Albert Björn
Albert Björn Shiell grew up in the shade of the South Downs of Sussex, England. He spent his days there walking ancient chalk hills, full of burial mounds and folklore. Trading it all in 2017 for cold and seemingly desolate Iceland, Albert picked up his life and moved North.
He's now lived in Iceland for nearly 10 years. He spends his days walking the land around him, learning and conversing with the many plant and land spirits of Iceland. Focusing now on an animistic framework of Nordic magic combined with the Sussex cunning of his homeland, Albert aims to deliver practical folkloric magic inspired by both his homes. He lives in downtown Reykjavík, in a small apartment surrounded by plants, writing and researching, translating old Icelandic books.
Published Works
Icelandic Plant Magic
The magic of Iceland is known to all those who have set foot on this seemingly desolate rock in the North Atlantic. Mystical staves, crafty hidden folk, and the dangerous ghosts of long-dead priests all have their place within the magic of the island. However, our plant life tends to go unnoticed. Hiding in the shadows of a misty mountain or thriving in the warmth of a geothermal stream, the plants of this island hold potent magic that is waiting to be called upon.
Launched at Treadwells occult bookshop, London, England, 2024.
Sussex Plant Magic - Coming February 2027
Sussex Plant Magic is a rediscovery of the plant folklore and magic of Southeast England. Though now seemingly tamed, Sussex remains alive with magical burial mounds, hill forts, dragons, dungeons, and ancient yew groves. Its plants are filled with mystery, appearing in tales of saints, monsters, Vikings, and more. From the ancient yews of Kingly Vale in the West to the lily of the valley said to have sprung from the blood of St. Leonard, Sussex boasts a host of potent magical plants rooted in the magical landscape. This book seeks to blow the dust from the old tomes that once spoke of them and return their secrets to the forefront of practice. Discover how centaury was burned to repel ill spirits, how white bryony was once called the English mandrake, and how viper’s bugloss makes a steadfast protective ally. Uncover charms of gathering and prayers of protection that were once spoken with these plants, and learn how they can again be used as charms for many ends.
Deep in the ancient forests of the Weald and high on the chalk hills of the South Downs, these plants still wait for us, ready to be stirred once more by the witches of today. Sussex Plant Magic offers both new witches and experienced practitioners a handbook to rediscover the plants of England’s Southeast and beyond. With over 150 magical plants explored and mapped to their landscapes, this book invites us to call them into use again. Working within an animistic framework that places plants at the centre of practice, and building on the traditions of Agrippa, Culpeper, and Paracelsus, it enables these plants once more to reveal their power in witchcraft, alchemy, and holistic medicine.
Praise for Published Works
“Albert has done a great job with Iceland’s native plants, staying true to his own path and local traditions. It’s definitely a great book to get a clear view of the locality-specific green magic working.”
“This was an immensely interesting book, especially for someone not overly familiar with Iceland. I found a wealth of captivating information within its pages, particularly about the language and terminology used in Icelandic plant magic.”
Icelandic Folk Magic
Icelandic Folk Magic: Witchcraft of the North is Albert Bjorn’s second book. Drawing on the same friendly and engaging style of his first book, Icelandic Plant Magic: Folk Herbalism of the North, Albert offers us an extensive grimoire of folk magical practices based on the Icelandic landscape. Incorporating elements of myth and lore, along with his own tried and true magical techniques, Icelandic Folk Magic will add a highly workable system of operative charms, spells, and formulas to your practice.
Launched at Malliway Bros occult shop in Chicago, Illinois, 2024
Events
Over the years Albert has taught a number of classes, courses and workshops, at events both in person and online, on subjects ranging from the traditional folk magic of Iceland, to that of wider Northern Europe, magical herbalism and beyond.
