Rustic Silver Valknut Ring

 This Valknut was not made as a racist symbol, nor is it being sold as one. But with that said, there are certain groups of people who would like to place their own false meaning on it. We are NOT those people and we do not condone the use of the Valknut as a racist symbol.

Now that we have gotten that out of the way, let us learn about what we actually DO know about the Valknut 🙂

The word “Valknut” is a rather modern word and we lack understanding of the Proto-Germanic or Proto-Norse term for it. It could derive from Old Norse “valr”, a “slain warrior”, knut for “knot) It is likely that the symbols itself was not called “Valknut” during the 8th to 11th Century Viking Age: The time when medieval Scandinavian tribes of Germanic origin went abroad to go “on a Viking”.

We do have archaeological evidence, though, such as from the Brompton hogback stone and it appear to be that there were two different types of a “Valknut”, such as the unicursal and the tricursal. We also find it on the 7th century rune stone from Tängelgårda, Gotland in Sweden.

Trinity symbols can be found all over Europe, especially in Celtic speaking cultures which are also of Indo-European origin, just like the Norse-Germanic tradition. It could be that it represents birth, life, death. The myth of life, death and rebirth is an ancient pagan myth that goes far back in time, back to the Stone Age.

Trinity symbols can be traced from the Neolithic period to the Anglo-Saxon period such as the Triskele symbols. The exact meaning of the symbol is still up to research and nothing definite is known up until know.

Most of the Norse Myths were compiled during the 13th Century and the Prose Edda says in Chapter 17 that the heart of the Jötunn Hrungnir had “three sharp-pointed corners”. Another hypothesis might be that the Valknut is related to Odin and his powers, to perform magical spells as a sorcerer and shaman. Odin has overcome death and has found the “secrets” while hanging from Yggdrasil which appears to be a myth of shamanic initiation.

Since the Valknut symbol appears to be on burial gifts, it very well may be related to life, death and rebirth, overcoming death and rising from the depths of Hel and the Underworld in order to become the Archetype that Odin was for the Germanic people. He teaches that the mind is powerful, it can travel like Huginn and Muninn, it can grasp the secrets of life and death, reflected in the Runes.