VEGVISIR

Vegvísir is quite popular among the West popular culture as a Germanic & Viking ancient magical sacred symbol, as a viking compass, which allows to find the way in the seas, provides guidance & patronage of the gods when traveling on land & even helps in choosing the right path in life…
However, even while Vikings did indeed use the concept of 8 directions & they may have had directional finding instruments of their own, such as sunstones or the Uunartoq disc etc., most of Vikings navigation came down to visual cues like Sun, stars, flight patterns of birds, the color of water, etc. Also, the Vegvisir symbol originates from Iceland, where the sign was recorded the first time in the three separate witchcraft collections of the XIX century, 800 years after the Viking Age ended, it clearly can not be an ancient symbol by any stretch of the imagination. It has not been depicted on runestones, there is no jewelry or artifacts with it & it has not been described in any of the old Norse sagas.
So, the earliest description & depiction of the Vegvisir symbol is on page 60 in the Huld manuscript from 1860 compiled by Geir Vigfusson in the settlement of Akureyri, Iceland where the sign is explained as: 'Bear this sign on yourself, man; you will not go astray. not-lost husband neither in a blizzard, nor in bad weather, at least in an unfamiliar place.'
The second Icelandic manuscript to be found is Vegvísir-Galdrakver written by Olgeir Geirsson in Akureyri around 1868-1869. Vegvísir description is added: 'If a person wears this sign on himself, it will be difficult for a person to get lost in a blizzard or die in a blizzard & also find his way in an unfamiliar place.'
The third grimoire is also called Galdrakver, author, place & time of writing are unknown, but presumably the text was written in the 19th century. In this grimoire the symbol reads as: 'So that a person does not get lost: keep this sign under your left hand, it is called Vegvísir & it will help you, if you have faith in it ― if you believe in a god named Jesus ― the meaning of this sign is hidden in these words, that you will not perish. God gives me good luck & blessing in the name of Jesus.
It is difficult to say whether the unknown author borrowed the symbol from any of the works already mentioned, or, on the contrary, all three of them had a common, lost source.
It is considered most likely that Vegvísir, along with other magical signs, came to Iceland from England, where symbols with radial rays can be traced back at least to the 15th century & are associated with Christian mysticism. Also the blending of cultures was real, with the use of ink & swords, adopting pagan rituals into christianity to make it easier to convert the stubborn people of the North..
The growing interest in Scandinavian culture & the mysticism of the Viking Age probably contributed to the popularity of the symbol.
The trend was picked up by tattoo parlors, souvenir shops & Internet resources-with the presentation of images as an ancient Viking symbol, Viking compass, compositions of ancient powerful runes, etc. Thus, a small popular mythology has developed around the sign, both in occultism & partly in paganism. Of course, theoretically, any story about secret knowledge passed down from generation to generation for hundreds years can suddenly turn out to be true but there is no evidence of this.
If you like the energy of this symbol then of course, go ahead & get that tattoo or buy some jewelry with it, but know that most likely it is not Viking.