Fehu and Uruz: Unleashing the True Self

Other authors have already said a great deal about Fehu and Uruz, the first two runes of the first aett of the Elder Futhark. What follows is my perspective on Fehu and Uruz based on my interactions with them in meditation and divination. Ok, here we go…

On a concrete or material level, Fehu is linked to wealth or riches in a state of expansion, growth. Outside the context of money or currency, Fehu is concerned with resources, the key components for building life, health, and happiness both at the individual and the community level (e.g., rich soil, wind, rain, fruit-bearing trees, livestock, timber for shelter, fibers for clothing, and the who chain of life that begets life). Fehu is often concerned with “the raw materials”, their function, and their value or worth before, during, and after being harnessed by hard working hands. Just as Fehu in reading or vision can indicate questions of worth related to raw materials, on a psychological level, she can indicate your perception of your own worth. We could also read the value and worth concepts as mundane proxies for the more ethereal notion of potential, that which is coiled within awaiting release via some kinetic process; thereby linking Fehu to production, the process of unlocking the potential contained within raw material. Fehu is a representative of the design, the plan, the beginning when all things are possible, and the initiation of the process/production that will yield something that is hopefully greater that any of the individual raw materials alone. She is a powerful ally indeed if you can court her.

With regard to deity alliances, Fehu seems to share affinity with the Vanir in general and with Freyja (and Frey) in particular. Both Fehu and Freyja have investments in potential’s uncoiling and raw forces coalescing. Fehu (and Freyja too) if willing can aid with psycho-transformation by helping you to take stock of your potential/raw materials – skills, talents, personality quirks, thoughts, feelings, goals, and aspirations – and in so doing realize your worth, what you have to offer to yourself and to others.

Uruz in my experience is “step two”. What has been initiated, the potential that is coalescing, must take shape. What you set into motion with Fehu must manifest in solid form. Uruz’s energy is both the thrust of will needed to give something form and the final product. He is the exemplar of will made manifest. However, Uruz is not concerned with instantaneous manifestation sans effort. No, in fact he appreciates and invites strength of will, strength of character, and due diligence. Uruz’s power can be wild (seemingly uncontrolled/uncontrollable) when first encountered but once you know what drives him, you see that his ferocity is combined with goals and plans laid. Invoking his power can see you through to extraordinary ends. Uruz is interesting because of his momentum, when at full throttle, he can deliver mighty successes. If you enlist his aid, he has the added benefit of dulling doubts that might otherwise thwart your plans. Uruz is the wild, sure, and passionate True Will, the grit that underlies existence. Invoke Uruz to seek who and what and why and how you really are, all bullshit and self-doubt aside. This is the psycho-transformative gift of Uruz for those who know how to ask him for it, properly sacrifice in exchange for his aid, and fight the good inner fight for his blessings.

At present, no Norse/Germanic deity alliances with Uruz come to mind; however, in my work with the lessons of this particular rune spirit, Dionysos has come alongside Uruz to lay a pearl of wisdom or two on me. Dionysos is associated with bulls (uncastrated males of the modern cattle variety), a similar but distinct species from the ancient aurochs or urus of Eurasia from which the rune Uruz gets his name (or maybe it was the Uruz rune spirit who lent his name to the beast). Dionysos has a few bull-related praise names: Axios Tauros (The Worthy Bull), Boukeros (The Bull-horned One), Taurokeros Theos (Bull-horned God), and Tauropon (The Bull-faced One). Also, as a side note, I feel compelled to note that although Dionysos is not emergent from the cultural context that gave rise to the runes, he does seem to share qualities with Uruz and they most definitely have a rapport, so I look forward to being co-taught by Uruz and Dionysos, at least for a time.

I feel I have learned only an inch of the soul-stirring, wyrd-working lessons Fehu and Uruz have to teach; I know that I have miles to go still and I cannot wait!

Fehu: The Keeper at the Gate

Laure Lynch over at Gate of the Slain discusses the Fehu rune spirit as a gatekeeper, among other things. My own experiences with Fehu over the last several years confirm this. I began working with runes in divination, personal alchemy (another phrase for psycho-transformation), and magic(k) in December 2008. I’ve learned a lot about all of the runes since then but over the years I have had the nagging feeling that something’s disturbingly inadequate in my rune work. Sure, I meditated on the meanings of the runes, I did in-depth divination, and I purchased the latest books on the subject. Yet and still, I was having the nagging feeling month after month that something was off.

What I knew but have only recently (since about Yule 2010) begun to realize on a deep inner level rather than just intellectually is that the runes each have their own mysteries to teach and that you can never truly unlock the secrets of one without having passed through – at least the initiatory – lessons of the rune before it. This process has nothing to do with understanding the meanings of each rune, but instead is concerned with experiencing the initiatory mysteries of each rune, having their foundational lessons etched on your consciousness and heart.

