I just found another version of the three-aett rune journey at Wayland Skallagrimsson's site, Uppsala. This is probably where I got the idea to begin with, in all honesty, though I don't remember having looked at it before.
Freya's Aett
The first aett is named for Freya, after the sound of the first rune, f. This is the road of knowledge and power. Feh is the mastery of personal power and knowledge of its control, or right stewardship. This leads the athling to knowledge of and mastery over the power of the aurochs, in ur, and self-knowledge that results from the welling up of this rune within the athling. This raw power leads easily enough, via the path of unbalance, to the chaos and destruction of the thurse, which is the blind unknowing power of destruction. This necessitates the aid of ansuz, the powers (or Powers) of knowledge and creation that are the Aesir and especially Odin. Contact with the Odinic nature stimulates, either through a sympathetic upwelling of that nature from within or by example, that nature in the athling. This necessitates travel, journeying, learning and experiencing the world, as Odin is the greatest of travellers. This is the rune Raidho, which is journey, an expenditure of power angainst the indifferent or hostile powers of the external world in search of knowledge, kensaz. The revelation the torch brings teaches the necessity of sacrifice, the casting away of one's own power in one form or another. And this leads to Wunjo, which is a whole new form of knowledge and power; the knowledge of joy, the power of a feather falling through the air. The first road indicates the quest of the athling for knowledge and power, from mastery of its external and internal forms, to contact with and changing by the divine forces and the knowledge and power they have to offer, to the quest on the road and the true revelation it gives, to the casting aside at last of the power the athling has so struggled for, only to gain even more in return.
Hagl's Aett
This aett, too, is named for the first rune sound. It is possible there once was a god named Hagl, or something similar, but if this is so, all knowledge of him is lost. This is the road of the revelation of orlog, of what has gone before. It is a deeper seeking of knowledge (and the power knowledge brings) than that gained by the first row. Indeed, each rune of the second row can be seen to contain in itself all the runes of the first, in different combinations of importance and order. The first rune of this road reflects the lessons that ur, thorn, raidho, and gebo all gave in combination: hardship. The second rune of this row reflects in a way the lessons of feh, ansuz, kensaz, and wunjo. This initial pair is the revelation of the orlog of the first road. It is by hardship that the athling finds the will to rise to meet his circumstances, and to gain the rewards therefrom. Additionally hagl is the revelation of the orlog of the weather (or of course of any large system beyond the scope or control of the athling, where harm is to be found). And nyd is the revelation of the orlog of the athling himself (or herself). It is the revelation of who the athling is within, what the athling has made him- or herself. If the athling has the right knowledge and power, the right learning, the "Right Stuff", his orlog will be that of the need-fire. The next rune, isa, reveals the orlog of expenditure of effort. After the struggle of the first runes one is balanced atop the ice, still and serene or one falls beneath it, still in the sense of stilled, unable to go further. It is also a rune of the revelation of the orlog of the small, for it is attention to small details both external and internal that one maintains balance on ice. Jera is the revelation of the seed, the orlog of the crops. Here the athling learns a lesson that is both very simple to state and very difficult to really put into practice: plant the seeds that are desired. Do not plant the seeds that are not desired. When the athling has gone through the refinements of will, control, and discipline these first runes call for he is ready for the revelation of the next rune, the apprehension of the runes as a whole, the revelation of the orlog of the entirely unknown. When the athling has learned how to obtain this revelation, he is able to use the revelation of perthro, which is revelation of that which is hidden by means of the revelations of eihwaz. This contact with the worlds of the unknown readies the athling for the rune algiz, the rune of the revelation of the orlog of one's own environment, both physically and metaphysically. This leads to sig, the revelation of orlog in conflict, which was the basis for the ancient and medieval "trial by combat" wherein victory showed the will of Odin.
Tyr's Aett
Named for the first rune of the row, this is the road of conflict. Each of the runes of this row can be seen as containing each of the runes of the second, in different combinations. Tyr is the mystery of the skills of conflict, both in the martial sense and the social / legal one. This leads to the rune berkana, which is the resolution of conflict. Resolving conflict leads to conflict's opposite, which is ehwaz, a partnership. As discussed above, ehwaz leads to mannaz, which can be seen as the idealized self, the whole self, linked with the gods, which is also an anti-conflict mystery. And then on the other hand, it is conflict that returns man, as stated in the rune poem, to the dust. Integration with the worlds outside and above the self leads to laguz, the road as conflict, because it is only such a whole person that can fearlessly conquer the sea. Ing is a rune that resolves conflict in many ways. Weapons or conflict of any kind were not allowed in Nerthus' ritual, nor in Frey's temple. But Ing was also a hero, a warrior, and this is also the mystery of focused power, which is a great resolver of conflict as well, but in a different way. Dagaz is the ultimate resoution of conflict, in the conceptual sense, and this road of conflict leads in the end to odal, inheritance. |
