Runes of Sweden

The runes call me to heal my wounds,
Transform myself, true to the Wyrd,
Shape the world with the indwelling gods…
Rune : roar and whisper from within,
Incantation of the soul,
The binding knot…
I carve this runestave on the lakes and forests of Sweden.

Bright runes and murk runes :
Break down the barriers
Between worlds, reveal the hidden meanings,
By web-work of words,
Skaldcraft of the spirit,
Feats of the rime-thurs.

That the dead may stay in their graves
And the walking dead return to their graves
And the speaking dead give aid when invoked
The runester rides the horse of the air
And speaks red runes in heaven’s ear.

On the Gripsholm stone, inscribed in a serpent :
Tola had this stone raised for his son Harald, Yngvarr’s brother.
They fared boldly
Far away after gold
And in the east
They gave food to the eagle;
They died in the south
In Serkland.

A niding inscribed on the Björketorp stone :
Prophecy of destruction !
A row of bright runes hid I here,
Runes loaded with magic.
Through perversity, and without rest,
On the outside,
There is a deceitful death for the one
Who breaks this stone.

Fehu : the three goddesses, seers who read the runes aright,
Gold that increases with use, through circulation,
Transforming from one shape into another,
Benison to the wise, strife to the foolish,
Fire generated out of dark water, out of the deep,
Expanding throughout the cosmos,
The wolf in the woods of the self,
The serpent of light…
This is the power to fulfil
All that we are born for,
Ending to begin again.
They say that if you sleep
Benath an elderberry tree’s branches
On Midsmmer’s Day,
You may see the King of the Fairies.

Uruz : fire blended with the waters,
Horns of the aurochs, wild and ferocious,
Goring and piercing in rage and love,
Mother of matter, busily working its will into shapes…
Burn off the dross, refine the metal,
Else annihilate the imperfect
If it stubbornly resists…
The Void, Ginnungagap,
Between Fire and Ice,
The womb of Ymir
The androgynous giant
Nourished by the primeval cow’s udders…
Climb the silver birch
Into the sky,
Flame-fountain
Quaking the earth,
Return to the cradle
To find yourself;
Silver birch,
Show me the way through the woods.

Thurs : pure action and potency,
Force of a straight line, directed on target,
The spear sailing through the air
From the thunder god’s hand,
The two poles fused together,
Regeneration, rain,
The thorn drawing blood…
Force that fashioned Ymir,
Father and mother of the gods,
Rushing power of seed,
Thunder breaking open the sky.
Are you afraid to pluck the rose
For fear of being pricked?
Sloe gin from the blackthorn
Make holy drunkenness,
Black fruits that ripen
After the first winter frost.

Ansuz : the mind of Odin,
Reconciling the two halves,
The right and the left,
The magical power transmitted
From the ancestors
From generation to generation;
These powers by which man
May transform himself,
Finding knowledge in word and work…
O breath and symbol,
Vessel of power !
The prolific mouth
Making Word into world.
Sound,speech,music:
Let the wishful wind blow
Through everything.
Deep are the roots
And thick are the branches
Of the ash tree,
Connecting all realms,
Expressing the hidden.

Raidho : the law of right order,
The rising and setting of the sun,
Dance, music and poetry as one,
The organisation of states and institutions,
Held in balance with delicate violence…
A sturdy wagon and a strong horse
Are needed on the hard road,
The perilous road between worlds…
Mathematical proportion,
Beautiful logic, and tally lore,
Flowing wheels, spiralling towards the destination…
Sudden lightning
That fires the heavenly order.
Beat of the shaman’s drum,
Measured and momentous,
Propelling the mind through space.
The oak is mmy door,
My ship under sail,
My acorn that grows slowly,slowly
But sure of itself…

Kenaz : the force to shape,
The torch in the night,
Hearth fires and harrow,
Forge and pyre…
The craftsman’s cunning,
The joyous lust of the maker,
Dissolving to recreate…
Who knows is able,
To cleave,bash,bend and weld,
And fashion for all.
Hermaphroditic,
The pine tree spreads
Its bounty of sweet sharp small,
All steady endeavour
Towards the true aim.

Gebo : consciousness, life-breath and form,
Flowing into each other
To be transformed and returned to the source…
Giving and receiving,
Binding the bonds between gods and men,
Building bridges between worlds…
This is the way of saining,
The way of sacrifice,
The increase out of loss…
O magical marriage,
Exchange of holy vows !
Equal exchange of energies
Held in utter balance.
Stately and forbearing,
The elm tree sheds its grace,
Helping us to attain
Balance and endurance.

Wunjo : joy that binds and marshals forces
And bends them to a purpose;
Harmony with the self,
Harmony with the world,
Building a good house of the soul…
What bliss to know
That everything has meaning,
Everything is whole…
Selfless love
Demanding nothing
Yet giving entirely of itself
Without expectation of return,
Happy simpy to see in all things
The higher power self-delighting.
In the clear mountain air
The fir tree lofts its joyous shout,
Surveying the earth like an eagle.