That being said, no matter how many of the runes I “learned”, my mind and my heart always returned to Fehu. She called me back. It was like when you rush past a doorman in a hurry and then they frantically yell “Ma’am, come back. You forgot to show your ID.” Or, “Ma’am, you have to pay the toll. Ma’am?!” That’s essentially what Fehu was doing to me. I’d get so far and then I would be called back to pondering her mysteries. When I realized she was really serious, I was a little irritated. I felt I had the broad strokes and a working knowledge of at least a few of her more interesting nuances; I was doing just fine. Wrong! She told me that I would not be able to “move on” until I “got it” and “gave it up”. Of course she was vague on the details at the time…as usual! In this way, Fehu served as the Gatekeeper to the rest of the Futhark. I would be banging my head against the proverbial runestone until she saw fit to release me from that agony. So, I meditated and I waited. I had to relax and accept that the knowledge of her, the Fehu rune, would come to me when I had earned it.

After a number of grueling rituals and hundreds of tears cried (none of which I consciously linked to my Fehu initiation at the time) she whispered to me. Fehu gave me insight into who I am and what I have to offer the world and others. She showed me the bounty within myself. And what did she demand in return? I had to check the anxieties and insecurities that shaped and defined me up to that point at the gate. This may seem like a lop-sided deal to the onlooker. Some of you might be saying to yourselves as you sip your tea and adjust your legs that this chick is full of it. I assure you, I am telling the truth about my Fehu epiphany, on my honor. What I gave up was no easy thing and it frankly did not have to be done. Most of us live our lives in a steadily filling pit of our own brown-black filth. That is not Fehu’s thing and she will not let you carry that crap through the gate with you in its full craptastic glory. Nope, you have to be working on cleaning house. Otherwise, all that stuff just gunks up the other runes and clogs your ears so you can’t hear them as clearly, and really what good does that kind of blockage do the rune spirits. That BS does not make for good relations!

It has been super hard learning Fehu’s lessons. Am I done? Hell to the no! I keep trying to go back to what’s comfortable, the insecurities and doubts that at one time were the troublesome foundation of my self view. When I understood this, when it was written in my mind and heart. Fehu flung open the gates and suddenly Uruz started to whisper to me. I still have my ear to the ground trying to make out his lessons and I have no doubts that he’s going to take a chisel to my soul and start hacking at the dark, calcified bits. Or more correctly, he will give me the chisel and demand I do it myself or leave my passion for the runes behind! In fact, our initial encounter was visceral, primal, feral. We have not actually graduated to words yet. More on my initial encounter with Uruz at a later date.

Hail Fehu, Persistent Lady at the Gate! Hail Uruz, Mighty Wild Aurochs, I pray you greet me well! To the journey!

A Stave of Ironwood

Finally…finally a staff has come to me, a stave of Ironwood wrestled from the etins of Fox Ridge. Unfortunately, I was not dressed for wrestling etins on the damp Saturday afternoon in late April when we went seeking (bad planning on my part, I know!) but Cindy was indeed clothed for the mighty work at hand. She fought as my champion and won this stave in my name.

A Winding Stave for the Winding Road

I will allow it to dry, probably until Yule, at which point in time I will strip the bark, rub the shorn staff with the appropriate protective oils to waterproof the wood (thanks for the woodworking tips, Cindy!). I hope to sain and consecrate the stave for journey-work and deity/spirit communication at the start of the 2011 Wild Hunt. I may even have a three or nine day blessing ceremony beginning in mid-December, just before or right on Mother Night and extending through the first few days of the Hunt. As part of the saining and consecration, I will add glass and gemstone beads (for my gods, the wights, and my ancestors), small bells (for warding and protection), and possibly some fur and/or bone from the animals that guide me on my path (Coyote and Crow, no Barn Owl inclusions due to legal restrictions). I also wish to carve or burn a few runes into the stave. Eihwaz is a common journey rune that I utilize often in my work. Elhaz is another, for protection and connection to deities and spirits. Ansuz for Old One-Eye, the original Wanderer (Gangleri and Vegtam are common epithets of Odin). Fehu or Kenaz for Freyja, the Spádis herself, Seidhkona of Seidhkonas. Berkana or Laguz (leaning toward Laguz) for Nerthus, Lady of Birch and Bog. And maybe, just maybe, a rune or three (Perthro, Nauthiz, and/or Hagalaz) for the Nornir, the executors of Wyrd. I will listen for each of their voices to see what they will.

Hail the Ironwood stave! May our journeys together be blessed!