Also called trollkors, Swedish troll cross, troll cross amulet
A ring of iron bent so its ends cross and curl, sold as an ancient Scandinavian charm against trolls and evil magic. The jewelry form is a modern invention by a Swedish smith in the late 1990s, though iron charms and protective house marks in Sweden are genuinely old.
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Take care: Raw iron rusts and can mark skin or clothes; seal it or wear it over fabric. Keep candle flames away from hair and loose sleeves.
The wearable troll cross was first made by the smith Kari Erlands of western Dalarna in the late 1990s. She said it copied a protective mark from her grandparents' farm, which has not been verified, and it may have been a farm house-mark rather than a charm. Its shape also resembles the othala rune.
Scandinavian folklore holds that trolls and other hostile beings fear iron. Steel knives, scissors or nails were laid in cradles and over doors, which is the genuine belief the modern troll cross draws on.
Crosses and marks carved or painted on gateposts and storehouses in Uppland were meant to guard people, animals and stored food from malicious magic. In this sense troll meant sorcery more than a creature. These marks are a different thing from the bent-iron pendant.
The troll cross is a good example of folklore being born in living memory. The bent-iron pendant sold in shops and online was first made in the late 1990s by Kari Erlands, a smith from western Dalarna in Sweden. She said it reproduced a protective sign found on her grandparents' farm, but no one has confirmed this, and one suggestion is that she mistook a family house-mark for a charm. Within a few years the design spread through neopagan circles and fantasy fiction as an ancient Norse amulet.
The belief it rests on is real. Scandinavian folk tradition held that trolls, the underground folk and other malicious beings could not abide iron, so a steel knife in the cradle or a nail over the door kept them away. In Uppland, protective crosses on gateposts and food stores were recorded into the early 20th century and studied by Nils Ålenius in the 1940s. So the troll cross is a new object carrying an old idea, and it can be worn honestly as exactly that.
A small pendant shaped like the hammer of the Norse god Thor, worn for protection and strength. Hundreds of real hammer amulets survive from Viking Age Scandinavia, most from the 10th century, and the symbol is worn today by followers of modern Heathenry and anyone drawn to Norse heritage.
Two rowan twigs bound into an equal-armed cross with red thread and placed over doors, byres and cradles to keep witches and fairies out.
An endless interlaced knot of four loops, drawn, carved or tied as a protective sign over doors and worn as a pendant. The design is popular in modern witchcraft, but its specific witch's-knot lore is recent; the older relative is the Nordic looped square called Saint John's arms.
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