The Niðstöng. A Pole of Scorn. In the Saxon and Viking Age, one of the harshest acts of hostility was the raising of a niðstöng, a “pole of scorn.” In Egil’s Saga, Egil Skalla-Grímsson sets a pole in the earth, fixes a horse’s head upon it, carves runes, and turns it toward his enemies’ land. He calls on the landvættir, land-wights, to drive them out and deny them peace. This was not something done slyly or on the quiet, it was very much an open magick. It was a public declar
