The Twentyfirst Rune

The water of life flows
carving secret pathways
through the world

Names - LAGUZ - a body of water, LAGUS - water, LAGU - sea or water, LOGR - sea or water

Pronunciations - "lah gooz" "lah goos" "lah goo" "lah ghr"

Phonetic Value - "L"

Symbolism - The Water

Keywords - Intuition


Symbolically, this rune is a representation of water, the liquid of life, overflowing from a cup or well.

Since the central stave of this rune contains the pictogram for Isa or ice it is fairly easy to envision the angled stave as the bending or melting of ice. The final result of this will surely be flowing water

. Phonetically, the connection between "Laguz" and "water" may only be found in root similarities of present day words like "lake". Again, the evolution of human language makes it unlikely that there is a direct connection between "Laguz" and "lake", however it would not be too far wrong to allow this association anyway just to keep the mnemonic connection to "water"

The sea and other bodies of water, much like the earth, were considered a source of wealth and fertility and an expression of the unconscious and undiscovered mysteries of life and death.

The ship burials, and stone "boat" graves reveal the assocation of water with the journey of death, a rite of passage into the greatest of all mysteries.

Representing the Well of Wyrd, laguz holds all the secrets of the unconscious and the collective or universal knowledge. It represents psychic abilities. It is the ale which can be charged with runic knowledge.

The Aegir, the gods and goddesses of the sea, both gave and took life and offered fertility and wealth. They were the brewers and the Norse looked at the foaming vat of beer and related it to froth of the ocean.

This rune reflects ebb and flow, and dark currents. Laguz can be the water in a well, bubbling up from secret depths, or dark and still reflecting the querent but revealing nothing beneath the surface.

Laguz seeks its own level, taking the path of least resistance at times, at other times sinking into the earth to rise in a distant place.

Magically it can be invoked to develop second sight and psychic powers. It will encourage discovery of hidden mysteries and knowledge.

This rune may be worked to hide or conceal secrets just as the waters of the lake or well will conceal what may lie within their depths.

In divination it is the unknown, the primeval water of birth and creation as well as death and the abyss and can represent any of the following forces.

LAGUZ UPRIGHT: Water, sea, a fertility source, the healing power of renewal, intuition, imagination, psychic matters, dreams, fantasies, mysteries, the unknown, the hidden, the deep, the underworld.

LAGUZ MERKSTAVE: Confusion, wrong decisions, poor judgements, lack of creativity, fear, circular motion, avoidance, withering, madness, obsession, despair, perversity, sickness, suicide.


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