Old letters. Enduring stories. Meanings you can make your own.
Runes began as letters in Germanic writing systems. This guide uses the 24-letter Elder Futhark, with familiar modern spellings of names that scholars reconstruct from later evidence. Names, sounds, and shapes have varied across time and place.
The name meanings describe historical language evidence. The modern meanings, intention groups, and stories are our original symbolic interpretations for everyday life, love, and personal practice. They express intentions without promising an outcome.
Open a rune to read its story and discover the designs it inspires.
Resources, generosity, and abundance that circulates.
f · Cattle; movable wealth.
Our interpretationPicture wealth as something alive: a herd to tend, a skill to practice, a gift to share. Fehu becomes a mark for building enough, then letting good things move through your hands.
Historical name reference ↗Strength, stamina, and the courage to begin.
u · Aurochs; a wild ox.
Our interpretationThe wild ox gives this rune its name. Let that great, grounded animal lend an image to your intention: meet the weight before you with steady strength, one deliberate step at a time.
Historical name reference ↗Boundaries, deliberate restraint, and protective resolve.
þ · Giant; the later Old English name thorn belongs to a different naming tradition.
Our interpretationA great force stands at the threshold. Our Thurisaz story asks you to choose when to open the gate and when to keep it closed. Protection begins with knowing what you welcome.
Historical name reference ↗Inspired words, attentive listening, and a voice of your own.
a · A god or divine being.
Our interpretationAn idea gathers power when it finds its words. We read Ansuz as an invitation to listen closely, name what matters, and speak with a little more clarity when a new chapter calls.
Historical name reference ↗Direction, purposeful movement, and finding your rhythm.
r · Riding; a journey on horseback or by vehicle.
Our interpretationA road is made of choices repeated: a turn, a pace, a place to rest. Raidho carries the spirit of setting out with purpose, leaving enough room for the journey to change you.
Historical name reference ↗Creative fire, practiced skill, and the courage to make.
k · The earlier name is disputed. Our torch image follows the later Old English cen tradition.
Our interpretationImagine a torch above a workbench: enough light to see the next line, enough warmth to keep working. Our Kenaz draws on that later English image as a companion to learning and making.
Historical name reference ↗Reciprocity, freely chosen bonds, and generous love.
g · Gift.
Our interpretationTwo lines meet and both remain whole. Gebo gives us an image for a gift offered freely and a bond tended by two people: room to give, room to receive, room to be yourself.
Discover Guardian Wall Tapestry Discover Kindred Desk Mat Discover First Light Print Historical name reference ↗Belonging, shared happiness, and affection made visible.
w · Joy; delight.
Our interpretationThere is a particular joy in being expected: a place kept beside someone, a familiar voice at the door. Wunjo holds that warmth in a small sign for the people and places you cherish.
Historical name reference ↗Weathering disruption and gathering strength to rebuild.
h · Hail.
Our interpretationHail interrupts the day without asking permission. Our Hagalaz honors the moment after the storm, when you take stock, gather what remains, and decide what deserves to be built again.
Historical name reference ↗Resourcefulness, patience, and resolve under pressure.
n · Need; hardship or constraint.
Our interpretationWhen the way narrows, the essential becomes easier to see. Nauthiz is our mark for working with what you have, asking for what you need, and keeping your purpose through a difficult stretch.
Historical name reference ↗Stillness, clear attention, and space before a response.
i · Ice.
Our interpretationA single line stands still. Through the image of ice, Isa makes room for a pause: let the surface settle, look closely, and choose your next movement with care.
Historical name reference ↗Patient effort, ripening, and the harvest of consistent care.
j · Year.
Our interpretationA field changes through many ordinary days before the harvest comes. Jera celebrates that patient rhythm: planting, tending, waiting, and recognizing the season when your work is ready to gather.
Historical name reference ↗Endurance, rooted strength, and steadiness through change.
ï · Yew tree.
Our interpretationThe yew lends this rune an image of lasting presence. We read Eihwaz as roots beneath a changing sky: hold to what sustains you while allowing the shape of your life to grow.
