The True Ægishjálmur [ Helm of Awe ]

[0:00]Hello, my dear friends, how is it going? I'm Ari Therger, and today I'm going to talk about the Icelandic magic stage. Hello, my dear friends, how is it going? I'm Ari Therger, and today I'm going to talk about the Icelandic magic stave Aegishjalmur. Probably one of the most tattooed symbols these days, especially among, let's say, new age pagans who have a predisposition to follow some aspects of Nordic paganism. And so they choose this symbol for a tattoo for reasons I really don't understand, aside from the fact that the symbol in question is often thought to be a Viking symbol or a Viking age symbol. So I really want to make this video to settle this once and for all. So, after you watch this video, you can send it to all the people who still think the Aegishjalmur is a Viking symbol. So they can finally be aware of its actual historical context. By the way, I take the opportunity to tell you that if you haven't watched the previous video I have done concerning Icelandic magic staves, Galdrastafir, I suggest you watch it, you can check it here on your right upper corner in this information icon. And that video will guide you through the historical background of Galdrastafir, especially the Aegishjalmur type of symbols. In that video, I have forgotten to leave you a bibliography. I'm sorry. However, I have included the bibliography by the end of the video concerning the similarities between Galdrastafir and Umbanda symbols. So, you can check that one and those sources by yourself. And also the sources present in today's video, of course, at the very end. The video on the common misconceptions concerning Galdrastafir will help you as a walk through into today's video because I want to avoid repeating myself for your own sake. But certainly, a few points will have to be remembered. Um, so let's get straight to it, shall we? My dear friends. Please. All right, starting with a brief summary. The Aegishjalmur has often thought to be a Viking age symbol, but it isn't at all and it has nothing to do with a Scandinavian pre-Christian pagan past. Nor is it Scandinavian at all, but rather a symbol of the history of modern occultism of Iceland. The Aegishjalmur belongs to the symbols called Galdrastafir, literally symbols of magic or magical staves, which are symbols of a heterogeneous nature that appear in Icelandic grimoires, black books, magic books, spell books, if you will, since the 1500s. So we are talking about a symbol whose iconography begins to develop in the 16th century of the common era. Half a millennium after the end of the Scandinavian Iron Age, commonly known as the Viking Era or the Viking Age. The so-called Viking age is relatively short, just slightly under 300 years, which follows the end of the Germanic Iron Age and in many ways represents the culmination of the Iron Age in Scandinavia. Coinciding with the spread of Christianity in the North already by the ninth and 10th centuries, only the period in between prior to the onset of the medieval period in the North. Again, I repeat, an iconographic representation of what would become the Aegishjalmur does not appear until the 16th century in Iceland. Half a millennium after the end of the Viking age. This should be enough to eliminate the notion that such symbols have anything to do with the Vikings. It is not even a symbol of the history of Scandinavia, but of Iceland, which is a Nordic country, of course, obviously, but not a Scandinavian one. As we shall see further ahead and as I have presented in more depth on the video I've mentioned previously, although this is a magical symbol of the history of modern Icelandic occultism, its cultural basis is Jewish, which influenced Eastern European occultism, more specifically within the Byzantine Empire, which progressively marked its presence in the history of modern occultism throughout Europe. As I said, uh there is a symbol that will take some steps in its evolution to reach the form we know as the Aegishjalmur, which is found in the oldest small manuscript known as Laekningakver.

[5:01]Book of doctors. It's from the early 1500s, 16th century, right? And here we find many remedies from plants, cures for many illnesses, and also spells, as this was still at a time when magic and medicine were practically the same thing. In the sense that usually the administration of a remedy was also accompanied by a prayer, invocations, and symbols to increase the effectiveness of the remedy for healing purposes. Then we have this symbol that I'm going to show you on the screen somewhere in here.

