The three most important things for the pre-historic ‘primitive’ man living with nature was sunshine, rainfall and good health. Naturally, this man didn’t have a black and white world view, instead he lived beyond ‘good’ and ‘evil’. This does not mean that he was immoral or amoral, but simply that he understood that the nature is neither ‘good’ nor ‘evil’: e. g. the Sun can light up the world for you, but it can also blind you; it can warm you, but also burn you.
Balance was thus the key to success for the ‘primitive’ man. He needed the Sun to light up and warm his world, but he also needed it to stop doing so at one point. He needed the rain to fall, but he also needed it to stop doing so at one point. He needed a little bit of both, and he did his best to influcence this, by means of sorcery, and later also or instead through prayer and sacrifice. In this context, the Hooked Cross (or Sun Wheel) became the symbol of the Sun traveling across the firmament, and the Hammer became a symbol of the ability to cause rain (by striking the hammer against a rock in the sky, creating lightning and rainfall).
Detail from the Oseberg ship:
When he had enough sunshine and rain, he would be able to harvest what he needed from nature, and thus also got good health. Commonly, this fruit of nature was collected and then served in a cup, and thus the cup became a symbol of good health.
Remember this the next time you read about the attributes of kings, or ‘the holy grail’, of judges’ hammers, and other symbols still used today, even after 2000 years under a hostile and foreign cult.
HailaR WôðanaR!
