Magical Runes of Life & Death
Those Magical Runes of Life & Death, Protection & Surrender
I know. What good could possible come of this? A crazy man teaching runes. . .What a laugh. This probably won’t agree with any other 'interpretations' you can find on the web, (surprised, aren’t ya?) but I’m okay with that, because they don’t all agree with each other either. . . So, have a little patience, and I think you might find this useful (or I would have hid it from ya, and buried it under a rock beneath a seldom used bridge, okay?)
Now, The first image you see here is the rune of protection. The second image is the more recent “death” rune. You might notice they look similar. . . One is the reverse of the other. (Oh boy! ! More fun with dualities! . Oh boy! . . . Yes! Dualities. Dualities always look simple, but they run deep. . . And ‘deep’ is truly the key word here today.)
Algiz (or Elhaz)
This is the rune of protection and life. It is said to be the Rune of the essential link or connection with the divine. Algiz is said to envelop the invoker so that he or she becomes sacred, set apart and protected by Divine power.
Literally it means “elk” and the rune is said to depict the horns of an elk to symbolize protection. The European elk is similar to the North American Moose, but it’s horns have more of a twig-like configuration than a moose does. Elk are one of the largest deer species in the world, and male elk have gigantic racks of hard, strong, powerful, pointy, horns branching from their heads.
This rune means to stand your ground, BOW YOUR HEAD and present your horns for protection. Peace through strength. Live and resist.
Yr (or Todesrune, or Nero’s Cross)
The rune of surrender and death. This has been used to create the “Peace” symbol in modern times. Literally it means “yew” and the rune is said to depict the soft elastic bendable branches of the Yew tree, which often curve all the way down to the ground. Yew branches are very elastic but strong, and are used to make hunting bows and barrels for wine, “The yew is the casket of the vine.” Yew leaves and berries are very toxic, and so the tree is often considered a bad omen and associated with death. So, dagger handles are often made of yew.
This rune means to bend and give way, BOW YOUR ARMS/BRANCHES low in surrender. Peace thru surrender. Die and give up.
Sometimes it is good to consider what is implied, but not depicted in a rune. And it is always useful to compare opposites. So here we go:
ELK
We see the elk in Algiz as standing upright, GROUNDED, alive, antlers pointed to the sky. In Yr we see the elk upside down, belly up, UNGROUNDED, dead, antlers pointed to the ground.
YEW
We see the TREE in Algiz as upright and ROOTED, connected and alive, branches upright to the light We see the TREE in Yr as upside down, UPROOTED, unconnected, and dead, lifeless branches limply bent low.
ROOTS are the key difference, and you don’t see that depicted in either rune.
The horns of an elk are ROOTED to it’s head and strong neck and body, propelled by massively powerful feet braced and dug into the ground. If the elk is belly up, with it’s feet in the air, ungrounded, those horns don’t do much. Those horns are no protection at all if not CONNECTED to the powerful upright grounded massive body behind them. . . With the weight of the powerful elk behind them, the horns are quite dangerous and do offer protection. But Algiz, as a rune, is a simplified symbol, only shows us the horns.
How is an upright tree protected? It is protected from storms and wind and drought, because it has ROOTS that deeply anchor it to the ground. It is CONNECTED and grounded, and fed, and kept upright, by those roots. It is a great depiction of life. And what depicts death better than an uprooted upside down tree??? Ya see? It’s about where are your roots? Are they connected to Source or are you upside down with your roots dangling vainly in the sky?
You don’t see roots depicted in either rune, Algiz or Yr, but ROOTS – A CONNECTION TO SOURCE, are the key difference between Algiz, the rune of life/protection, and Yr, the rune of death/surrender.
Algiz is rooted; it says THERE IS MORE COMING, because I got roots. These horns are hard, and I’m not backing down. I got life.
Yr is uprooted; it says THERE IS NO MORE COMING, because I’m uprooted. I softly bend and bow. Peace, because I got no more left. I surrender. It’s over. I’m dead.
Think about it.
WHAT is the key difference between Protection and Defeat ? -
ROOTS/CONNECTION TO SOURCE.
Remember, I told you in the first paragraph, that ‘deep’ was really the key word here. And I was deeply serious.
(C) RLMcCormick
