Jul & The Dark Season of Trolldom

About the Event:

Time & Location
10 Dec 2025, 09:00 – 14 Dec 2025, 12:00 noon
Fisketorp, Fisketorp 25, 455 96 Hedekas, Sweden

Experience the Darkness and the Dark Spirits of Winter as well the warming embrace of Swedish Jul.

These five days will put you face to face with the Odins Hunt, the bottomless depth of darkness when the wheel of life has slowed down to halt and seems to be just waiting in breathless stillness. You will get to experience the harshness of nature, when spirits of the dead own and roam the land outdoors while the living cuddle up around the warmth indoors. Experience the ancestral horrors of execution sites, plague cemeteries and lands haunted by ancient injustice and learn what they faced so that you can be here.

Contrasting to this, find out what the ancestors did to counter these hardships. Experience the heartwarming practices surrounding the season of Jul. Feast on a Traditional Julbord dinner, see the light rise and come to life out of the darkness at dawn on St Lucys day, participate in the local rural gatherings and Christmas market and feel the warmth of the little things within the all embracing darkness.

The indoor school training will focus around spells and methods used when facing death and despair. What will help the dead? What will comfort the living? Trolldom Death Doula work and practices of transcending the fear of death and much more.

Welcome to an experience rich in meaning and deep in value!

Your host and guides: Johannes B. Gårdbäck at Urhall:

Urhall is a school of the Scandinavian folk magic tradition of Trolldom, Folk Wisdom and Spirituality. The school was founded by Johannes B. Gårdbäck, author of the book "Trolldom - Spells and Methods of the Norse Folkmagic Tradition", having 30 years of experience as a professional practitioner and who taught in person and online since 2018.

Urhall means "Original Hall" and refers to Nature, from which all Trolldom techniques, teachings and wisdom derives. Urhall is a non-political, non-religious sanctuary for practitioners of Magic, with students in Europe, Middle-East, Asia, South-& North America. We do not discriminate based on gender, nationality. political views, age or physical capacity but focus on the practice alone.

The school is located in the small village of Hedekas by the Northwest coast of Sweden, near the Norwegian border. It is surrounded by forest, valleys, rivers, ancient grave fields, stone circles and thick with history. This area used to be called "Viken" and belonged to Norway up until 1656. Before that it was the small kingdom of Alvhem (Elfhome) and before that it was called Ranrike, meaning the Realm of Ran - Goddess of the ocean.​

Johannes B. Gårdbäck:

Johannes B. Gårdbäck is the author of the book "Trolldom - Spells and Methods of the Norse Folk Magic Tradition" (YIPPIE, 2014) and a professional practitioner of Trolldom. Through his company therootdoctor.se he has served his local community as well as an international clientele for more than 25 years. He lives on the same land as his ancestors have for the last 500 years - on the west coast of Sweden - with his wife, two daughters and a dog named Bob. Nowadays, he also guides visitors to the many historical and magical sites of the region in cooperation with the Swedish American company Swedish Magic Tours. He has been training apprentices and for the first time, the education and training is made accessible to a larger public.

Special Guest Teacher: Andreas Kornevall

Andreas Kornevall is the author of Waking the Dragons (Green Magic Publishing) storyteller and ecological activist. As a storyteller, he works with Northern myths and fairytales and he regularly performs in universities, local venues, and other educational centres. He is a fellow with the Centre for Myth, Cosmology and the Sacred. He is a member of the 'Forn Sed' (Old Customs Association) in Sweden which works closely with ancient Norse culture, traditions and spirituality, unearthing old legends, forgotten folklore and endangered Norse languages. As an ecologist he has planted over 200 woodlands in the United Kingdom and has been voted by the University of Southern California as one of their 100 spiritual exemplars. He regularly acts as as a Blot-Godi (Norse Ritualist) and conducts BLOT ceremonies and traditional "High Seat" ceremonies where he lives in England with this wife and two daughters and his Finnish Lapphund dog Appo, keeping ancient practices and culture alive.

Costs:

Total Fee: £680 - The fee includes all tuition, plus full Julbord Buffé Dinner plus a non-alcoholic beverage on one of the evenings, Museum entrance fees, Glögg & Pepparkaka.

Location: Urhall School in Hedekas, Sweden and surrounding excursion sites.

Accomodation is independent of the fee and has to be arranged separately - there are plenty of spaces to stay in the area - check with: https://kynnefjall.com/en/ "Kynnefjälls Natur" or local Air B´nb's.

Transportation: You need to rent a car. Carpool arrangement will be found on the forum page of the Urhall website: https://www.urhall.com/ - all this will be arranged when you have been confirmed a place.

Food: Local Food store is avaliable 24/7. A Julbord Buffé dinner included on one evening

To Pack: A very warm set for walking outdoors in very cold weather and rugged terrain. Layering recommended. Good winter shoes for hiking.

Detailed Itinerary: If you want us to send you a detailed hour by hour itinerary, please email mythandstories@gmail.com