Hagalaz : fire and ice encapsulated
In a hailstone egg,
Seed of the universe…
Nine worlds in the roots and branches
Of the World-Tree,
Nine of fruition and completion,
The yew in the berry…
Rune mother,
Womb of all runes…
The snowflake iridesces
With rainbow code
Andf through the body
Spirals the DNA.
The power of Fire
Moving upwards,outwards,
And the power of water
Moving downwards,outwards,
Binding together
In complementary force.
Rowan tree,
Lady of the High Places,
Whisper the secrets
Of the soul;
I see in your red berries
The five-pointed star.

Nauthiz : the force of cosmic resistance
To the will and its actions,
Need-fire from friction,
Kindling the higher flame…
The Norns come forth
To establish the law;
Out of becoming into being
The world is born into suffering
And destruction.
See, all that has ever been
Happens now, in this changing
Oneness, doing its work.
Beech mast to the pig
Is wisdom to me,
The fine bark of the sky
Calls me to write.

Isa : force of contraction into stillness,
Inward-turning force,
Force of density,
Fire and ice in balance…
The mind stilled and concentrated,
Holding the self together
Through its trials…
The ice-bridge extends before you,
Who must cross the abyss
By a hair’s breadth…
One day you too will be ice.
This that binds the atom’s spheres,
And times and seasons.
Move forward,
Act and you will know.
Moonshine on white shining snow
And razorblade air
Slashing myriad angles,
Geometry of winter.
I want no truth but my own
To fashion and fight for.
Alder tree,
Be my bridge,
Be my whistle,
Help me turn weakness
Into strength.

Jera : the twelvemonth of the sun,
The turning millstone,
The time of sowing, growing and harvesting,
Always returning to begin again,
Arising, becoming and passing away,
Reaping reward from right labour,
Peace, prosperity and freedom…
This development cannot be chivvied or hastened,
For the inside must agree with the outside
And grow in season and grace,
Spiralling to fruition
In subtle flow.
From the hazel tree
Fashion dowsing rods
And wands,
And, eating the nuts,
Become wise.
Nauthiz : the force of cosmic resistance
To the will and its actions,
Need-fire from friction,
Kindling the higher flame…
The Norns come forth
To establish the law;
Out of becoming into being
The world is born into suffering
And destruction.

Eihwaz : axis of Yggdrasill,
The yew-tree column
By which the magical fire is generated,
Rising and descending
Through the body’s wheels,
Transforming matter into spirit,
Reconciling opposites,
Binding heaven, earth and underworld…
To live for a thousand years
Like the yew,
Renewing itself from the core,
Guarding the boneyard,
Counselling the dead.

Perthro : to fathom the mystery of wyrd,
That is the ultimate test,
Casting the runes into the cup,
Into the Well of Wyrd…
Immortal dance of x, y and z,
The horizontal and the vertical,
Ceaseless change making good the world…
See how iron
Can be absorbed and transfoermed
Into myriads of things
Yet remains itself.
The aspen’s quivering
Is shimmering whispers
From within,
Shields of light,
Wheels of light…

Elhaz : here is the upright stave,
The splayed hand,
The horns of the hart,
The swan in flight,
The rainbow bridge,
The gesture of prayer and invocation.
Your fetch goes with you everywhere,
Taking shapes,
Working magic…
Spinal fluid strengthens the backbone,
Patient endurance
And the green force in plants…
Strong is the reed
Yet out of its hollows
The air pipes music
In tune with the heart…

Sowilo : the sun for all with eyes to see,
The day sun and the night sun,
That guide the seafarer from shore to shore,
The Pleiades in the night sky,
The sun-wheel revolving,
He who develops the will by this light
Is blessed with honour and success.
Here are the serpent centres of the earth,
Where the heavenly and chthonic forces
Converge with surging spiral power.
This is the vortex,
Energy pushing upwards and outwards,
Then contracting back to a point
Over and over;
Moving the space around,
Making things happen.
Tiny white flowers
Of the spindle tree,
Flashes in the dark
Behind my eyes.

Tiwaz : the Lodestar in heaven,
Keeping its troth,
Summit of the World-Tree,
Keeping cosmic order and justice,
Keeping separate the poles,
Beacon of the deepest most serene wisdom,
The detached transcendent wisdom
At the centre of things.
The phallus upraised
Shoots seed into the egg,
Sacrificing the seed
For the greater purpose.
Let the spear fly
And not miss the mark.
Let the pillars of the house
Stand tall and firm.
Holly tree
Whose leaves are soft in summer
And spiked in winter,
Be the spears of an army
Marching to victory.

Berkano : the Birch Goddess
Who rules over transformation,
Over the rites of passage,
And the seasons,
The cycle of birth,life,death and rebirth,
Conserving and protecting,
It takes seed substance,
Hides it in its enclosure,
Breaks the enclosure, and bears the transformed substance forth.
Here is the birch rod,
The wand of magic working,
The moment of being
Whence all becoming issues,
The eternal now,
It is the mystery of the word…
The mother’s and the lover’s breasts
Give suck to the mewling soul.
Enclose and contain that which you are bringing forth;
Conceal, protect and nourish the secret
Until it is ready to come.
Hornbeam,
Ox-yoke of the spirit,
Waterwheel of the soul,
Be the mother standing firm
And releasing her offspring.

