I guess I should introduce myself. To give you a short summary; I’m a mom, a wife, a heathen, a Vísenda (‘wise woman’), Seiðkóna, Trollkóna, Spákóna, Vǫlva, Witch, Web Designer, Graphic Designer, and many, many other things. Plus a ‘try-just-about-any-craft-at-least-once’ kind of woman.
I’m 39 years old, and I live with my husband and daughter in a village called Soknedal, which is 65 km (about 40 miles) south of Trondheim, roughly in the middle of Norway.
I’m originally from a town called Lycksele i northern Sweden and I moved to Norway in 1999. If you want to know where these towns are, I’ve made a couple of maps on Google Maps:
Here’s where I grew up
Here’s where I live
Places I’ve been
Places I’d like to visit
I’ve been practicing openly as a witch since 1994. The label I place on myself nowadays is Vísenda (Wise Woman), it isn’t easily explained, but as a fast explanation you could say that I’m in the ‘hedge’ category (I pick and choose what I like, regardless of religion and tradition), but my roots are firmly in the Norse tradition. At the moment, I’m researching seiðr, galðr and other forms of Norse magic. With the aim of one day being experienced enough that I think I deserve the title of V&oogonek;lva. And that’s a long way away.
I’m not Wicca, nor do I belong to any other religion. Don’t get me wrong, I do respect those who have chosen to do so. I’m more of a heathen than anything else, and I’ve chosen to follow the old Scandinavian ways, but in my own, modernized way. Many think of the Norse ways as a religion, but it isn’t, it’s a tradition (sed).
Before anyone tries to ‘save’ me or tell me what to do or how to do things – Don’t bother. I’m stubborn.
I don’t agree with the view that you have to have expensive, store bought things for your magic to work. So I make any tools I use myself.I’m the same way about complicated rituals. They’re not for me.
I think everyone should choose their own path, what works for them, and walk it proudly. So I do. I work as a solitary, but I still want others with similar interests to discuss things with. For this reason you might find me in a lot of different places online. I also arrange approximately four gatherings a year, to facilitate networking. It’s difficult enough meeting other like-minded people as it is.
As a person I’m self-confident, stubborn, cheerful and positive, a bit of a jester and sometimes that might get a bit annoying 
I call myself an ‘infoholic’ because I need something new to learn all the time.
In addition to offering my services as a Vísenda (or witch if you will), I read an absurd amount of books (or at least I did before I became a mother), I’m online most of the day, I draw, write (articles and books), grow lots of herbs, create and maintain websites and forums (for myself on my own server and for others), listen to music, publish info and other stuff on the Internet (YouTube, among other things), I teach herb classes, do readings, brew my own wines and mead, and try different crafts.
Right now, I’m on sick-leave because of a flare up of bursitis in both shoulders, in addition to everything else. This makes me unable to work at a desk, as I can’t rest my arms on anything.When I’m not on sick-leave, I work as a Staff Engineer at Sør-Trøndelag Community College, where I work with support (phone, e-mail and in person), and some web design and maintenance.
The reason for this can be summed up as follows:
Back surgery twice for a herniated disk, knee surgery on both knees for Osteoarthritis (almost no cartilage left), joint pains in fingers, hand, wrists, elbows, shoulders, knees, ankles, mid-foot joints and toes (no diagnosis, but suspecting damage due to hyper-mobility, maybe hypermobile EDS), and muscle pain in my back and neck. This leads to fatigue, and an energy level which suffers under tasks I don’t like doing, so I’m hoping for a future with less housework and regular work.
Before anyone starts expressing pity, I’ve had twenty or so years to get used to this, so please don’t pity me. 99 % of the time, I’m smiling and doing fine.
My near future goals are to launch two new product lines, continue with Yoga, continue with the exercise, and get back to loosing weight. I also hope to be able to find some me-time to relax, meditate, and continue exploring the other world.
I’ve also recently moved to a new web host (again). JustHost caused too many problems to live with. I’ve also moved my personal pages and blog back to WordPress, because of the design limitations in Joomla. I’m considering moving all of Heksebua to WordPress as well, or at least the other blogs. So if you run a large information site on WordPress, let me know of your experiences with that.
I do my best to help others, when I can, and I especially enjoy to share information. That’s why I created Heksebua. If you want to get in touch, and get an answer within a reasonable time period, the easiest way is to send me an e-mail or get hold of me on Facebook or Twitter.
And if you know of a craft you think I haven’t tried, let me know 
I’d like to try my hand at it.
Best Wishes
Linda
