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Northumbrian Runes – Rune Meanings

The Northumbrian runes are an extension of the Anglo-Saxon runes, which in turn are an extension of the Elder Futhark rune set. The Northumbrian runes add 4 more runes to the Anglo-Saxon set making the total of 33 runes. Again due to the set up of the Anglo-Saxon runes, you may see this set also being referred to as the Northumbrian Futhork.

Cweorth

Cweorth

Sound: “q”
Stands for: Flames of a fire
Casting meaning: This rune represents a process of transformation through fire. The spirit of a body from a person on a funeral pyre is liberated by fire. Cweorth refers to the sacredness of the hearth and ritual cleansing by fire.


Calc

Calc

Sound: “k”
Stands for: Offering Cup
Casting meaning: Calc denotes the death of the individual, however it is not seen as a death rune. Like Ear, Calc indicates the natural ending or conclusion of a process. Do not view this ending as a termination, but as the end of an old era resulting in a spiritual transformation.


Stan

Stan

Sound: “st”
Stands for: Stone
Casting meaning: Stan represents an obstruction in our path, like a boulder at the entrance to a cave. It also represents the stone playing pieces used in board games. Symbolically it represents a link between heavenly bodies and earthly beings. This rune can be used to obstruct and turn back any opposition in our lives.


Gar

Gar

Sound: “g” as in “gap”
Stands for: Spear (specifically Gungnir – Odin’s Spear)
Casting meaning: The Gar rune is a special one. Unlike the previous 32 runes in the Northumbrian set, Gar does not belong to an ætt. However, this rune is said to be the center point of all the other runes in this set. It is also said to contain all the other runes in itself, making it a powerful and useful rune.


 

Comments

This article has 3 responses.

Miguel Lahunken

Miguel Lahunken - Feb 15, 2011

Does the “calk” rune in a a circle, the “peace sign”, represent the “devil”, Ilk, the horned one, overthrown, indicated by being up side down, contained in a circle, the “devil” defeated and contained?

 
TheRuneSite.com

TheRuneSite.com - Feb 15, 2011

@Miguel – I think it’s really a question of how any symbol is being used. The calc rune itself may have in fact been ‘borrowed’ and not an original symbol. How people have used it and meant it to be viewed since then is just a matter of viewer/user interpretation.

‘Calc’ represents the death of an individual so many novices instantly (and wrongly) label it as a ‘death rune’. When you start to bring something as powerful as death into the picture people will start to use the ‘dark side’ of that meaning.

I believe that Anton LaVey used the peace symbol on his altar’s background – he was the founder of the Church of Satan so you can imagine how someone could associate the devil with that symbol.

However, it’s been said that the peace symbol was created using the semaphore signals for the letters ‘N’ and ‘D’ (for Nuclear Disarmament) back in 1958 by Gerald Holtom.

It’s the same symbol it’s just being used to represent two very different things. Symbols get borrowed all the time and their meanings are changed to fit the need of the individuals using them.

 
Ulfhednar Hanson

Ulfhednar Hanson - Apr 16, 2012

The ‘Peace sign’ is based off of Roman Imperator(Emperor for those who don’t speak Latin) Nero’s cross that he tortured and executed christians upon. It is all their symbols yet reversed to indicate opposition of their blinding ways.

 

 

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