Hammer and Chains, take 2

After dedicating around half a year to nothing but my thesis, I'm finally able to breathe again. Stretching my legs in between reading and writing and ranting on the phone to my law friend, I stumbled across a curious little shop below ground level. In the window, in a display case with various silver pendants, was the most gorgeous, feminine knotwork-style Hammer. I had to own it. Lucky for me, the price was quite reasonable, too. It looks modern, with clean lines and actually has the right size for someone like me - pretty, but no overwhelming. Something I might even be able to wear to work. Jewellery for when I start at work somewhere will most definitely require some thought. I have no intentions of being a walking Asatru notice-board, but I feel naked without a Hammer or a Valknut, too. One of the suitable ones is a small, silver key-pendant, a "Key to Heaven". It's technically very early Christian, but I love it anyway. Another is a tiny Valknut pendant that's somewhere in the mail, due to arrive in a couple of weeks. I'll see if it actually fits on a chain, then.

My collection of Heathen jewellery keeps growing, slowly but surely. I guess it's a good thing I'm almost finished with university.

Dusty Jewels

Keys, for some reason, have been in high fashion the past couple of months. It probably goes with the fact that long necklaces with large pendants are very much a Thing right now. Black keys, golden keys, silver keys, keys with faceted crystals, all of them as very nice pendants on chains that are long enough to almost reach my navel in some cases. Being an utter sucker for anything sparkly, and having been on the lookout for something Frigga-related, I've been drooling over them for quite a while now.

I've looked at old keys on a couple of occasions - the big, heavy, several centuries old ones, except they're expensive as fuck. It would, however, match the antique spearhead I keep for Odin and the fire-steel I got for Thor. There's just something gorgeous and feminine about the jewellery keys, though. I bought one on sale already, a necklace with a cluster of items with the two main features being a key and a crown, which I found perfect for Frigga - Key to the Home and Queen of the Gods. I've been sighing over more, though. Several bronze coloured ones covered in crystals, because they're gorgeous and feminine and just look right. Modern stuff or old stuff? I still really haven't decided.

Everything Heathen-related I have seem to fall within those two categories, actually. If it isn't very old, it's practically brand new. And the new doesn't include books. My Danish books tend to be old. 1911 print, in the case of one Edda, 18-something (but new reprint) in another. I have, I think, two recent books on Heathenry. One was good, and the other I wasn't that impressed with. I'm not interested in most modern Asatru books as a whole. I've noticed a few interesting ones I've been unable to get in Europe, but most just don't seem to click based on summaries and excerpts. I like to read books from the 1950s and just shift through the Christianity-influenced POV. I love the lore, and I can pick up a ton of interesting, quirky things from various old-as-hell mythology books. Maybe they're not politically correct, maybe they're almost downright offensive in places, but they're fun and they give a view that hasn't been through the filter of however many Heathens and Lokeans and Asatru who helped give their input and arguments. In many ways, the modern books are just as biased as the old ones, they're just biased in a different way.

Plus, the rare few drawings in the old ones are just gorgeous. I'm a sucker for pretty stuff.

Hammer and Chains

I'll admit it: I'm a sucker for jewellery. Silver, mostly - I love gold, gold is shiny and beautiful and so very nice, but I have the wrong looks for it, so silver it is, occasionally with bronze. I love hammers, too - gorgeous Thor's Hammers with just the right combo of weight and design, and I'm lucky in that regard as you can find those in just about every regular jewellery store over here (it certainly helps on the price, too). The only problem is finding one that wasn't meant for people twice my size. I'm not 6'2, bearded, and built like the Thunder God himself. It's that image thing again - those gorgeous, old-fashioned Mjollnirs look perfect on some people (usually men) but they'd look completely out of place on me.

In passing in a store, back in December, I noticed someone with a designer-style necklace in bronze or something similar - small coins, bronze beads, several thin chains, the whole nine yards - and as the centrepiece was a Mjollnir in bronze as well. I've never seen anything like that necklace around here and I'm guessing it was a custom piece but to me, it looked perfect. It was unique enough, with enough thought put into it, that I doubt it was just a fashion statement or because it looked cool.

It was modern, really. And I think that's what I liked the most about it - that it wasn't like most people you see wearing a hammer, that it was someone who made it their own and made it fit their own style. That's the kind of Hammer I adore the most. And that's the kind of Hammer I'll fall for every time I see one.