CONTRARY IN REYKJAVÍK
4 5 This is a call To those who want to see The beauty of opposites In the land of contrary The glacier over the volcano and The ridge under the sea Concealed magic against witchery Oh, the irony! Parallel to us is the folk, Hulda! Believe do we but do not see Here i invite you to come with me On this journey to the Norðurey CONTRARY IN REYKJAVÍK
6 7 Once upon a time, God asked Eve, the mother of all living, to show him her children. He told her to have them ready at a specific time and place, washed and freshly combed, and as well dressed as possible. Eve was happy to comply with God’s wishes, but because she had so many children she did not want to spend time getting them all ready. So she chose a few of each gender that she considered less present- able than the others and hid them in a cave. She closed the entrance to the cave so that they could not escape, and took the others to be inspected by God. Seeing her children, God asked Eve if there were any more. Eve replied that there were not. God said: “Those that you want to hide from your God will henceforth be hidden from you, your husband and all your descendants, except those that I choose to be exempt. From this day on they shall be of no use to you, nor shall they give you any enjoyment.” Once in bygone days, all the people from a certain farm went to even- song on New Year’s Eve, save for one maidservant who was made to stay at home to watch over the farm. Soon after everyone had left, the maidservant heard a commotion and then a knocking at the door. She took a light and went to answer it, and found outside a large group of hidden men and women who invited her to dance with them, which she gratefully accepted. After she had danced for a while, the elves murdered her. She lay dead in the doorway when the other farm residents came from church. The same incident repeated itself the following New Year’s Eve. ON THE ORIGIN OF HIDDEN PEOPLE PARALLEL Back in the days, life revolved around two basic needs: food and warmth. Neither of those was readily available. People were at the mercy of the elements. A bad summer means starvation and one volcanic eruption means mass death. Under such soul-crushing conditions, how did people soldier on? People told each other stories. In some, the hero took on formidable adversaries like ghosts or outlaws. In others a world existed parallel to their own. This was the world of the »Huldufólk«, the hidden people. THE ELF ADORNMENT All the farm residents went to church, except for one maidservant who remained at home. After a time she heard a great ruckus, as the other maidservant had. There was a pounding at the door, and outside she found the same visitors as had been there the previous New Years’ Eve.The elves were boisterous in the extreme, and with much glee invited the maiden to dance with them. This ended with the hidden people cutting off her head on the farmhouse threshold, and that is how the farm residents found her when they returned from church. On the third New Year’s Eve, everyone left the farm as before, except for one maidservant. When the people had gone she swept the floor and placed lights throughout the house wherever possible. Then she sat down to read. After a while she began to hear loud noises and a strange commotion. There was a knocking at the door, but she ig- nored it and continued reading. Next the elves came into the Baðstofa and tried to entice her to dance. She ignored them. They greatly admired how tidy everything was, and also the determination with which she read her book. The elves passed the night in the Baðstofa, engaged in frenzied dancing. When dawn finally came the maidservant said: “Thank God it is daybreak.” This so shocked the elves that they instantly made to leave. Before going, one of the hidden men placed a chest on the floor, which he asked the maiden to accept. He told her that she should use the adornment contained within it on her wedding day. The elves then vanished and the maiden kept the chest, telling no one of its existence. A short while later the farm residents returned and were greatly relieved to find the maidservant safe and sound, even if the house was bedlam from the carousing of the elves. Much later, when the maidservant was preparing to wed, she opened the chest as the elves had instructed and found a woman’s dress sewn with gold thread, and a gold ring. She is said to have been ex- ceptionally beautiful in her elf adornment. From approximately 1300 onward, Icelandic authorities – meaning the church and king – took great pains to ban dancing, as they believed, it lowered people‘s inhibitions and led to all sorts of debauchery, which was synonymous with unwanted pregnancies. Those had to be avoided at all costs, for the simple reason that there was not enough food to feed everyone already in the world. After a couple of centuries of feeble prohibitions, dancing was unequivocally outlawed in Iceland from the early 1700s until the late 1800s. My thought is that stories like this one may have been “floated out there” to warn against the evils of dancing. The propaganda of the day, if you will. WORLDS
