The next set of symbols are intended to cause fear in enemies, however they are

referred to only as stafi.

Ef þú vilt að óvinur þinn
hafi hræðslu af þér er hann If you want your enemy to be afraid of you when he
sér þig, þá rist þessa stafi á hr- sees you, then carve these staves on a piece of shrub-
íseik og ber milli brjósta þér oak and wear it in the middle of your chest, and see
og sjá svo til þú lítir hann fyrr to it that you see him before he sees you.
en hann þig:
* Note this manuscript is as the norm heavily abbreviated, usually indicated with the vertical
stroke over where missing letters would ordinarily appear. Also note that letter characters take
old germanic style with a long s looking like an f and standard  f  and k looking very odd
indeed.

Mettre impression puis

 Vegvísir (Path Guide)

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The Vegvísir can be seen in the Huld Manuscript 1 of 1860, translated to mean signpost, however the word is derived
from two Icelandic words: veg and vísir. Vegur means road or path, and Vísir stands for the word Guide. The
instruction given to this symbol has been translated as If this sign is carried, one will never lose one’s way in storms
or bad weather, even when the way is not known.3
The design and translation taken from the publication called Galdraskræða Skugga is similar. That version was
transcribed in 1940 but taken from earlier sources. Unfortunately the author did not share what those sources were.
Fen Alraun speculates that the Vegvísir incorporates 8 different charms of protection on each stave; thus the overall
charm becomes one suitable to defend against many kinds of obstacles that might cause one to lose one’s way. He
believes it is not necessary to understand the meaning of each stave: As long as the helm is written correctly every
time it will still hold its power.
The Vegvísir has been called a Runic or Viking Compass and been described as a magical symbol of navigation
connected with actual compasses.11 I am yet to find any reference to this sigil prior to the 1600s, so it should not be
regarded as Viking. Even though the shape looks like a compass, that is just a coincidence - many galdrastafir appear
on an eight pointed wheel. Meanwhile, the concept of an actual eight pointed compass used in navigation is only a
very recent innovation.
While on the subject of debunking nonsense - Vegvísir was definately not created by Ásatrú, despite their use of this
symbol today - Ásatrú is a new age religion founded in the 1970s. Also it is not in the same category of magic as the
Elder Fathurk runes being used in esoteric runology (another modern day innovation). The practice of drawing this or
any galdrastafur surrounded by runes of any era is not supported in any pre 20th century manuscript. For artistic
purposes, the symbol does look good with runes around it - however they should at least be of the right era and
region; i.e. Nordic early modern age. Finally, in my opinion it would also be better if the runes say something, rather
than just give them in a list that would be a Latin alphabetic equivalent to A B C D E F ....
Huld Manuscript 1 - Page 60 Galdrakver - Lbs 4627 8vo Galdraskræða - Column 49
from Geir Vigfússon ca. 1860 unknown author, from 19C by Jochum (Skuggi) Eggertsson, 1940

Beri maður stafi þessa á sér villist maður ekki í Carry these staves with you and you won’t get lost in
hríðum né vondo veðri þó ókunnugur sá storms or bad weather, even though in unfamiliar surrounds.
Huld Manuscript1 - Text from Page 60...   A collection by Geir Vigfússon ca. 1860

The shape of the symbol in the Huld Manuscript is square whilst the one from Galdraskræða Skugga is designed to fit
in a circle. The drawing made for Ólafur Davíðsson that he included in his 1903 essay 20 differs considerably from
both, leaving out several elements and a blurred copy of this appears in Steven Flowers’ 1989 book The Galdrabók -
An Icelandic Grimoire. Fen Alraun writes Little change is made to the power of the charm by making the staves all
the same length. This effectively fits the charm inside a circle. There is no change to the charm because the symbols
themselves have not changed. 10  However major omissions and variations make the Davíðsson version less credible.
Unfortunately this has been even further simplified for a graphic version shown on old Wikipedia that others copied
in great numbers.
Do not use these poor 20th C. copies:

