Interpretation of the Runes

Mannaz    

The Self:  The starting point is within the self.  Be willing to change.  Modesty and receptiveness are key.  Be in the world, but not part of it.  This is a time for major growth.  Now is not the time to seek credit for accomplishments.  Nothing in excess!

Reversed:

If you feel blocked you are urged to begin by becoming clear with yourself.  Do not turn to others now, but look inside at the inner silence.  Above all do not give yourself air.  Breaking past habits is the challenge here.

Gebo    

Partnership:

Partnership in some form (love, business, etc.) is at hand.  You are urged not to commit yourself into any union.  True partnership is achieved only by separate and whole beings who retain their separateness even as they unite. There is another aspect of partnership that you are being called to consider.

No Reverse.

Ansuz    

Signals: 

This is the messenger Rune.  The keynote here is receiving messages or warnings that direct you onto new pathways.  Be careful during meetings, visits, and chance encounters.  Ansuz tells you that you are connecting with the Divine.

Reversed:

Be concerned over failed communication or lack or clarity.  You may feel inhibited about accepting what is offered.  Remember that what is happening is timely to your process.  Consider the uses of adversity.

Othila    

Separation:

This is the time of separating paths.  Old shins must be shed and outmoded relationships discarded.  The appropriate action here is submission.  Real property is associated with Othila.  You may be called upon to give up some object or behavior.  Whatever you are called upon to give up will free you to become more truly who you are.

Reversed:

This is not the time to be bound by old conditioning or old authority.  You may be called upon to undertake a radical departure from old ways and total honesty is required.  Adaptability is to be cultivated at this time.

Uruz     

Strength:

The Rune of terminations and new beginnings.  The life you have been living has outgrown its form.  Positive growth and change.  Events occurring now may well prompt you to undergo a death within yourself.  Opportunity may disguise its self as loss of something to which you have emotional bond.

Reversed:

The result could well be an opportunity missed or the weakening of your position.  Your own strength may be used against you.  This Rune calls for serious thought about the quality of you relationship to you self.

Perth     

Initiation:

A Rune of mystery pointing to that which is beyond our frail manipulative powers.  It is on the side of Heaven, the unknowable, and has associations with the phoenix.  Powerful forces of change are at work, but what is achieved is not easily or readily shared.  There may well be surprises. gains or rewards that you did not anticipate.  Perth means experiencing a death, let go of everything, no exceptions, no exclusions.  Nothing less than renewal of the Spirit is at stake.

Reversed:

A counsel against expecting too much, or expecting in the ordinary way, for the old way ends.  You may feel overwhelmed with exhaustion from meeting obstruction upon obstruction in your passage.  You can see this apparent negativity as bad luck, or you can recognize it as an obstacle course, a challenge specific to the Initiation you are presently undergoing.

Nauthiz    

Constraint:

The necessity of learning to deal with severe constraint is the lesson here.  This Rune identifies our shadow, our dark or repressed side, places where growth has been stunted.  Don't take the world personally.  Examine what it is in your nature that attracts hardship or misfortune to your life.  The key here is restraint.  There is work to be done on yourself.

Reversed:

This Rune is the teacher disguised as the bringer of pain and limitation.  In the midst of darkness, we can see the light.  You are required to undergo the dark side of your passage and bring it into the light.  Control your anger and impulses.

Inguz    

Fertility:

This Rune is associated with the moon and the intuitive part of our nature.  The completion of beginnings is what Inguz requires.  Above all, completion is crucial here.  It signals your emergence from a closed, chrysalis state.  Perseverance and foresight are called for here.  Through inconvenience and discomfort, growth is promoted.

No Reverse.

Eihwaz    

Defense:

As we are tested we find the power to avert obstacles and defeat.  At the same time, we develop in ourselves an aversion to the conduct that creates stress in our lives.  Do not be overly eager to press forward, this is not the time to make you influence felt.  Patience is the counsel.  Perseverance and foresight are called for here.  Through inconvenience and discomfort, growth is promoted.

No Reverse.

Algiz    

Protection:

Control of emotions is the issue here.  During times of transition do not collapse yourself into your emotions.  New opportunities and challenges are typical of this Rune.  Algiz serves as a mirror for the Spiritual warrior.  Remember, timely right action and correct conduct are your only true protection.

Reversed:

Be thoughtful about your health and do not add to the burdens others are carrying.  Be carefully of the associations you form at this time.  

Fehu    

Possessions:

This is the Rune of fulfillment, satisfied ambition, love, and rewards.  Calls for a deep probing of the meaning of profit and gain.  Conserve what has already been gained.  Enjoy your good fortune and remember to share it.

Reversed:

There may be considerable frustration in your life.  You fall short of your efforts.  Doubtful situations are abundant.  

