Courses

Meanings

This lecture is very different from some of the others. Normally we try to give you a fairly comprehensive introduction to whichever topic is under consideration. This lecture though is very much only a starting point and leaves you with considerable work still to do. We are not giving you the rune meanings in this lecture, what we are offering are some key words to help you get a feel for the rune. We have chosen to keep the information provided concise precisely because it should act only as a sign post. Memorizing it is not the way to learning the runes. If we gave you a full detailed list of meanings at this stage, the chances are you would treat them like wisdom handed down from on-high and hence you would never end up reading the runes, you would just be parroting back this lecture.

Reading the runes requires more than an academic book-learnt list of their meanings. Firstly it requires an understanding of the society they evolved out of. Secondly you need a personal understanding. You must feel what the runes mean. Any true reader of the runes must achieve an individual appreciation of what they represent rather than taking meanings from a book. You have no right as a rune reader to tell others what the runes mean for them unless you have first grasped what they mean to you.

The runes had an immediacy for the ancient runemasters which unless we are very careful they can easily lack today. The rune glyphs were not abstract designs, they were pictures of things which had particular significance to the culture of the day. The need fire, the cart's wheel, the tribal banner - all these mattered in the lives of the runemaster and the world they belonged to. In order to be successful as a rune reader you need to discover meanings that have a similar relevance to your own life.

You have certainly never been out hunting Aurochs, so what understanding can you really have of the Uruz (Ur) rune? Maybe though you can think of some other rite of passage or initiation you have undergone. Perhaps you can recall some other occasion on which your courage was tested. It is these kind of personal experiences and memories that can bring you closer to an appreciation of the rune. Some runes are of course easier to feel/relate to for a modern rune reader than others but you should ultimately be able to develop an appreciation of them all. For example, though we no longer use cattle as currency, anyone who has faced bankruptcy or experienced a period of poverty in their life will be able to grasp the message of Fehu (Feoh) and understand what an insubstantial transitory thing material wealth can be.

In the following table we give positive and negative meanings of each rune, along with the figure regarded as presiding over that rune. As with much about the runes governing deities are the subject of much debate so don't be surprised if we soon send you off to look at material which contradicts what we have said. It's all part of the joy of learning the runes and in the end you have to come to your own decisions about these matters. We won't be looking at the idea of reversed runes until Lesson 17 and if at that stage you decide to use them you will find the reversed meanings equate roughly to the negative ones given in our table. We have however given negative meanings for runes that some authors will tell you are "positive" and don't reverse. The negative meaning though is always there in the same way that light generates shadow - a shadow which is intimately connected to and dependent on the light. A rune that bestows wealth is in simplistic terms "good" but if as a consequence of becoming richer we become selfish, don't share our good fortune or stop thinking of others then it is "bad". The runes therefore warn us to maintain equilibrium regardless of what events good or bad befall us.