From an essay 20 From a book 3

by Ó Davíðsson, 1903 by Steven Flowers, 1989
There are many Vegvísir tattoos on Tumbler and Instagram, usually based on the Davíðsson or old Wikipedia
versions. This does make for a more simple, less cramped style for tattooing, but I prefer accuracy over such
shortcuts. There is also a version that is based on a low resolution image of Björk’s tattoo. After close examination it
looks like Björk made a hand drawing of the Davíðsson version which she then took to her tattooist. Brent Barry has
made a better version on his web site Brent Berry Arts and shows many other examples of his beautiful work
featuring the Vegvísir (but they still lack those key elements).
In respect of what direction the symbol is drawn one commentator wrote It is not you who needs to see the design, it
is the gods who will guide you, and they will see you as any observer would see you. I imagine that a reversed
Vegvesir could possibly have the effect of steering you in the opposite direction to that desired. Fen Alraun offers a
different view: The orientation of the charm shouldn’t matter much, because this charm is about protection from 8
types of threats. It is not dependent on up, north or any direction.
In my revision of Vegvísir I have taken the best elements from the earliest versions. The Huld version is from 1860
and the Galdraskræða Skugga from 1940, however both of these are the collectors’ impressions taken from earlier
sources. I don’t understand what happened that the Ó Davíðsson, 1903 version is so abbreviated, but I cannot trust it. I
heed Egil Skallagrimsson’s warning after finding a girl sick in bed and finding her the victim of a badly cast rune
spell...

Skalat maðr rúnar rísta No man should carve runes

nema ráða vel kunni. unless he can read them well
Þat verðr mörgum manni Many a man goes astray
er um myrkvan staf villisk. around those dark letters
- Egil’s Saga, Chapter 73 (74 in Bjarni) - translation by Bernard Scudder.
Notwithstanding my earlier comments about esoteric runology not applying here, there does appear to be runes
taken from the Younger Futhark of 800AD, up to and including the Modified Danish Futhark of around 1300AD. The
best indicator of the runes used in the Vegvísir are the two dots used in the Up-Right pointing stave. The only runic
alphabet that I have found which uses dots is the Modified Danish Futhark. 12 It is possible that rune meanings can be
derived from poems written for each rune character, and we can speculate that the designer of Vegvísir borrowed
these meanings to add significance to the overall symbol.

meanings to add significance to the overall symbol.

Þ:Thurs G:Gebo M : Mannaz / Man / Maðr (Madhr)

The Þ rune (pronounced th) is Thurisaz or Thurs. Tyriel of Rune Magic writes that, among other things, Thurisaz
means Giant and is representative of Thor and his hammer, protecting Asgard from the thurses (Norse Giants)  13   The
Norse god Thor had power over natural forces. Those natural forces in this case would be storms or bad weather.
Whilst that meaning may fit, it is difficult to argue that the circle at the end of the Vegvísir’s Up-Left pointing stave is
a double sided Thurs.
The G rune in the Elder Futhark is Gebo and means gift. This rune was dropped in the Younger Futhark but returned
in the subsequent Medieval and Danish Futharks with a new shape and this may be what is being symbolized in the
Up-Right pointing stave. Gebo refers to balance and equilibrium. How this relates to not getting lost is not very clear.
Perhaps if one is dizzy and confused you could easily become lost, so this rune is present to ensure that does not
happen?

Whilst it is possible to think the Þ or G runes have been incorporated in the Vegvísir, it is undoubtedly clear
the M Maðr rune has been. This rune has taken many forms, but other than the Elder Fathark form (which can be
ignored as it had not been used for hundreds of years at the time of the Vegvísir’s creation) all other later versions of
this rune can be superimposed somewhere onto this symbol. The most common from at the time of around the 15th
century was  . The Huld, the Galdraskræða Skugga and several other manuscripts all list dozens if not hundreds of
runic alphabets that attest to that.

