The Third Rune

Alone am I
to ward against danger
but never do I falter

Names - THORN - Thorn, THURISAZ - The strong one, giant, THUITH - The good one, THURS - Giant

Pronunciations - "dhorn" "dhur es ahz" "dhoo ith" "dhurs"

Phonetic Value - "TH" unvoiced as in "thorn" or "Thursday"

Symbolism - The Giant, or The Hammer

Keywords - Challenge


Thorn is a force of simultaneous defense and destruction and the rune is symbolic of brambles or thorny bushes which were used to enclose and protect boundaries or to conceal entrances to sacred or secret spaces. This then, goes a long way toward explaining the pictogram which depicts a single thorn jutting out from an otherwise smooth surface.

The thorn or the "spindle" was used to put "sleep" spells on beings, and brief recollection of fairy tales and other children's stories will bring to mind more than a few instances of this concept. There was, however, a very real basis to these stories and there is ample historical data to support that the hollow center of many thorns made them ideal for conveying poison to an intended victim. If for no other reason than avoidance of some very nasty scratches, an alertness for hidden danger and difficulty will usually accompany any encounter with a thorny thicket.

You have already, no doubt, been exposed to the challenging and protective thorn barricade from the time you were a small child and learned in childrens' stories of such things as Sleeping Beauty's castle, even today the thorn that protects sacred space is represented by the hedges that traditionally surround many private places.

Finding your way through these thickets and hedges is sometimes a trick and requires special knowledge or education. Think for a moment about hedge mazes. They may not be merely ornamental, (although they are pretty darn cool to look at) but may also contain an instruction elemental to the concept of this rune. That being that only those who know the secret of the maze will make it to the center unscathed by the thorns which protect it.

Phonetically, the "Th" sound of this rune is a representation of Thor, the god that protects sacred enclosures and, again, the significance of the phonetic similarity between the name of the deity and the name of the rune should not be lost on you. Another similarity which deserves note is Thor's reputation as god of thunder.

Thorr, the Thunder god, was of Giant stock and therefor this rune is said to be associated with the Thursar, a race of giants in Teutonic lore. There were were several families or groups of Thursar, for example the "rhime-thursar" or frost-giants, (who were either very smart, or totally witless depending upon the sources of your information). They are primal spirits, elemental in nature and therefore connected to the element with which they are associated. By this information you should be able to understand that you would not necessarily invoke a "frost" elemental if the element you wanted to influence was "wind".

Magically, Thorn is a rune of testing and challenge, as well as protection and defense. Think again on the secret of the maze. If you have the secret you will pass the test, no? In this way Thorn speaks to the need for or possession of secret knowledge.

In using secret knowledge to guard and conceal from others, this rune can also be used to test the self for the right to wield the power of the runes, or to overcome the demons of existing fears and internal weaknesses. It can be used to test against any aspect of personal physical danger or internal fear.

As a Rune of protection and defense Thorn can be used (with some limitation) to attack an enemy by promoting accidents or carelessness on the part of the unwary. This demonstrates, again, the essential aspect of careful attention to secret understanding and knowledge. The unwary and careless almost always run afoul of the thorns in life, don't they?

In divination it can represent any of the following forces.

THORN UPRIGHT:Destruction, defense, conflict, challenge, test, gateway, hidden danger, concealment, puzzle.

THORN MERKSTAVE: Defenselessness, compulsion, betrayal, dullness, lies, a rape or rapist, incarceration, enclosure, entrapment.

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.