Interview with Lövjerskan, Traditional Healer, Finnskogen, Sweden

What is a Lövjerska?

“Lövjeri” is the name of the healing art of our Northern European ancestors and the “lövjerska” is the female name of a traditional healing practitioner. The Lövjerskorna were "the wise ones", whom the population in the Finnforest of Western Sweden called out for when a person or animal became ill and part of their treatment was through medicinal herbs, and other parts was ritual and verbal magic.

The word “Lövjeri” comes from the Icelandic lyf, lif, which originally meant medicine and healing with herbs and flowers. Lövjeri is therefore nature's medicine and has a strong spiritual and feminine anchoring with deep roots in Northern Seidr. We can read in the Edda, in Fjölsvin's stanza, about Lyfjaberg, the Healing Mountain, where Goddess Freya and her nine female helpers, the Disir (female spirits) lived - forming the original image of the lövjerskans historical roots.

Plans are afoot to run a retreat with myself and Ulrika Jäger in the Finnforest of Western Sweden that borders Norway. It will be a time to be immersed in culture, to bathe in the lakes, have sauna ceremonies, and enjoy dusk and dawn with practices and meditations. We haven’t finalised the programme yet, but you will hear it here on the Substack when its done. We aim to have a group of people to make it a week to remember, it will be especially geared for those interested in the traditional healing arts, runes, storytelling, folkmagic and folklore.