A portion of MS AM 461 12mo fols, pp 15v-16r. Mid 16th century.

Click on the manuscript to toggle on and off image enhancements.
Icelandic Rune Poem TRANSLATION  16, 17, 18
(in Old and Modern Icelandic)
Madr er manz gaman
og molldar auki
Maðr: is man’s delight (/joy)
og ski pa skreytir ij
and earth’s (/dust’s) increase (/augmentation)
Maðr: er manns gaman
and ships’ painter (/adorner).
ok moldar auki
ok skipa skreytir. ( ... )
Norwegian Rune Poem TRANSLATION
(in Old Norse)
Maðr er moldar auki; Man is an increase (/augmentation) of the dust;
mikil er græip á hauki. great is the claw of (/at) the hawk.

Bernard King writes This rune stands for man, either the individual or the race, and it was thought to possess powers
for defence and protection.21 His view regarding this rune’s powers is unique, however it is otherwise universally
agreed upon. Most commentators also add that it refers to the person and those closest to them, i.e. the family. From
the poems we get augmentation of the earth/dust, which to me is talking about the middle ages farmer ploughing the
soil, enriching it with fertilizer, on his farm - his home, where he lives with his family. It is here that he wants to
return, if lost at sea or in wild weather. If he is a trader, it is he who would keep the Vegvísir drawn on parchment and
kept close to his chest, before setting out on long journeys.
Another common theme explains the first line of the Icelandic poem: mutual pleasure experienced under the sign of
Mannaz is the pleasure of communicating and sharing. Yves Kodratoff makes an attempt to interpret the Norwegian
poem, believing the first line speaks of man’s birth rising out of dust and the second line of death and being carried
off the battlefield by Odinn’s mythological hawk. Sweyn Plowright has translated moldar as Mould in its meaning of
soil/earth, as in the grave24.  These interpretations again bring us back to the   Maðr/Algiz Life and   Yr Death runes.
On a pragmatic level the rune poems were of the time when the Elder Farhark was still in use and they were more of a
memory tool than anything else. The Icelandic version has lines which are simply other ways of saying man. The first
line of the Norwegian poem does the same, and the second line is just a bit of nonsense to provide a rhyme. It is
purely conjecture that centuries later the galdramann designed Vegvísir chosing Maðr as its key rune based on runic
poems.
There is one key that does tie it all together, i.e. the Vegvísir design, its meaning and the Maðr rune: In Hávamál, part
of the Poetic Edda, verse 47 in Icelandic is as follows:
Ungur var eg forðum, fór eg einn saman, þá varð eg villur vega;
auðigur þóttumk, er eg annan fann, maður er manns gaman.
Translation (by W.H.Auden & P.B.Taylor)22 :
Young and alone on a long road, Once I lost my way:
Rich I felt when I found another; Man rejoices in man.
Should we keep the notion of Maðr being at the heart of Vegvísir, we can construct a stave portion as    plus   to
get   (which just on its own is another version of the Maðr rune). Add   and you have  . This appears often in Vegvísir,
but also is frequently seen in other Galdrastafir. In this context, perhaps it means nothing more than  person, as in this
charm applies to you. Or it may relate to my initial comments regarding the tvimadur shaped Thor/Jesus symbol seen
in so many galdrastafir?
Another simple solution can be deduced from other occurences of the   sign in past manuscripts. In the following
example, although the spell given is for a horse, it is obviously intended to provide protection:
TRANSLITERATION: TRANSLATION:

 þennan staf á að merkja á  mark this stave on the

hest lend annaðhvort með horse loins either with
tjöru eða klippa á lendina tar or clip the loins
og varnar þvi að hestinum hlekkist á and prevent your horse having an accident
og á við meiðslum og hrossasótt. with injury and colic.

