making anyone believe anything. Not to mention, nobody likes to be told what to be devoted to. What is more, forcing a certain belief can have the opposite effect where the skeptic will do anything in their power to disobey.
Devout skeptic
Growing up in a home where the supernatural was a daily mention didn’t convince little Valgerður Gísladóttir (1902-1979) that it was at all true. God-fearing and well respected artists frequently visited their home on Hverfisgata 70. However, if any of them had the ability to convince her it would be the spiritists Einar H. Kvaran and Rev. Haraldur Níelsson. Nevertheless, Valgerður’s favorite guests were the socialists Þorsteinn Erlingsson and Jón Trausti. Not to mention, they were both atheists who believed in the natural laws as opposed to supernatural ones. They seemed to be more realistic and to have more sympathy for the people.
Valgerður sometimes felt the people around her wondered how to make devoted believers out people like her. Although her mom María Þorvarðardóttir (1862-1937) was a strong believer in the supernatural, Valgerður saw it as utter nonsense. It was unlikely anything would change her mind. She was a very intelligent young lady with a strong personality. But, she was also honest and loved serving her fellow humans. If there was anything supernatural out there, there was a slight possibility of conversion.
The freedom fighter
As Valgerður grew older, she spent her time and energy in politics. She was optimistic about the future of equal rights in Iceland. With this in mind, she saw the need to fight against injustice in the legal system. Gender roles didn’t sit well with her and she felt certain that women could do much of the same work as men.
For a time, Valgerður served as the President of the Women’s Association of the Socialistic Party (Kvenfélag sosialista). In addition to this, she was active in a party called The People’s Alliance (Alþýðubandalagið) and The People’s Unity Party-Socialist Party (Sósíalistaflokkurinn). What is more, she played an active part in multiple other associations, including Children Protection Services.
Superstitious trap
Valgerður had been suffering from a severe knee problem since she was 18 years old. As a result, she was forced to use crutches to keep weight off the knee. What made it even more frustrating was the fact that she had no idea how she injured it. Valgerður’s mom María wanted so desperately to have a spiritual medium help her. Unlike her daughter, María was one of those devoted believers. Now more than ever she wanted so desperately for her aching child to believe. After all, she’d been suffering for two years already. However, Valgerður saw devoted believers as people who had fallen into a superstitious trap.
Emotionally, Valgerður wasn’t ready to put her hopes into something she didn’t believe in. It would only cause her disappointment and deepen the depression of yet another failed treatment. She wanted nothing to do with it or preaching from any devoted believers in spiritual healing.
A dream or a ghost?
At the time, Valgerður had moved in with her parents as she hadn’t been able to work due to her injury. It was then that Valgerður dreamt a woman entered her room and walked over to her bed. She didn’t know the elderly woman, but she saw her clearly. She was average height with penetrating gray eyes and sharp eye brows. The woman looked down at Valgerður and with a strict commanding voice said, Let yourself be healed, child. It was under those circumstances that she was instantly awake and it was in this alert state that she saw the woman walk out of her room.
The following morning she told her mother about the dream and described the woman. Her mom recognized the woman right away as her own mother, Valgerður Bjarnadóttir (1829-1895). Although named after her grandmother, she had never seen her. She had she died before she was born. She had never seen a picture of her, either. Seeing this as a sign, her mom begged her to allow the medium to at least give it a chance. She didn’t event to believe in it, just try it.
Valgerður wanted to get better more than anything, but had zero faith in mediums or any other miraculous healings. She did believe in God or some type of a higher power who controlled our lives if we did what we thought was best and right.
The healing
Being in her early twenties, she hadn’t had much life experience yet. She felt very confused on the matter blind faith. However, since all attempts of general medical practice had failed, she finally decided to go ahead and try the spiritual healing method.
When her mom heard about the great news, she wasted no time and right away invited the medium Andrés Andrésson to the house. This wasn’t his first rodeo, he had healed countless people and she knew if anyone could help her daughter, he could.
When Andrés arrived he had Valgerður lie down on a chaise and relax. He then put his hands by her injured knee. Valgerður wasn’t easily fooled and in no way was she going to let some devoted believers play tricks on her. Therefore, in order to observe the ritual she was determined to stay awake through the session. But as she grew more tired, she fell asleep without even realizing it. When she woke up the adults were sitting around a table drinking coffee and making small talk. Valgerður was too tired to think and staggered straight to bed.
The day after
When Valgerður woke up the following morning she couldn’t understand how she was moving her knee. It had been such a long time since she had been able to bend it at all. She walked around the house in awe that she was actually moving her leg normally and without crutches.
She walked into living-room where the healing had taken place. On the table was a note that the medium had written. She walked over to the table and picked it up. As she began reading, she realized that it described what type of knee injury it was and how it had occurred. It wasn’t until that moment that Valgerður remembered the incidence. It had been such an uneventful misstep when she barely twisted her knee while climbing a fence, that she would never thought to put the two together.
A spirit companion
After the dream-visit by her grandmother and the spirit-healing, Valgerður became devoted to understanding the supernatural. She loved discussing these things with her mother and was soon an unwavering believer of otherworldly communications.
Since then, her grandmother continued to visit her. Although she was dead before Valgerður was born, she felt she knew her grandmother very well. She saw and talked to her often. Valgerður turned to her when she struggled and in return, her grandmother comforted her and gave her advice.
The vision
Valgerður went to the Free Church on November 2nd, All Soul’s Day. This day is dedicated to prayer and the recognition of all souls who have left their earthly body. The priest preaching that day was Jón Auðuns, a man who supported spiritism. As Valgerður sat in her seat watching the choir sing, she suddenly saw an image of a woman right above the choir. The image was as clear as day and very detailed. Valgerður was a little confused, thinking she was seeing things that weren’t really there.
She tried to get rid of the image by looking elsewhere around the church and out through the window. Then she looked back at the choir, but the image of the woman was still there. She was just sitting there in a chair. Judging by the woman’s large dress and the way her long hair was done, Valgerður thought she was from the 17th Century or so.
Then a cloud appeared and covered the woman’s face and then the entire image. As soon as her image disappeared, another image appeared. This time it was of Reverend Haraldur Níelsson. She recognized the image because it was the exact same as a picture she had seen in her mom’s house.
It then occurred to Valgerður that she shouldn’t have doubted her vision of the lady in the first place. Indeed, she knew that the reason she saw the image of Reverend Haraldur appeared was to confirm that her vision of the lady was real.