[5:40]As an iconographic evolution and as a symbol to discover the identity of a thief. Accompanying this symbol, we can see the phrase, in nomine domini amen. In the name of the Lord, amen. We are before a symbol whose cultural basis is Christian belief. This symbol and the text that illustrates it implies the existence of good and evil as concrete but subtle entities, and the possibility for the individual to act to change the course of events, for better or worse. Invoking the power of God or the devil. This dualistic view is typically Christian. We must remember that some of these symbols, indeed, invoke pagan deities like Odin and Thor. Usually also summoning demons from the Hebrew and the Judeo-Christian culture at the same time. Sometimes the presence of pagan deities in these symbols is misleading, quite misleading, creating the belief that Norse paganism was still strong and had survived even in the modern era. But this is not the case at all. The church did not normally deny the existence of the deities of the religions to which it imposed itself, but limited itself to to attributing to old pagan deities, a demonic character. The range of demons summoned in prayers and incantations followed by these symbols, therefore, also included ancient pagan deities, but no longer understood as gods, but as demons. Therefore, this does not imply that pagan beliefs have survived into the modern period within an occultic subculture. Rather, it is the evidence to the real degradation of the pagan gods who have become demons and fallen angels of the Christian culture. We are not in the presence of pagan symbols. We are in the presence of Judeo-Christian symbols and religious beliefs. The symbol that I present here now is to scare enemies when you meet them. In this sense, it is finally the most similar one to what we call the Aegishjalmur, not only in iconographic terms, but also in its purpose to scare enemies away. We know that the Aegishjalmur is commonly known as the Helm of Terror, precisely to frighten enemies when they see this symbol. Well, then. The designation of a helm of terror appears in the poetic Edda, a collection of poems that have come down to us in a manuscript from the 1200s of the common era, 13th century. And this helm of terror is told to be a concrete object. In fact, we are in the presence of a mistranslation, quite possibly, and assumptions based on nothing but a personal belief that Galdrastafir are of ancient origin or or are ancient pagan symbols, and so the sources have been manipulated. There's an Aegishjalmur mentioned in an earlier source to be more precise in Fáfnismál. In this source, which I shall develop further ahead, we are not presented with any symbology, no graphic representation whatsoever, but only a term, a designation of the existence of an object that is the helm of terror. In the in the sense of being the Aegishjalmur, which it seems clear that there was a failure in translation and in fact, it doesn't mean helm of terror, but anyway, an Aegishjalmur is mentioned. But no particular symbol associated to it. I will talk further ahead about the designation Hjalmur, uh helmet, and the possible wrong translation into helm of terror. Now, returning to the previous source, the text in Laekningakver says, if you want your enemy to be afraid of you, carry this symbol in your left hand. As you have certainly noticed, this symbol may be similar, but it isn't the symbol that is being tattooed nowadays. But its purpose is similar and its appearance as well. A helm of terror is spoken of in earlier sources, as I've said, 13th century, 300 years before the appearance of a symbol that was also used to scare off enemies. This leads to another common misconception that the symbol comes from an earlier period because of the same designation and intention. But that's not the case. It's quite clear these symbols appear in the 16th century. And just because they have been designed and give names that remote to earlier written descriptions, doesn't mean that the symbols are from the period of those written descriptions. What happened here is that the 16th and 17th centuries, authors of these grimoires consulted similar sources. But through a process of creativity and according to the occultic symbolisms of the modern period, have recycled those materials and produced different results. In other words, the 13th century helm of terror, or better still Aegishjalmur, that is spoken of as an object to scare off enemies, did not have any iconographic representation. But 16th and 17th centuries, Icelandic occultists created a symbol derived from Jewish religious symbols, giving it the purpose of scaring off enemies and named them or named it the symbol, later on, Aegishjalmur. As an illusion to the helm of terror mentioned in earlier sources. Basically giving an old name, Aegishjalmur, and designation of that object to a new symbol whose intention is the same as the intention of the old the old name for an unknown object. The present form of Aegishjalmur appears later in the 17th century paper manuscript