Historical name reference ↗Possibility, discovery, and openness to an unwritten outcome.
p · Uncertain; the original word's meaning is not securely known.
Our interpretationThis rune keeps a genuine mystery: its name has no settled translation. Our Perthro gives that open space a modern story, inviting curiosity when the next part of your path is still unwritten.
Historical name reference ↗Watchfulness, protective boundaries, and care for what matters.
z · Often reconstructed as elk; the earlier name remains uncertain.
Our interpretationIts branching shape becomes a sheltering image in our designs. Algiz speaks of paying attention: to your limits, to the people beside you, and to the life you choose to protect.
Discover Guardian Wall Tapestry Discover First Light Print Historical name reference ↗Clarity, confidence, and wholehearted effort.
s · Sun.
Our interpretationThe sun gives the day its shape and brings the distant landscape into view. Our Sowilo carries the feeling of stepping into that light: see your direction and put your strength behind it.
Historical name reference ↗Principle, fairness, and courage guided by a promise.
t · The divine name Tiw, related to Old Norse Tyr.
Our interpretationA clear point gives this rune a sense of direction. We make Tiwaz a sign for the promise you intend to keep, especially when keeping it asks something of you.
Historical name reference ↗Renewal, nurture, and a beginning given room to grow.
b · Birch; a birch branch.
Our interpretationA young birch brings the story back to growing things. Berkano marks the tender part of a beginning: an idea, a relationship, or a life change that needs care before it needs speed.
Historical name reference ↗Trust, cooperation, and moving forward together.
e · Horse.
Our interpretationHorse and rider find a shared rhythm through attention and trust. Our Ehwaz carries that feeling into partnership: listen, make room for one another, and discover how far you can travel together.
Historical name reference ↗Self-knowledge, mutual support, and belonging among others.
m · Human being; person.
Our interpretationA person is a whole world, and still needs other people. Mannaz holds both truths together, offering a sign for knowing yourself and meeting those around you with the same depth of care.
Historical name reference ↗Adaptability, emotional awareness, and finding a way forward.
l · Water.
Our interpretationWater meets a stone and finds another course. In our Laguz story, feeling and direction can move together: notice what is changing, loosen your grip, and follow the opening you can see.
Historical name reference ↗Stored potential, patient preparation, and quiet growth.
ŋ · Ing; a divine name.
Our interpretationWe give this enclosed shape the image of a seed held safely before it opens. Ingwaz is a mark for gathering your energy and tending the promise of something that is not yet visible.
Historical name reference ↗Fresh perspective, an opening, and the first step into change.
d · Day.
Our interpretationAs daylight arrives, familiar things reveal another face. Our Dagaz celebrates that moment of recognition, when a new possibility becomes clear enough to step toward.
Historical name reference ↗Home, chosen belonging, and care for what you pass on.
o · Inherited property; an ancestral estate.
Our interpretationA home holds what people choose to care for together. We bring Othala's inheritance image into the present as a sign for welcome, shared memory, and a place where the people you love can belong.
Historical name reference ↗A transliteration identifies a letter; it is not an English translation or a guide to spelling every modern word. Here þ represents the th-sound, j is the scholarly letter convention, ŋ represents ng, and ï labels the eihwaz rune's uncertain vowel sound.
Our bindrunes combine selected letters into original intention-led designs. Any link we make between a rune, a lunar phase, and a planetary theme is a modern creative choice, rather than a fixed correspondence for all 24 runes inherited from antiquity.
Runic characters and encoded names; historical letterforms can vary.
Expert-authored account of the 24-letter alphabet, reconstructed names, name meanings, and uncertain sound values.
A later Old English naming and poetic tradition; the torch image for cen is distinguished from the disputed earlier k-rune name. No modern translation is reproduced here.
Runes were letters used to write early Germanic languages. Elder Futhark had 24 signs and takes its name from the sounds of its first six letters. It was in use centuries before the Viking Age, when a shorter 16-sign alphabet became common in Scandinavia.
On the back of a silver brooch found at Gårdlösa in Sweden, someone carved two words: ek unwodz, meaning “I, Unwodz.” The inscription faced the wearer. It preserves a name in a place that most people would never see.