The meanings suggested below are specifically tailored to the purposes of Draconian Magic. They do not contradict the traditional meanings, they merely draw out and emphasise the aspects most pertinent to our current Work. These meanings do not replace the traditional ones. It must be borne in mind that the meanings below may weight certain runes in certain ways, accentuating some runic aspects and abbreviating others. Although they are fully functional and tailored to the practice of Draconian Magic, Initiates who wish to explore the use of runes more fully will necessarily take time to study the traditional meanings also in order to understand how the current ones have been derived.
Fehu
The Draconian associations of this rune are apparent from the outset. It is strongly linked with the dragon Fafnir and his cursed hoard. The rune refers to both the dragon's fire and the gold it guards. This is explicit in the words of the Old Icelandic Rune Poem:
(Gold) is the strife of kinsmen and fire of the flood-tide
and the path of the serpent.
The "fire of the flood-tide" is both the fiery breath of the dragon and the gleam of the Rheingold beneath the waters. The "path of the serpent" is the path of Fafnir, who seized the treasure and hoarded it, causing the "strife of kinsmen" in the Saga of the Volsungs.
These are powerful mythic images and highly representative of the rune and its danger. But the Old English Rune Poem points out that "every man ought to deal it out freely". The dragon's gold is not to be hoarded. The proper place for the Rheingold is in the Rhein, freely flowing in life's stream.
Gold is a powerful magical tool. Particularly in the modern age, money is imaginary: figures that bounce back and forth in the banking computer system, without substance or real essence. Money has value because people believe it to be so. To hoard it is to hoard an illusion. This imaginary tool should be used to win your goals, to travel to new places, to influence people. This is the truer sinuous path of the serpent, a path along which the fire does not flicker and die but constantly finds new fuel.
Uruz
The Draconian aspect of uruz is perhaps best illustrated by the Dragon as invoked by Merlin in the movie Excalibur: an imminent force of nature that rises powerfully from the earth itself. The animal generally attributed to the rune, the wild aurochs, is a symbol of great strength and vitality, a beast that fights with its horns and is "a famous roamer of the moors".
This rune embodies primal strength and vigour, a wild ferocity and freedom that refuses to be bound. It is the Dragon in its most aggressive and dynamic manifestation.
The rune provides the Draconian Initiate with great strength of purpose and the stamina to carry his goals through to completion, but it demands the sacrifice of all inhibitions and societal restraints in the process. To effectively use this rune, one must emulate Captain Nemo and not be a civilised man.
Thurisaz
Thurisaz is described as a thorn or a thurs (i.e. a giant), also as a symbol for Thor's hammer. In all cases, the symbolism is aggressive and violent. In Draconian terms, it represents the tooth or claw of the Dragon.
This rune is brute force. Contrary to most modern bleating, brute force is sometimes regrettably necessary. However, it always inflicts wounds and bruises.
The rune is a symbol of conflict and conflict is inevitable, whether we like it or not. Better to be the Dragon than to be devoured by it, but the price is always high.
Ansuz
Ecstasy and inspiration derived from the ancestral sovereign God: the magical power of speech and poetry. These are the usual meanings of the ansuz rune.
These meanings speak of consciousness; its awakening and its inspiration. In Draconian terms, ansuz is the hot wind of the Dragon's breath that stirs the cloak of Odin. Its heat and motion scorches the mind, blasting out the old, dead leaves that lie cluttered in its corridors, enlivening and energising the conscious faculties. It emerges again from the mind through the mouth in a rousing stream of oratory.
Raidho
Traditionally, raidho represents a journey, a 'riding'. It carries the meaning of an ordered progression. This is echoed in its Draconian symbolism, in which the shape of the stave may perhaps be interpreted as the carved head of a Viking dragon ship as it journeys through the waves, the head of the dragon gazing out over the miles that lie ahead.
The concept of ordered progression may also be seen in the movement of a serpent, as will be recognised by anyone who has seen the patterns left in sand after a snake has passed over it.
This rune stands for far-seeing and planning, the process of a well-planned journey (whether literal or metaphorical) and the recognition and implementation of repeating patterns.
Kenaz
Kenaz is a torch. In other words, it is a controlled fire, harnessed and utilised by human ingenuity. Its sound value suggests words such as 'kenning', 'cunning' and 'craft'. As such, it expresses the insight and occasional deviousness which leads us to think outside the box and develop new technologies, using the properties of physics to enhance our lives. Kenaz will always contain a certain subversive element, for even the most benign invention requires the ability to think in a way that sidesteps the usual obstacles. This accords with the legendary cunning of the Dragon and its love for riddles and misdirection. In spite of its undoubted positive applications, there is always a certain streak of cruelty in kenaz, evidenced by its alternate meaning as 'sore'. This too suits the character of the Dragon. The rune's shape may be considered representative of the Dragon's jaws yawning wide to breathe fire.
