Aegishjalmur and Vegvisir: meaning and differences

26/07/2024

These two Nordic symbols have different meanings that are often confused. Their popularity is primarily due to their aesthetics, and their prevalence in the realms of amulets and tattoos.

Both symbols are an eight-armed cross, but the runic staffs of each are different. A runic staff is the vertical and horizontal union of several runes, whose purpose is to merge their power or message. The main problem in interpreting these staffs or galdrstaffir is untangling the hidden and mixed symbols to achieve an interpretation in parts. Some are simpler than others, but others, like these two symbols, have a combined meaning.

Aegishjalmur and Vegvisir

The Aegishjalmur (Icelandic 'aegis' meaning 'terror', 'hjalm-' meaning 'fear', therefore 'helmet of terror') has all its runic staves the same. They have been interpreted as algiz/aeighiz runes, with which it seems to share a linguistic root, intended for protection as they grow outward. Let's remember that this rune was linked, among other things, with the image of tree branches, as if it were a protective cup from the sun or rain.By its name and the remnants found, it seems to have been a talisman, or even a warrior-type spell. Combatants would carry it inscribed on their helmets, possibly even tattooed or painted on their foreheads, to inspire horror in the enemy. The first place it was found as a runic drawing was on a rock in England, dating from the 10th to 12th centuries.

In the Fáfnismal, from the Codex Regius (13th century), as well as in the Edda of Snorri Sturluson, the Aegishjalmur is mentioned as a magical object, a helmet that was held by the dragon Fáfnir - a dwarf turned into a dragon by his greed for his treasure - and it came to light thanks to the hero Sigurd defeating him.

<<Fáfnir kvað:

"Ægishjalm bar ek of alda sonum,

meðan ek of menjum lák;

einn rammari hugðumk öllum vera,

fannk-a ek svá marga mögu."

Sigurðr kvað:

"Ægishjalmr bergr einungi,

hvar skulu vreiðir vega;

þá þat finnr, er með fleirum kemr,

at engi er einna hvatastr.">> (Fáfnismal, Stanzas 16 y 17)

Fafnir said:

"I wear the helm of terrorTo terrify humanity,

While I lie guarding my gold.

I seem stronger than any man,

And I have found none fiercer.

"Sigurd said:"

The helm of terror surely does not protect any man

when he stands before the enemy.

Often one discovers, when meeting the enemy,"

However, there are no explicit references that relate the symbol to the object of the poem. It is in the Icelandic grimoire Galdravek ('Little book of spells') from 1670 where this symbol appears associated with protection. But this continental scarcity has made scholars doubt whether it was a symbol widespread among the Nordic cultures or if the idea was known, but only materialized in Iceland.

Aegishjalmur in Gáldravek

Regarding the Vegvisir (Icelandic 'direction post'), it is characterized by the fact that each of its eight runic staffs is different, in addition to ending in square and straight horns, rather than curved ones. It is known as the Viking compass, as it was apparently used by sailors. However, in contemporary neopaganism and esotericism, it is also considered a spiritual and life compass. Its eight arms have been interpreted as the four cardinal directions and the other four in-between. There are interpretations concerning the representation of eight elements and eight worlds that unfortunately lack meaning within the idea of a 'compass,' and are totally impossible to symbolically or runically link to the staffs.

Despite its current popularity, we find it again only in Iceland. In the 16th century, in the Galdrabók ('Book of Spells'), we find a similar model, but it is not called Végvisir.

Vegvisir in Galdrabok

Vegvisir in Huld Manuscript

Specifically, it is in the so-called Huld Manuscript, a magical compilation compiled in 1860 by Geir Vigfusson, where the spell named Vegvisir is stated:

<<"Beri maður stafi þessa á sér villist maður ekki í hríðum né vondu veðri þó ókunnugur sá">>

<<Carry this staff symbol and you will not get lost in storms or bad weather, even if you are in unfamiliar territory>>

However, alongside a Vegvisir quite similar to the current one, we see that next to it this manuscript presents another compass that is quite different from the symbol we are used to seeing, and that the compass text is located beneath the different symbol. The endings are more like crosses and asterisks, and not all rune staves are the same length. Neither of these symbols, moreover, is from the Viking Age: no reference, drawing, or engraving has been found on any material from that period, not even on a runic stele.

Therefore, scholars agree that it must be either a reinterpretation by the author based on the runic texts and centuries he had seen in the manuscripts, or a symbol invented based on knowledge of magical talismans from external grimoires, such as the talismans of the Key of Solomon. If it had been used, it would have been about 400 years after the true Viking Age. Some researchers even believe that instead of runes, the final strokes could be a mixed folkloric and Christian reference, concealing both runes and crosses.

Among other arguments, we find that some indicate that the rigidity of their staves—that is, that their ends and runic additions are straight rather than curved—is another mark of "modernity," as they would have focused on the straight lines of the usual runic alphabet, and not on the variety of existing runic staves with much more rounded shapes found in symbols that appear older. While it is true that the collected runic spells—again, especially in Iceland—have circles, curves, and other more wavy shapes, there are also galdrastaffir with straight geometric shapes, so it would still not be so exclusive. The real question should be, where did the model we have today, including the circumference, come from? Many believe that it arose from the subsequent printing of treatises on runic magic and grimoires from ancient times, where the model first presented by Vigfusson was stylized. Among them would be the first complete Swedish translation of the Galdrabók, written by Nathan Lindqvist in 1921. Later, there would be the works of Stephen Flowers, disseminated with some success among occultists and neopagans. One of his works indicates that the Vegvísir is from the Galdrabók, while a later work indicates that it is from the Galdravék. Was this confusion on the part of the author, or doubts about which of the symbols most closely resembles the model he presented?

In any case, this has not prevented its use as a sigil from spreading like wildfire in our time.

Pietro V. Carracedo Ahumada - pietrocarracedo@gmail.com