A comprehensive grimoire of correspondences, substitutions, and symbolic equivalents in Viking Trolldom
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Foretale: The Language of Layers
In the old ways of the North, magic was never literal — it was symbolic, poetic, and layered with meaning. The völva and the cunning folk understood that all things possess hamr (form) and hugr (spirit), and that one could stand in place of another if the essence remained true.
This is the art of kenning in magic — just as the skalds called the sea "whale-road" and gold "Freyja's tears," so too did the practitioners of trolldom speak in riddles and substitutions. What appears to be one thing conceals another truth beneath.
This guide reveals the hidden tongue of Nordic sorcery, where nothing is quite as it seems, and everything resonates with deeper significance.
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I. Blóð og Lífi — Blood and Life Force
The Sacred Substance
In ancient practice, blood (blóð) was the ultimate carrier of life force, ancestry, and personal power. It sealed oaths, consecrated runes, and fed the spirits. Yet in modern practice, we honor the essence without the literal sacrifice.
Symbolic Substitutions for Blood:
Red Wine (Most Common)
- Why it works: The color, the richness, the fermentation process that transforms — wine carries the spirit of sacrifice without harm
- When to use: Consecrating tools, feeding talismans, sealing petitions, offerings to ancestors
- Traditional note: Mead is even more powerful, being sacred to Odin and the gods
Red Ochre or Iron Oxide Paint
- Why it works: The earth's blood, the same pigment our ancestors used in cave paintings and burial rites
- When to use: Marking runes permanently, painting sigils on stone or wood
- Preparation: Mix powder with water or oil
Pomegranate Juice
- Why it works: Ancient symbol of life, death, and rebirth; deep crimson like heart's blood
- When to use: Workings involving transformation, underworld journeys, women's mysteries
Beetroot Juice
- Why it works: Earth-grown, blood-red, stains like true blood
- When to use: Folk magic, hedge witchery, practical substitution
Red Ink (Dragon's Blood Ink)
- Why it works: The resin of dragon's blood carries protective and empowering properties
- When to use: Writing petitions, drawing sigils, marking boundaries
- Recipe: Grind dragon's blood resin, mix with alcohol (vodka or rubbing alcohol) and gum arabic
Your Own Spit (Mixed with Red Wine)
- Why it works: Saliva carries your DNA, your essence, your hamr
- When to use: Personal workings where your unique signature is required
- Note: This honors bodily sovereignty — nothing taken that the body doesn't freely give
When Literal Blood IS Used (Rarely):
Only in the most serious of oaths, the most personal of bindings:
- A single drop from a finger prick (lancet, sterile)
- Menstrual blood (freely given, most powerful for women's magic)
- Always with reverence, never wastefully
- Always with clear intent and understanding of the weight
The Old Law: Blood calls to blood. Use it wisely, for once spilled, it cannot be taken back.
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II. Líkami og Hluti — Body and Personal Concerns
The Power of the Personal
In trolldom, anything connected to a person carries their hamingja (personal luck/spirit). These are called "personal concerns" or "links."
Safe and Ethical Personal Concerns:
Hair (Hár)
- Your own: supremely powerful, freely given
- Another's: only with explicit permission, never taken by stealth
- Use: Placed in mojo bags, wrapped in petitions, buried in earth workings
- Color significance: Red hair for passion, dark for grounding, light for clarity
Nail Clippings (Neglur)
- Your own: excellent for self-transformation work
- Cut during waxing moon for growth work, waning for banishing
- Burn or bury after magical use; never leave vulnerable
Saliva (Munnvatn)
- Mix into inks, anoint candles, add to jars
- Most intimate form of marking something as "yours"
Handwriting (Skrif)
- Your signature carries your authority
- Write your name nine times on petition paper
- The motion of your hand imprints your will
Worn Clothing Scraps (Föt)
- A thread from a garment worn close to skin
- Carries your scent, your warmth, your daily energy
- Never use someone else's without permission
Photographs (Modern Tool)
- Face-up for blessing, face-down for binding
- Placed under candles, in jars, buried in earth work
- Write name on back in your own hand
Breath (Andi)
- Breathe onto objects to charge them
- Three breaths or nine breaths (sacred numbers)
- Your breath carries your önd, your life-spirit
What We NEVER Use:
- Bodily waste (urine, feces) — degrading, contrary to Northern honor culture
- Anything taken without consent — violates reciprocity, the heart of Northern ethics
- Sexual fluids without mutual sacred context — these are too powerful for casual use
The Old Law: What is freely given holds true power. What is stolen carries poison for both parties.