8 9 In the east – it is said to have been in Oddi – a girl was fetching laundry in the churchyard one evening when she was approached by a man whom she did not know. He took her by the hand and asked her to come with him, saying that no harm would come to her, “but if you do not come you will experience a change in your fortune.” The girl did not dare refuse him, and so complied. They walked until they reached a farmhouse – or so she thought, though it was actually a hillock. They went to the door and he led her inside through a long tunnel, until they came to the badstofa. It was dark at one end, and there was a light burning at the other. A woman lay on the floor moaning, clearly in dis- tress as she struggled to give birth. An old woman, deeply troubled, sat next to her. The man who had brought the girl now spoke: “Go and help my wife so that she can give birth to the child.” The older woman left the room, and the girl went to where the wom- an lay on the floor. She laid hands on her, as she felt was needed. The woman was soon out of danger, and the child was born. Its father immediately came over with a glass jar and asked the girl to apply some of its contents to the child’s eyes. She did as instructed, then swiped her finger across one of her own eyes. Instantly with that eye she could see many people at the other end of the badstofa. The man came over, took the jar from her, and left the room. On returning, he thanked her for her help, as did the old woman. They told her that she would enjoy good fortune in her life from then on. The man then gave her cloth from which to make an apron, of a kind that she had never seen. He took her hand and led her back to the churchyard where she had first encountered him. Then he left, and she went back home. AN ELF WOMAN IN DISTRESS The following winter the wife of the district minister died, and this girl became his new wife. She often said that she saw »Huldufólk«. When, for instance, she observed them gathering up their hay, she had her own hay gathered up as well. Usually it would begin to rain soon after- wards, even though the sky had been clear moments before. One time she went to town with her husband, the minister. While in the shop she happened to see the hidden man carrying his purchases away from a hidden merchant who was there. She made the mistake of addressing him with these words: “Greetings friend, and thank you for the last time we met.” At that he walked over to her, brought his finger briefly to his mouth, and swiped it across her eye. This startled her, and after that she never again saw the hidden people or anything they did. It happened one summer that all the residents of a particular farm were out working in the fields, except the mistress of the house, who had stayed at home with her young son. He was two or three years old at the time, had already learned to talk, and was generally con- sidered to be a very intelligent, promising child. The woman had to go and wash the milk troughs in a brook close to the farm, and left the boy on his own while she was gone. She parted with him in the doorway of the house, and returned a short while lat- er. The moment she spoke to him he began to howl most wretchedly, such as she had never heard before. She was extremely startled, as the child had always been calm, gentle and obedient. Now the only sounds that came from him were dreadful shrieks and wails. Time passed, and the boy never spoke a word. He was clamorous and obstinate, had stopped growing, and generally behaved in a com- pletely nonsensical manner. His mother had no idea how to manage his behavior and grew quite desperate. Finally she decided to visit a neighbour who was renowned for her wisdom and common sense. This one, as many others do, demonstrates just how insistent the elves could be if they wanted something. They rarely asked nicely. It was always: Do as I ask or regret it for the rest of your life. Paraphrased: I am not asking. I cannot leave off without mentioning the phrase “Thank you for the last time we met.” Anyone who moves to Iceland soon learns this idiom. It’s what Icelanders say to each other when they meet up after an interval, especially if they had a particularly enjoyable or memorable time the last time they got together. Though sometimes – as in this case – it is better to keep your mouth shut about it. FATHER OF EIGHTEEN IN THE ELF WORLD
