Study › Runes & Norse › The Vegvísir Is Not Viking
The Vegvísir is often sold as a Viking compass, but no Viking ever saw it. It is known only from 19th-century Iceland.
Is the Vegvísir Viking?
The Vegvísir, the round "wayfinder" of eight staves, is often sold as a Viking compass. No Viking ever saw it. It is known only from 19th-century Iceland, above all the Huld Manuscript, a small book of magic compiled by Geir Vigfússon in 1860 — some eight hundred years after the Viking Age.
Read the Vegvísir, the Helm of Awe and the valknut.
Questions
Where does the Vegvísir come from?
The Huld Manuscript, a book of magic compiled in Iceland in 1860.
Are any Norse symbols truly Viking?
Yes: the valknut, for one, is carved on Viking Age stones.