Runes of the elder Futhark

---

Hagelaz

GMC     Hagalaz     hail, egg (?)
GO         Hagl            hail
OE         Haegl         hail
ON        Hagall        hail

Phoentic value: „h“

The Anglo-Saxon rune poem refers to „hail“ as being „grain“ which falls and turns into water after being tossed about by wind. The layered nature of a hailstone was recognized, as well as the potential for destruction and the transformative qualities. The concepts that surround Hagalaz recognize that the destructive potential for hail out of season is balanced by the potential for transformation that will bring new fertility and growth. It can be seen as representative of the cosmic „egg“ that primal layered egg of ice that was transformed in combination with fire. Out of the primal chaos which we think of as destructive comes a tangible force that carries the potential for destruction and/or transformation. The transformation from destruction to fertility comes after „being tossed by the winds,“ and in its own season. Hagal reprents a dramatic event or trauma which comes from outside your own immediate perceptions. It represents a deep reshaping. The rune is deeply integrated into the mysteries of renewal through destruction, the shaman who, like Odin, loses all in order to find his or her own personal power. It is the rune of winter, the grain of that season. It is a crystaline form, one that is sharp and hard, yet clear and possibly deadly. It is one of the runes that can not be reversed nor turned upside down. I also read it as the rune of the bridge of the cosmos, the dangerous path between worlds or experiences which can bring transformation or destruction. It was used in weather magic to ward off hail, even by Christians.