Runes of the elder Futhark

---

Uruz

GMC   Uraz   the auroch
GO       Urus   the auroch
OE       Ur         ox, bison
ON      Ur         drizzle, rain

Primal force, strength.

Sound: u, v oo

The auroch was a wild ox, very large and very fierce, in description it sounds very much like the Longhorn. Uruz is associated with the primal creative force, primitive, earliest or original. The German _ursprache_ used linguistically to refer to „original sounds.“ In the Oxford English Dictionary Ur also refers to the unarticulated sound which would also be apt. It is also an archaic form of „our.“ Audhumla, the great cow which was fromed form the dripping rime produced from fire and ice. She was the „shaping force“ that licked the ice into the primal giant, and was the source of sustenance for the cosmic giant Ymir. It is a spiritual or creative force which pervades the universe, something like „mana“ of the Polynesian traditions, a vital essence. The shape is likened to the horns of the primal cow or the auroch The runemaster or magician learns to control or direct it with the knowledge that it can be dangerous, and though controlable, it is undomesticable. It represents force and freedom, or a force always straining to be free if contained. It is protective, as the auroch, when used in defense of one’s territory or children. I associate it with the primal well, Urth. In a runic reading it is a formative or protective force, unmanifested but which can shape things to come