Lesson 1 - Introduction and Freyja's Ætt

[Greyson "Grey" Sebastien]

Grey waited for his class to settle before beginning. There had been an almost unanimous vote for lectures, and so he had prepared the first. When he had the attention of all his students, he flicked his wand, sending his name scrawling across the blackboard.

Professor Sebastien.

"Let us begin with an introduction," he said at last. "There is quite a bit of material to cover before you can hope to begin to master Ancient Runes, though many of you may be surprised at how easy it can be to use that material."

"Runes are an ancient alphabet used for writing, divination, and magic. They were used throughout northern Europe, Scandinavia, the British Isles, and Iceland from about 100 B.C.E. to 1600 C.E. Runic inscriptions of great age have even been found in North America, supporting stories that the Vikings arrived in the Americas long before Columbus.

"A rune is not only a letter in an old Germanic alphabet, but the word rune is defined as secret or mystery. There were many different runic alphabets in use throughout Northern Europe over the centuries. The most common is the Germanic or Elder Futhark. This system may have begun as early as 200 B.C.E.

"The Elder Futhark contains 24 letters divided into three groups of eight, called Ætt (aettir, plural). The first group of eight is called Freyja's Ætt, the second Heimdall's Ætt and the third Tyr's Ætt.

"We will begin by learning a bit about Freyja's Ætt, including pronunciation and attributes. You should each have a copy of Ancient Runes, by Antiqua Runsfeld. Please turn to page 5.

"Keep in mind that there are as many different pronunciations of the Elder Futhark rune sounds as there are runic authors. Since the names are modern recreations of what is referred to as proto-Indo-European, which no longer exists, or perhaps never existed, your guess is as good as the next person's.

"As you read, also recall that there are both positive, bright-stave, and negative, merk-stave, aspects to each rune. We will learn more about how to read runes at a later date."

Freyja's Ætt

• Fehu "fay-who" (F: Domestic cattle, wealth.) Possessions won or earned, earned income, luck. Abundance, financial strength in the present or near future. Sign of hope and plenty, success and happiness. Social success. Energy, foresight, fertility, creation/destruction (becoming).
  Fehu Reversed or Merkstave: Loss of personal property, esteem, or something that you put in effort to keep. It indicates some sort of failure. Greed, burnout, atrophy, discord. Cowardice, stupidity, dullness, poverty, slavery, bondage.
  
• Uruz "ooo-rooze": (U: Auroch, a wild ox.) Physical strength and speed, untamed potential. A time of great energy and health. Freedom, energy, action, courage, strength, tenacity, understanding, wisdom. Sudden or unexpected changes (usually for the better). Sexual desire, masculine potency. The shaping of power and pattern, formulation of the self.
  Uruz Reversed or Merkstave: Weakness, obsession, misdirected force, domination by others. Sickness, inconsistency, ignorance. Lust, brutality, rashness, callousness, violence.
  
• Thurisaz"thoor-ee-saws": (TH: Thorn or a Giant.) Reactive force, directed force of destruction and defense, conflict. Instinctual will, vital eroticism, regenerative catalyst. A tendency toward change. Catharsis, purging, cleansing fire. Male sexuality, fertilization. (Thorr, the Thunder god, was of Giant stock.)
  Thurisaz Reversed or Merkstave: Danger, defenselessness, compulsion, betrayal, dullness. Evil, malice, hatred, torment, spite, lies. A bad man or woman. Rape?
  
• Ansuz"awn-sooze": (A: The As, ancestral god, i.e. Odin.) A revealing message or insight, communication. Signals, inspiration, enthusiasm, speech, true vision, power of words and naming. Blessings, the taking of advice. Good health, harmony, truth, wisdom.
  Ansuz Reversed or Merkstave: Misunderstanding, delusion, manipulation by others, boredom. Vanity and grandiloquence. (Odin is a mighty, but duplicitous god. He always has his own agenda.)
  
• Raidho"rye-though": (R: Wagon or chariot.) Travel, both in physical terms and those of lifestyle direction. A journey, vacation, relocation, evolution, change of place or setting. Seeing a larger perspective. Seeing the right move for you to make and deciding upon it. Personal rhythm, world rhythm, dance of life.
  Raidho Reversed or Merkstave: Crisis, rigidity, stasis, injustice, irrationality. Disruption, dislocation, demotion, delusion, possibly a death.
  
• Kenaz"kane-awze": (K: Beacon or torch.) Vision, revelation, knowledge, creativity, inspiration, technical ability. Vital fire of life, harnessed power, fire of transformation and regeneration. Power to create your own reality, the power of light. Open to new strength, energy, and power now. Passion, sexual love.
  Kenaz Reversed or Merkstave: Disease, breakup, instability, lack of creativity. Nakedness, exposure, loss of illusion and false hope.
  
• Gebo"gay-boe" or "yee-boe": (G: Gift.) Gifts, both in the sense of sacrifice and of generosity, indicating balance. All matters in relation to exchanges, including contracts, personal relationships and partnerships.
  Gebo Merkstave (Gebo cannot be reversed, but may lie in opposition): Greed, loneliness, dependence, over-sacrifice. Obligation, toll, privation, bribery.
  
• Wunjo"woon-yo": (W or V: Joy.) Joy, comfort, pleasure. Fellowship, harmony, prosperity. Ecstasy, glory, spiritual reward, but also the possibility of going "over the top". If restrained, the meaning is general success and recognition of worth.
  Wunjo Reversed or Merkstave: Stultification, sorrow, strife, alienation. Delirium, intoxication, possession by higher forces, impractical enthusiasm. Raging frenzy, berzerker.

