The Eddas - Creation

The world as we know it was created from the death and dismemberment of Ymir...considered the first and greatest giant. Discrepancies occur as it is indicated that before Ymir there were other giants and the Aesir from a world not born and yet in the making.

 

However, here we establish the creation of the world. Evolution Norse style.

 

The rivers flowed and they in turn were so far from their sources they caused the poisonous flow of the fires of Muspell (Chaos?). These fires were turned to a slag of cinders and the ice solidified and no longer ran. They turned into poisonous drops and froze into an icy rime (hoarfrost).

 

Layer by layer an ice grew on Ginnungagap (the ether regions, the void). The southern regions turned light from the sparks and embers flowing from Gunningagap. Still there was coldness and things grim from Niflheim.

 

From this sprang a man called Ymir, a frost giant. From him he established the clan. He bore his children. From his left arm grew a male and female, from his legs, he begot a son by their union. From this came the Frost giants.

 

*****

 

Ymir lived on the milk of the cow Audhumla. Four rivers came from her udders.

 

She licked the salt from the ices and thus the hair of a man appeared. He was Buri. Soon after he took a wife called Bestla the daughter of Bolthron (giant). They had three sons: Bor, Odin, Ve and Vili.

 

Bor killed Ymir and from his blood the race was drowned. Except one who escaped with his household, Bergelmir.

 

From Ymir's body, after taking it to Ginnungagap they took his blood, thus the sea and lakes were formed. From his flesh the earth; from his bones, mountain cliffs. The stones were from his teeth and broken bones. With the blood they made the sea and contained the earth. From his skull, the sky. Under each point they placed a dwarf. The embers and sparks that were made they placed in the sky to light Heaven and Earth. This was before earth was created.

 

From Ymir's flesh

was the earth created,

from the bloody sweat, the sea,

cliffs from bones,

trees from hair,

and from the head, the heavens.

 

And from his eyelashes

the gentle gods made

Midgard for the sons of men;

and from his brains

all the oppressive

clouds were formed.

(The lay of Grimnir)

New Lines from The Silver Bough

The Silver Bough will soon be introducing three new lines of handmade designed items to our shop.

Valknut Sculptures: these beautifully crafted small 3D oak sculptures will be mounted on a polished Black Walnut base. For shipping purposes and convenience to our customers, the sculptures will be mounted on the base by a thin copper ‘stand’ which is detachable from the base. All Valknuts are hand made and finished.

Wooden Hanging Runes: Each rune is made to order. Again these runes are fashioned in oak and handcrafted. A brass fixing at the top with a suede leather thong will allow you to hang these where you feel appropriate. Each choice of rune is unique to the buyer.

Handcrafted Cards: Yggdrasil and Runic cards. Each card is individually handcrafted. There will be differences between each due to the uniqueness and handmade nature of each Yggdrasil (Life Ash – Norse Tree of life, which encompasses the Nine Worlds) and runic cards. Each card will be supplied with an envelope and a plastic sleeve to protect them. They will be sold individually (free P&P) or in boxed groups of ten.

 Along with these new items, of course, we have our beautiful silver pendants: Runic, Ogham and Jorgmangund, the World Serpent.  

Commissions considered on any other design which you might require. This does not exclude non-Norse or non-Celtic designs.

Valknuts roasting on an open fire

The Valknut (the translation is Old Norse meaning valr (slain warrieros) and knut (knot).
It is a symbol consisting of three interlocking triangles, which appear in a unicursal and tricural form. There are various theories proposed for its significance. The name Valknut is a modern invention which describes the symbol. It was not used when the symbol was originally used. 

Authentically the triangles are joined in two ways:

Borromean:

Unicursal:

This symbol has been found in unicursal form on many stones such as the 7^th c Tängelgarda stone from Gotland, Sweden, in tricursal form on the Lärbro stone in Gotland, on a ring in the River Nene in England and on a bedpost from the Oseberg ship burial, Slagen Norway. There have been comparisons made to the three-horned symbol inscribed on the 9th century Snoldelev Stone.



In chapter 17 of the 13th c Prose Edda book Skáldskaparmál there is the following description of the heart of the Jötunn Hrungnir.
 (a giant who challenges the gods);
 "Hrungnir had a heart that was famous. It was made of hard stone with three sharp-pointed corners just like the carved symbol hrungnishjarta, Hrungnir's Heart."


The Valknut occurs in a central and predominant position on the Stora Hammars I Stone.

 It appears alongside the images which have been interpreted as Odin with his characteristic spear Gungir thrusting another figure into a burial mound while a raven (the bird attributed to Odin) is overhead and another man is hanged. 

