Fehu -Part 2

Translation:
          Germanic:    Fehu
          Mod. Eng:    Fee
          Old Eng.:      Feoh
          Phonetic:      F                                                                      (Handbook, 19)

Physical:     (1: 1)

                                                                                                       (Futhark, 12-13)
Divination:

          + Social success, wealth, energy, foresight, new beginning

          - Greed, burnout, atrophy, poverty, discord                               
                                                                                                      (Handbook, 20)

Magickal Uses:

Strengthen psychic power
Sending power
Drawing Down the sun/ moon/ stars
Personal evolution
Increase in Money
                                                                                                      (Futhark, 220
Elements:
          The primary element of this rune seems to be fire due to its connection to expansion. Since Fehu is mobile wealth, wealth that is spread and shared.
          Fire is heat and vibration.  The circulation of power or wealth through the community can create friction and heat, which is increased vibration of molecules.
                                                                                                       (Futhark, 75)

Myths:
          Fehu has a circular connection to Othala.  Othala ends what Fehu begins. Fehu is mobile and expansive while Othala is fixed in place and connected to the ancestors. Both deal with power and wealth.  One is expansive in the here and now while the other is expansive between generations.

          This rune is also connected to the Hamingja, the spirit guardian or personal luck.  This is the power of projection of the soul or the magickal force.  This power is necessary for the transfer of power between generations as well as seen in Othala.
                                                                                                      (Futhark, 21)
Spiritual/Cosmic:

          This rune is sometimes associated with Surt, with the forces of creation and destruction such as the fire from Muspelheim that helped create existence and the fire that will destroy it at Ragnarok.  There is a constant cycle of arising-being/becoming-passing away/new arising.

          Agriculturally this is similar to slash-and-burn or methods of clearing the land using fire. The ashes fertilize the soil to help feed the next crop that is planted in the land.
                                                                                                   (Runelore, 21)

The Eights:

        Row 1: Mysteries/Tools to learn
        Row 2:  Trials and Tribulations / Conflicts and paths to success
        Row 3: The realm where the student works                           (Runelore, 140)

Fehu has no rune before it in it's row.  It is instead preceded by Othala if we think of the runes as a cycle or circle instead of a linear and finite list of symbols. I've already mentioned the connection between Othala and Fehu. One is the here and now of power that is transferable or the power itself to share that power.   The other is fixed in place like ancestral burial mounds but can connect through the generations.

After Fehu comes Uruz.  Sharing wealth and an uninhibited flow of energy between people and community leads to strength and health of that community.  It can also be said the same uninhibited flow between generations leads to a strength of orlog and a strength of hamingja.

Below Fehu in the row for trials and conflicts is Hagalaz. Hagalaz is the scouring cleanse, the hail that both tenderizes the soil and feeds the soil to make it fertile. This rune is the combination of fire and ice as in the creation of the world, as in the germinating force of the seed.

In the bottom row of the student's environment is Tiwaz. This rune is the force that holds all the worlds in their place or in their orbit.  It is a rune for the god Tyr, for law and justice, as well as war and the world-column. Combining justice and war harkens to a belief in judgement by arms.



                                                                                             
Final Thoughts:

Keep wealth mobile in order to feed the strenght and health of the community.  By doing so one can lay the foundation for a community's orlog so that any conflict or competition may result in that community's triumph.

The rune Laguz can be seen in the rune Fehu.  This rune is not just water, the ocean, and the fear of drowning.  It is also a rune of ice when frozen in Niflheim then activated by the fires of Muspelheim at the beginning of creation.  Ice to water to ice to water is a constant cycle reminiscent of creation and destruction.
"The L-rune describes the layers of the laws of life, the layers with which orlog works to form the wyrd of the cosmos."  (Runelore, 131)
The concept of orlog was also referenced in the eights discussion above.  Within the mobility and sharing of power within the community is the force that layers individual acts into a pattern of orlog of the individual and of the community, like layers of snow or ice.  This connects to the orlog discussed in Fehu.

The Rune Poem:
          This stanza points to the need to share and reminds the reader of the importance of the flow of wealth in order to keep the community strong and cohesive.  Selfishness and greed not only lead to suffering, but jealousy and anger.


3 Paths Through Midgard:
          This stanza uses the language of fire, glowing, and shining. It is as if the narrator has awoken with a new vision of the world and can see an energy they could not see before and that those around them still can't see. It seems to be a stanza of revelation.  There is a reference to "the grey shapes moved silent in the woods" which may be the runes themselves or spirits or deities.