The Fourth Rune

Through the divine power of speach
divine knowledge passes through the world
I speak with the voice of the Spirit

Names - ANSUZ - A runic god name, OS - a god, ASS - a god, ANSUR - a mouth or the mouth of a river.

Pronunciations - "ahn sooz" "ah z" "ahn sur"

Phonetic Value - "A"

Symbolism - A windblown cloak

Keywords - Message


Ansuz is the rune of the poet, the saga, the syr, and the speechmaker. Because the storytellers of old would travel from camp to camp and tribe to tribe the symbol of this carried word is the windblown cloak of these message bearers.

The windblown cloak image of this pictogram is also reflective of ancient Teutonic legends of the Wild Hunt and therefore, represents the sound of the screaming winds gathering lost souls back into the arms of the gods and goddesses who ride these winds and who will carry the souls of the newly dead with them upon their return to Valhalla.

This rune represents the ecstasy of inspiriation, the "swan song", the last words heard from the deathbed as well as the first cry of a newborn baby. It is the ecstatic verbalizations of lovemaking. It is the reason the wolf howls at the moon. Don't discount this "ecstasy of inspiration" stuff because this is the stuff of which all oracles are made, regardless of path, tradition, or belief.

From the mysterious riddles of the Sphynx to the prophecies of Nostradamus, all the way to the incoherent ramblings of that guy on the streetcorner wearing tinfoil on his head to keep out the bad radio waves. All wear the influence of Ansuz.

Phonetically, the rune of inspired speech and incantation or song is a creative expression and it is linked with the magic of speech which passes knowledge along with the breath of life. This is, most likely because you will be using a great deal of breath to vocalize the "aaaahh" sound of this rune. It is important then, to note that communication through the spoken word is differentiated from the written word as is the knowlege contained therein.

Some have been struck by one derivitave of this rune, "Ansuz", and the present day word, "answer". Is there ancient significance to this similarity? Again, the best response we can come up with is maybe, but also maybe not. Language is a very fluid thing, changing with every influence it encounters and it is therefore pretty hard to take any modern day word or expression and point back eons and say "yup, these two are definitely the same!" It may not be so bad, however, to think of "answer" in conjunction with "Ansuz" because this conveys the concept of "verbally shared knowledge" pretty well, whether or not these two words actually share any common root.

Magically this rune inspires speech, writing, song and poetry or can invoke inspiration and understanding. This is a rune of teaching and learning and can be used to invoke those things which foster teaching, learning, and the sharing of knowledge.

This rune is also of great influence wheen seeking to understand any mystery and is often invoked for an interpretation of meanings particularly the meanings of riddles.

In divination it can represent any of the following forces.

ANSUZ UPRIGHT:Revelation, message, insight, communication, signals, inspiration, enthusiasm, speech, vision, advice, truth, wisdom.

ANSUZ MERKSTAVE: Misunderstanding, delusion, manipulation by others, boredom, vanity and grandstanding, lies, confusion, garbled message.

To Return to the Midnight Moonchild Rune Page, please select the Runes icon to your left. For more detailed information on the meanings of each individual rune, please select the individual Rune icons to your left