10 11 When she had told her about her child’s awful transformation, her neighbour asked how long it had been since the change took place and how she thought it might have come about. The mother relat- ed the full story, sparing no detail. Her neighbour then asked if she thought the boy might be a changeling. “I believe he might have been exchanged when you left him there in the doorway.” “I don’t know,” said the mother. “How can I find out the truth?” “Leave him on his own, and let him come upon some strange sight,” replied the neighbour. “He will speak if he believes he is alone, and you should eavesdrop on what he says. If it is something odd or alarm- ing, then flog him without respite until something happens.” The boy’s mother thanked her friend for the advice and went home. Once there she took out a small pot and placed it in the middle of the kitchen floor. She took several broomsticks and tied them togeth- er so that they reached the chimney. At one end she tied a wooden spoon that she made sure was sticking out of the pot. Next she fetched the boy and left him in the kitchen by himself, re- maining just out of sight, but within earshot. After a few moments the boy began to circle the pot, examining it and the wooden contraption that jutted out of it. Finally he said: “I am old as my whiskers show – a father of eighteen in the elf world – yet never have I seen such a long spoon in such a small pot.” At this the woman strode into the kitchen, seized the changeling, and began flogging him hard with brushwood branches while he shrieked like mad. After a good while, a strange woman entered the kitchen. She held a young boy, fair and lovely, on her arm, whom she treated As we have established, many of the old folk tales were clearly designed to send messages about something. Here, presumably, the message is that terrible things can happen if you leave your child alone. I have been pondering the significance of this “old people” business. Then one evening I was watching a telethon for UNICEF, where they were showing images of all these starving, malnourished children. They were so small, yet their faces looked so old. And it made me think. Were the children in Iceland back in the day also so malnourished that they looked old before they were even past infancy? The thought was rather disturbing, as was the idea that those children would be flogged mercilessly until “something happened.” with affection. To the mistress of the house she said: “See how we differ in our ways: I rock your child while you flog my husband.” She then put the boy down and led her husband away, both of them van- ishing. The young boy, meanwhile, grew up in his mother’s care, and became a fine adult. It happened shortly before Christmas on a farm in outer Hrútafjörður that a shepherd noticed that three ewes were missing. It was evening, and a search for them was not possible since dark- ness had already fallen. Early the next day, they were back with the rest of the flock, so no more thought was given to this incident. Mating season came, and those three ewes showed no sign of com- ing into heat. There was some concern that they might have come into contact with rams from other farms. Word was sent out asking whether anyone at the nearby farms had seen them, with or without rams, on that particular day. But no one had. The ewes were soon discovered to be pregnant. The following spring, shortly before regular lambing season, two of them gave birth to white ewe lambs. The third ewe bore no lamb, and never did after that. One of the ewe lambs disappeared that spring, but the other one lived and grew large. It gave off a vast amount of wool, more than the farmer’s other shearlings, so that in the spring the fleece weighed two and a half pounds after it had been washed and dried. This was considered very unusual, and therefore it was believed like- ly that the ewes had been impregnated by elf rams. EWES IMPREGNATED BY ELF RAMS Everything in the elf world is more prosperous and bountiful than in the mortal one. Even their shearlings give off more wool, and because the lamb in question gives off so much wool, it must have come from the elf world. Right?