Homework:
Make a combination of at least 2 runes we discussed today which could help affect a problem you are currently experiencing. Explain.
Extra credit:
View runes and pronunciation at www.sunnyway.com/runes/pronunciation.html
This extra credit can only be completed once.

For this assignment, please post your homework below. If you complete the extra credit, send notification by PM.

[Madison Foster]

Madison came into her Runes class and listened to a lecture that unfortunately she didn't find entirely fascinating. However that wasn't abnormal, and the borders of her parchment were lined with scribbles, drawings, and lyrics. She decided to choose Ansuz & Raidho. They symbolized her listening to her parents guidance that she needed to see the world, and the move she had just made to get here. She wrote up the problem she'd been having, the difficulty adjusting to the move and to the idea of leaving home, but how listening and taking the journey had helped her in deciding that she would jump into this new school wholeheartedly.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise didn't listen to any part of the lecture, but spent most of it drawing along the edges of his notepaper. He already knew the basics and had for years. He wanted an easy O, and he wanted an excuse to drag out his rune set. When the professor finally assigned homework, he came out of it.

Fehu and Uruz, he wrote. I had problems with my shop last year. Fehu is earned income and luck and Uruz is untamed potential. Maybe I could sell something this time. It wasn't much, but he knew the point of it all, and even scrawled down the symbols.

Ϝ, Ú

Markise's eyes widened at seeing it like that and erased the symbols before turning his work in.

[Jory Addison]

Jory was extremely interested in everything the professor said, and he paid close attention to what each name meant. He had always enjoyed learning what things meant, which was one of the reasons he was in this class along with Divination and Arithmancy. He lived to find out the meaning of things like that. It only took him one readthrough of the runes before he chose the two to turn in, even if he didn't tell the true meaning of why he chose them.


Ansuz and Kenaz. Ansuz was for travel and change, and he wrote that he had just moved from another school. He didn't mention that it was just as much for his would-be relationship with Lyric as it was for the move itself. He chose Kenaz for its mention of reality and the vital fire of life. He was trying to learn more about himself and everything else around him, he hoped that would be a good enough answer as he stood and handed in his work.

[nd12]

Nastasia listened quietly to the lecture with her hands free and her book open to page 5, on her desk her quill moved steadly aganist her parchment recording all necessary information. This class could be a class she could really get interested in, not nearly as interesting as potions but a close second maybe.
Nastasia's first choice was Kenaz, she wrote that it applied to her situation of needing to be open to new strength and new power. Other people didn't think her capable, but had always been that way and she would suprise them again as she surpassed her current strengths and powers. The next she wrote about her coming of age and the obligations that were expected of her by her father for which she choose Gebo

Kenaz= <
Gebo= X

Satisfied with her work she turned in her work.

[Dare Blackwood-Hardt]

Runes were among Dare's strengths, but he listened to the lecture all the same. He hadn't actually taken Ancient Runes since fifth year, so he figured it was worth getting a refresher. And he might as well entertain himself for a few minutes with the homework. After a brief scan of the list, Dare chose Kenaz and Wunjo, scrawling their symbols at the top of his paper. Then he went into an explanation of his plans for graduation, drawing on Wunjo's prosperity and spiritual reward. The ecstasy and glory weren't bad either, but he didn't write that. Kenaz represented creativity, inspiration, and so many other things he'd need if he wanted to have any success as an artist. And so, his chosen runes were a hope for graduation and landing the job of his dreams.

[Albert Glasgow]

Albert looked over to see what Nastasia had come up with, she was spot on he thought. He thought over carefully about his own answers. He wrote that he knew Nastasia only thought of him as a friend and nothing more that was one problem so Wunjo was one of his choices, to prosper in his attempts and actions to show Nastasia his affections and for conituning fellowship between them no matter the situation. He chose Uruz for courage, courage was something he didn't have.

[Adara Snow]

Adara gave her response a moment's thought before drawing up her quill and beginning to write. She hadn't any problems at the moment per se, but surely any potential issue would suffice, if it were well thought-out. And so Adara wrote of her betrothal to Emilian, and her hopes that things would continue to go smoothly. Lest that be too little, she included her thoughts about travelling to and from Germany with him. She chose Raidho, which stood for travel, a journey that reminded her of that in her story and echoed into real life, and Wunjo, which stood for harmony, prosperity, and recognition of worth. She was sure to complete the extra credit.

[Silver Blackwood]

Silver knew the professor well enough that a direct statement of his problem was unnecessary. He hinted at it instead, then delved into the homework, sifting through the list of runes to narrow them down. He liked the instinctual will of Thurisaz and the knowledge in Kenaz, but settled instead on Uruz and Ansuz. Uruz represented a time of great energy and health, freedom, and sudden changes. Ansuz represented inspiration, true vision, and the power of words. He thought that the combination explained much of his situation, but balanced it into something more cohesive. The extra credit was even easier, so he did that as well.

((I owled you the rest.))

[Trent Frey]

Jory was in this class. Lyric couldn't help noticing, and it distracted him a little, so that he had to think for a few minutes before he could figure out what it was that they were supposed to be doing. Then he got out parchment and a quill and stared at both until he could decide what to write. He ended up writing a blurb about moving and meeting someone he wasn't sure how to talk to. Then he chose Ansuz for communication and signals, and Raidho for the travel that had gotten him here.

[Jasmine Brooks]

Almost as soon as he assigned the work, Jasmine had already thought of her answers. Writing down Raidho and Gebo she explained how the letters meaning vacations and personal relationships could help her problem of not knowing what to do and feeling like she needs a break. She set her pen down and looked at her writing, well it made sense in her head not so much written. Frowning at her work she erased some of it before rewriting the same thing. She didn't know how else to word what she was trying to say.