Ancestral Wisdom & Earth Traditions

Ingwaz is the twenty-second rune of the Elder Futhark, and it is the rune of the seed: potential sealed up in the dark, gathering itself, waiting for the one right moment to burst into growth. After the deep water of Laguz comes this rune of stored energy and...

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,...

Mannaz is the twentieth rune of the Elder Futhark, and it is the rune that looks in the mirror. It means the human being: you, everyone, the whole of humankind and each single person within it. After Ehwaz's bond between two, Mannaz widens to the self and to the...

Ehwaz is the nineteenth rune of the Elder Futhark, and it is the rune of two moving as one. It is the horse: not the animal alone, but the bond between horse and rider, the trust that lets two beings travel farther together than either could go alone. After the...

Berkano is the eighteenth rune of the Elder Futhark, and it is the rune of the birch: the first tree to return after fire or ice, the tree of birth and blessing, the quiet green power of new life taking root. After the honor and sacrifice of Tiwaz comes this gentler...

Tiwaz is the seventeenth rune of the Elder Futhark, and it opens the final aett with a story about cost. It is the rune of Tyr, the god who put his own hand into the wolf's mouth so the beast could be bound. The binding held. Tyr lost the hand. That is the whole rune:...

Sowilo is the sixteenth rune of the Elder Futhark, and it closes the hard second aett the way the sun closes a long night. After the hail, the need, the ice, and the mystery of the runes before it, Sowilo is the sun itself: victory, wholeness, life force, and the...

Algiz is the fifteenth rune of the Elder Futhark, and it is the one nearly every practitioner reaches for first. It is the great rune of protection: elk antlers, splayed fingers, a figure standing with arms raised. Whatever image you read into it, the message is the...

Perthro is the fourteenth rune of the Elder Futhark, and it is the one nobody can translate with certainty, which is a little bit perfect. It is most likely the lot cup, the vessel the runes themselves are shaken from and cast. That makes Perthro the rune of the...

Eihwaz is the thirteenth rune of the Elder Futhark, and it stands at the center of the whole row like a spine. It is the yew tree: the graveyard tree, the poison tree, the tree that lives for thousands of years and regenerates from its own decay. It is the world axis,...

Jera is the twelfth rune of the Elder Futhark, and it is where the hard second aett finally turns toward reward. After the storm of Hagalaz, the need of Nauthiz, and the freeze of Isa comes the harvest: the good year, the crop coming in, the payoff that arrives...

Isa is the eleventh rune of the Elder Futhark, and it is the simplest shape in the whole row: a single vertical line. One clean stroke. It is also one of the heaviest runes to draw, because what that single line means is ice: stillness, stasis, the held breath, the...