lostkizzy replied to your post “Hail Fjorn I seek some sort of phrase that I can scribe onto either…”

Wouldn’t this be a good (if not the exact) purpose for Ægishjálmur, though?

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It is true that Ægishjálmur (The ‘Helm of Awe’) would be appropriate here, but I do not generally recommend things that I know very little about.

Besides, I do believe that the stave itself, in the form it is recognized in today, is not attested in medieval sources. I know that the asker did not specifically ask for medieval phrases or symbols, but that is what I focus in, and thus that is what I can give. Still, it is referred to in medieval literature, but it is not actually drawn in that literature. For example, in the Lay of Fafnir, Fafnir says this to Sigurd:(1.)

16. “The helm of terror I wore among the sons of men,
while I lay upon the neck-rings;
more powerful than all I thought myself to be,
I didn’t encounter many equals.”

Sigurd replies with this:

17. “The helm of terror protects no one,
where furious men have to fight;
a man finds out when he comes among a multitude;
that no one is bravest of all.”

Shortly after that, Sigurd says this (an interesting stanza):

19. “Strong serpent, you snorted great blasts
and you hardened your heart;
more ferocity grow’s in men’s sons
when they have that helmet.”

The later prose the concludes the poems continues with Sigurd later going back to Fafnir’s lair and gathering treasure:

“Then he took the helmet of terror and a gold mail-shirt and the sword Hrotti and many other treasures…”

Regardless of how one interprets that text, we are still left with doubt when it comes to the appearance of such a stave in a medieval, Viking Age context. If my knowledge is correct, I believe that one of the earliest Ægishjálmur is from Lbs 143 8vo, 11r, written roughly in the year 1670. Thus, it is beyond my period of focus by a few hundred years. Here is Ægishjálmur as it appears in the manuscript:

If the asker wishes to use a stave instead of the phrases I suggested, he is more than welcome to do so. I would, however, suggest he read up on the matter, or perhaps reach out to those more knowledgable in this specific area of study. This is just my scarce knowledge on the subject, so I cannot go into much more detail without doing some sort of injustice to the material. @justins-galdrastafir would be the guy to ask for the details, for this is his specialization and not mine. In fact, he has already written a considerable amount on this subject on his website.

So, although this stave suits the needs of the asker, it is not my specialization. In other words, I cannot recommend symbols that I do not know enough about to be assured of their proper usage and meaning. When people ask me for phrases, prayers, etc., they ought to expect that my suggestions will be coming from the material I actually study and focus on, which is generally medieval Icelandic literature. 

Since this symbol does not physically appear in that literature (appearing later, in the seventeenth century), I could not be confident enough to suggest it, especially if one desires to refer to the medieval period or the spirit of the ‘Vikings’. It would be historically inaccurate or irresponsible to assume this symbol would have appeared the same way in that time, at least without writing an extensive paper on the matter.

In the end, I suppose it all comes down to what is my ‘realm’ and what is not, and magical staves are most definite not my realm.

Anyway, thank you for bringing this up! It is quite important to mention.

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FOOTNOTES:

1. Translations from the Poetic Edda are from the following source: Carolyne Larrington trans., The Poetic Edda. (repr., 1996, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 156, 161.

Fig.1. From Lbs 143 8vo, 11r, courtesy to handrit.is.