Dagaz - Part 1 and 2
I pulled this rune before Berkano on the last two runes to be worked on in this cycle of the Blog. I'm in NH at the moment and I can hear drumming. Don't know if that's the start of the masked ball next door or just my imagination. I would have loved to have gone but I am exhausted after peopl-ing all day. Yeah, it's drums.
Dagaz was one of the first runes I sold in glass today. One of my first sales for the day in the first hour. Witches don't believe in coincidences.
I've been hit with some inspiration that I am going to try very hard to live up to. The next cycle of runes will be with Freya Aswynn's work on runes and Northern traditions. I want to go over each rune and interpret them exclusively from a woman's perspective. I will look at the esoteric meaning of the rune to see how it connects to women's daily lives and a woman's lived experience. Instead of looking at the runes as having a neutral meaning, or focusing on warriors and chieftains, I will look at them from a domestic, home life point of view. Connecting it to children, daily practices of the home, women's historic labor, and the unique perspectives women have on the world.
It has come up in groups and in articles I have been reading over the past few years that women's influence in the world is needed more than every. Men and masculinity have been running the show pretty much on their own for a long time and this imbalance has made quite a mess of things. It's time to find that masc/femme balance the world is missing. We need compassion, consensus, and nurturing to re-enter the global and political realm. Too much competition and domination has ruined the fellowships that we could have built and ended the one's that we had built.
I feel like things are speeding up. Something is coming and I can feel the pressure of its approach. I don't know what it is. I really hope it's not war. I don't want to try to keep my child alive with a war going on. Women and children never fair well in war zones. But women and children are marching in the streets in this country and that is a sign of rapid change to come. Like before the French Revolution when women led the attack on Versailles and took the King and his family into custody. The power and rage of women so scared the men of the Revolution that they stripped women of all access to public voice. Women of the Republic had fewer rights than women in the monarchy.
Something is coming and the gods and goddesses are collecting people to help with their work. Priests, counselors, warriors, healers, scholars, etc. are being called with an intensity that is new for this time period. I don't think we have seen the volume of these voices as high since maybe 1000 years ago. I hope I'm paranoid, but I don't think I am.
If there is anything that is burning in your heart or your brain to accomplish, any ambition or loud voice calling you to contribute no matter how small the drop of gifting is, now is the time to throw all in and just do it. Every drop into the bucket counts.
"Every potato counts" -Lawrence O'Donnell about the PA special election
***********************************************************
Translation:
Germanic: Dagaz
Old Eng: Doeg
Mod Eng: Day
Phonetic: D (Handbook, 63)
Physical: (3:7)
(Futhark, 12-13)
Divination:
+ Awakening, awareness, hope/happiness, the ideal
- Blindness, hopelessness (Handbook, 64)
Magickal Uses:
attain mystic revelation
spiritual inspiration
(Futhark, 67)
Mythological Connections:
Dagaz basically means daybreak or dawn. The name of this rune perfectly parallels its spiritual meaning. It figuratively means day for the mind and the soul. This rune points to a symthesis of opposites. Day and night are opposite but when they meet in the morning and in the evening they create a third reality. Day plus night creates dawn and dusk. These are two phases of the day that exist when two opposites are held in balance and synthesis. And so this rune represents a moment when "two extremes become one through a mystical alchemy that is Dagaz".
Dagaz also represents the ritual fire of the hearth which seems to connect it to Kenaz at least superficially. Thorsson doesn't elaborate on why Dagaz is connected to this. It could be that the hearth fire is stoked in the morning and at dusk for different reasons. It could be that the ritual fire is the force that brings gods in communion with humans.
(Futhark, 67)
Thorsson further develops the idea that this rune is the birth of consciousness and attributes it to Odin, who gave the two strips of wood on the beach a mind to develop and learn with. It makes possible revelations and inspirations with the development of thought processes.
There is also a model of a vortex, similar to a symmetrical tornado, showing the flow of energy between polar opposites and into a shared column of energy. This flow is found in nature in whirl pools, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other funnel shaped natural wonders when two extremely different low and high pressures systems slam together.
(Runelore, 133)
The Elements:
There are two elements that seem to fit this rune. One is Air as it is a matrix for consciousness. If we interpret this rune to be the awakening of the mind, the birth of individual consciousness, then air suits it well.
