Laguz is the twenty-first rune of the Elder Futhark, and it is the rune of water: the lake, the sea, the tide, the current that runs beneath the surface of things. After Mannaz turns to the clear light of the mind, Laguz drops below it, into intuition, emotion, dream, and the deep unconscious. It is the rune of what you know without knowing how you know it.
If Laguz turned up in your cast, this page will tell you what it is pointing at, what it means reversed, and how to work with it. If you are here because you keep seeing the symbol, or weighing it as a tattoo, everything is below.
What Is the Laguz Rune?
Laguz (ᛚ) is the twenty-first rune of the Elder Futhark. Its name means water or lake, and it represents intuition, emotion, the unconscious, and flow. It carries the sound L, and it is pronounced LAH-gooz.
Water is the key to everything this rune holds. It flows and finds its own way; it takes the shape of whatever contains it; it can be calm or overwhelming; and its surface hides unknowable depths. Laguz carries all of these. It is the rune of emotion and intuition, of the fluid inner life that runs beneath rational thought, and of the deep unconscious where dreams and instincts live. Where Mannaz is the clear light of the conscious mind, Laguz is the dark water underneath it.
The name is the ancestor of words for water and lake across the Germanic languages, and some traditions also link it to a word for leek or growth, the green shoot that rises from water. Either way, Laguz is the rune of flow and of the deep: the tides of feeling, the pull
of intuition, the currents that carry you when you stop fighting them. It asks you to trust what you sense rather than only what you can prove.The Laguz Symbol
Laguz is drawn as a vertical stave with a single short stroke angling down and to the right from near the top, like a wave cresting, a reed bending in the current, or a stylized letter L.
- Sound value: L
- Pronunciation: LAH-gooz
- Position: 21st rune, third aett (Tyr's Aett)
- Literal meaning: Water, lake, sea
- Also called: Lagu (Old English), Logr (Old Norse)
The simple, leaning stroke suggests water in motion: a wave, a current, the bend of a reed in a stream. Its clean, flowing shape fits the rune's meaning of fluidity and the yielding, shaping power of water that goes wherever it must and wears down whatever resists.
Laguz Meaning in a Reading
Upright, Laguz points at intuition and emotion: trust what you feel, and let things flow. A gut sense worth heeding. A wave of feeling moving through. A situation asking you to go with the current rather than against it. The deep, quiet knowing that arrives without argument.
Laguz is the rune of the inner tide, and its most common message is to trust your intuition. If you asked whether to follow a hunch, a dream, or a feeling you cannot fully justify, Laguz leans toward yes, this is the rune that says your deeper knowing is worth heeding. It favors the intuitive over the purely rational, the felt over the proven, the current over the fight against it.
It also speaks of emotion and the unconscious directly. Laguz can point to strong feelings moving through you, to dreams and imagination as sources of guidance, or to something rising from your own depths that wants attention. And it carries the counsel of water: to flow, to yield where yielding is wise, to let a situation take its course rather than forcing it into a shape it will not hold.
When Laguz comes up, ask:
- What does my intuition already know that my reasoning has not caught up to?
- Where am I fighting a current I would be wiser to flow with?
- What feeling or dream is asking for my attention?
- What is moving beneath the surface of this situation?
Laguz Reversed
Reversed, Laguz points at emotional overwhelm, ignored intuition, or being pulled under by your own depths. Feelings flooding rather than flowing. A gut sense you are overriding. Confusion, a loss of direction, or the sense of drowning in emotion you cannot manage. The current turned dangerous instead of guiding.
It can also mean a disconnection from intuition, cut off from the inner knowing that would steady you, stuck in the head when the answer lives deeper. Where upright Laguz is water that carries and guides, reversed Laguz is water that overwhelms or a well gone dry: too much feeling, or too little access to the depths.
Reversed Laguz often asks about your relationship with your own inner tides. Sometimes you are flooded, swept up in emotion past the point of clear seeing, and need to find the shore. Sometimes you have cut yourself off from feeling and intuition entirely, and the reading calls you back to the water. Either way, it points to a deep inner current that is out of balance.
Laguz Meaning by Question: Love, Work, and the Rest of It
You did not draw this rune in a vacuum. You drew it holding a question. Here is what Laguz is saying depending on what you asked.
Love and Relationships
UprightDeep feeling and intuition. Laguz in a love reading points to the emotional currents of a relationship, to trusting your gut about a person, and to letting a connection flow naturally. It favors emotional depth, intuitive understanding, and going with the current of genuine feeling rather than forcing or overthinking.
ReversedEmotional overwhelm or ignored instincts. Reversed here can mean drowning in feeling, letting emotion cloud judgment, or overriding a gut sense about someone. It asks you to find emotional balance and to heed the intuition you have been silencing.
Work and Money
UprightIntuition alongside reason, and going with the flow. Laguz suggests trusting your instincts on a decision, staying adaptable, and letting a situation develop rather than forcing it. If you asked about a choice, it says your gut sense carries real information worth weighing beside the analysis.
ReversedClouded judgment or ignored instinct. Reversed here can mean emotions distorting a decision, a hunch you are wrongly dismissing, or forcing something against the natural current. It asks you to clear your head and reconnect with your deeper sense of the situation.
Inner Life
UprightIntuition, dreams, and the unconscious. Laguz is the rune of your inner depths: the feelings, instincts, and dream-images that rise from below the rational mind. It often shows up when the real guidance is intuitive, and asks you to listen to what your depths are telling you.
ReversedFlooded or cut off. Reversed Laguz can mean being overwhelmed by emotion, lost in the unconscious, or severed from intuition and stuck in the head. It calls for rebalancing your relationship with your own inner water.
Yes or No
UprightYes, and trust your intuition. Laguz is favorable, especially where feeling, instinct, or going with the flow is involved. Your deeper sense already knows the answer.
