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Iron has a long and varied tradition in mythology and folkore throughout the world. Interestingly, the bulk of meteorites are constituted by iron.

Lawlor (1999: p.103-104) charts the lifecycle, origins and transmutations of iron from supernova to helium:

Supernova explosions are believed to be triggered by the iron of the star's core collapsing and dispersing. Looked at symbolically, stars burst like germinating seeds, and the core iron, which completes the cycle of internal densification, converts back to helium, the original element that was formed in the heavens.

As iron and nickel have the highest binding energy per nucleon of all the elements, iron cannot produce energy when fused, and an iron core grows. This iron core is under huge gravitational pressure. As there is no fusion to further raise the star's temperature to support it against collapse, it is supported only by degeneracy pressure of electrons. When the core's size exceeds the Chandrasekhar limit, degeneracy pressure can no longer support it, and catastrophic collapse ensues.

Cold Iron

Cold iron is sometimes asserted to repel, contain, or harm ghosts, fairies, witches, and/or other malevolent supernatural creatures. This belief continued into later superstitions in a number of forms:

• Nailing an iron horseshoe to a door was said to repel evil spirits or later, to bring good luck.
• Surrounding a cemetery with an iron fence was thought to contain the souls of the dead.
• Burying an iron knife under the entrance to one's home was alleged to keep witches from entering.

In his story, "Redgauntlet," the Scottish author Sir Walter Scott wrote, "Your wife's a witch, man; you should nail a horse-shoe on your chamber-door."

In mythology, the term "cold iron" is sometimes only applied to cold-worked iron of meteoric origin , as such metal has never been heated by human agency. Mined iron must be smelted first, so such iron may or may not be considered "cold iron", depending on the source consulted.

Fairies and iron

Iron, particularly Cold iron, was employed as a protective substance or charm against faeries. In Celtic Folklore, Fae are culturally held to hold an aversion to iron or even be harmed by the touch of iron. Conversely, amongst Asian traditions, there are tales of ironworking fairy.

Meteoric Iron in Tibet

Thogcha means 'sky-iron' in Tibetan. Meteoric iron was highly prized throughout the Himalaya where it was included in sophisticated pollymetallic alloys for ritual implements such as the singing bowl (Jansen, 1992) and phurba (Müller-Ebeling, et.al, 2002).

Blood and ochre

In many indigenous Australian Aboriginal peoples' traditions ochre and blood, both high in iron content and considered Maban, are applied to the bodies of dancers for ritual. As Lawlor (1991: p.102-103) states:

In many Aboriginal rituals and ceremonies, red ochre is rubbed all over the naked bodies of the dancers. In secret, sacred male ceremonies, blood extracted from the veins of the participant's arms is exchanged and rubbed on their bodies. Red ochre is used in similar ways in less secret ceremonies. Blood is also used to fasten the feathers of birds onto people's bodies. Bird feathers contain a protein that is highly magnetically sensitive.

Lawlor comments that blood employed in this fashion is held by these peoples to attune the dancers to the invisible energetic realm of the Dreamtime. Lawlor then draws information from different disciplines charting a relationship between these invisible energetic realms and magnetic fields. Iron and magnetism having a marked relationship.

References

• Finneran, Niall (2003). Ethiopian evil eye belief and the magical symbolism of iron working. Source: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2386/is_3_114/ai_n6118470 (accessed: Thursday, March 15, 2007)
• Lawlor, Robert (1991). Voices Of The First Day: Awakening in the Aboriginal dreamtime. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions International, Ltd. ISBN 0-89281-355-5
• Jansen, Eva Rudy (1992). Singing bowls: a practical handbook of instruction and use. Holland: Binkey Kok Publications. (Refer partial scanning of book on following metalinkage (accessed: 1 December 2006).: http://books.google.com.au/books?vid=ISBN9074597017&id=uY0x3fqbvxwC&pg=PR13&lpg=PR13&ots=x0cd_6rrrs&dq=singing+bowls+books&sig=_C7Fn_0ndUl5kFqfxZ1qQ3k3Puo#PPP1,M1
• Müller-Ebeling, Claudia and Christian Rätsch and Surendra Bahadur Shahi (2002). Shamanism and Tantra in the Himalayas. Transl. by Annabel Lee. Rochester, Vt.: Inner Traditions.

1. Fewell, M. P. (1995). "The atomic nuclide with the highest mean binding energy". American Journal of Physics. 63 (7): 653–658. Retrieved 2007-02-01.
2. Cite error: The named reference hinshaw was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
3. Cite error: The named reference Chandrasekhar was invoked but never defined (see the help page).