- Image taken from Rún, page 75 - my own very literal translation

Imprimer photo
 Lukkustafir (Good Luck Staves)

Lukkustafur, Page 64
unknown, Lbs 4627 8vo

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The Lukkustafir are good luck (Old Icel. Lukka) staves whose purpose it is that the person carrying them will not
suffer any misfortune (Old Icel. ſ l i ſ u m = slys = mishap, mischance).
This popular stave was first brought to the attention through fans of the work of Steven Flowers / Edred Thorsson,
however because of a big blunder (see link below) the correct symbol in the Huld manuscript was missed and a
different stave given in its place in each of his books about the subject.
Sadly, I would not describe the correct version of the stave given in Huld as having a particularly appealing design.
On the up side, I have recently uncovered a much ignored second design given in the manuscript indexed  Lbs 4627
8vo. In other words, Lbs 4627 8vo gave a copy of the Lukkustafir version found in Huld, but then later at the end of
the manuscript gave this other design. The later design had no title and its purpose was hidden within a cypher.
It was not until another manuscript was uncovered, scanned and made public (by my request in fact) that the alternate
version of the Lbs 4627 stave could be given its correct title and enable its cypher to be decrypted. In Lbs 4627 the
cypher reads Kclii zlitl ncs, kyxs rcn ct zcs. A letter switching provides a correct Icelandic stanza: Heill filgi mer, hvar
sem eg fer. Which translates to Fortune follow me, wherever I go.
In the other manuscript, indexed Lbs 2917a 4to, this same stanza was instead written in Medieval Icelandic runes:

ᚼᛂᛁᛚᛚ᛫ᚠᛁᛚᚵᛁ᛫ᛘᛁᛂᚱ᛬
ᚼᚢᛅᚱ᛫ᛋᛂᛘ᛫ᛂᚵ᛫ᚠᛂᚱ᛬

Lukkustafir, Page 55
Geir Vigfússon, ÍB 383 4to

Lukkustafir, Page 36
 unknown, Lbs 4627 8vo
The Lukkustafir in Huld comes with additional sub headings Alpha and Omega - the beginning and the end, a
Christian title for God. Note the final piece of text sjó og landi is written in slightly altered Danish Futhark

runes : ᛋᛁᚮ ᚮᚵ ᛚᛆᚿᛑᛁ .

ICELANDIC TRANSLATION:
ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
(by Arnar Gunnarsson)
(by Arnar Gunnarsson)
Sá er ber stafi þessa á sér mætir ekki slysum hvergi á sjó og
Whosoever bear these staves on him will not meet with
landi.
mishaps nowhere on sea and land.
 
The Huld version is confirmed plus a second alternate version of the stave is given in Lbs 4627 8vo. Here the text
translates to:
To prevent bad luck [and] comforts you; on sea and land, if you carry this stave with you.
Curiously the alternate version bears remarkable similarity to the popular Ægishjálmur stave; an eight armed wheel,
an inner circle and triple cross lines on each arm. The difference is only in the end terminals which are sharp cornered
and cupped inwards rather than outwards. The implication being that Ægishjálmur prevents harm coming in and
Lukkustafur keeps the luck in.

From Page 87, The Galdrabók - An Icelandic Grimoire  3

This is not a Lukkustafur stave!
Full details on how this error came about, including all supporting source information, can be found on my separate
page The Lukkustafir Blunder.

Jónas Jónasson identifies other lukkustafir in his impressive early 1900s compilation and which can be found in the
manuscript Lbs 267 8vo. The instruction beside the symbols reads ber það, meaning carry it.