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18 19 Yes, if you live in Island and you do not respect nature, you vanish. In my childhood I was walking over the mountains for hours. I was running, singing. The song “Aurora”, from my last album, talks about how I run over a glacier, I fall on my knees and I stuff a snowball into my mouth. It‘s just like Christians do when they have the holy Eucharist. I eucharisted myself with snow and she melts in me slowly. Through snow, I became one with nature. No. I am much scared of humans. Nature can‘t be bad. The explosion of a volcano comes naturally. You have to learn to survive next to it. I would very much like to die in the nature, to become a tiny part of her. To open up for me and take me inside. Extremely romantic. Yes, but is alos because of my son, Sindri. He’s 15 and he’s going to school there. I spent all winter in Iceland. It is stupid to spend your winter at Rion, on ocean’s shore. It’s a foolishness towards seasons. Have you ever been in such closeness to nature? Is there anything in nature that frightens you? Why do you live more in Iceland? Do you need this contrast with America? Björk Guðmundsdóttir (born November 21, 1965, Reykjavík, Iceland) is a singer, songwriter and actress best known for her avant-garde solo work covering a wide variety of music styles integrating electronic and organic sounds. The lyrics “I thought I could organize freedom” from her song “Hunter” for her third studio album “Homogenic” conveys the idea of attempting to structure or control one’s own sense of freedom, which is in it self paradoxical, as it results in chaos. !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"( !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"( !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"( !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"( !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"( !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&)* !"#$%&'$#"!"(%&
32 33 NIGHT On a Polar Night, the tilt of the earth is such that the sun never actually rises above the horizon. So the sky might brighten a little be- fore darkening again. But the sun never actual- ly peeps into view. Although Iceland is very close to the polar cir- cle it is just far enough away for the sun to rise. It does so for a few hours a day even on the day of the winter solstice. In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter sol- stice takes place on December 22nd. This is the shortest day of the year, with around 4-5 hours of low-level daylight. On the very shortest days, the sun won’t rise until after 11 am in the morn- ing. The sun then sets again soon after 3 pm. DAY The natural phenomenon of the Midnight Sun occurs in the months either side of the summer solstice. In the Northern Hemisphere, this falls in late June. In late June, there are almost 24 hours of daylight. In actual fact, the sun sets at about 3am on the longest day. The sun will have dipped only just below the hori- zon line during these few short hours. So there is still plenty of light in the sky to see quite clearly. There will be a sort of twilight across the island before the sky brightens again. SunEarth Earth tilt
12 13 Oraefajokull Bardarbunga Kverkfjoll Snaefell Hofsjokull Grimsvotn Eyjafjallajokull Thordarhyrna Esjufjoll Tungnafellsjokull Katla Hekla Tindfjallajokull Snaefellsjokull Prestahnukur Torfajokull Askja Ljosufjoll Helgrindur Fremrinamar Hengill Krafla Eldey Brennisteinsfjoll Theistareykir Hromundartindur Heidarspordar Krysuvik– Trolladyngja Vestmannaeyjar Fagradalsfjall Grimsnes Reykjanes Kolbeinsey Ridge Tjornes Oddnyjarhnjukur 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 “Þetta reddast”, meaning it will all work out at the end, is also evident in the country’s approach to unpredictability. From extreme weather conditions to sudden volcanic eruptions, Icelanders live with constant change. But instead of resisting it, they’ve learned to flow with it, even if the light at the end of the tunnel is, well, one of those volcanoes.
18 19 Carve this sign on fir wood and sleep upon it; then you will dream whatever you want. So that you will remain free of any shame, no matter what or who you encounter. Using spittle, make this sign on your forehead with the ring finger of your right hand. Protection from embarrassment The simplest magical sign in Icelandic magic is the “helm of awe.” The name of this figure has been associated with the “serpent power” present in the body of humans, which is mythically linked to the dragon or serpent Fáfni. When charging or vivifying a helm of awe in a magical working, magicians are to visualize themselves at the center of the figure, their souls configured by the geometry of the inner part of the sign while their wills are powerfully projected out through the arms of the sign. The power is modified, modulated, Carve this on the bottom of a bowl made of ash wood and put water in it and grind millefolium in the water and say: “This I ask by the herb’s power and the greatness of the stave, that the shade of the one who has stolen may be seen in the water.” And carve these names with runes on To