Viking Lore Articles — Runes

Perthro: (P: Feminine, mystery.) Uncertain meaning, a secret matter, a mystery, hidden things and occult abilities. Initiation, knowledge of one's destiny, knowledge of future matters, determining the future or your path. Pertaining to things feminine, feminine mysteries including female fertility, and female reproduction. Good lot, fellowship and joy. Evolutionary change. Perthro Reversed or Merkstave: Addiction, stagnation, loneliness, malaise. This rune symbolizes the dice, or more broadly – destiny, something that awaits you. Dice were used for fortune-telling (as well as today), so the rune has an amount of uncertainty, because you never know how lucky the draw will be. Perthro...

Sowilo: (S: The sun.) Success, goals achieved, honor. The life-force, health. A time when power will be available to you for positive changes in your life, victory, health, and success. Contact between the higher self and the unconscious. Wholeness, power, elemental force, sword of flame, cleansing fire. Sowilo Merkstave (Sowilo cannot be reversed, but may lie in opposition): False goals, bad counsel, false success, gullibility, loss of goals. Destruction, retribution, justice, casting down of vanity. Wrath of god. Sowilo is the rune of the extreme strength, embodying and channeling the power of the sun whose it symbolizes the energy and...

Tiwaz: (T: Tyr, the sky god.) Honor, justice, leadership and authority. Analysis, rationality. Knowing where one's true strengths lie. Willingness to self-sacrifice. Victory and success in any competition or in legal matters. Tiwaz Reversed or Merkstave: One's energy and creative flow are blocked. Mental paralysis, over-analysis, over-sacrifice, injustice, imbalance. Strife, war, conflict, failure in competition. Dwindling passion, difficulties in communication, and possibly separation. The Tiwaz rune has several symbolic meanings, among them justice, self-sacrifice and altruism. It is the rune of Tyr – the nordic god of justice. In Norse mythology, Tyr sacrifices his arm to the monstrous wolf Fenrir,...

Berkano: (B: Berchta, the birch-goddess.) Birth, general fertility, both mental and physical and personal growth, liberation. Regenerative power and light of spring, renewal, promise of new beginnings, new growth. Arousal of desire. A love affair or new birth. The prospering of an enterprise or venture. Berkano Reversed or Merkstave: Family problems and or domestic troubles. Anxiety about someone close to you. Carelessness, abandon, loss of control. Blurring of consciousness, deceit, sterility, stagnation. Berkano (sometimes spelled Berkana) – a rune of fertility, birth (rebirth) and motherhood. The tree for Berkano is pomegranate.

Mannaz: (M: Man, mankind.) The Self; the individual or the human race. Your attitude toward others and their attitudes towards you. Friends and enemies, social order. Intelligence, forethought, create, skill, ability. Divine structure, intelligence, awareness. Expect to receive some sort of aid or cooperation now. Mannaz Reversed or Merkstave: Depression, mortality, blindness, self-delusion. Cunning, slyness, manipulation, craftiness, calculation. Expect no help now. The runic books say that the primary meaning of Mannaz is man, not as in gender, but as in human. It is a rune of reflection and defining your inner self. Mannaz also represents the human race, the shared human...