Description
Veldismagn pendant: one of the galdrastafir seals whose name, Veldismagn, literally means "to increase strength". Reported in several manuscripts including the lbs 4375 8vo and attested since the 17th century, its intricate and complex design is accompanied by the description: "Nothing evil will hurt you, and you will return home safe and sound, whether you travel by sea or by land."
Galdrastafir (From "galdra", "magic") are ancient Icelandic magical seals, whose origin probably dates from the late Middle Ages. The first appearances of these Norse symbols is indeed testify around 1400, but quickly they consolidate and spread throughout Iceland inheriting a long and strong secular tradition of magical wisdom. Galdrastafir appear in fact as complex graphic processing of ancient pagan symbols and, in some cases, combined and intertwined with the new Christian symbolism. Galdrastafir unite in a single seal pagan, norse, runic, mythological, folkloric, and in some cases Christians symbols and elements.
