Heathen Student

Ansuz

(A: The As, ancestral god, i.e. Odin.)

ANALYSIS:

Ansuz is the rune of the mind, self-consciousness, and rune work. Ansuz encourages you to develop in all the realms of the mind. These elements are combined in the personage of Odin, who exhibits the characteristics of both chieftain and shaman – a god of wisdom as well as war. Odin is also a shaman, traveling between the worlds on his eight-legged horse, Sleipnir. Ansuz is the rune of awareness, inspiration, and communication.

Ansuz represents power, both secular and magical, and this power can be quite seductive. There is a certain lack of compassion and perspective in this rune, it tells you to sacrifice all for knowledge. Odin sits high above his world, looking down and making decisions, but he doesn’t yet have the capacity to really care about or understand his people or himself. He still needs that emotional connection to become a truly great leader.

As the rune of inspiration, it is also good to call upon for all skills in poetry, writing and arts.

DIVINATORY MEANINGS:
A revealing message or insight, communication. Signals, inspiration, enthusiasm, speech, true vision, power of words and naming. Blessings, the taking of advice. Good health, harmony, truth, wisdom.
Ansuz Reversed or Merkstave: Misunderstanding, delusion, manipulation by others, boredom. Vanity and grandiloquence. (Odin is a mighty, but duplicitous god. He always has his own agenda.)

USES:
For wise decisions, Success, Leadership; To help in divination and magic

ACTIONS:
1. Seriously follow an inspiration
2. Learn an northern language.
3. Commit the rune poems to memory.

THOUGHTS:
1. What make me most inspired?
2. How do I communicate best? How can I improve?
3. What does “wisdom” really mean to me?

POEMS:
The mouth is the source of all language,
a pillar of wisdom and a comfort to wise men,
a blessing and a joy to every knight. (AS)

Estuary is the way of most journeys;
but a scabbard is of swords. (N)

God
aged Gautr
and prince of Ásgarðr
and lord of Vallhalla. (I)

Baldr

“The second son of Odin is Baldr, and good things are to be said of him. He is best, and all praise him; he is so fair of feature, and so bright, that light shines from him.”

The most well known story of Baldr is that of his death. Baldr had dreamed of his own death and his mother had the same dreams. Since dreams were usually prophetic, this depressed him, so his mother Frigga made every object on earth vow never to hurt him. All objects made this vow except mistletoe. Frigga had thought it too unimportant and nonthreatening to bother asking it to make the vow.

When Loki, the mischief-maker, heard of this, he made a magical spear from this plant. He hurried to the place where the gods were indulging in their new pastime of hurling objects at Baldr, which would bounce off without harming him. Loki gave the spear to Baldr’s brother, the blind god Höðr, who then inadvertently killed his brother with it. For this act, Odin and the giantess Rind gave birth to Váli who grew to adulthood within a day and slew Höðr.

Baldr was ceremonially burnt upon his ship, Hringhorni, the largest of all ships. As he was carried to the ship, Odin whispered in his ear. Nanna, Baldr’s wife, was also burnt upon on the funeral fire after she died of grief at the death of her husband. Baldr’s horse with all its trappings was also burned on the pyre. The ship was set to sea by Hyrrokin, a giantess, who came riding on a wolf and gave the ship such a push that fire flashed from the rollers and all the earth shook.

Upon Frigga’s entreaties, delivered through the messenger Hermod, Hel promised to release Baldr from the underworld if all objects alive and dead would weep for him. And all did, except a giantess, Þökk, who refused to mourn the slain god. And thus Baldr had to stay in the underworld, not to emerge until after Ragnarök, when he and his brother Höðr would be reconciled and rule the new earth together with Thor’s sons.

I feel like every blog and website remotely related to being Heathen has a post or article of some kind about this issue. And it is a sad state of a world where ones religious climate requires its adherents to make an official statement against racism. But there you have it.

Thurisaz

(TH: Thorn or a Giant.)

ANALYSIS:

Thurisaz is the first of the ‘obstacle’ runes. These obstacles are not necessarily destructive things, but are placed in our path to strengthen and teach us. After all, you can’t have a mythic hero without dragons to slay or giants to fight!

The lesson of this rune is ‘to learn you must suffer’, meaning not only literal suffering, but also mentally and emotionally. What may at first seem to be a negative, destructive event, may well turn out to contain an important lesson. The Giants may seem to be evil and destructive to the Æsir, but they bring about change, and eventually clear the way for a new age.

