Oo -- I was a little off. He sticks Othila last, too, but says his teachers (who he sort of idolizes) put Dagaz last.
The pertinent excerpt from his thang:
Other than the twenty-third and twenty-fourth runes, the order of the Futhark is fixed. In ONE inscription, Eihwaz and Perthro switch places, but this does not effect modern runework. In yet another inscription, Fehu has eroded away and from this unfortunate natural accident arose the runic “sect” of Utharkers, which are, alas, numerous in Sweden. Their viewpoints have no historical basis.
Here are the comments of my friend and linguistic consultant, Ingeborg S. Norden, on the ordering of the last two runes of the Elder Futhark, quoted as always by her gracious permission. She took them from writings of her own; I have only changed some capitalization to conform with my own usage:
“Many rune scholars have debated whether this rune or Dagaz should be counted as the twenty-fourth. Historical evidence exists for both versions, actually: the Anglo-Saxon rune poem places Dagaz there, but the oldest known Futhark inscription (the Kylver runestone in Sweden) has Othala last. With no way to know which ordering was originally right, the decision seems to be up to us. And I do personally favor placing Othala last, for several reasons.
First, the name of the rune literally means "inheritance" or "ancestral land": it makes good sense for the Futhark to end as it began, with another rune that symbolizes wealth and property. "Land and personal property" were often mentioned together -but still contrasted-in the old laws of Germanic countries; that would support the idea of Fehu and Othala standing at opposite ends of the rune row....
Second, placing a rune of the dead last (because death is the end of at least one lifetime) sounds logical: an inheritance can't change hands until someone dies....Third, Othala can be seen as a boundary marker or enclosure (think of property lines or a fence around someone's yard): beyond that line is unknown, unfamiliar territory....The very end of the Futhark seems like the most logical place for a rune with those aspects.”
Thanks Ingeborg! My own take on the matter is that Othala and Dagaz both work fine as the last rune, but I personally favor Othala, even though the Sheils favor Dagaz. I think it fitting that we wind up returning “home” in the end. Othala is that which is most truly “us.” However my friend Steve Wilson favors Dagaz last in that basically we go “through heritage into the light of day,” which for him is symbolic of enlightenment.
I absolutely love the idea of Utharkers. |
