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We bought this amulet at the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm. By the looks of it, it seems to be an Icelandic stave. Is it? And if so, does it mean what the packet says it means?

My sister saw this in a friends arm and is looking for some kind of meaning, it was mildly erased

What is the meaning of the symbol?

So I found this piece of pottery at a thrift store, ID’d as Glit Lava Studio, Icelandic pottery company from around the 70s, and can’t figure out how to read this symbol. Any ideas?

I'm looking for online resources that I can access to further my knowledge of galdrastafir. I'm a manitoban of icelandic heritage and I've started to make rock art using some Galdrastafir. What I've ran into alot is people making up things about them. Or simply making up symbols. I'm aware of the books avaliable. So just wondering if there's some good online resources from reputable people

Hello, this post will be a bit about two uncertainties of mine, as well as an attempt to convey all the information I have gathered during my research on this topic for others that might need it.

1. I know this version of Lukkustafir from The Huld manuscript, page 60 (or Galdrabok, page 87), is mistranslated, but I didn't manage to find out what it is exactly. Is it a luck-stave or it's something else? ^((I will update the post with the response))

Incorrect Lukkustafir

2. In the two books, Lbs 4627 8vo and Lbs 2413 8vo there are two symbols representing more or less the same thing: Lukkustafir and Heillahnútur. I've found out about them on this neat webpage-blog galdrastafir.com.

I know one is the luck-stave and the other is the luck-knot, but I didn't fully understand their differences, and I hope somebody will help me with that.

Lukkustafir

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Heillahnútur

I am also curious about the small details that make the symbols, such as, if I'm correct about this, the small horizontal lines that represent the ups and downs and challenges that will be encountered in life. This I got from a youtube video comment:

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concerning the tattoo on the face of Bjorn: the symbol of the moon horns going down do actually mean hard times or bad times, connected to anger and depression. and the one on top is the ain-soph-aur, (neptune) - (kether) -> with the symbol of Trident staff and the Gungnir, staff and for the whole symbol is an arrow correlated with progress and advancement with eventual good intentions., the lines that are going horizontal must mean the ups and downs or objectives, more of challenges that he will encounter in life.

The tattoo in question

How accurate is this? Where can I find more about these details?

Also, during my research, I've found out about Arith Härger, who talks about this topic and more or less seems credible. I just lost a bit of faith when I searched for the Lukkustafir topic on his channel and saw that he was referring to the incorrect Lukkustafir and didn't clarify in the comments (as of this moment). I asked about the topic, and I will update this with the response.

Thank you in advance.

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Sources I used:

Galdrabok An Icelandic Grimoire

Huld Manuscript of Galdrastafir

Lbs 4627 8vo

Lbs 2413 8vo

The video mentioned

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I've seen several iterations of It, but dont know if all/ some are correct/incorrect

Hi, new here. I have been thinking of getting a tattoo and stubbled upon thins image I found on Academia.edu. The title is Galdrabok-an icelandic grimoire by Alex Henley. There is states that it is from the Kreddur Menuscript but I want to find the original source to confirm its design. Now I have scoured handrit.is and have not found a file titled kreddur. Can anybody help me find a scan of kreddur or tell me where this is from?

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I am not Icelandic. I have no family blood nor relation to the culture. I am very much interested in veldismagn and getting it tattooed on my chest. Would it be inappropriate to get it done? I don’t want to be disrespectful

So I’ve been doing some research into veldismagn, protector of the traveler. Traditionally it was written in blood on the chest. I was wondering how essential that location was. I was looking into getting it as a tattoo, but want to make sure it is done thoughtfully and accurately. If I get it another place on my body, will it still have the same effect?

I'm from the west fjords of Iceland where galdrastafir were and still are used the most in Iceland and my great great grandfather wrote down from manuscripts and Grimoires to persevere the knowledge of galdrastafir, and my family is still using them so I grew up with them and I use them every day of my life. I'm just curious who started this sup and why, also would love to hear from you guys how and why your interest in or use galdrastafir not being from Iceland. Sorry if I come off as a dick but this is big thing for me and my family.

Hi everyone! I recently took a trip to Iceland (amazing place) and found this keychain. I recognized the (red) Ástarstafur, and perhaps some simplified version of Vegvísir or Ægishjálmur? But I haven't been able to find much info on the others, if they are true galdrastafir, runes, or symbols at all. Could anyone help me identify these symbols and their meanings? Thanks in advance!

