RUNE WORKSHOP

[Sanguina Cruenta]

Check-in!

How's everyone doing with Fehu? What do your books say? Do you feel like you're feeling the shape of the rune?  

[iKillCaustic]

Hmm...for me at the moment, just remembering the shape and sound of it is paramount. I guess the closest thing to remembering it's shape/meaning is to think of a bull's horn, not a perfect analogy but it seems to be working.  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

I meant to get the Uruz stuff up yesterday sweatdrop Sorry. I'll do that in a couple of hours.  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

OK! Uruz's rune-poems.
Uruz means "auroch", an extinct large bovine. Other poems substitute homonyms.


OE poem:

auroch is fierce and high-horned / the courageous
beast fights with its horns / a well-known moor-treader,
it is a brave creature.


Norwegian

slag is from bad iron;
the reindeer often runs
over frozen snow.


Icelandic

drizzle is cloud's weeping
and harvest's undoing
and herdsman's hatred.


I've always had some difficulty with Uruz, but generally take from it ideas of physical strength, courage and male coming-of-age Mysteries.  

[kyndryana3]

When I think of Uruz, the first thing that comes to mind is of a giant wild ox, much bigger and stronger than a man, being hunted and stalked by a small group of men, but especially the young boy who steps forward to make the first strike and mark his first big kill.

I think that this evokes in me a very powerful feeling. There is definitely a sense of being up against a larger opponent or force, but also that combination of fear/excitement/bravery that comes from stepping up and going head to head with such a force and the confidence that you will walk away the victor.

In addition to this, I get from Uruz a sense of structure. There are things we have limited control over that effect how we live our lives. To relate it back to the auroch, if the hunt is successful, there is now food for a while, or food to be stored for winter when hunting is scarce. If the hunt isn't successful, you must hunt again until you succeed and for each unsuccessful hunt, you must be more frugal to make what you have last.

In the Icelandic poem, Uruz is likened to the rain, and I find this reinforces this. Rain isn't as big a hindrance today, but it does still effect some of what we choose to do. But just like with the auroch, sometimes there are circumstances that make things harder, but you still have to go forward and do what needs to be done.  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

It's interesting that the Anglo-Saxons retained the "auroch" definition when there weren't any aurochs around them.

I don't see the structure or the control, myself. I don't think they hunted the aurochs for food. Food would be more Fehu, cattle; why bother hunting a big, powerful bovine for food if you already have some rather less angry ones milling around? Unless you don't have enough of them to see you through, I suppose. So I tend to think of auroch hunts as for different reasons, hence my connection to the male mysteries. I think it's less about necessity, more about proving oneself, about strength and pride. For me it's almost the opposite of control: the throwing off of ropes and chains, of pure physical strength and endurance.

Slag, for example, is what you get after the smelting process. If you're put under pressure and you're bad iron, all you get out of it is slag.

I have issues with the reindeer line. Possibly because I don't know anything about reindeer, and I've rarely been in snow. Is this a reference to reindeer being sure-footed, or able to survive tough situations? The poems have always seemed rather different to me.

In terms of the story of the rune line, Fehu is the primal beginning, Uruz would link more obviously to Audhumbla. Paxson talks a bit about Audhumbla and tries to reconcile the "slag" and "drizzle" to the fire and ice of the creation story. Following this along, Uruz is the becoming-physical, the taking shape, the material energy, while Fehu is more of the potential energy.  

[kyndryana3]

I didn't really think about the fact that if they had domesticated cattle they wouldn't need to hunt as a primary meat source...good point. You have a good point that the hunt might have evolved into a more ceremonial action, although I think that there might have still been some life lessons that were taught to young men about earlier times.

I don't know much about reindeer either, but the first thought that popped into my head when reading that bit about the frozen snow was that it was a warning about hidden dangers (that the frozen snow would seem solid with the hard crust on top, but might break if you ran across it)..or that the reindeer ran across it as an act of bravery and to get where they were going before the treacherous footing broke apart. I'm really not sure about any of that though, it's just kind of what I was thinking.

I've read the potential energy (Fehu) and taking shape (Uruz), I think that is where I started thinking in terms of structuring.  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

Yeah, I can understand that 3nodding  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

Everyone happy with Uruz and ready to move on to Thurisaz tomorrow?  

[kyndryana3]

Bleh missed this post.....I am ready smile  

[iKillCaustic]

Hmm...I might need a little extra time on Uruz...this one seems to confuse me a little - well the rune poems do. I can always revisit it later if you want to move on.  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

iKillCaustic--uKillMe

Hmm...I might need a little extra time on Uruz...this one seems to confuse me a little - well the rune poems do. I can always revisit it later if you want to move on.

Seeing as I've been so slack getting the poems for Thurisaz up, I thought maybe we would delay it another week and spend more time with Uruz anyway. I had major trouble with the poems the first time I worked with Uruz too. And honestly I do worry that we're rushing ahead and people will fall behind, so it might not be a bad idea to lengthen all the runes out to two weeks each.  

[kyndryana3]

sounds good to me...perhaps if people have questions or things they would like to ask about the runes, that would be helpful?  

[iKillCaustic]

Sounds good Sang, I'll definatly use this time wisely.  

[Sanguina Cruenta]

Thurisaz!


OE:
thorn is painfully sharp to any warrior / seizing it
is bad, excessively severe / for any person
who lays among them


Norwegian:
giant causes women's sickness;
few are glad
at bad luck


Icelandic:
giant is woman's sickness
and a dweller on cliffs
and a husband of [the giantess] Varðrun