Previous Events
Galdrafár á Ströndum: Icelandic Sorcery Festival - Holmavík, Iceland - 2024/25
Viridis Genii Symposium - Olympia, WA - 2024
Botanica Obscura Conference - Online - 2024/25
Salem Witch Fest - Online - 2023/24/25
Birka Historical Tattoo Festival - Birkö, Sweden - 2024/25/26
Foraging Folklore - The Mint House, Pevensey, Sussex - 2025
Icelandic Plant Magic - Black Moon Botanica, Edinburgh, Scotland - 2024
Bewitching Pevensey - The Mint House, Pevensey, Sussex - 2024
Íslensku Jurtagaldur - Grasagarður Reykjavíkur, Reykjavík, Iceland - 2025
Meet Me at the Border - Aalen, Germany - 2025
Copenhagen occult Club - Copenhagen, Denmark - 2025/26
For up to date event information, check out Albert’s Instagram.
Inked in Blood teaches two practical methods of crafting your own Icelandic magical staves. Create your own staves for love, money, healing and more. Learn how we can work rune and code alphabets from Icelandic grimoires, as well as utilise spirit communication to deepen our stave work. This class is for beginners as well as those who have tried making a few staves of their own but can't quite get the hang of it.
Upon purchase you'll receive the recording of this class.
This is a virtual purchase, so make sure you'd don't select any other shipping option.
In this class we will explore spiny, spikey and stony materia. And discuss methods to utilise these objects in our work. Both towards the obviously malefic, and the lesser used and thought of benefic methods of utilising this materia. We will some of our best known plant allies spines, needles and thorns. Roses, hawthorn, blackthorn, pine and juniper. As well as the use of animal talons, spikes, teeth and spines in the folk magic of Northern Europe. As well as outline a few of the uses of stones in Swedish and Icelandic practices. As usual I'll include a good bit of my own UPG scattered around along with my personal experiences of these workings and techniques.
We will cover, rose thorns, wolves teeth, cat's claws, hawthorn, juniper, blackthorn, staking footprints, swallow-stones, snake fangs, bees, sauna magic, magical staves and more.
Online Classes
In this online class we will discover black mirrors and aids for scrying, focusing on the Icelandic stave skuggsjá and others we will discuss different scrying aids and how we can go about crafting our own. From simple paper talismans to obsidian discs, we will cover a few different approaches and how we might utilise them within our divinatory practices.
This was an online class, held on Sunday 14th of December. You are purchasing access to a pre-recorded class.
Focusing on the magic of gamblers and those brave (or ruthless) enough to get what they want. This class will dive into the magic of dice-craft, bottling luck and calling fortune to smile upon us.
Icelandic magical staves, herbs and charms will be discussed, as we explore how to capture luck for ourselves. This class will explore how Northern European folk magic approaches the gaining and maintaining of luck and one's ability to win.
A 5-card spread to look over the general situation you wish to find clarity on, 3 to discover the origins and direction, and two to clarify the path forward and what advice might be needed going ahead.
As this is an online service, in the order form you will need to detail the situation you wish clarity on/the question you’re struggling with. I will then do the reading and let you know the results via email.
Divination Services
I offer divination services including Tarot, Lenormand as well as Icelandic sheep knuckle bone divination. Occasionally I also offers black mirror scrying, rune readings and other divination services.
A Lenormand style deck used to divine more direct answers to immediate questions and problems. Due to the nature of this style of divination, please give a good description of your current situation in the message box on the order form for best results.
The deck utilises Icelandic terms and staves to give a wider scope to the existing Lenormand style divination system.
Readings are sent via email.
Podcasts and Talks
Free Classes
I offer the occasional free class uploaded to my YouTube channel, which you can find by clicking the picture below.
Social Media
For up to date workings, blogs, and magical experimentation, feel free to check out my patreon. There I share all my video classes, monthly tarot readings and more. I also share self study courses, so far these have been focussed on medieval alchemy, folk magic and nordic traditions.
Patrons get access to all previously recorded classes just with the standard membership, so in becoming a patron you save yourself a lot of money for this alone.
