Magic things

The Thorshammer
The Thorshammer Mjollnir is carried today by many people with different religions. It's not as popular today as it was a few years ago (or during the Viking age). It is a strong protection amulet close connected with Thor, the protector of the farmers and the enemy of the giants. The hammer was also used to consecrate married couples and at funerals. About fifty hammers made of silver, but also bronze, amber and iron have been found. Mostly in gold treasures or graves. Thorshammers from graves are often attached to a ring. This could be because they were not meant to be carried by a living human, it was made as a grave gift. The Vikings also carried the Thorshammer as a sign that they were not Christian. I guess that the Thorshammer got more popular when the Christians came, just because they wanted to show them that they sticked to their own, old religion (and this wasn't very important to show when there were no other religions). Mjollnir Thor

The Wolfcross
There are several different opinions about the wolfcross' meaning. Some say that it's strictly heathen even though it has a cross. Others say that people who had converted to Christianity, but still wanted to remember Odin and his wolves carried it. In this time it was pretty common that Christians got home from church starting to carve runes just to be sure to get somewhere when they had died. A third explanation about the cross is that the carrier accepts the Christian society, but still believes in the old gods. Then we have some saying it is A Christian symbol. Few wolfcrosses have been found from the Viking Age (but none from other eras). Freki Geri Odin

Frey miniature
The gods were often sculptured in bigger format to use at sacrifice ceremonies, but some small figures have also been found. Tiny metal or silver sculptures of the fertilitygod Frey was carried by the vikings in the moneypocket to make the money more. Frey

Tool miniatures
Many miniatures of axes, scythes, sickles, spears and tiny gands have been found. The material is often silver, but there are also iron, bronze and amber tools. Sometimes there is a hole in it for having in a chain around the neck. These tools could also hang together in a metalring. Even small Thorshammers was put on these "collector rings". The small spears symbolized Odin's spear Gungnir and the scythes and sickles were a symbol of the fertilitygod Frey or Thor, the protector of the humans. The tiny silver gands represented the magicgand used by sejdwomen to drum. Frey Gungnir Mjollnir Odin Thor

Amulets
Amulets could be small metalpieces with runeinscriptions or a single stone, shaped by the water, with one chosen rune or nothing at all on it. It was often carried round the neck in a leatherband. The amulets often had a hole right through it. One special water shaped, glimmering stone was called "havsnjuren" (in English "sea kidney"). A stone like that should be a part of the fertilitygoddess Freya's Brising necklace. The stones with runeinscriptions often contained magic rune spells (galders) with a protecting or blessing effect. All types of heathen amulets were strictly forbidden in the church. Brising Freya

Symbols
Symbols could be used for a lot of different things. The were like runes often carved into personal property or in jewellery for reasons as protection, beauty or just to know who the owner was. The Odin knot is built by three triangles and symbolizes the holy nine (there are nine worlds and Odin learned nine runesongs when he hung in Yggdrasil). Another symbol is the pentagram, the stone heart of the giant Rungnir. This symbol means chaos but also that both good and evil is needed. Rungnir Odin