24 Nights of Runes

Rune Stats

• Traditional Meanings: Harvest, Fertile Season, One Year
• Element: earth
• Aettir: Hagal
• Deity Associations: Frey, Scyld, Sif
• Tarot Association: The Hermit
• Modern Equivalent: j
• Germanic: jēra
• Old English: gēr
• Other Names: Yar, Jara, Jar, Jer, Ger, Gaar, Ar

Basic Meaning
Patience—Harvesting. Spending effort/strength to work toward a reward or benefit which can only be obtained at the “time of harvest”. Harvesting too soon could result in a lack of quality fruit. The obtaining of a new and long-deserving thing. Jera can be modernly represented by investing which pays off at a later time. Don’t forget to tend to your plants so they will produce good fruit come harvest season!

Dreams Recalled 30-31/5/2012
No dreams recalled…

Outside Sources Define Jera

Meaning: Improvement of physical circumstances, new home, renovations, new job, new relationship, improvement on mental outlook, drawing closer to spiritual attainment.

Magickal application: Gentle change, harvesting what you have done, bringing rewards to you that you have earned, improving on a situation, building. ¹

A Rune of beneficial outcomes, Jera applies to any activity or endeavor to which you are committed. Be aware, however, that no quick results can be expected. A span of time is usually involved; hence the key words “One Year,” symbolizing a full cycle before the reaping, the harvest or deliverance

You have prepared the ground and planted the seed. Now you must cultivate with care. To those whose labor has a long season, a long coming to term, Jera offers encouragement of success. Know that the outcome is in the keeping of Providence and continue to preserve.

Remember the old story about the farmer who was so eager to assist his crops that he went out at night an tugged on the new shotts. There is no way to push the river; equally you cannot hasten the harvest. Be mindful that patience is essential for the recognition of your own process which, in its season, leads to the harvest of the self. ²

(J or Y: A year, a good harvest.)
The results of earlier efforts are realized. A time of peace and happiness, fruitful season. It can break through stagnancy. Hopes and expectations of peace and prosperity. The promise of success earned. Life cycle, cyclical pattern of the universe. Everything changes, in its own time.

Jera Merkstave
(Jera cannot be reversed, but may lie in opposition): Sudden setback, reversals. A major change, repetition, bad timing, poverty, conflict. ³

Rune Stats

• Traditional Meanings: Standstill, Withdrawal, Ice
• Element: Ice
• Aettir: Hagal
• Deity Associations: Frost Giants, Skadi
• Tarot Association: The Moon
• Modern Equivalent: i
• Germanic: Isa
• Old English: īs
• Other Names: īs, Isa, Iss, Eis, Liz

Basic Meaning
No activity. The freezing of actions and even thought. Not an obstacle necessarily, Isa is more of a process that you must go through. You can’t pass around it it MUST happen like the seasons as they cycle. Wait it out—play the game. The time will come when winter thaws. Be careful, however, to not let this period of inactivity dull your senses or abilities.

Dreams Recalled 29-39/5/2012
My dreams were chaotic. I do recall a theme that spoke to me as “listen to suggestion”. I think my own personal experiences that I have had with Isa have told me to not only wait patiently for my environment to change in time—but to plan for it. Be watchful of your environment and anticipate actions that may occur. This will allow you to plan and prepare—allowing for immediate action for when things begin to stir again.

Outside Sources Define Isa

Meaning: Material, mental, or spiritual inactivity.

Magickal application: Blocking negative energy, freezing a situation, finding clarity, binding negative energies. ¹

The winter of the spiritual life is upon you. You may find yourself entangled in a situation to whose implications you are, in effect, blind. You may feel powerless to do anything except submit, surrender, even sacrifice some long-cherished desire. Be patient, for this is the period of gestation that precedes a rebirth.

Positive accomplishment is unlikely now. There is a freeze on useful activity, all your plans are on hold. You may be experiencing an unaccustomed drain on your energy and wonder why: A chill wind is reaching you over the ice floes of old outmoded habits.

Trying to hold on can result in shallowness of feeling, a sense of being out of touch with life. Seek to discover what it is you are holding onto that perpetuates this condition and let go. Shed, release, cleanse away the old; doing so will bring on the thaw.

Usually Isa requires a sacrifice of the personal, the “I.” At such a time, you cannot hope to rely on help or friendly support. And yet there is no reason for anxiety. Submit and be still, for what you are experiencing is not necessarily the result of your actions or habits, but rather arises from conditions about which you can do nothing. What has been full must empty, what has increased must decrease. This is the way of Heaven and Earth. To surrender is to display courage and wisdom.

 And yet there is another face to Standstill. Just as winter is a time for going within, drawing Isa can announce a time of restoration and renewal at the deepest level. In you solitude, exercise caution and do not stubbornly persist in attempting to work your will. Remain mindful that the seed of the new is present in the shell of the old, the seed of unrealized potential, the seed of the good. Trust your own process, and watch for signs of spring. ²

(I: Ice)
A challenge or frustration. Psychological blocks to thought or activity, including grievances. Standstill, or a time to turn inward and wait for what is to come, or to seek clarity. This rune reinforces runes around it.

