in order to be in contact, please press pause.

Just as you don't have to read all the (conflicting, at that) books to start practicing, you do not have to have a closet full of ritual clothing. Three things come to mind here. One - we live now. Our work has to be of the now, because we cannot change the past, nor go back to it. Two - it's exclusionary and ultimately classist to insist on a huge outlay to do what is at its heart folk magic. Three - waiting for the head-dress to arrive is often a substitute for doing the work. Ask me how I know, and I will tell you that I have also said, so many times, "Well as soon as I get X, then I'll be able to Y." In the meantime, I'm doing nothing.

Yes, it all looks pretty cool. I'm not saying don't do it. I'm saying remember that the work, the connections, those are the important things.

(If you must wear something, wear a mask. Because we live in the now. Survive today to magic again tomorrow.)