Galdrastafir from Lbs 267 8vo

 Galdrastafir #340, Lukkustafir handdrawn in Lbs 267 8vo
From the collection by Jonas Jonasson, Lbs 5472 4to, Part III
Preceding these symbols appears the following Icelandic text:
Ad Manni Lukist fie gakk þrisvar rangsælis i kringumm þad og þrisvar riett sælis i kringumm fie þitt og les patur noster
og skrifa med stali stafi þessa þar sem það liggur og geingur
This is followed by the Lord’s Prayer written in Latin (Icel. Pater Noster), giving these symbols a particular Christian
influence. It finishes with:
Þetta er bæninn og er góð enn þetta eru stafirnir so
With the kind assistance of Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir, we have translated this text as follows:
To be lucky with your livestock, walk three times around it counter wise and three times clock wise, and read pater
noster and write with steel these staves, where it lies and walks around.
[Lord’s Prayer] ... Amen
This is the prayer and [it] is good, but these are the staves, like following...
All the key elements of the spell - walking around clockwise and anti clockwise, carving with steel, speaking Pater
Noster - are also seen used in other galdradtafir spells.
Curiously, given in this manuscript immediately following the seven Lukkustafir, is a stave
called Skuggabaldur which has pagan references, and calls on the use of the Sator Arepo Tenet magic square, which
dates all the way back to Roman times. Another example of the Icelandic magicians drawing on whatever inspiration
they felt would help them: anything goes, nothing is off limits!
Finally are some staves from the manuscript titled Rúna og galdrakver Lbs 2413 from Iceland written around 1800.
The key word used here is Heill rather than the previous Lukku. The words appear to be synonyms and both have
undergone a transition of their original meaning of luck to present day happiness:
heill (-ar,-ir)
luck, happiness, success | Concise Icelandic-English Dictionary, Reykjavík: Iðunn, 1989
luck, omen, foreboding | A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford Clareden Press, 1910
good luck; A. an omen, auspice, foreboding; B. good luck, happiness | An Icelandic-English Dictionary,
Oxford Clareden Press, 1874
lukk/a (-u)
happiness, joy | Concise Icelandic-English Dictionary, Reykjavík: Iðunn, 1989
luck, good fortune | A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford Clareden Press, 1910
luck | An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford Clareden Press, 1874
 Pages 37v and 38r from Lbs 2413 8vo
This is the Luck-knot of man. It should always be
Þetta er mannsins Heillahnútur: Þann skal maður ætíð á sér bera carried on one’s body.
[stafur] [stave]
Þettað er og svo mannsins Heillahnútur sem ætíð skal á sér bera This is also a Luck-knot of man that should
[stafur] always be carried.
Þessi eftirfylgjandi stafur heitir Heillahnöttur og er góður sigurstafur á sér [stave]
borinn settur á helgaðan pappír The following stave is called a Luck-ring and is
[stafur] a good victory stave carried on sanctified paper.
[stave]
There is barely any difference between the first and second stave, which generally can be interpreted in two different
ways. It frequently occurs that the same stave can be drawn in more than one way (particularly evident on
Ægishjálmar and Rúðukrossar). It may mean that a particular stave can be drawn only in the ways given, or it may
indicate that variations are acceptable. As the same stave often is drawn differently across different manuscripts, the
latter is more likely to be the case - with the only real criteria being that it is recognisable as that symbol.

Galdrastafir Ritual Empowerment

This section requires a rewrite. What is here will be replaced and I can do no better than to summarise a most excellent
paper written by Christopher A. Smith in January 2011:

The Icelandic Tradition of Magic

Multiple purchases get a discount on my Shop page.

