The juniper is a plant of myth and legend, the shape of its triangular pine cone bearing similarities to the symbol of Thor; his mighty hammer.

Made with: olive-, coconut-, and almond oils, shea butter, cocoa butter, boiled juniper shoots straight from Vesterålen, essential oils from juniper berries and rosemary, pigmentation and rosemary extract.

What is most important to you, after fighting a hard battle and sustaining wounds, scratches, or more severe injuries? You need healing, of course! But to live to see another day, keeping clean and avoiding infections is crucial. Maybe our battles aren’t as hard today as they were in the viking age, but using a good soap will always be an important part of your day!

Norse Viking Soap’s juniper soap is, among other things, made from a decoction made from boiled juniper twigs with their berries still on. This decoction has antiseptic qualities, and was used as a universal cure in ancient Norse medicine for thousands of years. No other plant in Norway has had such a wide and long-term medicinal usage.

Juniper and its essential oils have been used to cure UTIs, arthritis, eczema, rashes, to heal cuts and bruises, and to wash hair. Juniper incense warded against evil spirits and powers. Both berries and spruce contain essential oils. Juniper also contain flavonglycosides, tannin, resin, organic acids, sugar, and vitamin C.

Juniperus communis is one of four species of berry tree found in Norway, and is common all over the country. The juniper tree is wintergreen, and has a pleasant smell. Its berries, which are actually the tree’s pine cones, spend two years to ripen, being a light green for the first year but turn black as they grow ripe during the second.

Up until 1963 juniper berries, essential oils and tar made from juniper were bought and sold as medicinal, antiseptic and disinfectant products all over Norway. Juniper decoction has also been used for general cleaning.

For other uses, juniper decoction was used to wash tubs used for storing milk and food in, as incense both for air quality and smoking meat for conservation. Even as late as the 1800s, the rooms of St. Jørgen’s hospital reserved for lepers were purified with incense, and juniper berries poured on the floor in case of death or at funerals.

But that’s not all! Juniper berries were often macerated in alcohol, and people would have juniper liquor both to enjoy and to help with colds, digestion pains, and other ills.

A treak is a very unique Norwegian candy, a licorice boiled in water with juniper berries, cream, and sugar. Treak was also, like juniper liquor, used both as medicine and as a tasty treat.

Juniper saw widespread usage as firewood, particularly along the coast and mountain pastures, and burning juniper on Christmas eve was a local tradition in some parts of Norway. The tree would sometimes be used as a Christmas tree in the western parts of the country, and its branches used as food and bedding for animals such as sheep or goats.

Its timber is tough and durable, and it was considered the best type of wood for canes, wooden containers, fences and fence-posts. Some nails, buttons, and tools were also made from juniper. Smaller branches were great for handles on barrels and buckets, and of course for bows and broomsticks. The bast fibre from the tree’s trunk is excellent for use in ropes and straps. Traditionally, juniper was put on freshly washed floors to provide a pleasant smell and clean air. The trade of juniper timber is still ongoing, even today.

Ingredients:

• Olive oil

• Coconut oil

• Almond oil

• Shea butter

• Cocoa butter

• Decoction cooked on juniper from Vesterålen

• Juniper berry essential oil

• Rosemary essential oil

• Color pigment

• Rosemary extract

• The soap contains no artificial preservatives

OLEA EUROPAEA FRUIT OIL, PRUNUS AMYGDALUS DULCIS OIL, COCOS NUCIFERA OIL, THEOBROMA CACAO SEED BUTTER, BUTYROSPERMUM PARKII BUTTER, ROSMARINUS OFFICINALIS LEAF OIL, JUNIPERUS COMMUNIS FRUIT OIL, ROSMARINUS OFFICINALIS LEAF EXTRACT, HELIANTHUS ANNUUS SEED OIL, JUNIPERUS COMMUNIS BRANCH/FRUIT/LEAF EXTRACT, LIMONENE, CI 77288