Fehu -Part 1
It's been a long November.
Fehu is one of those runes that comes to mind often and I know I have written of it multiple times elsewhere. It often comes up in discussions when someone attacks charity work or takes a stance that is fiscally selfish and short sighted.
The elders, millennia ago, believed in sharing resources. In some tribes there was even a tradition of gift giving to guests, not just guests bringing gifts for their hosts. We still do that in the middle class today, we bring gifts or a dish to share when we visit family for the holidays. Even if it's just a store bought bottle of wine.
This is sharing resources and supporting each other. Taking care of each other means I care about your life and your happiness. Here is my contribution to your sustenance. We may still have that on a small scale with family and close friends, but we've lost that on the national and international scale.
Fehu has been determined to be a force that people hoard and then share in small amounts with only select people. And the richest of us all tend to hoard and never share. There are very few billionaire philanthropists like the Gates family.
But if we hoard our wealth, we contribute to things like jealousy. Even the Christians and Hebrews understood this social evil. "Coveting" made it into the ten commandments twice it is such a powerful force for social dissolution. It leads to theft and violence. Society can't last long with such things running rampant.
So I often invoke Fehu and Gebo together when confronted by heathens in particular who think this way. I think on these forces when organizing a charity drive or putting donation boxes together from our household.
And in a literal sense, cattle is never still anyway. It wanders and grazes. There is a cycle of death and rebirth within the herd itself. Individuals constantly are born and then make way and die when they age or the when herder needs the meat. There is a constant movement of energy that makes the herd strong and healthy.
And that's what I take from this rune. The flow of energy between individuals and areas of society is a healthy thing. Stagnation causes death and decay. We see it with money as well. Economists even say a healthy economy is one with a lot of diversity of wealth, and a strong flow of money between different hands. A healthy middle class with few at the top and few at the bottom is what the optimum society looks like. This requires giving and taking, movement.
This is the first rune in the futhark. The last is Othala which is the opposite, but non-mobile wealth, or land/inheritance. You do need both to raise a healthy herd and sustain a family.
Fehu is one of those runes that comes to mind often and I know I have written of it multiple times elsewhere. It often comes up in discussions when someone attacks charity work or takes a stance that is fiscally selfish and short sighted.
The elders, millennia ago, believed in sharing resources. In some tribes there was even a tradition of gift giving to guests, not just guests bringing gifts for their hosts. We still do that in the middle class today, we bring gifts or a dish to share when we visit family for the holidays. Even if it's just a store bought bottle of wine.
This is sharing resources and supporting each other. Taking care of each other means I care about your life and your happiness. Here is my contribution to your sustenance. We may still have that on a small scale with family and close friends, but we've lost that on the national and international scale.
Fehu has been determined to be a force that people hoard and then share in small amounts with only select people. And the richest of us all tend to hoard and never share. There are very few billionaire philanthropists like the Gates family.
But if we hoard our wealth, we contribute to things like jealousy. Even the Christians and Hebrews understood this social evil. "Coveting" made it into the ten commandments twice it is such a powerful force for social dissolution. It leads to theft and violence. Society can't last long with such things running rampant.
So I often invoke Fehu and Gebo together when confronted by heathens in particular who think this way. I think on these forces when organizing a charity drive or putting donation boxes together from our household.
And in a literal sense, cattle is never still anyway. It wanders and grazes. There is a cycle of death and rebirth within the herd itself. Individuals constantly are born and then make way and die when they age or the when herder needs the meat. There is a constant movement of energy that makes the herd strong and healthy.
And that's what I take from this rune. The flow of energy between individuals and areas of society is a healthy thing. Stagnation causes death and decay. We see it with money as well. Economists even say a healthy economy is one with a lot of diversity of wealth, and a strong flow of money between different hands. A healthy middle class with few at the top and few at the bottom is what the optimum society looks like. This requires giving and taking, movement.
This is the first rune in the futhark. The last is Othala which is the opposite, but non-mobile wealth, or land/inheritance. You do need both to raise a healthy herd and sustain a family.
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