Jag som har det iskalla Trollblodet

leaf it to me

Angeles National Forest, California

Nightlights

The Snowmade on Etsy

The Vegvisir (Icelandic Vegvísir, “That Which Shows the Way;” pronounced “VEGG-vee-seer”) is a symbol described only in one modern Icelandic collection of spells, the so-called Huld manuscript. That book has nothing more than this one sentence to say about it: “If this sign is carried, one will never lose one’s way in storms or bad weather, even when the way is not known.”

The Huld manuscript was compiled during the nineteenth century – about eight centuries after the end of the Viking Age. While some of its material may date from the time when the pre-Christian Norse religion was still a living tradition, much of the rest of it is heavily influenced by Christianity and magical practices imported from more southerly parts of Europe. Thus, the simple fact that something is found in the Huld manuscript is no guarantee that the pre-Christian Norse and/or other Germanic peoples knew anything about it, let alone embraced it as part of their religion.

In the case of the Vegvisir, there’s no evidence whatsoever that it was known or used during the Viking Age or earlier. It’s possible that it was indeed known and used during that time, but it’s at least equally possible that it was imported or invented after that. In the end, we simply don’t know.

Calling the Vegvisir a definite “Viking symbol” or the like therefore requires quite a leap of faith.

Furthermore, the above information is more or less the entirety of what we know about the Vegvisir. Anyone who tells you otherwise is just making stuff up. Many people find this to be disappointing, but that’s the way it is.

References:

The Huld manuscript

Flowers, Stephen. 1989. The Galdrabók: An Icelandic Grimoire. p. 88.

Ibid. p. 83.