Gebo

Runes of the elder Futhark


Gebo

GMC     gebo     gift, hospitality
GO         giba      gift
OE         gyfu      gift, generousity
ON        gipt       gift, wedding

gifu
Exchanged gifts

Phoenetic sound „g“ as in „gift.“

Gebo represents hospitality, generousity and giving. It is the joining of giver and the one who receives. As Thorsson points out in _Futhark: A Handbook of Rune Magic_ it also has the meaning of a gift from the Deities, particularly through union. He relates the gift to the wisdom received by the hero from the valkyrja. It is a form of the solar wheel used traditionally on the saffron colored sweet rolls which celebrate the changing of the seasons and the gifts of grain and wealth from the gods which is given back in the form of sweetened offerings. It is a symbol of exchanged vows, marriage, ecstacy both physical and mystic. In the Norse traditions a gift required „a gift.“ In divination it can represent sacrifice, giving and receiving, exchange, marriage, partnership, increase because of consolidation. Magically it would be used to promote harmony, bring about union, receive divine instruction and gifts, increase magical power.