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III. Jarðefni og Málmur — Earth Substances and Metals
The Bones of the World
The North was built on stone, iron, and the bones of giants. Each substance carries specific virtues.
Grave Dirt (Grafarjörð)
What it truly is: Soil from graveyards, cemetery earth
Why it's used: Connection to ancestors, the dead, underworld power, chthonic energy
How to gather ethically:
1. Never from a fresh grave (disrespectful, unstable energy)
2. Only from old, well-tended cemeteries
3. Leave an offering: coin, flowers, whiskey, tobacco
4. Take only a small amount (palmful)
5. Ask permission from the spirits of the place
6. Preferred: from your own ancestor's graves (with permission from living family)
Uses in trolldom:
- Protection work (the dead guard the living)
- Justice work (calling on ancestral witness)
- Necromancy and ancestor veneration
- Grounding extremely powerful magic
Substitution if uncomfortable: Soil from beneath an ancient tree, earth from crossroads, ash from your own hearth
Crossroads Dirt (Vegamótajörð)
What it represents: Liminal space, choice, Odin the Wanderer, Mercury/Wotan energy
How to gather:
- From actual crossroads (preferably rural, where paths truly cross)
- At dawn or midnight (liminal times)
- Leave offering of three coins
- Take from the center where paths intersect
Uses:
- Road opening work
- Decision magic
- Communication with spirits who walk between worlds
- Removing obstacles
Substitution: Dirt from your own threshold (where inside meets outside)
Iron (Járn)
The Troll-Slayer, the Elf-Bane
Why it's powerful: Iron cuts through illusion, breaks harmful magic, grounds chaotic energy
Historical note: Trolls and hidden folk cannot abide iron
Forms used in magic:
- Iron nails: Driven into ward posts, placed in bottles, buried at corners
- Horseshoe: Hung above doors (open end up to "hold" luck)
- Iron filings: Fed to lodestones, sprinkled in protection work
- Railroad spikes: Boundary markers, heavy grounding work
- Knife or blade: Ritual tool, cuts cords, severs unwanted connections
Uses:
- Protection against malevolent magic
- Grounding after spiritual work
- Cutting cords and attachments
- Strengthening will and boundaries
Salt (Salt)
The Purifier
Types and uses:
- Sea salt: Most powerful, contains ocean's primordial memory
- Black salt (homemade): Mix sea salt with ash from protection incense, adds banishing power
- Himalayan pink salt: Gentle, nurturing protection
Applications:
- Lines at thresholds (keeps out negativity)
- In ward bottles
- Cleansing baths
- Floor washes
- Cast in circles for sacred space
The Old Law: Salt preserves, salt purifies, salt protects. But salt also sterilizes — use it wisely in fertility or growth work.
Ash (Aska)
The Residue of Transformation
Types:
- Hearth ash: Home protection, ancestral connection
- Incense ash: Carries the virtue of the herbs burned
- Paper ash: Petitions burned to send wishes to the gods
- Wood ash (specific trees):
- Oak: Strength, doorways, Thor's protection
- Rowan: Protection against magic, anti-hex
- Ash tree: World Tree connection, cosmic axis
- Birch: New beginnings, purification
Uses:
- Mixed with salt for black salt
- Added to floor washes
- Drawn as protective marks
- Scattered at crossroads as offering
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IV. Jurtir og Runnar — Herbs and Their Hidden Names
The Green Allies
In trolldom, every plant is both medicine and magic. The naming of herbs often conceals their true purpose.
Protective Herbs (Hlífðarjurtir):
Juniper (Einir)
- Hidden name: "Troll-bane," "Spirit-cleanser"
- Uses: Smoke cleansing, protection, purification
- Why: Grows in harsh Northern climates, hardy, sharp-needled
- Preparation: Burn dried berries and needles as incense
Rowan (Reynir)
- Hidden name: "Witch-wood," "Protection-tree"
- Uses: Anti-hex, protection against harmful magic
- Why: Sacred to Thor, red berries like drops of blood
- Preparation: Carry berries, carve wands from branches, hang above doors
Mugwort (Mungát)
- Hidden name: "Dream-weaver," "Traveler's friend"
- Uses: Psychic protection, prophetic dreams, astral travel
- Why: Associated with Artemis and moon goddesses, protective mother energy
- Preparation: Smoke before sleep, stuff in dream pillows, bathe before ritual