Friday's Rune of the Day

TGIF! Though it doesn't seem possible that it's Friday already. Wow, where did my week go? With 12 Days of Christmas in July @ Artfire.com running from July 12th through the 23rd and Christmas in July @ Etsy.com running from the 15th through the 25th we have been busy at Gaelic Knot Studio.  

I've decided to pull a Rune each Friday then share a bit of interesting info about them on my blog.

The Rune of the day is Nauthiz. It represents the letter N and is also known as Nyd by some. Nauthiz is the Germanic name and Nyd is the Old English name. I've included both since technically the Anglos and the Saxons were both Germanic in origin. Nauthiz is called the Rune of constraint, and some consider it to be the master of us all...Time. It tells us we must learn to deal with severe constraint and represents the obstacles we create for ourselves as well as those we encounter in the world around us. Both can be equally difficult to handle. Drawing Nauthiz tells us not to rush things, this is a Rune of adversity, not failure. Basically it is telling us that now is a time to wait not act.

It is a perfect Rune for this time of year when everything is growing, but it's not yet time for the harvest or outcome of those seeds of creativity we sowed a few months earlier. Life works very similarly in both the plant and the animal world and the wheel of the year turns with the seasons. There is a time to plant, a time to grow, a time of harvest and a time to lay fallow. It's just part of life.

In case you've never heard of Runes, they're an ancient alphabet script generally used by the Germanic people of Scandinavian origin. They were utilized for legal documents, poetry, inscriptions and divination though never actually evolved into a spoken language. Sadly the original interpretations of the Runes have been lost. The Rune casters of old kept their secrets well and records if made at all did not survive. In ancient times Runes were often used by warriors on a conquest. the symbols were carved on amulets, drinking cups,battle spears, over the lentels of buildings and on the prows of Viking ships.

Today Runes are used by the Spiritual Warrior on the quest for self-change and knowledge or enlightenment. Most Runes come in sets of 24 or 25, an extra Rune was added at one point. The extra Rune is blank. Some say it it nothing more than an extra piece in case one is lost. Others use it as "Odin's Rune" the Rune of the unknown, claiming that it indicates information the universe will not yet reveal.

Till next time...May the Stars watch over and protect us all.