Smjörstafur
Smjörstafur, the 'butter stave', is an Icelandic magical sign recorded in the Huld manuscript, compiled by Geir Vigfússon at Akureyri in 1860, and drawn or carved to bring success in making butter. In an agrarian world where dairy was wealth, a charm for a full churn was practical magic, and the stave sits among the agricultural signs recorded beside the luck, protection, and money staves of the grimoires. It was probably drawn on the churn itself or on a paper carried with the dairy work, though the sources give little detail of its use. Like all the galdrastafir, its earliest known source is