be able to under- stand and analyze hidden things and patterns of mani- festation, draw this stave and keep it in your room in a secret location. To know the unknown Write this stave with your saliva while you are fasting and put it under your left arm if you don’t want anyone to get the better of you in a debate. To win a debate Vegvísir Vegur means road or path, and Vísir stands for the word Guide. If this sign is carried, one will never lose one’s way in storms or bad weather, even when the way is not known. It also helps one find one’s way in life. If you want to hide something so it will not be found, carve this stave with your eating knife. Lucid dreaming Ægishjálmur Concealment Thief-detective parchment and keep the parchment on your person: Óðinn, Loki, Frey, Baldur, Njörður, Týr, Birgir, Hœnir, Freyja, Gefun, Gusta, and all those who dwell in Valhöll and have dwelt there from the beginning of the world, provide me with the power so that what has been stolen will be returned, and the thief will be found out. and shaped according to the nature of the terminal figures. These can either thrust outward into the universe surrounding the magician or, put up shields around the magician. Typically the helms have eight, six, or four arms. This is a deal closer. Draw this stave on parchment and carry it in the center of your chest and you will have success in both buying and selling. Kaupaloki If you want to enchant a woman so that she can find her way to no one except you, make a hole in the ground where she walks over it and put To Enchant A Woman Write this sign on parchment and have it in your right hand against all witchery and any fear of witchery. Against all witchery Write this stave on parchment in red ink. Conceal it in a place high up in your room. Inspiration will come. For gaining inspiration Draw this stave on parchment with black ink. Keep it near you. If you want to win a law case, carry this sign with you. Carve the sign on a piece of oak wood and hide it on your person before you go to where the trial is to be held. Dúnfaxi Sorcery Prevention Carve this sign on oak wood and without your subject know- ing it, lay it under the head of the one who should receive dreams according to what it is you want him or her to dream about. Icelandic tradition knows of a ritual of seeking knowledge from extra-human sources, variously characterized as “the dead,” “elves,” “trolls,” and “devils.” These entities are encountered by sitting out all night at a crossroad. Ideally there should be cemeteries at some point down each of the four roads. The all-night vigil can be rewarded by the “appearance” of an entity that will impart some secret information. Generally the practitioner should be open to receive what the entity is willing Draw this helm of awe on a disk of lead and press it to your forehead between your eyebrows and say: “I bear the helm This is a man’s luck knot. It should be drawn on parchment or carved on metal and carried on your person at all times to ensure good luck. Heillahnútur This means luck staves. This is one variation among many others. Whoever carries these signs with him will meet with no bad luck, neither on Lukkustafir Dream Sendings Skuggi’s galdra skræða For Victory in etin-spear blood “semen” and draw a ring around the hole and carve her name. of awe between my brows”. You will have victory in every struggle: the powerful will love you and your enemies will be struck with terror. Victory is assured. to communicate and not try to force some predetermined result. The twentieth century Icelandic magician known as Skuggi provided the following sign used by practitioners of “sitting out” to enhance the chances of success with this kind of working.
2928 Oh sun-bright lass! My life and soul forever! Slip from the purple heights where you reside! Here, far below the lofty cliffs you favor, linger a moment by your comrade’s side! which only brings us scorn if poorly hid. What must be treasured? Lofty aims that languish Your beauty, dewed with dusk, will make me fonder as daylight fades and ghosts begin to wander. What must be kept a secret? All our anguish, Þú sem að byggir hamrabýlin háu, hjartanu mínu alla daga kær, sólfagra mey! djúpt undir bergi bláu, bústu að sitja vini þínum nær; döggsvalur úði laugar lokkinn bleika, ljós er af himni, næturmyndir reika. Hvurs er að dyljast? harma sinna þungu, hlægja þeir öld, er ræður þeim ei bót; hvurs er að minnast? hins er hvurri tungu
22 23 “In My Backyard” by Agnieszka Sosnowska revolves around life in a farming community in Eastern Iceland. “The people in the East are particularly resilient. To be a farmer in this day and age you have to be a gambler”
24 25 “My husband had been hunting ptarmigan in the highlands. He had shot so many that his pockets, backpack, and coat were overflowing with his kill. I had tried to tell his story for years, but he wouldn’t pose for a portrait. We wanted to have children and had been through many cycles of IVF. It didn’t work. I took this photograph while this was happening. I kind of felt like an American baseball player at the plate. You get just so many strikes and then you’re out of the game.”
