Völur appear as women who travel, receive hospitality, and are rewarded for knowledge. Their authority could stand outside ordinary household roles but was often linked to wealth, retinues, and special equipment.
Óðinn practises seiðr although Lokasenna and Snorri associate male performance with ergi—a grave attack on masculinity, honour, and sexual norms. Power and shame could thus attach to the same practice.
These texts reflect social polemic and literary staging. They do not justify the simple claim that all practitioners were women or that gender boundaries did not matter.
Modern readings should neither repeat historical shaming nor derive timeless identity categories from boundary-crossing. The tensions are attested; their precise social use remains regional and source-dependent.