Isa Merkstave
(Isa cannot be reversed, but may lie in opposition): Ego-mania, dullness, blindness, dissipation. Treachery, illusion, deceit, betrayal, guile, stealth, ambush, plots. ³

Rune Stats

• Traditional Meanings: Disruption, Elemental Power, Hail
• Element: Ice
• Aettir: Hagal
• Deity Associations: Mother Holda, Gandreid
• Tarot Association: The Tower
• Modern Equivalent: h
• Germanic: Hagalaz “hä-gä-läz” a as in father, g as in give
• Old English: Haegl
• Other Names: Hagal, Hægl, Hagel, Haal, Hagl

Basic Meaning
Damage. Trial, tempering, and crisis. A release of power. Struggle. Can be representative of freedom if breaking from a controlling identity, routine, or tradition. Disruption of an environment, system, or situation.

Dreams Recalled 23-24/5/2012
I recall learning about another design company I could work for in my town. It was producing lower quality work and it inspired me to become a lead designer there. I returned to my high school to look for talent to fill an art-director position at this company. I left this well-established and pro-active company for a much less worth-while one (my goal was to turn it around).

Outside Sources Define Hagalaz

Meaning: Disruptive physical event, disillusionment, spiritual struggle, protection against enemies.

Magickal application: Overcoming obstacles, banishing, blessing, defense activities. ¹

Change, freedom, invention and liberation are all attributes of this Rune. Drawing it indicates a pressing need within the psyche to break free from constricting identification with material reality and to experience the world of archetypal mind.

The Rune of elemental disruption, of events that seem to be totally beyond your control, Hagalaz has only an upright position, and yet it always operates through reversal. When you draw this Rune, expect disruption, for it is the Great Awakener, although the form the awakening takes may vary. Perhaps you will experience a gradual feeling of coming to your senses, as though you are emerging from a deep sleep. Then again, the onset of power may be such as to rip away the fabric of what you previously knew as your reality, your security, your understanding of yourself, your work, your relationships or beliefs.

 Disruption takes many forms: a relationship fails, plans go awry, a source of supply dries up. But do not be dismayed. Whether you created the disruption, or whether it comes from an outside source, you are not without power in this situation. Your inner strength—the will you have funded until now in your life—provides support and guidance at a time when every-thing you’ve taken for granted is being challenged.

Another of the Cycle Runes, the term radical discontinuity best describes the action of Hagalaz at its most forceful. The more severe the disruption in your life, the more significant an timely the requirements for your growth. The universe and your own soul are demanding that you do, indeed, grow. ²

(H: Hail.)
Wrath of nature, destructive, uncontrolled forces, especially the weather, or within the unconscious. Tempering, testing, trial. Controlled crisis, leading to completion, inner harmony.

Hagalaz Merkstave
(Hagalaz cannot be reversed, but may lie in opposition): Natural disaster, catastrophe. Stagnation, loss of power. Pain, loss, suffering, hardship, sickness, crisis. ³

The Norse God Odin

• Alternate Names:  Woten, Woden, Grom
• Title:  Father of the Gods; gifted in eloquence
• Short Story:  God of all the Gods (Norse). Suffered on the Tree of Yggdrasil to obtain ultimate knowledge (where he obtained the Runes).
• Runes: all; the blank Rune if included
• Tarot:  The Hanged Man

Rune Relevance:
Odin provided us with the original Futhark Runes which date back to Viking and Norse cultures.

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Rune Stats

• Traditional Meanings: Partnership, A Gift
• Element: Air
• Aettir: Freyja
• Deity Associations: Idunna, Gefion
• Tarot Association: The Lovers
• Modern Equivalent: g
• Germanic: gebō ”gāy-bō” e as in play, o as in go
• Old English: gyfu
• Other Names: Gyfu, Gibo, Giba, Gibor, Gipt, Gewa

Basic Meaning
Gebo is about a bond shared between you and another—a relationship. Gebo is about the collective mind and shared efforts which produce work. The building of bridges, binding of souls, and the oath that is created between friends both intimate and platonic. A strong relationship is one where either person(s) is willing to sacrifice something for the good of the other. This sacrifice proves the bond is strong given the event that one is willing to take part of their own life to support the life of the other.

Dreams Recalled 30/4-1/5/2012
I recall being with my own lover (in real life) in which we were cruising around town. A predator had followed us home and was attempting to come into our house with the intention to harm us. He had a razor blade which he used… but I got him out of the house. I also remember my brother had come into town to visit—two important people in my life within one dream cycle…

Outside Sources Define Gebo

Meaning: Partnership that you enjoy, material gift, generosity, one’s oath, divine gift or skill (such as artistic or musical).

Magickal application: Creating Balance, healing, bonding energies, air magicks of all kinds. ¹

Drawing this Rune is an indication that partnership is some form is at hand. In love relationships, in business matters, in partnering of every kind, you are put on notice not to collapse yourself into that union. For true partnership is achieved only by separate and whole beings who retain their separateness even as they unite. Remember to let the winds of Heaven dance between you.

At the same time, there is another aspect of partnership that you are being called to consider. For the path of partnership can lead you to the realization of a still greater union—union with the Higher Self, union with the Divine. The ultimate gift of this Rune is the realization of the Divine in all things: God always enters into equal partnerships.

Gebo, the Rune of Partnership, has no Reverse, for it signifies the gift of freedom from which flow all other gifts. ²

(G: Gift.)
Gifts, both in the sense of sacrifice and of generosity, indicating balance. All matters in relation to exchanges, including contracts, personal relationships and partnerships.

Gebo Merkstave
Gebo cannot be reversed, but may lie in opposition): Greed, loneliness, dependence, over-sacrifice. Obligation, toll, privation, bribery. ³