known as Galdrakver, book of magic. So we have a whole evolutionary process of symbols that appear in the 1500s until finally in the 17th century, the symbol we know as Aegishjalmur appears. In modern Iceland or or um, let's say, in Icelandic, we can see the designation for this symbol, which, in the best possible way, translates as, and I quote, Aegishjalmur, it will be made of lead and printed on the forehead when one expects his enemy to find him, and so he will prevail against the enemy. It is as follows below. So here we have a more recent iconographic representation for the same purpose as the previous symbol we have seen. Instead of the usual translation of helm of terror, we actually have a possible meaning which is Aegishjalmur's helmet. Hjalmur may be a helmet, which would explain why a symbol would be placed on the forehead, um, remembering the the 13th century object placed on the head, which we shall see, as we shall see further ahead, may be actually a type of jewel or stone that would be inserted on an helmet and in this way, a person would use an actual helmet with the stone and thus, it would scare off his enemies. However, we may be in the presence of a play off words in here or or a fail in translation from medieval Western old Norse into modern Icelandic. And it may not be the helmet of high here, but instead the helm of high here. The will for steering a ship or boat belonging to the old Norse God of the seas, Aegir. Or maybe not not that, not at all, and something else entirely unexpected. But we shall explore this further ahead, don't worry. But before we move on, I should like to add that a type of Aegishjalmur, one that I would call a proto-Aegishjalmur, the one that appears in the Laekningakver of the 16th century, previously seen here accompanied by the phrase, in nomine domini amen, also appears in the manuscript Codex Regius of the Prose Edda, 14th century. And in the Prose Edda transcription manuscript of the 15th century. This has led a few scholars to believe that this symbol is from an earlier period. But that's not the case. The symbol in question only appears in the 16th century. But its appearance on manuscripts, one and two centuries prior to its creation is because this is a later addition to the manuscripts, evidenced by the difference in color and texture. An addition made in the 16th century precisely. The drawing was done next to Snorri's text. It is important to mention this because modern period Icelandic authors consulted earlier documentation and material and made notes on earlier documents. We shall see this further ahead, precisely in the creation of the symbol Aegishjalmur, whose name was given to the symbol because 17th century Icelandic authors consulted earlier sources where the term Aegishjalmur appears in relation to something else entirely. It must be taken into account that there are no traces, no evidences whatsoever of these symbols in archaeological findings. Not just in Iceland, but throughout Scandinavia. If it were a Viking symbol, we would expect to find it engraved somewhere in Scandinavia. But it has never been found. Icelandic medieval manuscripts also make no reference to ancient symbols. As said before, these symbols start to appear and develop in Iceland in the 16th century. And the Aegishjalmur, as we know it, is developed in the 17th century. And from that moment onwards, its morphology will serve to create other symbols that present the same iconographic similarities, such is the case of the Vegvísir, which I will not talk about today, but it's important to remember that from the moment the Aegishjalmur is created, 17th century, there are a series of similar symbols that start to be developed until at least the 19th century. These are all modern symbols, neither ancient symbols, nor pagan symbols. The emergence of the Aegishjalmur and such other similar symbols in Iceland is an influence from outside Iceland, with its origins in in in the development of the field of occult sciences in other countries. In the Renaissance, a new type of esotericism spread across Europe, based largely on a tradition of Jewish origins, based on the invocation of demons with the purpose of controlling them for different purposes. The demonic invocation or or the invocations are accomplished through the use of specific seals or sigils, gathered in large numbers in one of the most widespread texts of European esotericism, King Solomon's clavicle or or the key of Solomon, Clavicula Salomonis. So we are talking about um historical testimony of European magic, a source Jewish roots that influenced continental European esotericism and not a source of pagan tradition for which there are are absolutely no evidences whatsoever. Now, in the 1400s, common era, in Greece, we have the manuscript known as Harley 5596, which contains one of the oldest surviving witnesses of King Solomon's Clavicle. I'm sure that you can see the similarities with the symbols that would later on reach Iceland during modern times and give rise to many Galdrastafir, especially the Aegishjalmur.