RUNE	MEANING (Key words only)
	Positive: gain, financial security, success, fertility, nourishment, food, sharing, luxury Negative: loss, jealousy, envy, greed, failure, bankruptcy, payment, slavery Presiding Figure: The god Frey
	Positive: bravery, questing, initiation, challenge, untamable spirit, rugged good health, masculinity, stamina, independence, strength, action Negative: male violence, callousness, inaction, abuse, poor health, anger/rage Presiding Figure: None
	Positive: protection and defense, fertility and regeneration, survival of difficulties, need for correction action or right decision, resistance Negative: vulnerability, conflict, strife, disease, many problems, natural forces, destruction, aggression, malice, change without warning, attack Presiding Figure: The god Thor
	Positive: news, study, communication, wisdom perhaps from unlikely source, speech, inspiration, thought, shamanism, language and writing skills, leadership, teaching, truth Negative: loss, misunderstandings, vanity, dishonesty, treachery, neurosis Presiding Figure: The god Odin
	Positive: travel, exploration, vacation, new start, motion, taking control, leadership, direction, rites, ceremonies, process, promotion Negative: control freaks, dictatorship, disruption, demotion Presiding Figure: None
	Positive: enlightenment, intellectual learning, moulding, shaping, clarity, knowledge, revelation Negative: confusion, false hope, lack of clarity, arrogance, ignorance Presiding Figure: None
	Positive: love, partnership, sharing, gifts, balance, exchange, union Negative: sacrifice, dishonesty, lack of balance, toll Presiding Figure: None
	Positive: fulfillment, success, glory, respect, solidarity, hope, wishes, fellowship, harmony, delight, well-being Negative: failure, misery, exile, loneliness, intoxication, excessive zeal Presiding Figure: None
	Positive: cleansing, purging, room for growth, acceptance, fortitude, past events, letting go, unconscious mind, testing Negative: destructive natural force, chaos and disruption, loss, need for shelter, unresolved matters, blaming others, nostalgia Presiding Figure: The Norn Urd
	Positive: inner strength, resources, heroism, urgency, growth, change, determination, resistance, resilience Negative: suffering, affliction, necessity, distress, guilt, anxiety, cowardice, constraints, extremes Presiding Figure: The Norn Verdandi
	Positive: slowing, pause for thought, preservation, stability, focus, detachment, completion Negative: cooling of relationships, deceptive beauty, treachery, dangerous path, restrictions, delay Presiding Figure: The Norn Skuld
	Positive: a year, cycles, passing of time, plenty, fruition, growth, progress, patience Negative: paying price for deeds, repetition of negative patterns Presiding Figure: None
	Positive: endurance, initiation, change, consciousness, defense, spirituality, strength, reliability, rebirth Negative: death, loss, confusion, hysteria Presiding Figure: None
	Positive: Wyrd, amusement, gaming, success, birth/rebirth, memory, problem solving, occult knowledge Negative: delusion, fantasies, failure, that which is hidden, powers beyond human influence Presiding Figure: None
	Positive: protection, defense, repelling evil, shield, support Negative: vulnerability, danger, forbidden acts Presiding Figure: None
	Positive: good health, success, life-giving force, energy, clarity, understanding, optimism, confidence Negative: sudden change sweeping things out of way, over-confidence, burn out Presiding Figure: The god Baldur
	Positive: law, order, justice, bravery, honesty, victory Negative: war, defeat, paying price for deeds, sacrifice, dishonesty Presiding Figure: The god Tyr
	Positive: fertility, woman, love, birth, reproduction, growth, healing, recooperation, rejuvenation, children, new beginnings Negative: secrecy, containment, immaturity, lust, abandonment Presiding Figure: None
	Positive: partnership, union, marriage, instinct, progress, trust, loyalty, faith Negative: treachery, break up of partnerships, lack of direction, reckless haste Presiding Figure: None
	Positive: mankind, development of consciousness, intelligence, reason, social structure, rational mind, support, awareness, openmindedness Negative: arrogance, bigotry Presiding Figure: The god Heimdall
	Positive: intuition, occult, flow, healing, mystery, empathy, emotion, unconscious mind, adaptability, dreams Negative: emotional manipulation, madness, despair, suicide, lack of flexibility, moods Presiding Figure: None
	Positive: sexuality, fertility, agriculture, peace, plenty, children, virtue, common sense Negative: lust, immaturity Presiding Figure: The god Frey
	Positive: daylight, illumination, break through, transformation, enlightenment, start of new cycle, health, prosperity, balance, a state of being between things Negative: impulsiveness, ending Presiding Figure: None
	Positive: family, heritage, clan, home, nation, inheritance, patriotism, natural law Negative: racism, greed, xenophobia, provincialism Presiding Figure: None

You have completed the lesson. Read it as many times as you need to in order to feel you understand it. Then return here for:
Lesson 8 - Comprehension Tests, Reading and Further Exercises

Please ensure you complete these exercises before moving on to the next lesson.