12. Jera means "year" and is connected to Freyja ("spare", "free", "love"), also known as Frigg ("spare", "free", "love"). Inside the burial mound they met a spirit/goddess who freed them from death and gave birth to them again, as they stepped out from her womb (the burial mound). The rune is a picture of a man and a woman lying next to each other in the burial mound. It represents the fruitful year, spring and autumn, and marriage.
13. Íwaz means "yew", "archer" and "bow" and is connected to Skaði ("jump”, “climb”) and Höðr ("hood"). The rune is a picture of a waxing and waning Moon. It represents defence, yew, bows made from yew and the hunt for predators the nine first days of the year.
14. Perþi means "journey" and is connected to Váli ("chosen", "fallen") and Sleipnir ("glider", "flower"), known from the Greek mythology as the Trojan horse. This was the disguise of the combatant, when he annually participated in the Ragnarök battle in the forest. The rune is a picture of a horse in vertical flight. It represents a journey to the world of the spirits/gods, an expedition, an initiation, secrets and a journey to find answers to secrets.
15. Algiz means "elk" and is connected to Víðarr ("forest"). The battle of Ragnarök took place in the forest, and ended when the sorcerer/the god Víðarr symbolically killed the berserks, by tearing the furs from them and trampling on them. The rune is a picture of flames reaching for the sky from a burning tree trunk, or the head of an elk. It represents birth and life, health, physical health and strength.
16. Sowili means "shining" and is connected to Sol ("shining", "Sun"), alias Sunna ("brilliant", "bright", "Sun"). The Sun was saved in Ragnarök. The rune is a picture of the flames from a fire. It represents perfection, the Sun, the Sun rays and mysterious eloquence, creativity, eyes, stars and feminine charm.
3.4 Týr's Group of eight
17. Tíwaz means "beam" and is connected to Týr. To get the Sun's power and summer back they believed they had to first fight the winter spirits, and a week after Winter Solstice, on Ragnarök, they charged. They killed them or chased them back underground and enabled the Sun's power and summer to return. The rune is a picture of a (Yule) tree or a ray of light shaped like an arrow. It represents victory in battle, war and a spirit or god of war, a guiding planet or star and a strong beam that blesses man on Earth.
18. Berko means "birch", originally "shining white" or "bright white", and is connected to Jörð ("Earth"). When the men had hunted down the winter spirits Earth began to regain her strength. The rune is a picture of a woman's breasts. It represents growth, birch, rebirth, new life and fertility.
19. Ewaz means "horse" and is connected to Máni ("measure", "Moon"). Hel sent a message to the living, in form of a horse telling them that Baldr and his wife would be allowed to return. The rune is a picture of a horse riding across the sky. It represents movement, pace, horses, progress, loyalty and the heavenly bodies' journey across the firmament.
20. Mannz means "man", originally "thinking", and is connected to Bórr ("equip", "initiate"). Men started a new life after winter, and picked up where they had left the previous year. The rune is a picture of a man and a woman kissing each other, sharing spirit (breath). It represents humanity, its spirit and ability to think and remember, human nature and knowledge about man.
21. Laguz means "water" and "running water" and is connected to Njörðr ("favourable", "positive force from below"). The sea was no longer covered with ice, or too dangerous to travel, and it could provide man with wealth again. The rune is a picture of a waterfall. It represents streams, lakes, oceans, lakes and rivers, and their fertility.
22. Inguz means "meadow-friend", "field-friend" or "love" and is connected to Freyr ("spare", "free", "love"). The ground was no longer covered with ice, and it was green and provided man with wealth again. The rune is a picture of the spouses (of the Jera rune) united in the act of making love in the meadow. It represents perfection, destiny, love, desire, willingness, creative energy and fertility.
23. Dagaz means "day", originally its meaning is "heavenly light", and is connected to Baldr ("shining white body", “ball”), alias Bragi ("glory", "first") and Nanna ("eager", "resourceful", "industrious"), alias Íðunn ("eager", "sustainable", "who likes to work", "diligent", "effective", or "recurring work"). The Sun's power and summer returned, and all the fruits of nature returned. The rune is a picture of an hourglass. It represents days, divine light, prosperity, fertility, life, cycles, periods, deadline, breakthrough and hope.
24. Oþala means "noble", original its meaning is "state of mind", and is connected to Ásgarðr ("the spirit garden"). The sorcerer's kingdom was back, reconstructed from the image he had of the previous kingdom. The rune is a picture of the ancestral seat, the throne, symbolizing the rights of the nobleman (the sorcerer). It represents inheritance, the ancient property law (No. Odelsrett), property, homeland, noble, nobility, inherited goods, fatherland/motherland, reputable family, family and nation.
4.0 Völuspá
4.1 The Prophecy of the Sorceress
The songs/poems learnt by the sorcerers in the grave must have been hard to understand for the uninitiated. Or perhaps the songs were common knowledge, but only the sorcerers knew what they were really all about. Today Völuspá ("the prophecy of the [female] chosen/fallen [i. e. sorceress]") is understood as some sort of Scandinavian myth of creation, and a prophecy dealing with the end of the world. As I will show you in this chapter this common interpretation is not correct.
To understand what the songs are really all about you first of all need to know that they need to be interpreted in a specific sequence. We learn from Hávamál that the sorcerers' songs and spells were closely associated with the runes. So to understand the songs we need to read each verse with the sequence of the runes in mind, and to link the verses to the right runes.
I may add that I spend no time trying to make the English translation of theses verses poetic, although they really are, in the original (Norse) language, but instead I try to translate them as literally as I can, to ensure that the meaning is not lost.
4.2 Freyr's first Group of eight
1
I ask for silence from all
sacred families,
large or small
sons of the world tree;
you will, that I, father of the chosen,
tell well
the old stories
to those who are first amongst men.
This verse is connected to Fehu and the cow Auðhumbla ("silence"). The winners of the bride's races, “the first amongst men”, sacrificed a cow on the burial mound, after hanging their clothes in the world tree, to learn the sacred verses in the realm of the dead. The chosen/first amongst men had to be silent, to imitate the dead, but also because they had to listen to the spirit/goddess of the dead (in the burial mound) to learn the old stories (sacred songs).
2
I remember hunger,
from the previous year,
that in the past
had given me food;
nine worlds I remember,
nine boughs
famous tree
underground.
This verse is connected to Uruz and Þursaz, Ymir (the sound of the lures) and Bölþorn. The sorcerers/gods dressing up like gods, had fasted in the days before the New Year's Eve, in the previous year (according to the ancient calendar) and was now ready to enter the burial mound. They needed nine sacred boughs (including the mistletoe; Bölþorn), to open up the nine different levels of Hel. For each bough presented to the queen of the grave, they learnt a new song. Thus Óðinn could sing that he learnt nine songs from Bölþorn; the sacred boughs.