Runes · Týr’s ætt
Ingwaz
Sound: ng · The name: the god Ing
- seed
- rest
- completion
What the old rune poems say
Only the Old English poem has this rune: ‘Ing was first seen by men among the East-Danes, till, followed by his chariot, he departed eastwards over the waves. So the Heardingas named the hero.’ The poem says nothing more about who Ing was.
How it is read today
Modern rune readers read Ingwaz as the rune of the seed, something that grows out of sight before it comes up. The modern books speak of rest, of gathering strength and of finishing one thing before beginning the next. Its shape looks the same either way up, and the modern books give it no reversed meaning. This is a modern reading.
Reversed
This rune looks the same turned round; modern books give it no reversed meaning.
As your rune of the day
Finish one thing today before you start the next.
Some things grow well out of sight. Give one of them some quiet.
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.