Rune of the Week: Sowilo

This week's rune is Sowilo meaning sun.
The poems for it are:

Old Norwegian Poem
Sun is the light of the world;
I bow to the divine decree.

Old Icelandic Poem
Sun is the shield of the clouds
and shining ray
and destroyer of ice.

Anglo-Saxon Poem
The sun is ever a joy in the hopes of seafarers
when they journey away over the fishes' bath,
until the courser of the deep bears them to land.

The lighthouse. A guide. A spot of optimism. Good times.

Rune of the Week: Algiz

This week's rune is Algiz. Meaning Elk. The poem for it is:

"The Elk-sedge usally lives in the fen,
growing in the water. It wounds severely,
staining with blood any man
who makes a grab at it. "

It's Elk-sedge is actually a sharp bladed grass. This rune ostensibly stands for protection. The sustenance of the grass and the elk is bladed against the protection and defense mechanisms both have.

Rune of the Week: Pertho

This week's rune is Pertho. There's not really any poems to post. It basically is life where Eihwaz was death. It is a rune about our possibilities and potential. Our beginnings not our ends. It's also associated with games and play.

This is the sole poem for the rune:

"Peorð is a source of recreation and amusement to the great,

where warriors sit blithely together in the banqueting-hall."

Rune of the Week: Eihwaz

This week's rune is Eihwaz. It means "yew" and is generally associated with the world tree.

The poems are:

Yew is on the outside
a rough tree
and hard, firm in the earth,
keeper of the fire,
supported by roots,
[it is a]joy on the estate.

Old Norse rune poem:
Yew is the greenest wood in winter;
there is usually, when it burns, singing.

Old Islandic rune poem:
bow, rainbow - "descendent of Yngvi"
Yew is a strong bow,
and brittle iron,
and Farbauti [a giant] of the arrow.

An interesting explanation of the rune comes to us from Barbelith poster, Cusm:
"The world tree. Motion along the vertical axis. Access to heaven and hel. The inner strength to change the self. Backbone. But change, we know from tarot, is just a nice way to re-label Death.

The Yew tree grows in cemetaries, and is sometimes said to contain the spirits of the dead below its roots. Its wood is made into bows, giving strength to hunt and being death to others. Its bark emits a hallucenigenic gas, a shaman tied to it may venture to the underworld. This rune is death, and every aspect drawn from death.

Consider the bow. In your enemies hands, it is death to you. In yours, the threat of death brings power of banishing and warding. The secret of this rune is in access to the powers of death, and communication through them. It is great strength to those who wield it, a bane to those it happens upon."

Rune of the Week: Wynn

This week's rune is Wynn. It means "joy".

The poem for it is:

Bliss he enjoys who knows not pain,

sorrow nor anxiety, and himself has

prosperity and bliss and a good enough house.

As with most runes there's a darker edge to everything. We see in the poem that because of the perspective of the narrator, the definition of the rune for joy, takes on a jealous tone. It seems to read, bliss is for one who has the good fortune not to have been screwed over too many times.

There's also a strange reference to having a roof over your head in the final line. This rune stands for being free from pain, and enjoying the finer accouterments of what you have. Perhaps asking us to take stock of what we have, put aside our pains, sorrows, and anxieties, and revel in whatever prosperity we have. These are the conditions of to meet joy.

Incidentally, this completes the first set of runes. The first eight runes are Freya's eight.

Which if you are scoring at home:
Freya

"The daughter of NJORD, and the beautiful twin sister of FREYR, she is — to put it in modern vernacular — a bit of a goer. She did marry a God called OD, causing much confusion amongst academics and historians who have confused him with ODIN leading to further confusion by confusing her with FRIGG. (This is why you need Godchecker.) But OD was a bit of a goer himself and nipped out one day for pastures new.

This caused much weeping of golden tears, but as usual FREYA made the best of a bad job and really went off the rails. She ran wild with Gods, mortals, giants and dwarves.

The stories and allegations of how she gained possession of Brisingamen, the golden amber necklace of desire, are scandalous. Especially the one about her bedding four dwarves in turn before they would give it to her. But this sort of thing is just titillation. In any case, the necklace was stolen by LOKI and — although it was rescued by HEIMDALL — we don't think she got it back.

Being a strong-willed warrior maiden, she joined and then led the VALKYRIES — so that she could have first pick of the slain battlefield warriors. Most of the slain go to VALHALLA, but the good-looking heroes go straight to her palace for rest and recuperation.

But FREYA does have a softer side — she loves romantic music and bunches of flowers. Her daughters are the beautiful HNOSS and the equally beautiful GERSEMI."

Rune of the Week: Uruz

It's Rune Wednesdays! This week the Rune is Uruz. Uruz stands for strength. Pure animalistic strength. Here are the three poems:

"Dross comes from bad iron;
the reindeer often races over the frozen snow."

"Rain is lamentation of the clouds
and ruin of the hay-harvest
and abomination of the shepherd."

"The aurochs is proud and has great horns;
it is a very savage beast and fights with its horns;
a great ranger of the moors, it is a creature of mettle."

When I searched for Uruz pictures, the picture below came up. It is a picture of Fenrir. Fenrir is the wolf, the son of Loki. He eats Odin during Ragnarok. The man with his hands in Fenrir's jaws is Tyr. He eventually loses that hand to Fenrir. Fenrir is Uruz. He is pure animalistic energy, which is so powerful it can even devour Odin eventually, if left to grow.

Rune of the Week: Fehu

" Wealth is a source of discord amongst kin;
the wolf lives in the forest."

"Wealth is a source of discord amongst kin
and fire of the sea
and path of the serpent."

" Wealth is a comfort to all;
yet must everyone bestow it freely,
if they wish to gain honour in the sight of the Divinity."

This week's rune is Fehu. It stands for wealth. In norse cultures, wealth was seen as something of an evil that needed to be dispersed freely out to others rather than horded. If you look at a story like Beowolf, the kings made massive beerhalls to eat drink and be marry with their people. Then on the outside you had Grendel and his mom who horded gold and wealth and were profoundly unhappy and angry.

For this week until next wednesday, consider how you use wealth, and the role it plays in your life. Are you pursuing wealth to horde alone in some crazy tower, or are you pursuing it for your clan, so you can throw a bombass party?