When you look at the paired triangles that form Dagaz, you might see the shape of a butterfly. That’s very fitting for this Viking Rune, which symbolizes daylight, certainty, and hope. Dagaz is strongly associated with inspiration, illumination, and the opening of the mind. What Does Dagaz Mean? When you’re casting runes and Dagaz appears, …
Othala is one of the oldest and most widely used Viking Runes. Also called Odal, Othala is the Viking Rune for home, roots, legacy – in other words, being proud of who you are and where you came from. The Othala rune also has associations with nobility and nation-building – concepts that have strong merit …
The Viking Rune Inguz draws its name from the mythic hero Ing. Ing appears in rune poems as a harvest God who is born in the spring, dies with the cutting of the crops, and is reborn again the following spring. This pattern explains why Inguz is associated both with fertility and harvest – the …
Water was incredibly important to the Vikings, so it’s not surprising the rune for water – Laguz – appears so frequently in their writings. Laguz refers to the oceans, as well as inland waters and woodland streams. Some say Laguz is shaped like a spindle, the tool the Vikings used to spin wool into thread. …
Manaz is a rune that truly represents how runic alphabets evolved over time. The symbol for man – and by extension, humanity and community – Manaz looked like a person with upraised arms in the Younger Futhark alphabet. In the Elder Futhark – the runic alphabet featured in our rune sets and pendants – Manaz …
Ehwaz is the rune for horse. Horses were incredibly important to the Vikings – and indeed, to all people of that era – as they provided the strength and power needed to clear land, transport goods, and carry warriors into battle. There’s plenty of archeological evidence that horses were in some ways sacred to the …
One of the most interesting things about Berkana is the rune’s association with the God Loki. Loki is widely known as a trickster God, but he also gave birth to Sleipnir, the eight-legged horse. Berkana is associated with births, new beginnings, plentiful abundance and, with a form that represents the breasts and belly of a …
Several of the Viking Runes are ideographic, which means the symbol represents an idea rather than a specific letter or sound. Tiwaz is perhaps the best example of this, as the rune looks like the spear it’s meant to represent. Tiwaz is the rune for Tyr, the Norse God known for granting warriors victory in …
Sowilo is the rune for the sun. The Vikings were very aware of the sun as a powerful force, especially during the long summer months where the sun never truly sets. They believed that the sun was pulled across the sky in a chariot pulled by two horses, Árvakr and Alsviðr. The symbolic meaning of …
Algiz is a rune of protection and self-defense. There are several strongly competing theories about what the shape of the Algiz rune is meant to represent. It could be the figure of an elk – the outstretched arms representing an elk’s antlers, lowered to fend off predators seeking an easy meal – or the rune …
