Further Reading

Friday, 27 July 2018

The Rune Tiwaz

The Rune Tiwaz (Or Tiw, Tyr) literally means 'The God Tyr' and relates to justice and sacrifice. In castings, it is often to seen to indicate that a 'higher force of justice' is in sitting with regard to the querent's problem. The rune acknowledges the sacrifices made to reach the point the querent is at, and indicates that the querent should rightfully be vindicated. But the higher justice will assess the situation by way of the bigger picture before the outcome is revealed.

"It is the rune of the balance and justice ruled from a higher rationality. The rune of sacrifice of the individual (self) for well-being of the whole (society)."

Tiwaz is a warrior rune named after the god Tyr who is the Northern god of law and justice. Tyr is related to the north star in the Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem, around which the fixed stars in the night sky appear to rotate. Ancient seamen used Polaris as their main navigational aid in their long journeys, and the symbol as an arrow pointing upward is perhaps made in reference to this. This symbolizes the positive ordering of the cosmos and humankind through law and justice and our moral compass. Chaos comes to order through the attributes of awakened consciousness and the guiding principles concerned with carrying out such an awakening.

Tyr is a one-handed god with a long history, and his hand was sacrificed to trick the wolf, Fenris, into being chained. Tiwaz is just victory according to the law of accumulated right past action. To rule justly, one is asked to make many self-sacrifices, and Tiwaz can develop the power of positive self-sacrifice and temper over-sacrifice. The belief that courage and a right cause carries the day is governed by Tiwaz. It is the common justice of the people rather than the use of law by tyrants (a word that uses Tyr as a root)  (Rune Secrets)