Fire is connected to the name of the rune, day. It is the moment the sun appears in the sky warming the land. This is an element that is vibration and expansion. Much like how the mind reacts when ideas and revelations are introduced into our thoughts. We become heated with energy, our minds begin racing, and we become manic and excited with new ideas and plans.
(Runelore, 150)
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)
Final Thoughts:
Within Gebo is Kenaz. This is the fire or friction that comes from the flow of resources that is giving. The community benefits as much as the individual from this balanced exchange. In Dagaz we see the developing of understanding, the moment of consciousness, that can come from this heat.
In community we exchange ideas as well as resources. This flow of ideas can lead to revelations and new awareness of ourselves and the world we live in.
3 Paths Through Midgard:
In this stanza the narrator is in his death throes. He describes light and dark as being one or fused. Things are both changing and changeless. All opposites are united in the end. "Mind everywhere was I, then gone"
The last stanza is Othala and describes the burial howe and ancestral property.
The Rune Poem:
In this poem there seems to be a more Christian understanding of this rune. The author of the book references how this rune looks like Mannaz but elevated off the ground to indicate life is a gift. The author also points to the presence of Gebo, but Gebo is ounbound at the ends and this seems to indicate creation as a boundless gift or giving. Dagaz is a reference to god's creation of light, and it is a limited gift ending at dusk each day.
Dagaz was one of the first runes I sold in glass today. One of my first sales for the day in the first hour. Witches don't believe in coincidences.
I've been hit with some inspiration that I am going to try very hard to live up to. The next cycle of runes will be with Freya Aswynn's work on runes and Northern traditions. I want to go over each rune and interpret them exclusively from a woman's perspective. I will look at the esoteric meaning of the rune to see how it connects to women's daily lives and a woman's lived experience. Instead of looking at the runes as having a neutral meaning, or focusing on warriors and chieftains, I will look at them from a domestic, home life point of view. Connecting it to children, daily practices of the home, women's historic labor, and the unique perspectives women have on the world.
It has come up in groups and in articles I have been reading over the past few years that women's influence in the world is needed more than every. Men and masculinity have been running the show pretty much on their own for a long time and this imbalance has made quite a mess of things. It's time to find that masc/femme balance the world is missing. We need compassion, consensus, and nurturing to re-enter the global and political realm. Too much competition and domination has ruined the fellowships that we could have built and ended the one's that we had built.
I feel like things are speeding up. Something is coming and I can feel the pressure of its approach. I don't know what it is. I really hope it's not war. I don't want to try to keep my child alive with a war going on. Women and children never fair well in war zones. But women and children are marching in the streets in this country and that is a sign of rapid change to come. Like before the French Revolution when women led the attack on Versailles and took the King and his family into custody. The power and rage of women so scared the men of the Revolution that they stripped women of all access to public voice. Women of the Republic had fewer rights than women in the monarchy.
Something is coming and the gods and goddesses are collecting people to help with their work. Priests, counselors, warriors, healers, scholars, etc. are being called with an intensity that is new for this time period. I don't think we have seen the volume of these voices as high since maybe 1000 years ago. I hope I'm paranoid, but I don't think I am.
If there is anything that is burning in your heart or your brain to accomplish, any ambition or loud voice calling you to contribute no matter how small the drop of gifting is, now is the time to throw all in and just do it. Every drop into the bucket counts.
"Every potato counts" -Lawrence O'Donnell about the PA special election
***********************************************************
Translation:
Germanic: Dagaz
Old Eng: Doeg
Mod Eng: Day
Phonetic: D (Handbook, 63)
Physical: (3:7)
(Futhark, 12-13)
Divination:
+ Awakening, awareness, hope/happiness, the ideal
- Blindness, hopelessness (Handbook, 64)
Magickal Uses:
attain mystic revelation
spiritual inspiration
(Futhark, 67)
Mythological Connections:
Dagaz basically means daybreak or dawn. The name of this rune perfectly parallels its spiritual meaning. It figuratively means day for the mind and the soul. This rune points to a symthesis of opposites. Day and night are opposite but when they meet in the morning and in the evening they create a third reality. Day plus night creates dawn and dusk. These are two phases of the day that exist when two opposites are held in balance and synthesis. And so this rune represents a moment when "two extremes become one through a mystical alchemy that is Dagaz".