26 27 KRISTÍN ÞORKELSDÓTTIR Kristin Þorkelsdottir was born in Reykjavík in 1936. Her career began early: at around the age of 15, she began studying fine arts at the Icelandic Arts and Crafts College, graduating in 1955. She gained practical experience while still in training, working in a design studio and as a teaching assis- tant, among other roles. Following her studies, she worked for de- cades as a graphic designer and art direc- tor. She played an influential role in estab- lishing professional design structures in Iceland. Starting in 1977, Kristin collaborat- ed with Stephen Fairbairn to develop the design system for the new series of Icelan- dic banknotes. “There were no pictures of Brynjólfur Sveinsson,” Kristín explains, gesturing to the 1,000 ISK bill featuring the bishop. “So I asked a friend of mine. He is a photog- rapher, but I took his place and he posed for me.” Kristín then took the photo of her friend and altered it slightly for the final- ized sketch. Over the years, Kristin designed many lo- gos. All her designs began as monochrome logos, as she focused on structure and ty- pography. For Mjólkursamsalan, the dairy brand, she created both logos and pack- aging handling the branding as a whole. For the milk packaging, she incorporated floral motifs; these flowers were based on illustrations by Eggert Pétursson from a book on Icelandic flora featuring color plates. A butter churn was chosen as the motif for their butter products „SMJÖR“. She designed this typeface herself, and it remains in use to this day. As for the methods she employed in her work, she made frequent use of hand- drawn lettering, such as on packaging or BUTTER, BANKNOTES AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN “YOU HAVE TO FIND THE ESSENCE OF WHAT YOU’RE WORKING ON” banknotes. She often incorporated these well-known fonts into her work. She owned type specimen books and sets of printed alphabets in various sizes. Thanks to Let- raset technology, she also had access to a wide range of additional typefaces. Lat- er, she acquired a Repromaster machine, which allowed her to enlarge or reduce drawings and lettering. After 1966, she purchased an Optiset unit; its operating principle was similar to that of a phototypesetting machine. The device used ultraviolet light, and the characters were arranged at the desired intervals according to her judgment. A copy was then produced on light-sensitive paper, completing the lettering. She possessed a large selection of typefaces and even manually added specific Icelandic charac- ters to the alphabets.
36 37 THE FIRE BENEATH THE ICE VOLCANISM In Iceland, volcanoes don’t just erupt into the open air. Many of the most powerful volcanic systems lie hidden beneath kilometers of glacial ice. When molten rock meets frozen water, the result is one of the most dramatic geological interactions on Earth. This sudden release of trapped meltwater creates a phenomenon known as a jökulhlaup, which translates directly to “glacier leap” in Icelandic. These glacial floods occur when the accumulated meltwa- ter actually lifts the heavy glacier off its bedrock, allowing the water to suddenly escape and surge downstream. Iceland has generated approximately one-third of all lava erupted on Earth’s surface in the last 500 years — a staggering output for a coun- try of just 103,000 km. The island’s volcanic character is fundamental to daily life: over 90% of homes are heated by geothermal energy, the landscape is shaped by lava fields covering roughly 11% of the surface area, and eruptions have repeatedly altered the course of Icelandic history. 1. The mid atlantic ridge The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica (2010) 1. Iceland’s volcanic activity results from a unique tectonic coinci- dence: it is the only place on Earth where a mid-ocean ridge rises above sea level, and it sits directly above a deep mantle plume. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the divergent plate boundary where the North American and Eurasian plates pull apart at approximately 19 mm per year, runs directly through Iceland from the Reykjanes Peninsula in the southwest to the Tjörnes Fracture Zone in the north. As the plates separate, mantle rock rises to fill the gap, partially melting as pressure decreases and producing basaltic magma — the same process that creates new oceanic crust along the entire 65,000-km mid-ocean ridge system, but nowhere else does it break the ocean surface so dramatically.
