The complete Icelandic staves / Ásatrú symbol series.
(Artwork 2015)
Reupload of one of my most popular posts.
Each artwork is representing an element. They are presented here in the following order : fire, earth, metal, water, wood and air. The symbols are accompanied by stanzas of the Hávamál or Völuspá, written in runes.
Disclaimer for purists : admittedly for aesthetic effect only, as these runes are Elder Futhark and thus predates the viking era by a few centuries. (Let’s not even go into the subject of Icelandic staves which are even a lot younger than that). The transcription is also a wild approximation, again accuracy wasn’t a concern during the creative process.
Cattle die and kinsmen die,
thyself too soon must die,
but one thing never, I ween, will die
fair fame of one who has earned.
Happy is he who hath in himself
praise and wisdom in life;
for oft doth a man ill counsel get
when ‘tis born in another’s breast
Hard is it in the world,
great whoredom,
an axe age, a sword age,
shields shall be cloven,
a wind age, a wolf age,
ere the world sinks.
He welcomes the night who has enough provisions
Short are the sails of a ship,
Dangerous the dark in autumn,
The wind may veer within five days,
And many times in a month.
5) Wood : Varnarstafur Valdemars
An ash I know, Yggdrasil its name,
With water white is the great tree wet;
Thence come the dews that fall in the dales,
Green by Urth’s well does it ever grow.
Thought and Memory each morning fly
Over the vast earth:
Thought, I fear, may fail to return,
But I fear more for Memory.
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