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Okay, this is the big one. The one you may have been directed or linked to, likely from a post containing an ægishjálmur or vegvísir, maybe surrounded by elder Futhark runes or on Norse inspired artwork. As such.

Well, these two popular symbols are, of course, galdrastafir. For an introduction to what those are, see here. Once/if you are familiar with those, why aren't they Norse? After all, the way they are depicted 95% of the time would lead to the presumption that they are, through games, tattoos, drawings, carvings, jewellery etc.

We will start with their origins, which is of course the crucial point. Who invented these, if not the Vikings or otherwise Norse pagans? In reality, galdrastafir have no connections to paganism at all, and none of our early examples will be based in or even near mainland Scandinavia or Iceland. In fact the oldest example I am aware of (but open to another in the comments) is this sigil from circa 1105 in Cambridgeshire, England. It was a manuscript named 'The Caldender and the Cloister' written in early Middle English, and unsurprisingly for being from an Abbey, Christian. There was nothing pagan or even stereotypically occult about its origins, as it was written by catholic abbots and not blasphemous pravticioners of the dark arts. Across Europe we have many examples springing up from this point forth, always consistent with a few things:

• The distinctive shapes, angles and linework that you can see in the forementioned Caldender+Cloister manuscript carried over during the centuries until the creation of the familiar and similar Ægishjálmur and Vegvísirs some 500 years later.

• All of the manuscripts were Christian, with no adherence to polytheism, old gods or in particular Norse gods. There is no indication that there were roots in Scandinavia, nor anything pre-christian at all. If anything, the closest I've personally ever drawn to a pre-christian religion was not Norse but Slavic paganism, just noting the (still very likely coincidental) similarities between many staves and the old Slavic symbol known as the Hands of Svarog

-All in all, it is quiet safe to say that the art of magic staves made its way to Scandinavia, but from elsewhere, and most importantly, after the end of the Norse age.

The most important nugget to consider is that even if the very earliest examples of these European staves being used far north were not so long after the end of the Norse age, the Norse people themselves obviously had no knowledge of them. A Viking would never recognise a Helm of Awe, if anything he'd be confused as to why it's not a helmet. They were not painted on sails, tattooed on chests or backs, etched on shields or carved in stones. They were simply not in existence in their culture.

So the most important angle, 'did they use them', is settled. Here we move on to the inverse of the question, which I have had brought up to me when people present the debated correlation between old Norse times and galdrastafir. Did the Christian users of Galdrastafir count in some ways as Norse?

In short, no not really. There were certainly no Vikings in Norway by 1480, the earliest considered date for the Vinjeboka. The language was no longer Old West Norse, but old Norwegian. Widespread worship of Óðinn and Þórr were long gone from living memory and the nation was entirely Christian. No one was going off raiding, burning longships or, for the vast majority at least, using runes. Norway was far closer to its depiction in Shakespeare's Hamlet than the beloved (by most) Netflix series.

So what about Iceland? The face of Galdrastafir and the last sanctuary of Norse culture, surely. Unfortunately not. Iceland appears to have gotten its share of staves later than much of Europe, certainly later than Norway. We can place the Huld Manuscript at 1860, closer to Björk than Leifr Eriksson. We can place a generous guess of the arrival at 1600. By this point, this is quite literally six hundred years after the Alþingi decided on conversion to Christianity. While the old gods and the new one certainly did co-exist for a while (it was fully permitted) this was far too late for that.

This is long after the old pagan religion ceased to be contemporary in Icelandic society. And the users of staves, lest we forget, were not and underground group of last gasp Norse conservatives. They were fishermen, farmers and pub owners that got christened and went to church.

The 2 things brought up in connection are runes and the aknowlgement of Þórr with the Thorshamar and the runes, used for example in Huld Manuscript (right side page). Both of these will get their own posts in time but I will summarise. In terms of the runes; runic ≠ Norse. The proto Germanic tribes that used elder Futhark were not Norse, nor the old English or the Frisians who used Anglo Saxon futhark, nor indeed the Icelanders in the 1700s who wrote parts of modern (if archaic) Icelandic in Futhork.

