In the Poetic Edda poem Völuspá, the völva, or seeress, tells Odin about the world’s fate.
The poem’s title means “Prophecy of the Seeress.” Its unnamed female speaker recounts the creation of the cosmos, the first humans, the history of the gods, the coming of Ragnarök, and the renewal of the world afterward. She addresses Odin directly, creating the poem’s distinctive prophetic frame.
The word völva is a title rather than a personal name. It refers to a female practitioner of prophecy or seiðr, a form of magic associated in the literary tradition with figures such as Freyja and Odin. This is why translations may render the speaker as “seeress,” “prophetess,” or simply “the völva.”
Völuspá is preserved in the Codex Regius and also appears in the Hauksbók manuscript in a different form. Its vision of Ragnarök became one of the most influential literary accounts of Norse cosmology.