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.
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 ↗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 ↗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 ↗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 ↗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.