Laguz

Runes of the elder Futhark


Laguz

GMC     laguz     a body of water (or laukaz: leek)
GO         lagus     water
OE         lagu       sea, water
ON        logr        sea, water (or laukr: leek) law, (ON log)

Phonetic value „l“

The sea and other bodies of water, like the earth, were considered a source of wealth and fertility and an expression of the unconscious and undiscovered mysteries of life and death. The Aegir, the gods and goddesses of the sea, both gave and took life and offered fertility and wealth. They were the brewers and the Norse looked at the foaming vat of beer and related it to froth of the ocean. It represents ebb and flow, and dark currents. Laguz can be the water in a well, bubbling up from secret depths, or dark and still reflecting the querent but revealing nothing beneath the surface. It seeks its own level, taking the path of least resistance at times, at other times sinking into the earth to rise in a distant place. The ship burials, and stone „boat“ graves reveal the assocation of water with the journey of death, a rite of passage. Representing the Well of Wyrd, laguz holds all the secrets of the unconscious and the collective or universal knowledge. It represents psychic abilities. It is the ale which can be charged with runic knowledge. Magically it can be invoked to develop second sight and psychic powers. In divination it is the unknown, the primeval water of birth and creation as well as death and the abyss.