Some notes about the use of animal spirits in Trolldom
Pronounced use of animal spirits are somewhat uncommon in traditional trolldom. Many of you are probably familiar with the older Norse concept of the Fylgija and many have claimed these to be exclusivly of animal nature. Which is not true. That said, it does not mean the concept of animal spirits do not exist - they are common in work to get guardian spirits and they do occur occasionally under the term of "Vård-djur". As an example it was common around the parish of Valinge in Halland, Sweden to divine what kind of vårddjur one had by wrapping a knife hard in a towel and swing it above the head while mentioning an animal. If the knife turned or placed itself in another fold of the towel it was a positive answer and confirmed the kind of animal involved.