Thurisaz is the Rune of the god Thor, who was of giant stock, and fought the giants as well. It is a rune of force, opposition and will, Thurisaz fights fire with fire. It is reactive in a pure way, without thought or preplanning.

Thurisaz is also a rune that indicated bad relations with the opposite sex.

DIVINATORY MEANINGS:
Reactive force, directed force of destruction and defense, conflict. Instinctual will, vital eroticism, regenerative catalyst. A tendency toward change. Catharsis, purging, cleansing fire. Male sexuality, fertilization. (Thor, the Thunder god, was of Giant stock.) Thurisaz Reversed or Merkstave: Danger, defenselessness, compulsion, betrayal, dullness. Evil, malice, hatred, torment, spite, lies. A bad man or woman.

USES:
Self-discipline, Clearing out a bad situation, Defense.

ACTIONS:
1. Build something using a hammer
2. Do something to neutralize your enemies.
3. Practice self-discipline

THOUGHTS:
1. What does Thor mean to me?
2. When is my will strongest?
3. What is my greatest misfortune and how do I live with it?

POEMS:
The thorn is exceedingly sharp,
an evil thing for any knight to touch,
uncommonly severe on all who sit among them. (AS)

Giant causes anguish to women;
misfortune makes few men cheerful. (N)

Giant
torture of women
and cliff-dweller
and husband of a giantess. (I)

Uruz(U: Auroch, a wild ox.)

ANALYSIS:

The auroch was a species of wild ox, similar to a longhorn bull, that was once found all over Europe, but which became extinct sometime in the 17th. century. Rumor had it that the auroch was only slightly smaller than an elephant, and had horns as long as six feet, which were highly prized by the Germans as drinking horns. It seems that the aurochs hunt had some significance as a rite of passage for a boy entering manhood. The auroch is the epitome of the wild animal, as opposed to the domesticated cattle represented by fehu.

Uruz is the strength and vitality of the aurochs. The energy of this rune is raw, powerful, and distinctly masculine, in the sense that it is pure, elemental fire. The boy who has killed the aurochs has just entered manhood, and been initiated into the mysteries of adulthood.

The auroch maintains its own health through roaming and running, according to the rune poems. And as such is a rune that promotes health through vitality. It is a rune of defensive power. It can be combined well with other runes, such as Othala for home defense.

DIVINATORY MEANINGS:
Physical strength and speed, untamed potential, wildness. A time of great energy and health. Freedom, energy, action, courage, strength, tenacity. Sudden or unexpected changes (usually for the better). Sexual desire, Vitality, masculine potency. The shaping of power and pattern, formulation of the self. Uruz Reversed or Merkstave: Weakness, obsession, misdirected force, domination by others. Sickness, inconsistency, ignorance. Lust, brutality, rashness, callousness, violence.

USES:
For strength, passion, will, health and healing.

ACTIONS:
1. Exercise daily, take part in friendly sports.
2. Learn self-defense
3. Make a drinking horn.

THOUGHTS:
1. What is my best physical talent?
2. How can I increase my strength?
3. If I were fearless, what would I do differently?

POEMS:
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. (AS)

Dross comes from bad iron;
the reindeer often races over the frozen snow. (N)

Shower
lamentation of the clouds
and ruin of the hay-harvest
and abomination of the shepherd. (I)

Boyfriend and I have been tossing around the idea of creating a series of Norse Children’s book. Me with the writing, and him with the art. I know it has been done before, the idea isn’t new. But I would still like to do it. Even if we never got it published we could self-publish some of them for funsies, and I would have them for my children when the time comes to have them.

I would love to do one for the major stories out there, but I think the best one to start with would be the one where Thor has to dress up as Freyja to go to Jotunheim and get his hammer back. But there are several good ones out there to chose from.

Honestly though I would like to make a different series of Children’s books. I think a children’s series of Asatru books would be both fun to make and is widely needed. Not just books about the myths and the lore, but a series akin to “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.” But for kids. You know, one that explains the Nine Noble Virtues for kids, and what Blot and Sumbel are. That kind of thing.

Again I imagine I would have to self-Publish that. Maybe I could make it and sell it to the AFA or the Troth and they could publish it.

Oh well, anyway these were just unplanned late night thoughts.