44 45 The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica (2010) 1. Glaciers in Iceland, meanwhile, formed during colder climatic periods, when snowfall exceeded summer melt year after year. Over time, layers of compressed snow turned into dense ice, ac- cumulating into vast ice caps that began to flow outward under their own weight. Iceland’s glaciers are dynamic, constantly moving and changing. As they advance, they grind down the volcanic bedrock beneath them, carving valleys, sharpening ridgelines and transporting enormous amounts of sediment. As they retreat, they leave be- hind moraines, lagoons and newly exposed terrain. Iceland’s glaciers are dynamic, constantly moving and changing. As they advance, they grind down the volcanic bedrock beneath them, carving valleys, sharpening ridgelines and transporting enormous amounts of sediment. As they retreat, they leave be- hind moraines, lagoons and newly exposed terrain. Glaciers in Iceland, meanwhile, formed during colder climatic periods, when snowfall exceeded summer melt year after year. Glaciers in Iceland, meanwhile, formed during colder climatic periods, when snowfall exceeded summer melt year after year. Over time, layers of compressed snow turned into dense ice, ac- cumulating into vast ice caps that began to flow outward under their own weight. Iceland’s glaciers are dynamic, constantly moving and changing. As they advance, they grind down the volcanic bedrock beneath them, carving valleys, sharpening ridgelines and transporting enormous amounts of sediment. As they retreat, they leave be- hind moraines, lagoons and newly exposed terrain. Iceland’s glaciers are dynamic, constantly moving and changing. As they advance, they grind down the volcanic bedrock beneath them, carving valleys, sharpening ridgelines and transporting enormous amounts of sediment. As they retreat, they leave be- hind moraines, lagoons and newly exposed terrain.
48 49 REFERENCES 2–7 9, 24–27 11–12 14–15 16–17 18–21 22 Text References 12 17 18–21 Image References A. Sigmundsdottir, The Little Book of the Hidden People, Internet Archive, 2015. https://archive.org/details/the-little-book-of-the-hidden-people/page/n21/mode/2up VolcanoAtlas, “VolcanoAtlas — Every Volcano on Earth”, VolcanoAtlas, 2023. https://www.volcanosatlas.com/volcanoes-in-iceland S. Ruth, “I Am as Unpredictable as Much as Nature Is”, 14142.Net, 2001. https://14142.net/bjork/articles/bjork/formulaas.txt S. E. Flowers, Icelandic Magic: Practical Secrets of the Northern Grimoires, 2016. https://archive.org/details/icelandicmagicpr0000flow A. Foster, “Agnieszka Sosnowska: Veritable Myths”, Talking Pictures , 2025. https://talking-pictures.online/2025/03/12/agnieszka-sosnowska-veritable-myths H.J. Cohen, “To Know Is To Design: Kristín !orkelsdóttir On A Lifetime Of Creating Iceland”, The Reykjavík Grapevine, 2021. https://grapevine.is/icelandic-culture/art/2021/06/04/to-know-is-to-design-kristin- thorkelsdottir-on-a-lifetime-ofdesigning-iceland/ J. Hallgrimsson, The Lay of Hulda, 1841. https://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/Jonas/Hulda/Hulda.html Björk, Homogenic, 1997. https://shop.bjork.com/products/bjork-homogenic “Bjork | Biography, Songs, & Facts,” Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bjork MS Iceland Dairies (Mjólkursamsalan), “Icelandic Butter”. https://www.ms.is/en-us/icelandic-butter Agnieszka Sosnowska, In my Backyard, 2013. https://www.sosphotographs.com/in-my-backyard
50 Contrary in Reykjavík Shatha Hamzeh und Kateryna Torianyk Communication Design, Second semester Grundlagen Typografie II Prof. Fritz Grögel Trigger Seismic von Universal Thirst Foundry, Reykjavík Separat von Or Type Foundry, Reykjavík Hoefler Text von Jonathan Hoefler, New York Many thanks to Or Foundry for allowing us to use their test font for this project. Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin Sommersemester 2026 Titel Editors Degree Program Course Mentoring Printer Typefaces