As for the aknowlegement of Thor, he is essentially the patron god of old Iceland. Surprisingly, Odin was very much secondary and nowhere near his status in early Iceland. His survival in name draws a lot of resemblence to me to Brigid, a pre-christian figure of Irish mythology who was adapted as a saint by the Catholic Church. While Brigid and Thor lived on as patriotic names in Ireland and Iceland respectively, paganism did not. And thus, we see no mention of the rest of the pantheon, or else these manuscripts would be invaluable secondary sources for our malnourished understanding of old Norse religion.

To conclude, it is certain that the Norse did not employ the use of Galdrastafir such as the Vegvísir, Ægishjálmur, Ginfaxi or any other for that matter, and the users of such staves were not Norse. So to end off, why did they two end up intertwined?

Well, at the end of the day, marketing. The promotion of the vegvisir in a sort of occult revival in obscure Icelandic mysticism led to a bridging of the gap between the obscure and mainstream when pop singer Björk tattooed one on her arm in her friend's kitchen. This led to an explosion in visibility soon cashed in on by shops selling keychains, charms, necklaces and obviously more tattoos. There'd hardly be any issue if they were more accurate with how they portrayed them by name and associated imagery, but 'Viking' is so much more tantalising to the average Joe than 'Monk'.

And so, we have this gigantic mixup that often irks Norse enthusiasts, and can lead to frustrated conversation and debate online. I feel like some folks come away from these feeling dismissed, or that the symbol they showed off has been devalued somehow. But it hasn't, this area of history and culture is both fascinating and insightful, and deserves to be enjoyed in its own right. I invite anyone coming here to contribute their images and drawings, carvings, etc. And please, do ask questions if you feel like it, on this post or others.

Þakka ykkur!

(Note: this is a brief overview that will not cover the entirety of all important information, but it can be expanded upon or if necessary, corrected, in the comments).

'Galdrastafir' is an Icelandic word that directly translates to 'magical staves'. 'Galdrar' is an Icelandic word for magic, stemming from the old Norse galdr. It is still used today, alongside the word 'töfrar'.

'Stafur' translates, of course, to stave, cognate with the word 'staff' (like an old man may carry). The correlation between this 'stick-like' etymology and staves in drawn form is not known for certain, with valid theories including the idea that they were made physically with sticks, drawn or etched with them, or a different etymological connection to the general Scandinavian verb to spell. Regardless, they are often distinctive by their repeating motifs, including frames of straight lines and circles or semicircles, even numbered extremities and often rigid shapes. Look out for 90 degree angles and lines ending in iconic 'fork' or 'trident' shapes.

From galdrastafir.org - Linguistic example: “Han kunne stave sit eget navn!” / “He could spell his own name!”

Most of the time a Galdrastafir can be seen as a graphical representation of a magical spell. Depictions of magical staves found in old manuscripts are sometimes accompanied with some sort of description, explaining both the purpose of the staves as well as how to use the magic - galdrastafir.org

The process of depicting these spells could be complex and quote stereotypically 'witch' like, involving natural materials such as blood and herbs, but typically needed only to be drawn. After this, they would be carried in a certain place (ie. Under the hand or in the case of the gapaldur, under the heel). They would then, to the belief of the wearer, carry out their intended magical purpose.

These purposes were made to suit users from all walks of life. The most famous example is the Vegvísir, which served to prevent users from getting lost on their journeys. However purposes also range from luck in fishing, romance , coopering etc.

Although not a warring nation or known for bloody conflicts, some inevitably served for the sake of belligerence, be it to protect in a battle or outright assasinate someone's cattle.

The sources for these spells will be expanded upon in this sub as it is added to, with my most familiar source being the Huld Manuscript (author Geir Vigfússon, 1860), wherein we are introduced to a square depiction of the Vegvísir.

There is also the book 'Galdrakver' (Icelandic - magic potions), authored by Vigfússon's son, Olgeir Geirson in 1868-9. You can find an archived version of it here to have a look at many good examples of spells that will be covered on the subreddit. Note the word Galdrastafir present at the top left on every page.

Staves in this context are sigils that were employed by practicers of Christian occultism. You may recognise the most famous examples, the ægishjálmur and Vegvísir, which will have their own discussion posts in time.

In short, as we begin the discussion and exploration of this topic, try to think of galdrastafir as less of a Norse-spirited form of magic, but more a distinctively Nordic flavour of pan-European occultism that was so widespread at the time. It is no less authentically local than the more ancient cultural marks in Iceland, but simply carries different roots.

Þakkar ykkur, and please stay tuned for the next post which will likely be the longest and most often referred to, the Norse misconception.