Runes · Hagal’s ætt
Algiz
Sound: z · The name: unknown, perhaps elk
- protection
- alertness
- boundaries
What the old rune poems say
The Old English poem names the rune eolh, the elk-sedge, a marsh grass that ‘makes a ghastly wound, covering with blood every warrior who touches it’. The Elder Futhark name is unknown; ‘elk’ and ‘protection’ are scholars’ guesses. The Norse poems use this rune for the yew: ‘greenest of trees in winter’ in the Norwegian poem, ‘bent bow and brittle iron’ in the Icelandic one.
How it is read today
Modern rune readers take Algiz as the rune of protection. The modern books see in the sharp sedge a plant that defends itself, and speak of alertness, of keeping sound boundaries and of looking after others. This is a modern reading of an uncertain name.
Reversed
Modern books read it reversed as leaving yourself unguarded, or keeping your guard too high. That is a modern device.
As your rune of the day
You may set a kind boundary today. It looks after you and the other person alike.
Keep your eyes open today and your manner gentle.
Reading runes as an oracle is modern, from Guido von List (1908) and Ralph Blum (1982); the people who carved them, Vikings included, used them for writing, names and charm words.