[18:42]This is not an expression of the pagan world. Perhaps this becomes clearer if we take into account that in the 15th century, the Byzantine Empire collapsed with the Turkish advance. Greek scholars have taken refuge in Europe and brought with them a considerable amount of classical knowledge that will help spark the Renaissance. These scholars have brought with them new expressions of occultism, which have inspired others to develop new forms of occultism and symbology. People who may have had directly and indirectly, uh contact with these people, learned these occult practices and symbols by the contact with several European countries that were receiving these influences from Greek refugees. As I've explained on the video I've done about the Balkan religious symbols. So, this includes Icelanders, studying abroad, traveling, working, trading, people were on the move, especially during the Middle Ages and modern period, and always exchanging knowledge and new forms of magic, occult sciences, and medicine. Eventually, Icelanders brought these symbols with them and finally, there's a great development from this cultural background in the 16th century in Iceland. The aesthetic elements of Solomonic inspired demonic seals would suffer some artistic changes in Iceland, bringing to life new magic symbols within Icelandic tradition. In the early modern era, Icelanders were able to develop iconographic elements, he narrated from European occult culture, which by itself, he narrated it from Jewish occult sciences. In fact, reading Icelandic Grimoires from the early Renaissance and other Grimoires that would follow, we noticed that they are not very different from the continental European Grimoires. For instance, the belief in the existence and the invocation of the Christian God and the devil is very well documented in Icelandic grimoires, as well as the presence of invocations of of or to pagan deities of the Germanic Pantheon. But quite explicit that these invocations of of pagan gods are in the sense or or are in the same way that that other demons in the Abrahamic tradition are invoked, inserting some elements of pagan mythology, stripped of their original meanings, but now inserted and reshaped into this new occultic tradition of the modern era. As we have seen earlier, the Renaissance popularized the use of symbols with a Judeo-Christian cultural base in magical books from the history of European occultism. Books called grimoires, which mixed and consolidated knowledge from astrology, the Kabbalah, Alchemy, the ritual and rituals, several rituals of Eastern and Western magical arts. Eventually, arriving in Iceland in the 16th century. The most famous Nordic Grimoire is the Galdrabók, dating from the 17th century, which contains 47 magical incantations, which present precisely the continental European magical tradition that solidified after the 15th century. Now, in relation to the Aegishjalmur, it was cited in two sources of literature. The first one in Fáfnismál, stances 16 and 17 of Codex Regius of the Poetic Edda, then in the source Völsunga Saga. Aegishjalmur has come to be translated as Helm of Awe or Helm of Terror or even fear-helm. There may actually be some translation errors here due to the enigmatic character of this term, which can be a kenning or even an expression that has nothing to do with a helmet, but a word whose meaning was only understood by those who had a deep mythological knowledge of the epoch. And therefore, when literally translated, it loses its original meaning. Let's start first with the source Fáfnismál. In Fáfnismál, stances 16 and 17, and also the 19th and the helm is also mentioned, but unlike the two previous stances, it is specifically a helm and no longer what the dragon Fafnir referred to at first. In this Eddic poem, it does not speak of any symbol, but it seems to be something concrete that would bring victory to its owner according to the dragon Fafnir. And in the same poem, it is alluded to belong to the treasure of Sigurd, the hero, from which it is deduced that it would be engraved on a helmet. But it is only a deduction, as it could very well be a magical object that Sigurd could use as a jewel on a piece of armor, such as an helmet. Aegishjalmur doesn't really seem to be a helmet, and since this is a 13th century source, a period when many myths were compiled and also heavily influenced by classical mythology through the clergy, perhaps Aegishjalmur is a stone, if we remember that this description of a magical object in Fafnir's head is related to a European tradition that goes back to the Greeks and which survived until the end of the Middle Ages. Clearly, the poem refers to the Aegishjalmur as something that the dragon Fafnir wears on his head that helps him to guard the treasure because it causes fear in those who contemplate the object that Fafnir uses. In the European tradition that dates back to the Greek antiquity, there's a stone that dragons have on their heads. Snakestone or draconite or better known as Draconite, used for healing purposes and also in relation to the deadly look that this kind of mythological monster would have. And pay close attention to this part, because this object, Draconite, is often referred to to the very countenance of the dragon that brings fear upon those who behold it. In relation to its expression, aspect, the very look of it. We are precisely talking about a mythical gemstone taken from the head of a live dragon and believed to have magical properties. So it seems that this object called Aegishjalmur goes back to this earlier European myth and is actually not a helmet, but a stone on the dragon's head. And perhaps in an earlier myth, the hero, by killing the dragon, would have this stone removed off the mythological animal's own head, and using it for magical purposes. This is the earliest Nordic source mentioned this type of object, which later on in some Icelandic sagas, such as Sverris saga, the object is also cited as giving protection in battles, being a saga that draws elements from earlier materials. But