Vardøger

For the band, see Vardøger (band).

Vardøger, also known as vardyvle or vardyger, is a spirit predecessor in Scandinavian folklore. ^[1]

Stories typically include instances that are nearly déjà vu in substance, but in reverse, where a spirit with the subject's footsteps, voice, scent, or appearance and overall demeanor precedes them in a location or activity, resulting in witnesses believing they have seen or heard the actual person before the person physically arrives. This bears a subtle difference from a doppelgänger, with a less sinister connotation. It has been likened to being a phantom double, or form of bilocation. In Finnish folklore, the concept is known as etiäinen .

Originally, vardøger was considered a fylgja and/or vǫrð, a sort of guardian spirit. ^{[2] [3]} Thus, a vardöger is the representation of a human's inner essence, which manifests as an animal that most closely resembles the personality of the human.^{[ citation needed ]}

Etymology

Vardøgr is a Norwegian word defined as ‘‘premonitory sound or sight of a person before he arrives’’. It can also be interpreted as "harbinger". The word vardøger is from Old Norse varðhygi , consisting of the elements vǫrð , "care taker, guard, watchman" (akin to "warden") and hugr , "mind" or "soul". The same concept exists in Sweden but under the name of vård which also derives from Old Norse vǫrð .

References

1. vardøger (Store norske leksikon. fagkonsulent for denne artikkelen var Olav Bø)
2. "The Vardogr, Perhaps Another Indicator of the Non-Locality of Consciousness (L. David Leiter, Journal of Scienti c Exploration, Vol. 16, No. 4, pp. 621–634, 2002)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-01-07. Retrieved 2010-01-07.
3. Hygen, Georg (1987). Vardøger: Vårt paranormale nasjonalsfenomen (in Norwegian). Oslo: Cappelen. p. 13. ISBN   82-02-11190-0.

Other sources

• Davidson, H.R. Ellis (1965) Gods and Myths of Northern Europe (Penguin Books) ISBN   978-0140136272
• Kvideland, Reimund; Henning K. Sehmsdorf (1989) Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend (University of Minnesota Press) ISBN   9780816615032
• McKinnell, John (2005) Meeting the Other in Norse Myth and Legend (D.S. Brewer, Cambridge) ISBN   978-1843840428
• Orchard, Andy (1997) Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend (Cassell & Co) ISBN   0-304-34520-2
• Pulsiano, Phillip; Kirsten Wolf (1993) Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia (Routledge Encyclopedias of the Middle Ages) ISBN   978-0824047870
• Simek, Rudolf; translated by Angela Hall (2007) Dictionary of Northern Mythology (D.S. Brewer, Cambridge) ISBN   0-85991-513-1
• Steiger, Brad; (2003) Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, and Haunted Places (Visible Ink Press, Detroit, Michigan) ISBN   978-1-57859-401-6

Further reading

• Doubles: The Enigma of the Second Self, Rodney Davies, 1998, ISBN   0-7090-6118-8
• Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home: And Other Unexplained Powers of Animals, Rupert Sheldrake, 2000, ISBN   0-609-80533-9
• Phone Calls From the Dead [chapter on "intention" phone calls], D. Scott Rogo and Raymond Bayless, 1980, ISBN   0-425-04559-5

External links

• "Miracles examined from a Fortean perspective". Archived from the original on 2012-07-22.
• Llewellyn Unconscious in the Astral