The sorcerer


Power of magic
He was usually very reluctant to help others and was quite modest about his abilities. As people pressed him a little more, he usually caved in and agreed to help. One of his better talents as to find out what had happened to stolen items. Consequently, as soon as thieves knew Torfi was involved they gave themselves up right away. They’d rather admit to their crimes than be under Torfi’s hex.The search

Sorcerer in the big city


Svartiskóli – The Black School
Svartiskóli (black school) was the name of a small area between Vesturgata and the ocean. I was unable to find a sorcerer’s school in Reykjavík. There are no records of how or why its nickname, Svartiskóli so, maybe there was a school there that taught witchcraft.
Air view of Kvosin area
The orange mark in the photo shows today’s location of Svartiskóli.
Svartiskóli today
One house still stands as a memory of this old neighborhood and is called Hlíðarhús. It stands in the midst of a modern apartment complex

Heading north


Ódáðahraun
Three mountains in the background: Sellandafjall (988m), Bláfjall (12222m), Búrfell (953 m). Photographer: Jean François Bonachera Old Marína’s predictions came true. If magic is for the good of the common people, then how did her fortune telling help him? In fact, it helped Torfi in the sense that he now saw that the cards truly were a kind of magic. It was yet another way for him to deepen his knowledge as a sorcerer. This would make him a better sorcerer and prove to everyone that magic is for the good of the common people. As a final ingredient for his book, Torfi added card reading to his list of magic. With a finished book, he gave it the title the new Galdrakver. It was now time to publish.The book of magic


Who’s book is it anyway?
Two articles from the paper, Jón Rauði (Jón the Red). Left: Jan 1st, 1886. An insert about Torfi and how he wrote and published a new version of Galdrakver. Right: Feb 1st. shows an advertisement of Galdrakver by Old Marína.The telling-spirit

How to summon a telling-spirit

- 1. Lie down in the shade facing north.
- 2. Cover your head with the amniotic sac from a mare’s fetus while reciting divine passages backwards.
- 3. A dead man’s spirit will try to enter you, but gets caught in the membrane of the amniotic sac. As fast as you can, bite your teeth together so the spirit stays trapped in the sac.
- 4. Put the spirit-possessed amniotic sac into a box etched with the telling-spirit magic symbol. If the spirit breaks out of the box, it will enter your body and make drive you to insanity.
- 5. Take the box and holy wine to a church.
- 6. Put a handkerchief under the box and bring it to the altar.
- 7. Let dew from the month of May to fall on the box.

Put the spirit in a box
The spirit was put inside a box carved with the telling-spirit symbol (sagnarandastafur). The carved symbol in the photo is not the telling-spirit symbol.How to communicate with a telling-spirit

The sorcerer and the spirit

The harness
Because Torfi focused on using his magic for the good of the common people he was able to help Stefán Jónsson (1802-1890). Stefán was a workman on his father’s farm in Lögmannshlíð. He needed to get to Akureyri city, but didn’t have a harness for his horse. Being a trustworthy man, he was able to borrow a beautifully decorated harness.

Akureyri in 1882
In 1882 Akureyri may have been big for Icelandic standards, but in reality was more like a village. Akureyri became a city (merchant place) in 1862 and had all of 294 residents. Photographer: Anna Cathrine Larsen Schiöth 1846-1921 Torfi prepared a small package for Stefán and told him to put it under his pillow when he went it bed. Whatever was inside the package would give him dreams and it was important that he remembered his dream in the morning.
Stefán Jónsson 1802-1890
Stefán was a thingman (alþingismaður) and was a farmer at Steinsstaðir in Öxnadalur the last 34 years of his life. Stefán had a hard time falling asleep that night. The mysterious package under his pillow was making it difficult to doze off. Eventually he fell asleep and the morning after he remembered his dream clear as day. He knew exactly where the harness was. In his dream he had clearly seen it hanging in a barn at Einarsstaðir. Stefán rushed off towards Einarsstaðir and without stopping he walked straight towards the barn. There he saw the harness hanging exactly like it did in his dream. The farmer was ashamed of himself when he saw Stefán take the harness and walk away without saying a word.The inheritance


Svarfarðardalur
Men on horses traveling in Svarfarðardalur sometime in the period of 1910-1914. Sigurður would have likely travelled that same trail. Photographer: Rudolph Craner 1881-1959 Shortly after, Sigurður went back to check on his money in the sheep shed. He never expected what happened next. His coin-filled scrotum was gone. He couldn’t find it anywhere, the money was gone! Devastated, he searched around the shed hoping it would be there somewhere. Who could possibly have taken his money? Sigurður tried to figure out who could have known about the money and the only one he could think of was his friend and namesake, Sigurður. He must have followed him to the shed, he thought. He didn’t want to confront his friend just yet and instead went to Torfi for help. When Sigurður got to Klúkur, he explained everything to Torfi. As usual, Torfi was very hesitant to help him at first but then asked him if he thought he might know the thief if he saw him. Sigurður believed he could.
The handkerchief


The copper jug
A moment later, Torfi returned with a copper jug and told the man to meet him in private. In a backroom, Torfi toasted something on the bottom of the jug and then filled it with water. He then asked the man to look inside the jug and asked what he saw. The man saw the image of a woman, but he didn’t recognize her. Torfi explained that it was the woman who stole his handkerchief. He told him to memorize the image so he could recognize her, because she wasn’t far away. As the walked out of the store, he thought about the image he saw in the water jug. Just in that moment a woman came running towards him with a handkerchief in her hand. She asked him if it was his. He said it was. She explain that she grabbed it off the countertop and walked off with her friends. Suddenly, she had an overwhelming feeling of discomfort and the feeling became intolerable. She knew the feeling wouldn’t go way until she returned the handkerchief. She threw it at the man and ran away. He recognized her right away as the woman in the copper jug.Torfi on his deathbed


Engimýri hills
The men buried the box on a hill at Engimýri farms. Sigfús made a nice place for the box and blessed it. Jón was wondering what he was doing and Sigfús replied, I bless it in the name of the devil, my man. Ever since, people claim to have seen the spirit on the hill. For this reason, they know exactly where it is buried.Torfi foretold his death

