Sacred Symbols: Thor’s Hammer

It’s Protection & Defence Month over at @witch.with.me and this week’s prompt is home protection.

Displayed here is our Thor’s Hammer, created for us and given to us by a good friend. It was created with protection in mind, and it hangs in the entrance hall of our home. The famous weapon belonging to Thor was not only a symbol of destructive power, but also one of protection against the forces of evil and violence.

The reason we were given a hammer, and not a different protective symbol, is for several reasons. The friend who created it for us hails from Orkney, once a seat of great power in the Norse empire, and it reflects our time spent there, our residence in the Danelaw, plus our own Scandinavian heritage. It also nods to the fact that we have spent some time in the past as Viking reenactors.

Orkney remained part of a Scandinavian kingdom until 1468 when the islands were pawned to the Scottish Crown by Christian I of Denmark as a dowry for his daughter’s  marriage to James III of Scotland. If you ever get a chance to visit Orkney it has some amazing places - the Brough of Birsay, the Broch of Gurness, Maeshowe Chambered Cairn, Skara Brae, the Ring of Brodgar, and St Magnus Cathedral; the medieval cathedral at the heart of the Earldom of Orkney.

Until we get back to those shores, our hammer will keep us safe!

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