Gebo
Gebo represents a gift. In actual fact, it embodies the entire process and all of its variables: it is the act of giving; the thing given; the giver and the one given to. It also implies the responsibilities and obligations which come with the exchange of gifts.
This is largely a positive rune. Gifts strengthen friendships, seal pacts and forge alliances; they can also placate and reconcile enemies. Whether the gift is gold or a word of friendly advice, the principle is the same.
But the cold and unyielding eye of the Serpent warns that a gift – whether given or received – may incur an obligation, whether explicit or implicit. So give wisely and warily, only to those who merit it and always in proportion. A gift should mean something.
Wunjo
What does this rune of fellowship and camaraderie signify for the Draconian Initiate? Quite simply, it symbolises the link with all of the actual and legendary Orders of the Dragon that have persisted throughout history. The shape of the rune is a banner upraised on behalf of all those who understand the serpentine roots of consciousness. It is the fellowship of the Mysteries themselves and the fellow travellers we meet upon the Path.
But also significant is the rune's meaning of joy. Sorrow and misery are the default mindsets of the major world religions. The Draconian Path champions a fierce joy in all of life's experiences: existence itself is a pleasure and delight; life is sheer exuberance.
Hagalaz
Hagalaz is an imprint of order; it establishes a pattern and stamps it upon reality. This is manifest in the fractal patterns of nature, the orbits of atoms and the principles underpinning the laws of physics. But for the Draconian magician, a champion of consciousness, this will be a self-created order. Hagalaz is the process invoked when the Eye of the Dragon wishes to recreate itself in the wake of initiatory progress, sweeping aside the old to make way for the new.
But this Remanifestation has its destructive side. The hailstorm of the dragon's breath will lay waste crops and cause structural damage to property. But the world afterwards will be new and fresh, ripe for rebuilding, imprinted with a new pattern.
Hagalaz is all about the perception and use of patterns. These may be long-lost patterns of behaviour, ancestral tendencies or core values, hidden in the deep places of the soul, waiting to be reawakened. Or they may be new patterns, freshly invoked, birthing in joyous fanfare. These moments of exhilarating crisis are what we ultimately use and direct to define ourselves
.
Naudhiz
Need is the driving force behind evolution, the transformation from one state of being to another. It is also the driving force of the Draconian magician.
Most people in the modern world are programmed with a set of goals: marriage; mortgage; children; good career with 'prospects' (whatever they're supposed to be); a nice car; a comfortable three piece suite, regularly renewed in the annual sales; a good credit rating; an obligatory conservatory; dinner parties with trendy low fat, reduced sugar, zero nutrition foodstuffs. And so on...
Need rubbishes this list. Need doesn't concern itself with comfort, excess money, social acceptance or anything else of that sort. Need cares only that life is vital, exciting and transformative. Jobs, relationships and respectability may all be jettisoned in the service of Need.
Need is fueled by Desire. If we accept (and I do) Anton LaVey's division of the human soul into surface personality, hidden Dæmonic Self and innermost Core Self, the Need-fire within the magician is ignited by the friction between the various layers of his own being. It must be noted that this inner conflict is not a negative thing; it is a very positive and dynamic affair.
The outer personality Desires the Dæmonic Self, which in turn Desires manifestation. This Desire is projected as goals and quests in the outer world, which drives us to achieve great deeds. These in turn feed back to the Core Self, transforming and energising it. Thus the glorious game of Self-creation continues while the Dragon fire continues to burn. That other face of naudhiz, the devouring dragon Nidhogg, reminds us what happens when the flame of Desire sputters and dies: to stand still is death.
Isa
In the Celtic symbolism of Vortigern's tower, there are two Dragons in perpetual conflict: a red one and a white one. This is echoed in the Draconian interpretation of the runes fehu and isa. The former, as already discussed, is the expansive force of fire. Isa is the contracting force of ice. If the former is the fury and passion of the Dragon's flame, the latter is the stillness and intensity of its gaze.
This conflict is a necessary one and intensely creative. It is the root of the Germanic creation myth, as the outflowings from Muspellheim and Niflheim meet in Ginnungagap. If either force is missing, the Void cannot give birth. If either force is lacking in the Initiate, he cannot continue to Remanifest his own being.
In the Initiate, isa represents his ability to turn back in upon himself, to concentrate his essence and seperate it from his surroundings, withdrawing to a vantage point bordering on the Void. Isa is the resultant ray of intense concentration, pure and unsullied, which is directed outward from his core. From this vantage point, he may view events with complete dispassion and concentrate his Will into an irresistible focus.
Jera
Jera, the turning of the cycle of the year, the recognition of cause and effect and the apprehension of recurring patterns, resembles the well known symbol of the serpent swallowing its own tail; it is Jormungandr, encircling and defining the limits of the world. As such, it is a rune of Self-definition and subsequent Remanifestation.
