The Runes: how to use them and their meaning
The Runes
Runes are a set of characters that make up the runic alphabet, signs used by the ancient Germanic peoples.
Scandinavian legend tells that Odin discovered the Runes, as magical sources of all power and wisdom, after hanging upside down on a branch of the Yggdrasill Ash, the cosmic tree, for nine days, without drinking or eating. He thus became a visionary god, able to read the runes, the alphabet of destiny.
Questioning the Runes
The term Rune derives from the Old Norse run-, which means “secret, whisper”, alluding to the fact that the Runes whisper “secrets” to us, they reveal visions to us. The Runes are in fact used as a divination tool to answer our questions. The moment of reading the Runes must be a moment of meditation, of profound connection with the divine in us. By questioning the Runes, we are opening a dialogue with the most sacred and ancient part that dwells in ourselves, the part that already knows everything and is connected to the knowledge of the Cosmos.
The Runes are kept in a black or red cotton bag.
1 Rune is extracted in the morning to get an idea of the day, what will happen today?
3 Runes are extracted to answer the question with yes or no: if all 3 are positive it is a yes, if they are all reversed it is a no, if we have two positive out of three the answer is still positive. The third rune, the negative one, however, shows us the difficulties and on what we must intervene in order to have maximum success. The three extracted Runes can also be read in different ways: the first indicates the problem as it is, the second thing must be done accordingly and how our attitude must be, while the third tells us what will happen.
5 or 7 Runes are extracted to see what will happen in the future.
5 runes: the first rune tells us about the past and what caused the current situation, the second rune indicates the present, the problem that exists (or does not exist) at the present moment, the fourth rune indicates the help that we can wait to receive, while the fifth tells us which aspect of the problem must be accepted and cannot be changed. The third Rune tells us the final result. Within three months, what has been revealed will happen.
7 Runes: the first and second indicate a question, the third and fourth are the factors of the past that are the cause, while the fifth and sixth are warning runes that help us to modify the things on which we must intervene. The seventh Rune then gives us the result to make us learn how we should move.
Meaning of the Runes
In total, the Runes are 24 plus the Rune with no name and symbol, which is called the Eye of Odin. Below we list them with their meanings.
MANNAZ: the divine ancestor, man.
GEBO: the gift (in exchange for another gift), the exchange on all levels and the interaction of two forces, the sacred seal.
ANSUZ: the divine power, creator, the God Odin, the world of the Gods, the power of the word, enchantment.
OTHALA: hereditary real estate, closed property that interacts with the surrounding environment.
URUZ: the original strength, the original power and the primordial ox, the original fertilizing energy, the brute force.
PERTHRO: fate, the original laws, divination to know the laws of the Wyrd, matrix, childbirth.
NAUDHIZ: the fire of life, the fire of necessity, destiny, relief from despair, constriction.
INGWAZ: The ancestor God, the God of the earth, heart-expansion, fixation.
EIHWAZ: The yew, the tree of life and death, axis of the cosmos, axis of life, center.
ALGIZ: Protecting force, swan woman (Valkyrie), open hand.
FEHU: wealth at the same time material and spiritual, power, cosmic energy that collects, the primordial cow / creator power.
WUNJO: joy, ecstasy, Odin, the Way, kinship between beings, harmony in the clan, teaches the tribe.
JERA: the cycle of life, the cycle of the sun, the eternal return, union of the cycle and the earth
KENAZ: the mastered fire, the fire of creation, the funeral cremation / liberation and also the inner inflammation.
TIWAZ: justice, balance, harmony, fidelity, the heavenly Father, the primordial Father, the pillar and the celestial vault.
BERKANA: Mother Earth, the cosmic pillar in her female face, the breasts of the earth, the matrix.
EHWAZ: The horse as a vehicle of the soul in the other worlds, the divine twins, the union, the marriage, the twin heroes.
LAGUZ: primordial waters, vital energy, organic growth.
HAGALAZ: irradiation, primordial seed, primordial ice egg, seed archetype, cosmic archetype.
RAIDO: the solar chariot, Thor's chariot, the journey.
THURISAZ: the thorn (defense and attack), the enemy of adversity, the defense, the hammer, the brute forces.
DAGAZ: the light of day, the balance between night and day, the eternal different return.
ISA: ice, stillness, static force, original matter / antimatter.
SOWILO: The sacred sun wheel, the solar fire, the original fire, the power.
ODIN (White Rune): The rune of destiny. The extraction of the white rune brings out the deepest fears, but also the supreme good, the truest possibilities and all constructive dreams, are enclosed in that whiteness. The white rune requires an action of courage, a leap in the dark a request of faith.