One of the rune sticks from Bryggen, N B384, bears interesting cypher runes shaped like bearded faces, the rune’s ætt indicated by the hairs on the left, its place within it by the hairs on the right. 
The inscription reads -sim liui sinu, “sem lífi sínu”, as his life, thought to be the remnant of a love note. The Skáld-Helga rímur contains the term “unna einum sem lífi sínu”, to love someone as one’s own life.
Or; perhaps it was a healing charm; the Old Norse term lyf/líf applied to medicine, the sustainment of life.
ᛋᛁᛘ᛫ᛚᛁᚢᛁ᛫ᛋᛁᚾᚢ