With the Initiated Draconian awareness, such a pattern is not merely cyclical, however. With every turn, with every Remanifestation, we do not simply come back to the same place, doomed to repeat the same pattern for eternity. The imperative of consciousness is that we recognise the patterns that we ride, that we learn from them. As such, we ride a spiral rather than a strictly fixed course. Every time we come around we find ourselves in a better position to use and shape the forces that sustain us, becoming more than we previously were.
The Eye of the soul focuses at the still point at the centre of the turning wheel, seeing all clearly and dispassionately: whereas the conscious, incarnate mind strives to cling to the very rim, experiencing the thrill of maximum speed and transformative potential. The truly awakened soul accomplishes both at once, as discussed under the dagaz rune.
Eihwaz
This is a rune of the span of consciousness, from its most primitive and bestial manifestations right through to Self-generating divinity. The Dragon is the most noble and the most ravenous of mythical beasts. The Draconian consciousness must understand and embrace all of these extremes, synthesising them into a Self, if it is to achieve the full span of eihwaz.
This is a rune of life and death and the limits within which they occur. It is also a rune of the consciousness to which such limits are irrelevant.
Eihwaz is in certain respects indicative of Yggdrasil itself, the height and depth of the World Tree from which the worlds depend. To the Draconian, a shift in perspective is required, so that the span of the Tree is the Initiate's own consciousness, the framework of the worlds within. The Self becomes the constant around which all else revolves.
Perthro
Perthro is the lot cup, the element of chance. It is also the weight of past history that carries us to the event where chance is invoked. Every possibility or probability that may arise has come about because of the patterns we have woven through our own actions to date. Every decision depends upon the decisions that came before it.
The Dragon, with its Eye in eternity, understands this. It learns to read and interpret the patterns active in every circumstance (a practice we may develop through rune-casting for divinatory purposes). Moreover, it understands how such patterns are formed and learns to actively steer its own future through its present actions and the reinterpretation of the trends of its past. The Draconian Initiate forges his own destiny.
No matter how precise the patterns, the way in which any event finally falls out depends upon the factor of chance, the weighing of the probabilities, the rolling of the dice. The Initiate welcomes that chance, recognising it as symptomatic of the Void – Ginnungagap – from which all things ultimately issued. The fact that both our best-laid plans and our most desperate gambles each remain dependent upon a chance element is a cause for rejoicing, as we know that the future will always unveil something fresh and at least partly unexpected.
Elhaz
Elhaz is the root rune of the Helm of Awe, the entrancing gaze of the Dragon Fafnir. It is also the sword in the hand of Sigurd, who slew Fafnir and assumed the Helm and the Dragon's treasure to himself, a transformation from Beast to Man to God through the power of this rune.
The sexual symbolism of the rune, depicting female genitals in its normal form and male when inverted, is indicative of the opening of the Serpent's Eye and the streaming of the creative / transformative forces across Ginnungagap, a doctrine central to the Helm Project of the Order of Apep, and depicted in the Order Seal below:
Sowilo
The lightning strike symbol depicting the sun's rays is suggestive of the zig-zagging motion of a serpent across the sands. It is a smooth and efficient motion, carrying the snake unerringly on, as a ship is steered by the position of the sun in the heavens in the rune-poem. Yet it is a motion that seems strange to those whose thoughts are fixed only on their feet.
Sowilo's sunlight brings the clarity of the Dragon's gaze and the certainty of the snake's motion, steering us to that destiny which we have crafted for ourselves.
Tiwaz
This is the rune of the axis of the worlds, around which all revolves. It is the serpent who coils around the pole in the night sky.
For the Draconian Initiate, this axis is his own innermost Self, the only true and abiding constant in his life. Upon the aesthetic and ethical standards of this Self, he must establish the laws of the world in which he chooses to reside.
It will be observed that the pole itself neither moves nor transforms: only the appearances that spin into manifestation around it.
The worlds derive their meaning and their ordering from the pole: the pole finds its sense of identity reflected back to it from the worlds.
Berkano
This rune is attributed to the Birch-Goddess and the Draconian interpretation has little to add to this. Some magicians tend to forget that they are just as subject to the general operations of nature as everyone
else. We are born, we need to be nurtured through our childhood, we enter our own adulthood and ultimately we die.
There is no conflict between the Birch-Goddess and the Draconian current. Indeed, in certain mythologies and interpretations it is evident that the primordial Dragon is itself female and associated with birth and generation.
The Draconian Path is concerned with the flesh. Unlike those religious creeds most people pay lip service to, there is no enmity – and little differentiation – between flesh and spirit in the original European religions. The body is one part of the complex that makes up the Self. Incarnation is a joy, not a chore.
The generative forces attributed to berkano are among those most readily harnessed and applied by the Draconian Initiate.
Ehwaz
Most religion is concerned with the cessation of Desire, but Draconian Magic is – and always has been – about the pursuit of Desire. The Draconian Initiate seeks out those people, places, things and organisations that resonate with his Desire and allies himself with them.
Aegishjalmur Page 3
