Magic if you’re into runic magic. The message is not particularly magic though, it says, in modern Swedish:
‘Holmlög lät resa stenarna efter Olev, sin son, och efter Kättilmund, sin broder’
Holmlög had the stone raised after Olev, her son and after Kättilmund, her brother. Perhaps they had perished in a Viking raid somewhere.
An interesting feature of the stone is that it has both Christian and heathen symbols – the cross at top and the snake or dragon at the bottom. The stone is dated mid to late 11th century and the country was barely Christianized at that time. The location of this stone is Torsåker. A decidedly heathen name – Thor’s field. Curiously, many pre-christian location names with strong ties to heathen beliefs have survived to this day.
Freddy's Photo Project 