Northern European Folk · Western Esotericism
Symbol · Northern European Folk
Valknut
The Knot of the Slain
Three interlocking triangles associated with Odin, representing the transition between life and death.
What it meansIt appears on memorial stones and on ship burials, beside Odin and beside the dead — three triangles that cannot be separated without cutting. The reading is a binding at the passage out of life, which is Odin's own office as the god who takes the slain.
Symbol · Northern European Folk
Green Man
The Face of Nature
An ancient folkloric sculpture of a human face sprouting leaves, symbolizing the rebirth of nature and springtime vitality.
What it meansA face with foliage coming out of the mouth, carved in churches by masons whose subject was elsewhere. Read as vegetation that will not be catechised — life returning through the fabric of the building meant to contain it, put there by the builders themselves.