Dagaz also represents the ritual fire of the hearth which seems to connect it to Kenaz at least superficially. Thorsson doesn't elaborate on why Dagaz is connected to this. It could be that the hearth fire is stoked in the morning and at dusk for different reasons. It could be that the ritual fire is the force that brings gods in communion with humans.
(Futhark, 67)
Thorsson further develops the idea that this rune is the birth of consciousness and attributes it to Odin, who gave the two strips of wood on the beach a mind to develop and learn with. It makes possible revelations and inspirations with the development of thought processes.
There is also a model of a vortex, similar to a symmetrical tornado, showing the flow of energy between polar opposites and into a shared column of energy. This flow is found in nature in whirl pools, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other funnel shaped natural wonders when two extremely different low and high pressures systems slam together.
(Runelore, 133)
The Elements:
There are two elements that seem to fit this rune. One is Air as it is a matrix for consciousness. If we interpret this rune to be the awakening of the mind, the birth of individual consciousness, then air suits it well.
Fire is connected to the name of the rune, day. It is the moment the sun appears in the sky warming the land. This is an element that is vibration and expansion. Much like how the mind reacts when ideas and revelations are introduced into our thoughts. We become heated with energy, our minds begin racing, and we become manic and excited with new ideas and plans.
(Runelore, 150)
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)
Depending on where Dagaz is in your Futhark order it will alter the satellite runes and their connections to Dagaz.
In the Fehu-Othala order shown above Gebo is in the row of the students tools. This is the rune of equal exchange and can be seen in the center of Dagaz. "I give so you can give" is the mystery of hospitality and this flow of energy exists between person to person, person to the land, and person to gods. This is the lesson the student must learn and implement to gain a relationship with ancestors, wights, community, and deities.
In the row of pathways is Elhaz. This is the symbol of the sword, protecting the student. This is the branches of the tree and a reference to the Rainbow bridge that the student must learn to travel the worlds in their spiritual evolution. Learning Gebo helps with this process both in earning protection from spirits and ancestors, and in learning the geography of the worlds.
In the row of the environment is Dagaz. This seems to indicate that Dagaz is a between-place. A place where many opposing forces are at work and the student must learn to balance and harmonize them. Developed relationships and learning protection and sacred geography will help ground and armor the student in this process. It is dangerous to work with violent forces but the rewards for transformation could be worth it.
***********************************************************
An Alternate
If Dagaz is the last rune in the Futhark instead of Othala then the row of tools is Wunjo, which is tribe, shared goals, and joy in being amongst fellows. This camaraderie and connection is a source of strength and happiness.
Sowelo is in the pathway row. This is victory or success when one properly applies their will to the task. Also, through the use of cyclical and honorable methods. In this order it could point to fellowship being part of that method toward willed success.
Dagaz is still on the third row, that of the environment. In this context it could point to a group awakening. By engaging in a shared goal or activity, community is developed. This community has a group mind and a group will. This will if correctly applied can elevate all members to greater moral and spiritual awakening. This would be the best possible outcome of a Kindred or other religiously motivated group of people.
Final Thoughts:
Within Gebo is Kenaz. This is the fire or friction that comes from the flow of resources that is giving. The community benefits as much as the individual from this balanced exchange. In Dagaz we see the developing of understanding, the moment of consciousness, that can come from this heat.
In community we exchange ideas as well as resources. This flow of ideas can lead to revelations and new awareness of ourselves and the world we live in.
3 Paths Through Midgard:
In this stanza the narrator is in his death throes. He describes light and dark as being one or fused. Things are both changing and changeless. All opposites are united in the end. "Mind everywhere was I, then gone"
The last stanza is Othala and describes the burial howe and ancestral property.
The Rune Poem:
In this poem there seems to be a more Christian understanding of this rune. The author of the book references how this rune looks like Mannaz but elevated off the ground to indicate life is a gift. The author also points to the presence of Gebo, but Gebo is ounbound at the ends and this seems to indicate creation as a boundless gift or giving. Dagaz is a reference to god's creation of light, and it is a limited gift ending at dusk each day.
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