In the above photograph Odin is shown riding Sleipnir (the eight legged horse and son of Loki from a rather nefarious liasison with a giant’s stallion Svadilfari. The Valknuts are drawn beneath Sleipnir. (Photograph of the Tängelgarda Stone.)

Dr. Hilda Roderick Ellis Davidson theorises a connection between the valknut and mental bonds . Dr Roderick Ellis (1914- 2006) was an English antiquarian and an academic, who wrote on Germanic and Celtic paganism. Dr Davidson relied on literary, historical and archaeological theory and evidence in her research on the stories and customs of Northern Europe. She wrote the book Gods and Myths of Northern Europe (Penguin Books, 1964). Dr Ellis Davidson is considered one of the most reputable sources on the myths of Northern Europe and Germany.

In one of her theories, she cites that beside a figure of Odin on his horse, which is shown on several memorial stones, there is a knot shown which is referred to as the valknut, and is related to the triskele. It is thought to symbolise the power to bind and unbind by the gods. This is mentioned in the poems and in other sources. Odin was attributed with the power to lay ‘bonds’ upon the mind. With this men became helpless when in battle. He could loosen these bonds of fear by the gifts of  inspiration ,  madness in battle (berserkers) and intoxication.

Due to the fact that the symbol (valknuter) is inscribed on stones with Odin and also on burial gifts (Oseberg ship burial) it has been theorised that the symbol may have been associated with religious practices associated with death.

Branching out : Ogham pendants

The website has been up and running for a while now, and we are still waiting for our first order from a stranger (we have had a couple of orders from friends). Still, I suppose these things take time. Our Adwords campaign is getting plenty of interest, but no conversions as of yet.

Our main news for this week is our first tentative steps into creating Ogham jewellery. We have designed and created an Ogham pendant based around the ancient Celtic method of writing along the edge of standing stones. Photos will appear on the website as soon as the finishing process is complete.

We have also tried our hand at a pair of rune earrings that have worked out quite nicely. The diversification of The Silver Bough is under way.

And so it begins!

So, it's official. We are a business. We have taken two orders for rune pendants and are currently in the process of filling those orders. Sól and Raido.

Our sales department have created a rather splendid invoice template, and we have our packaging material already, so we are ready to proceed.

All we need now is about 50 orders a day... so whenever you're ready world...

Rune of the day

Hagalaz
Modern equivalent - H

Hagalaz signifies hail, often seen as a symbol of damage and destruction, or a warning of illness.

The Silver Bough Launch!

So, we couldn't procrastinate any longer. The Silver Bough website has been launched.
The champagne has been guzzled, the cake has been cut and consumed. We are online and now we wait. We wait for the orders for rune pendants and rune sets to come flooding in.
Well actually, if we just wait it's unlikely anything will come flooding anywhere. The hard work really begins now. Marketing, SEO, link building... it all has to be done and done well.

Still, in the meantime, we'll take you through the main areas of The Silver Bough website as it is.

The homepage contains a slideshow of our runic creations, as well as links to the main areas of our site.

We have a gallery of some of our favourite rune photos.

The runes page is the place to go for information about the various rune systems we have been inspired by, including The Elder Futhark, The Younger Futhark and Joanne Harris's wonderful novel, Runemarks.

Last but not least you can visit our online shop to have a browse through our wares, which at the moment consists of fine silver rune pendants as well as rune sets made from naturally sourced pebbles.
We will soon be expanding our creations to include wooden rune sets, silver rune rings, charm bracelets, ogham jewellery, and creations based on Norse mythology.

So that's our site as it stands. We hope you visit and enjoy and keep coming back to watch as we evolve.

It's a great detour to a bad friend's house, 
even though he lives on the route;
but to a good friend's the ways lie straight,
even though he lives far off. 
-Sayings of The High One (Poetic Edda)

SEO - Seriously Enormous Overhaul

We're back. Yes it has been a while, we're sorry.
So the first thing you want to know is, did we get the website online on midsummer's eve? Well, yes, we did!
And since then it's been all about tweaking it and refining it and getting it to work with as many different types of browser as possible (AOL, we're looking at you!).

So anyway, the website is online, but we aren't actually in business yet, though if someone stumbles across our site by accident and orders something then we are fully equipped to fulfill their order.
What we are doing now is that wonderful process called Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This has revealed itself to be an art form in its own right and has necessitated the buying of several books on the subject. Once we have fully implemented SEO though, it should be well worth it and we will sit back and watch the orders flooding in.

If anyone wants to have a look at the website the URL can be found below. Enjoy!

The Silver Bough - Rune Pendants & Rune Sets