The Ribe healing stick (with
Rundata
The Scandinavian Runic-text Database () is a project involving the creation and maintenance of a database of transliterated runic inscriptions. The project's goal is to comprehensively catalog runestones in a machine-readable way for future resea ...
signum DR EM85;493, also known as DK SJy41) is a pinewood stick found at
Ribe
Ribe () is a town in south-west Jutland, Denmark, with a population of 8,367 (2025). It is the seat of the Diocese of Ribe. Until 1 January 2007, Ribe was the seat of both a surrounding municipality and county. It is now part of the enlarged E ...
,
Denmark
Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
, with a heavily pagan-inspired Christian spell. It dates to circa 1300 CE.
Description
Although ostensibly Christian, the
charm
Charm or Charms may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* The Charms, an American garage rock band
* Otis Williams and the Charms, an American doo-wop group
* The Charm (Bubba Sparxxx album), ''The Charm'' (Bubba Sparxxx album), 2006
* Charm (Danny! ...
written on the stick contains several native Germanic elements, such as alliteration and phrases also known from pagan poetry.
The phrase 'nine needs' (ni : no=uþær) appears in several explicitly pagan charms, such as the Swedish
Sigtuna plate 1
The Sigtuna amulet I or Sigtuna plate I (signum U Fv1933;134, also U Sl5 and S 5) is an 11th-century runic amulet found in 1931 in Sigtuna, Uppland.
Description
The amulet is a copper plate, 82 mm long, 27.5-29mm wide and 0.9mm thick. It wa ...
and the Icelandic spell-book
Galdrabók
The (, ''Book of Magic'') is an Icelandic grimoire dated to . It is a small manuscript containing a collection of 47 spells and sigils/staves.
The grimoire was compiled by four people, possibly starting in the late 16th century and going on un ...
. The term ''læknæshand'' ("healing hand") is found in a pagan prayer in the Icelandic poem
Sigrdrífumál
(also known as ) is the conventional title given to a section of the ''Poetic Edda'' text in .
It follows without interruption, and it relates the meeting of Sigurðr with the valkyrie Brynhildr, here identified as ("driver to victory").
...
, while the phrase "heavens above" or "high heaven" (uphimæn, literally "up-heaven") is used in
Vǫluspá and in Old Saxon and Old English religious poetry as well as in the inscription on the
Skarpåker Stone
The Skarpåker Stone, designated by Rundata as Sö 154, is a Viking Age memorial runestone that originally was located in Skarpåker, Nyköping, Sörmland, Sweden. It dates to the early eleventh century.
Description
The runestone was discovered ...
.
[ pp. 413-14.]
Inscription
The stick has five sides. The final part of line C (after ¶r) has been scraped off with a knife, but faint traces of the runes are still visible. The following readings are from the
Scandinavian Runic-text Database
The Scandinavian Runic-text Database () is a project involving the creation and maintenance of a database of transliterated runic inscriptions. The project's goal is to comprehensively catalog runestones in a machine-readable way for future researc ...
.
[ Note that because the fifth side only contains the words þæt : se, it has been included in line D.
]
Gallery
File:Kat nr 066 Pinne av trä, läkesticka, från Danmark - KMB - 16000300015547.jpg, Side 1, starting with ᛭ io=rþ : biþ a=k.
File:Kat nr 066 Pinne av trä, läkesticka, från Danmark - KMB - 16000300015546.jpg, Side 2, starting with uiuindnæ : þær.
File:Kat nr 066 Pinne av trä, läkesticka, från Danmark - KMB - 16000300015545.jpg, Side 3, starting with kumæ : suart.
File:Kat nr 066 Pinne av trä, läkesticka, från Danmark - KMB - 16000300015544.jpg, Side 4, starting with skulæ : huærki.
File:Kat nr 066 Pinne av trä, läkesticka, från Danmark - KMB - 16000300015543.jpg, Side 5, þæt : se ᛭.
See also
* Against a dwarf
* The 500-years older Ribe skull fragment
The Ribe skull fragment (DR EM85;151B in Rundata, also known as DK SJy39) is a section of human skull bone inscribed with runes and unearthed in 1973 in an archaeological excavation at Ribe, Denmark. It dates to circa 725 CE.
Description
The skul ...
.
References
{{reflist
Germanic paganism
Sources on Germanic paganism
Runic inscriptions
Historical runic magic
Archaeological discoveries in Denmark