Viking Lore Articles — Ansuz

Ansuz: (A: The As, ancestral god, i.e. Odin.) A revealing message or insight, communication. Signals, inspiration, enthusiasm, speech, true vision, power of words and naming. Blessings, the taking of advice. Good health, harmony, truth, wisdom. Ansuz Reversed or Merkstave: Misunderstanding, delusion, manipulation by others, boredom. Vanity and grandiloquence. (Odin is a mighty, but duplicitous god. He always has his own agenda.) Ansuz in the A of the Nordic runic alphabet, and stands for Odin, the ancestral god, who is said to give first humans the gifts of life and intelligence (this is why Ansuz is sometimes called Odin’s breath). This...