The Northern magical process differed from the traditional Southern approach in several ways. In the Southern
formula there was a preparation of the ground (with a circle and triangle which was stood in) to protect the magician
from the spirit called. The spirit was then ordered to perform some bidding. After the ritual the magician dismissed
the spirit. The Northern way had no preparation. The spirit was called to assist or empower the magician rather than it
do the work. And there was no specific dismissing at the end. Another difference between South and North was in the
person of the magician: the Southern one required little experience whilst in the North the more skilled the better - it
was more about the magician than the process.
In Icelandic Magick one or more of three methods was used: signs or symbols; writing; or spoken chants or words. In
the case of Galdrastafir, this used the first with or without the later two.
The general technique of rune magic in pagan times consisted of three procedural steps performed by a qualified rune
magician: (1) carving the staves into an object, (2) coloring them with blood or dye, and (3) speaking a vocal formula
over the staves to load them with magical power.3
Egil then drew his knife and pricked the palm of his hand. He took the horn, scratched runes thereon, and smeared
blood in them. He sang:
Write we runes around the horn,
Redden all the spell with blood;
Wise words choose I for the cup ...
The horn burst asunder in the midst, and the drink was spilt on the straw below.5
Rituals often included blood along with other aspects: woods (ash, oak, alder ...); herbs (leek, mosses, rosemary, sage,
...) and stones (amber, ruby, diamond). With the growing conversion to Christianity from 1000 to 1550CE, prayers
became more prominent and Christian entities were more often called upon. Along with the usual gods of Odin, Thor,
Frig and Freya, now Jesus, Mary and Satan were included. Many of the charms transcribed into the various Galdrabok
included the phrase In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
From 1550 to 1750CE, the Protestant Reformation Age the quality of learning decreased and persecution of magic
and magicians increased. Records of witchcraft trails in Iceland exist from 1554 to 1720, and peeked in the mid
1600s.
As a final call from esoteric witchcraft back to reality - I am yet to see any empirical evidence of galdrastafir being
used in the Viking age or beyond through to late middle ages. There are no viking warrior gravesites which bore up a
helmet with the Ægishjálmar carved within. No ships or mariner graves revealed a Vegvísir in use. And the  power of
runes seems to be nothing more than myth.

Bibliography and References:

1. Huld Manuscript, ÍB 383 4to by Geir Vigfússon, 1860

2. Galdrabók by various scribes, circa 1600
3. The Galdrabók - An Icelandic Grimoire by Stephen Flowers, Samuel Weise Inc., York Beach, Maine, 1989
4. Understanding the Galdrabók & Creating Original Designs by Greg Crowfoot, 1994
5. The Poetic Edda English, transl. W. C. Green, 1893, and English, transl. Henry Adams Bellows, 1936
6. The Complete Illustrated Guide to the Runes by Nigel Pennick, Element Books Ltd, Rockport MA, 1999
7. Robert Blumetti, Twelve Questions from The Hex Factory, 2012
8. The History of Icelandic Sorcery from Museum of Icelandic Sorcery & Witchcraft
9. Ægishjálmr: the Symbol Called the Helm of Awe from The Viking Answer Lady, 2005
10. Travel Well by Fen Alraun, 2013
11. Understanding the Symbols by wyrddesigns, 2010
12. Runes in Denmark - Unknown author
13. Runes Secrets - Study Community by Tyriel et. al.
14. Introduction to the Runes: Younger Futhark (Chart) by Sunna Blalock
15. Google Archive: Ægishjálmur (Helms of Awe) by Brad Lucas
16. Runic and Heroic Poems of the Old Teutonic Peoples by Bruce Dickins, Cambridge University Press 1915
17. Die Runenschrift by Ludv. F. A. Wimmer, 1887 (Rune poems translation and notes by Yves Kodratoff)
18. The Icelandic Rune-Poem by R I Page, 1998
19. Danske runeinnskrifter fra vikingtiden Danish runic inscriptions of the Viking Age
20. Isländische Zauberzeichen und Zauberbücher (an essay) by Ólafur Davíðsson, 1903
21. The Elements of Runes by Bernard King, 1997
22. maður er manns gaman Wikipedia verse description with multiple translations; and
Poetic Edda - Hávamál complete verse with two translations (incl. Auden & Taylor)
23. Northern Mysteries and Magick: Runes & Feminine Powers by Freya Aswynn
24. The Rune Primer: A Down-to-Earth Guide to the Runes by Sweyn Plowright
25. Northern Magic: Rune Mysteries and Shamanism by Edred Thorsson
26. Witchcraft in Iceland by Matthías Viðar Sæmundsson
27. An Early Christian Cryptogram? by Duncan FISHWICK, M.A.

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