Ehwaz : the horse on which the runester rides
From one world to the other,
The perfect harmony of horse and rider,
The fetch at work in the world…
Odin and Sleipnir fused into one,
Ten feet, three eyes and one tail…
Ecstasy:the male and the female
Conjoining, making a star.
To communicate with all things,
With people,animals,rocks and plants,
And with beings of other levels.
The ivy spirals
Towards the light,
Bringing life or death,
Pushig into creveices bloldly.

Mannaz : the structure of divine consciousness in man,
Imparted through a genetic link
With the god of consciousness;
Men are descendants of the gods,
The bond unbreakable.
O, god made flesh,
Consciousness made manifest,
Mind and memory corresponding,
Communicating freely with each other,
Informing the whole self.
O, tripartite moon,
Synthesising intellect and intuition,
Measuring and melding …
Let the force of the soul
Drive towards perfection,
To know its own nature
And fulfil its work;
Let man and nature
Collaborate as equals,
Each fulfilling the other.
The gyring vine
Fruits with promise
Of joy and inspiration,
Energy that must be trained…

Laguz : lake of primeval waters
Welling up from below,
Seething with life,
Waterfall where treasure is hidden,
Dark depths of the ship burial,
Rivers where Odin is the ferryman of souls,
The runester must fit himself out
With a solid ship to breast the waves,
To fare forth on the ebb and flow…
This blessed feel of swimming,
In the water but not of it,
Grasping the flow
As it escapes…
The willow draws the waters
Into its tent,
Wishing on the moon…

Ingwaz : the seed-force of gestation,
Released to bring forth plenty,
The rune withdrawn into secrecy
For the hidden exchange of energies
That causes transformation…
Will you go into the east,
Will you disappear from sight,
To fare into the dark realms
And return with strange gifts ?
Yes, I am my own grandfather,
My own grandmother,
Seeding my own regeneration,
Storing and forging the essence
Of experience to carry forward
Into my next self.
Five-pointed star
In the apple’s core:
The apple I eat
Reminds me of myself.

Dagaz : as day and darkness merge in twilight
The morning and evening stars
Shine into the darkness;
See the way between extremes,
Between left and right,
See in the extremes
The unifying idea…
Now the courage
To reache beyond the known.
This is victory,
The lovers’ supernova,
The seed’s explosion
Into absolute light,
The paean of the figure-of-eight.
Honeysuckle,
Entwine me in your branches,
Subtly reveal your secrets,
Succour me in my quest,
I trust in passion to guide me right.

Othala : this is the hallowed enclosure,
The land set apart,
The kin-fetch of the tribe,
The forces held within the ring
Must be well ordered
Made harmonious
For the common weal,
That peace and freedom reign…
The sly soul knows how to balance
Light against dark,
Inside against outside,
Order against chaos…
Lawmaker,beat the bounds
Of the world,give freedom
Its hearth,that all may prosper.
The soul craves to acquire
And possess what it needs to thrive,
Seeds of future abundance.
Rich yellow gorse flowers
Bloom throughout the eyar,
And attract the first bees,
Pollen, nectar, honey-
The diligent seeker’s reward.

Snowflake,
Crystal of ice and fire,
Of light and darkness,
Burning seed of life and death,
Sky-salt, earth-yeast…

Five hundred doors
And forty withal,
I know to be in Valhöll :
Eight hundred lone warriors
Go through a lone door
When they fare forth to fight the wolf.

Nine worlds of Yggdrasill,
Nine nights Odin hung upon the tree…

Here I am, whole,
Body, shape, ecstasy,
Breath, mind, memory,
Soul, fetch and luck.

Odin makes all things his own
And uses them according to his will,
Yet remains ever apart,
Forever changing shape,
Bringing the power of self-deification.
Not to worship the god,
To become the god;
With inspiration,will and sacred rites.
We must win from him by will
The holy words to open the doors of dawn,
He is ecstasy and awe and power,
Born of self-sacrifice,
Winner of the poetic mead,
Snake and eagle,
Lord of the hidden eye,
He binds together light and dark,
Life and death,
Conscious and unconscious.
Restlessly, relentlessly,
With boundless courage,
He strives neverendingly for wholeness.

Freyja, the golden sow,
The shamaness of the trance,
Woman of gold and harvest,
Erotic mistress of love songs,
Wedded to ecstasy,
Striving for divine inspiration,
She brings things into being,
Causes them to become,
And causes them to pass away…

I have seen in Gotland big rock crystals,
Honed into accurate magnifying lenses
Used by Viking craftsmen in their work,
And as sunstones for navigating
On overcast days, to work out the sun’s position.
There are also the picture stones,
Shaped like doorways,
Portals to the world of the dead,
Graven with horses, fighting.
Or the deceased,
Being greeted in Valhalla by a Valkyrie
With a drinking horn brimming with mead,
Others show the dead man riding Sleipnir,
To Valhalla, as the god himself has sent out
His own mount to bring the hero home,
An honoured guest to feast in his hall.

These runes are sounded on the air
As powers to move the world.