again, this protection in battle as a magical property of the object itself. So, if we if we are looking at a gemstone taken from a dragon's head, maybe we can understand why it's called Aegishjalmur. The terror and fear that the Aegishjalmur represents may actually have its origins in classicism. Derived from the Greek Aigis, such as the shield of Zeus and the cape of Pallas Athena. The Greek word Aigis may have become the helm of terror in folk etymology as a result of phonetic or and written similarities to old Norse Oegr, 'terrible' and Oegja, 'to scare', 'to frighten'. And despite the etymological derivation, Aegishjalmur originally does not really seem to have any relation to the giant Aegir. Some have translated Aegishjalmur as the rudder of dread or the rudder of Aegir due to its shape in the grimoires, which is a circle formed by eight arms in trident shape, resembling the rudder wheel of ships. The problem is that this type of nautical instrument, of course, was only known in Scandinavia from the 13th century onwards. Before this period, the Nordic peoples used a transverse oar as a rudder. Right? So the designation of the Aegishjalmur in medieval sources has nothing to do with the God of the sea or a helm in the sense of being a rudder or a will for steering a ship or or a boat. However, we must not forget that the symbol that came to be called Aegishjalmur appears only in the 17th century, and in this period, very likely lost its original meaning from Old Norse and Icelandic sources. And therefore, the Aegir, as as Aegir was a deity related to the sea, and remembering that the Icelandic magic staves evoked pagan deities has been demons to be invoked alongside other demons and fallen angels of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Perhaps the Icelandic scholars of modern times have fused to this myth the trident of Neptune, explaining its morphology or even the trident of the devil, used in the Christian imagination and invoked in some Icelandic magic staves. So, in the 17th century, when a symbol derived from European occultism was created and called Aegishjalmur, most likely the meaning was actually meant to either be a rudder or a set of devil's tridents or fusing the trident of both Neptune and the devil with the terrible demon of the seas, Aegir. Evoking its terrible power and hence the the the idea of causing fear to the enemies of those who use this symbol. But the original meaning of Aegishjalmur in poetic sources such as Fáfnismál seems to derive both from the myth of the gemstone in the head of a dragon and from the Greek term Aigis. The shield of Zeus and the cloak of Pallas Athena. And hence perhaps a mistranslation, assuming it came from Old Norse Oegr, 'terrible' and Oegja, 'to scare', 'to frighten'. When in fact, the meaning actually comes from the Greek word and the gemstone draconite. To reinforce this idea, Aegishjalmur also appears in a late 13th century legendary saga, the Völsunga Saga. Remember what I have said previously. The myth of the dragon stone Draconite is also in reference to the gaze, expression, appearance and aspect of the dragon, an expression that causes fear. The very stone in a dragon's head has that power. In Völsunga Saga, the dragon asks Sigurd if the hero has never heard about the fact that people were afraid of his Aegishjalmur. Here, it has often been translated to be a helmet, but we must read it according to the context and the dragon is not referring to a helmet. He is referring to Aegishjalmur, his Aegishjalmur, in the sense of the fear people have of his appearance. And then the dragon speaks of Aegishjalmur again, which gives us an understanding that people continue to fear the dragon upon looking at him. And even though he does not feel stronger or more terrible, people's fear of him was enough to keep them away from the treasure and this sort of reputation made him not fear any weapon, because people simply would not come any closer due to fear. Right?

[31:42]And then, finally, we have the other Aegishjalmur, which is the one that appears in the 17th century. A symbol derived from the occultic European tradition with its cultural basis in Judeo-Christian magical traditions. Finally, a symbol appears, and its name Aegishjalmur is added to this symbol. Not because it has anything to do with the original gemstone, but modern Icelandic authors were taking inspiration in earlier sources, not for the creation of the symbol, but to give it a name. Since the symbol in question had the purpose to cause fear, because it seems to be a representation of the devil's tridents or of the trident of Neptune fused with both the mythological conceptions of the Old Norse God of the sea Aegir and with the devil, evoking their terrible powers into a symbol to cause fear. And so they named it Aegishjalmur, drawing inspiration from earlier sources of an object, not a symbol but an object, that had the same purpose and was called Aegishjalmur. A gemstone in relation to a dragon and the symbology of the dragon with Christianity became an aspect of the devil. So the symbol Aegishjalmur is only an earlier name that was given to illustrate a new symbol created in the 17th century to express its purpose. While the original Aegishjalmur is etymologically related to the Greek Aigis and to the draconite gemstone, the modern Aegishjalmur may be a mistranslation, but also a clever play of words, connecting it with the sea God Aegir, now deprived of its original pagan conceptions and now understood as yet another demon to be invoked by the symbol itself. So there seems to have been a transition here, from a concrete object, but also the very aspect of a dragon to a symbol that inspires fear in one's enemies. A fusion of an earlier concept present in a term with a with a modern symbology from post-Renaissance occultic European traditions. All right, my dear friends, I hope you have enjoyed today's video. I hope it was useful. Thank you so much for watching. See you on the next video. And as always, goodbye. Thanks for today. Oh, we got to brush. Farewell.