As a collection of scripts that can be used in magic for a little bit of variety from the usual runes or other magical alphabets, this alone makes the purchase of Rún worthwhile. These scripts are presented without comment and provenance, with only their names to hint intriguingly at function, such as the evocatively named demons’ script, völur runes, mound-dweller’s script, and various malrunar or speech runes. This exhaustive collection ranges from some that are obviously based on runes (though with some deviations from the standards and with the characters ordered in a Latin manner, rather than that of a futhark), to entirely unique ones that look more like cyphers, such as the Chest script with its rectangles surrounded by dashes, or the mysterious titled Ramvilla comprised of iterations of the same triangle differentiated with variously placed dots and dashes. Rún itself runs to 97 pages and begins with a listing of various magical scripts, a staggering 36 in all. Unfortunately as the images aren’t replicated within the text of the English translation, this can make for something of a lifeless reading, with the content of multiple pages listed as purely utilitarian entries down the pages (with formatting of titles undifferentiated from body copy), and often requiring a lot of flicking back and forth to understand what the transcription, rendered cryptic from lack of context, even refers to. The pages of Rún are presented as high quality, full colour scans on the same glossy stock used throughout the rest of the book, each with full bleed so that they run to the edge of the page, with the necessary evil of modern page number overlaid somewhat obtrusively at the bottom of each page. Strandagaldur presents Rún as a full facsimile, with the plates followed by an English translation of the grimoire’s text, along with a brief essay outlining the history of the manuscript, written in Icelandic and translated into a slightly abridged English version. Although they don’t share the title, the material in Rún also appears with some slight variations in at least two other manuscripts from the same period: one written by a fisherman, Finnbogi Bernódusson, and helpfully called Magical Signs Copied from a Manuscript from 1676, and another one, a “very old manuscript, yellowed and torn,” documented by the scholar Þorsteinn Konraðsson. It is not Petrina’s hand that is seen in the pages of Rún, though, and editor Magnús Rafnsson suggests the task may have been passed on to her fourteen year old sister Borghildur, who both wrote the text and replicated the accompanying images. Revealing a persistent interest in matters magical, the second book he had copied that year was a collection of healing recipes, both herbal and verse-based, the original of which was borrowed from one Sighvatur Grímsson Borgfirðingur and then transcribed by Magnús’ seventeen year old daughter Petrina. In addition to his farming, Magnús was an active community member as a district officer, a member of the county council and one of the founders of the local library. Rún was one of two books commissioned in 1928 by Magnús Steingrímsson, a farmer at Hóla in Steingrímsfjörður’s Staðardalur valley. Though such trials date as far back as the seventh century, Rún is a considerably more recent grimoire, written in the early 20 th century, but with material based on earlier antecedents. This grimoire facsimile is of the type mentioned frequently in Icelandic trials for magic and sorcery, of which a few survive. Learn more about our artists.Strandagaldur, the Museum of Icelandic Sorcery and Witchcraft in Hólmavík, Iceland, is not just a museum and home to the necropants, but also runs a small publishing house releasing works relevant to the museum’s theme. This way the lettering will stay dark even if the coin is carried daily.ĭesigned and engraved by Woody Maringer. The solid bronze coin is struck with an incuse design, in which the letters are lowered rather than raised. Use it to find the correct path to travel.Įncircling the Vegvísir is the runic transliteration of the Icelandic phrase, "Ég stoppar ekki Þegar Þreyttur, ég stoppar Þegar ég er búinn", which translates to, "I do not stop when tired, I stop when done." This wayfinder will help guide the holder through the rough journey of life. We created this coin to help guide us through modern moments of hafvilla. The vikings used the word " hafvilla" or "bewildered" which means to have no sense of direction or be lost at sea. The Vegvísir, or Norse compass, is an Icelandic magical stave, which, according to the Huld manuscript, protects one from losing their way in bad weather. ".if this sign is carried, one will never lose one's way in storms or bad weather, even when the way is not known." The Vegvísir Guides the Way Through the Storm
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