So, I was thinking about runes tonight as I was laying down to sleep. Woke me right up, so now I am here writing. Hopefully, my thoughts wont be too jumbled, or at least maybe you will all read this when you are similarly tired, and seeing through sleepy goggles, so that it makes sense. This is some thoughts I had about the first rune.



When I think about the first rune in the futhark, Fé, Feoh, or Fehu, and read the lore regarding it, I find so much application of it in life. It is the root cause, and effect of life, in my opinion. The rune poems are all pretty consistent in calling it wealth, or a form of gain, and help. Life, by its very nature, must gain to continue. All life must consume (gain) other life, and all life must reproduce (help). These two things are the causes and effects of life. All things beyond that are causes and effects of the will, and self.

In Indo-European myth, all things began with a void. This is commonly rationalized as not a void of nothing, but just that nothing was realized, and therefore all the same. First sound happened, Úr/Ohm. This is where it gets a little complicated. First law/rune would be discernment, in a way. The very idea of the first thing that is different from all the rest, is gain, and wealth, for wealth is the idea that you have something others do not. This is the catalyst for first sound úr, which is the second rune of the futhark. This catalyst is the medium of gain in its most primal form.

In Hávamál, the verse corresponding to Fé is:

The first charm I know is unknown to rulers
Or any of human kind:
Help it is named, for help it can give
In hours of sorrow and anguish.

This verse, along with the Old English Rune Poem:

Wealth is benefit to all men;
yet every man must share it freely,
if he wishes to gain glory before the lord.

It is clear that Fé is also the effect of/by gain. It IS cause and effect, and why cause makes effect. It is wealth, and debt. When it is not flowing, it is contrary to its expansive nature. If one hoards wealth, whether gold, money, knowledge, or whatever, and retain that, its expansive, fiery nature will burn. The Old Norse, and Old Icelandic Rune Poems state that it is the cause of strife:

Viking Runic Poem

Fé (wealth) causes trouble among relatives;
the wolf lives in the forest.

Icelandic Runic Poem

Fé (wealth) is trouble among relatives
and fire of the sea
and path of the serpent.

This is also found in Gautrek’s Saga, in which Odin, and Thor are more or less playing chess with a human. Here are two of their ‘moves.’

Odin said: "I grant him an abundance of possession."
Thor said: "I impose on him a state of dissatisfaction with all that he possesses."

This state of dissatisfaction is the result of greed, which is the fire caused by hoarding, and constricting fe. No wealth, or power is enough when it is hoarded.

It can be said that Fe is closely tied to hamingja (an aspect of the soul closest translation is luck), and for obvious reasons örlög (debt). It is both the aspect of gain and help that tie fe in with hamingja. Fe is also tied with the will. In Groa’s Song we can find this:

I give you the first song,
They are all-powerful,
Vrind sung them for Vani
Throw above your shoulder
That which annoys you,
Drive your own life!

Because it is so tied to the will, it is also a requirement in hamfarra (shape-shifting), and all other sorts of magic.

Fe is in many ways tied to Freyja. This is not truly in the common ‘fertility’ idea though. Fertility, in Indo-European myth, was mostly attributed to the male side. I think I should probably expand on my opinion of fertility here. Fertility, is in many ways ones libido. There are two major schools of thought regarding the libido. The male fertility aspect, and rituals are far more sexual in nature. The passing of the völsi (horse penis) during fertility rites is an obvious example of the sexual nature in the male fertility paradigm in Germanic tribes. This would be like the Freudian idea of libido/fertility, always sexual in nature. I think that if you consider the Jungian libido paradigm, which is not purely sexual, but that which drives (catalyst), Freyja would be fertility based. Fe is further tied to Freyja in its middle period meaning of gold, and from the Icelandic Rune Poems “fire-of-the-sea,” which is a kenning for amber. In the lore Freyja weeps for her estranged husband Oðr. Those tears that fall on land become gold, and those in the sea, amber.
Well, I am getting sleepy now, so hopefully this will stir some discussion…

Frith,

You and I were discussing the nature of runes the other day in PP and you gave a list of things to prepare a person for reading/using/singing runes. Could you post those here?

I prolly have the log file of that discussion if you need it.

Wolf

There are several things in the lore regarding runes, which are not necessarily about 'what they mean.' Some major sagas regarding rune lore are Havamal, and Sigdrifumal, Volsunga Saga, Egils Saga, and some others, but these ones are very important.

Havamal, from the Poetic Edda, discusses how the runes were discovered, and in some ways what they are. Havamal also contains songs for each of the runes from the younger futhark. This is the section of
Havamal in which Odin discovers the runes:

I know that I hung,
on a wind-rocked tree,
nine whole nights,
with a spear wounded,
and to Odin offered,
myself to myself;
on that tree,
of which no one knows
from what root it springs.

Bread no one gave me,
nor a horn of drink,
downward I peered,
to runes applied myself,
wailing learnt them,
then fell down thence.

Potent songs nine
from the famed son I learned
of Bölthorn, Bestla's sire,
and a draught obtained
of the precious mead,
drawn from Odhrærir.

Then I began to bear fruit,
and to know many things,
to grow and well thrive:
word by word
I sought out words,
fact by fact
I sought out facts.

Runes thou wilt find,
and explained characters,
very large characters,
very potent characters,
which the great speaker depicted,
and the high powers formed,
and the powers' prince graved:

Odin among the Æsir,
but among the Alfar, Dáin,
and Dvalin for the dwarfs,
Ásvid for the Jötuns:
some I myself graved.

Knowest thou how to grave them?
knowest thou how to expound them?
knowest thou how to depict them?
knowest thou how to prove them?
knowest thou how to pray?
knowest thou how to offer?
knowest thou how to send?
knowest thou how to consume?


Sigdrifumal is a wealth of rune lore. Many of the verses are mirrored in Volsunga Saga. In Sigdrifumal we can learn where runes are found:

"They are engraved on the shield
That is found before the brilliant God,
On Arvak's ear
And on Alsvin's hoof
On the wheel that turns
On Rungnir's chariot
On Sleipnir's teeth
And on the runners of the sled.
On the bear's paws
And on Bragi's tongue
On the wolf's claw
And on the eagle's beak.
On the bloody wings
And on the bridge end
On the palm of the woman in labor
And on the path of comfort
On glass and on gold,
On the tutelary (guardian) signs
In wine, the wort of beer
And the beds of rest.
On Gungnir's point
And on Grani's breast, (Sigurdr's horse),
On the Norn's nail
And on the barn-owl's beak."

Sigdrifumal goes on to catagorize types of runes. They are broken up into catagories such as Healing Runes, Victory Runes, Runes of Speech, etc. It never states which runes belong in which catagory though, so that is where a bit of opinion comes in.

Volsung Saga recorded it as (except states it is where to carve them):

That stands before the shining god,
On Arvak's ear And on Alsvid's head
And on the wheel that stands
Under Hrungnir's chariot,
On Sleipnir's reins,
And on the sleigh's fetters.
On bear's paw
And on Bragi's tongue,
On wolf's claws
And on eagle's beak,
On bloody wings
And on bridge's ends,
On the soothing palm
And on the healing step.
On glass and on gold
And on good silver,
In ale and in wine
And on the witch's seat,
In human flesh
And the point of Gaupnir
And the hag's breast,
On the Norn's nail
And the neb of the owl.

Egils Saga contains lore in the sense of what someone did with them, whereas Havamal, and Sigdrifumal deal more with the foundation or the runes.

Frith,
Hrafnbjorn