Viking Lore Articles

You probably know that Vikings were excellent shipbuilders, but did you know that these ancient masters of the sea left no plans or instructions as to how to build their great long boats? Modern day ship builders interested in building replicas of the great long boats have had to depend simply on pictures, old Norse literature, and any preserved long ships found by archaeologists in the field. North America is known as Vineland by the Vikings. We know today that the Vikings were the first Europeans to reach North America and to trade with the native people there. Ancient Vikings...

Wolves are known for their keen intelligence, graceful strength, and their unbreakable bond to their family - their pack mates. Wolves live in challenging environments, but still, succeed as apex predators. What qualities do you think are admirable in this animal? Ancient Vikings respected wolves for these enduring qualities and relied on this animal as a sacred totem. Just as wolves hunt in packs and use their intellect to trap much larger prey, Vikings would use clever hunting methods to trap larger prey for their family group. Sometimes ancient Vikings even had encounters with wolves which would have been a...

Jera: (J or Y: A year, a good harvest.) The results of earlier efforts are realized. A time of peace and happiness, fruitful season. It can break through stagnancy. Hopes and expectations of peace and prosperity. The promise of success earned. Life cycle, cyclical pattern of the universe. Everything changes, in its own time. Jera Merkstave (Jera cannot be reversed, but may lie in opposition): Sudden setback, reversals. A major change, repetition, bad timing, poverty, conflict. Jera literally means “year” and “harvest”. In a more symbolic way it is a rune of success, of good and fruitful season coming to your life....

Fehu (F: Domestic cattle, wealth.) Possessions won or earned, earned income, luck. Abundance, financial strength in the present or near future. Sign of hope and plenty, success and happiness. Social success. Energy, foresight, fertility, creation/destruction (becoming). Fehu Reversed or Merkstave: Loss of personal property, esteem, or something that you put in effort to keep. It indicates some sort of failure. Greed, burnout, atrophy, discord. Cowardice, stupidity, dullness, poverty, slavery, bondage. Fehu, or the Cattle, the symbol of wealth and prosperity. This rune is the first Futhark rune and also its last one. In a wider sense, Fehu can also mean...