Vardøger
{{Short description|Part of Scandinavian folklore}}
{{for|the band|Vardøger (band)}}
Vardøger, also known as vardyvle or vardyger, is a spirit predecessor in Scandinavian folklore.[https://snl.no/vard%C3%B8ger vardøger (Store norske leksikon. fagkonsulent for denne artikkelen var Olav Bø)]
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.{{Cite web |title=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) |url=http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_16_4_leiter.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100107170553/http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_16_4_leiter.pdf |archive-date=2010-01-07 |access-date=2010-01-07}}{{Cite book |last=Hygen |first=Georg |title=Vardøger: Vårt paranormale nasjonalsfenomen |publisher=Cappelen |year=1987 |isbn=82-02-11190-0 |location=Oslo |pages=13 |language=no}} 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|date=April 2025}}
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 {{wikt-lang|no|vardøger}} is from Old Norse {{wikt-lang|non|varðhygi}}, consisting of the elements {{wikt-lang|non|vǫrð}}, "care taker, guard, watchman" (akin to "warden") and {{wikt-lang|non|hugr}}, "mind" or "soul". The same concept exists in Sweden but under the name of {{wikt-lang|sv|vård}} which also derives from Old Norse {{wikt-lang|non|vǫrð}}.
References
{{reflist}}
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
- {{cite web |url=http://www.fiu.edu/~mizrachs/saints-alive.html |title=Miracles examined from a Fortean perspective |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722012602/http://www2.fiu.edu/~mizrachs/saints-alive.html |archivedate=2012-07-22}}
- [http://www.llewellynencyclopedia.com/article/206 Llewellyn Unconscious in the Astral]
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