Wunjo    

Joy:

This is a fruit-bearing Rune.  The shift that  was due has occurred; now you can freely receive the blessings.  There is a new clarity which may call for you to renounce existing plans, ambitions, and goals.

Reversed:

Things are slow in coming to fruition.  The process of birth is long and arduous and hard for the child within.  Seen in its true light, everything is a test.

Jera    

Harvest:

The Rune of beneficial outcomes.  A span of time is usually involved, about one year, symbolizing a full cycle.  You have prepared the ground and planted the seed.  Now you must cultivate with care.  Do not be too eager.

No Reverse.

Kano    

Opening:

This is the Rune of opening and renewed clarity, of dispelling the darkness that has been shrouding some part of your life.  The more light you have, the better you can see what is trivial.

Reversed:

Expect a darkening of the light in some situation or relationship.  A friendship or partnership may be dying.  Gladly give up the old and outdated. 

Teiwaz     

The Warrior:

This is the Rune of the Spiritual warrior.  Your battle is with the self.  Finding the Will through action, yet unattached to outcomes, remaining mindful that all you can do is stay out of you own way and let the Will of Heaven flow through you.  Find the Will to cut away the old, the dead, the extraneous.

Reversed:

The danger is that through hasty or ill-timed action, life force leaks out or is spilled away.  Examine your motives carefully.  Is it self-conquest with which you are concerned, or are you trying to dominate another?  You will find the answer within yourself.

Berkana     

Growth:

Growth may occur in affairs of the world, family matters, the relationship of the self to the self, or to the Divine.  Consider all issues with care and awareness.  First disperse resistance, then accomplish the work.

Reversed:

Events or, more likely, aspects of character interfere with the growth of new life.  You may feel dismay at failing to take the right action.

Ehwaz     

Movement:

This is the Rune of transit, transition and movement; of physical shifts, new dwelling places, new attitudes or new life.  Slow growth through shifts and changes.  

Reversed:

Movement that appears to block.  Be certain that what you are doing, or not doing, is timely.  There are no missed opportunities.

Laguz    

Flow:

Unseen powers are active here, powers that nourish, shape and connect.  Immerse yourself in the experience of living without having to evaluate or understand.  It speaks to the satisfaction of emotional needs, to the awakening of the intuitive or lunar side of your nature.

Reversed:

Guard against overreach and excessive striving.  This is a worming against trying to exceed your own strength or operate beyond the power you have funded to date in your life.

Hagalaz    

Disruption:

Change, freedom, invention and liberation are all attributes of this Rune.  This Rune indicates a pressing need within the psyche to break free from constricting identification with material reality and to experience the world of archetypal mind.  Expect disruption in you life; a failed relationship, plans go awry, or a source of supplies dries up.

No Reverse.

Raido    

Journey:

This Rune concerns communication with the attunement of something that has two sides, two elements, and with the ultimate union that comes at the end of the journey, when what is above and below are united and of one mind.  The key is nothing less than unobstructed, perfect union.

Reversed:

Be particularly attentive to personal relationships.  The requirements for your growth may totally disrupt what you had intended.

Thurisaz    

Gateway:

There is work to be done both inside and outside yourself.  It represents the boundary between Heaven and the mundane.  Thurisaz is recognition of your readiness to contact the numinous, the Divine, to illuminate your experience so that its meaning shines through its form.  Review you past; the learning and the joy.

Reversed:

A quickening of your development is indicated here.  Yet even in times of accelerated growth, you will have reason to halt along the way, to reconsider the old, to integrate the new.

Dagaz    

Breakthrough:

This Rune signals a major shift or breakthrough in the process of self-change, a complete transformation in attitude.  Because the timing is right, the outcome is assured.  If Dagaz is followed by the Blank Rune the magnitude of the transformation might be so great as to portend a death, the successful conclusion to your passage.

No Reverse.

Isa    

Standstill:

The Winter of the spiritual life is upon you.  You may find yourself entangled in a situation to whose implications you are, in effect, blind.  Positive accomplishment is unlikely now.  You may be experiencing an unaccustomed drain on your energy and wonder why.  Trying to hold on can result in shallowness of feeling, a sense of being out of touch with life.

No Reverse.

Sowelu    

Wholeness:

Sowelu stands for wholeness, that which our nature requires.  It embodies the impulse toward self-realization and indicates the path you must follow, not from ulterior motives but from the core of your individuality.  Seeking after wholeness is the Spiritual Warrior's quest.

No Reverse.

The Blank Rune

The Unknowable:

The Blank Rune is the end, and the beginning.  This is the Rune of total trust and should be taken as exciting evidence of your most immediate contact with your own true destiny which, time and again, rises like the phoenix from the ashes of what we call fate.  The appearance of this Rune can portend a death.  But that death is usually symbolic and may relate to any part of yor life as you are living it now.  Relinquishing control is the ultimate challenge for the Spiritual Warrior.