ReversedUnclear, or no while you are overwhelmed. Emotion is clouding the water. Wait for the flood to settle and your intuition to clear before you decide.
The Action to Take
Trust your intuition, and stop fighting the current. Whatever you asked about, Laguz is telling you the answer lives below the rational surface, in what you feel and sense rather than only what you can prove. Name the gut knowing you have been discounting and give it real weight. Where you have been forcing a situation against its natural flow, let go and let it move. If a reversal, tend the balance: find the shore if you are flooded, or return to the water if you have cut yourself off from feeling.
Laguz in Norse Lore
Laguz draws on the vast importance of water in the Norse world, a seafaring culture for whom the sea was road, livelihood, and mortal danger all at once. Water was the path the longships traveled, the source of life and food, and a force that could swallow a crew without warning. Laguz carries that whole relationship: water as the way forward and water as the unknowable deep, giver and taker, guide and grave.
The rune connects to the deep waters of the Norse cosmos and the mysteries held within them. Beneath the World Tree lies the well of Mimir, whose waters hold wisdom so profound that Odin gave an eye for a single drink from it. Water, in this imagination, is not only physical; it is the medium of hidden knowledge, memory, and fate, the deep source from which wisdom is drawn. Laguz, the rune of the deep and the intuitive, sits close to that well: the knowing that comes from the depths rather than the surface.
The rune poems respect water's double nature. The Old English poem, using the name Lagu, describes the sea as seeming endless to those carried out upon it, the wave-steed heaving, the ship tossed and the crew terrified until the water grows gentle again, a vivid picture of water as both peril and passage. The Norse poems name it Logr, the water, the falling flood, the wide sea. Across all of them, Laguz is the deep and moving water: beautiful and dangerous, the current that carries you and the depth you cannot see the bottom of. It asks for respect, and for the wisdom to flow with it rather than fight it.
How to Use Laguz in Your Practice
Laguz is a fluid, intuitive rune for work involving emotion, intuition, dreams, psychic sensitivity, and flow. It is the water rune, so it is worked wherever the deep and the intuitive are the focus.
For intuition and psychic work
When you want to strengthen or trust your intuition, Laguz is a natural focus. Carve or draw it to open and deepen your intuitive and psychic senses, and to support dream work and inner listening. It favors the receptive, flowing state in which deeper knowing rises to the surface.
For emotional flow and healing
Because Laguz governs the tides of feeling, it is well suited to emotional work: letting stuck feelings move, finding calm after a flood, or restoring healthy emotional flow. Use it to help emotion move through you like water rather than damming up or overwhelming.
In a bind rune
Laguz pairs with Perthro for deep intuitive and divinatory insight, with Ansuz when inner knowing needs to become clear understanding, and with Mannaz for balancing intuition with the conscious mind. Keep bind runes to two or three staves so the intention stays legible.
For going with the flow
Because water yields and finds its own way, Laguz is a fitting focus when you need to stop forcing and start flowing, to adapt, to let a situation take its course, or to move with change rather than against it. Use it to soften rigidity and to trust the current.
Laguz Rune Tattoos
Laguz is chosen as a tattoo for intuition, emotion, flow, and a connection to water, often by people who value their inner depths or their bond with the sea. Two things worth knowing before you commit it to skin.
It is a rune of the deep and the intuitive. Laguz signifies water, emotion, and intuition, which makes it a fitting, flowing mark for someone who trusts their inner tides or feels a deep connection to the sea. Its meaning genuinely runs to the unconscious and the intuitive, richer than a simple water symbol, and it carries water's whole character: beautiful, deep, and not to be underestimated.
Check what you are getting. Runes have been co-opted by hate groups, and while Laguz is not among the most heavily appropriated, it is worth knowing the landscape and being able to speak to the rune's real meaning. Learning the genuine history is the best answer to anyone who has tried to steal these symbols, and a good reason to get the rune right rather than pulling it from a random source.
Common Questions About Laguz
What does the Laguz rune mean?
Laguz means water or lake, and by extension intuition, emotion, the unconscious, and flow. It is the twenty-first rune of the Elder Futhark and carries the sound L. Like water, it represents the deep inner currents beneath the rational mind, and it counsels trusting your intuition and going with the flow.
Is Laguz an intuition rune?
Yes, it is the primary rune of intuition, emotion, and the unconscious in the Elder Futhark. It favors trusting your gut, heeding dreams and feelings, and drawing on the deep knowing that rises from below rational thought.
What does Laguz reversed mean?
Emotional overwhelm, ignored intuition, confusion, or being pulled under by your own depths. It can mean feelings flooding rather than flowing, or a disconnection from intuition. It usually asks you to rebalance your relationship with your inner tides.
How do you pronounce Laguz?
LAH-gooz. It is also called Lagu in Old English and Logr in Old Norse, both meaning water or sea.
Is Laguz a feminine rune?
Laguz is often associated with feminine and lunar energies because of its links to water, emotion, intuition, and the unconscious, qualities long connected to the moon and the tides. This is a matter of symbolic association rather than strict rule, but Laguz is widely felt as a receptive, flowing, intuitive rune.
Keep Going
Laguz is one of twenty-four. For the full picture, our complete guide to the Elder Futhark runes lays out every rune, its meaning, and its reversal in one place you can pull up mid-reading.
Before Laguz comes Mannaz, the clear light of the human mind; Laguz is the deep water that runs beneath it. After it comes Ingwaz, the seed, gestation and stored potential waiting to be released.
The sea seems endless to those carried out upon it, the old poem says, until the wave-steed heeds the rein and the water grows gentle again. Laguz asks what your intuition already knows, and whether you will trust the current enough to stop fighting it.
