Runes · Freyr’s ætt
Kaunan
Sound: k · The name: ulcer; torch
- light
- craft
- understanding
What the old rune poems say
The poems disagree completely. In the Old English poem cen is a torch, known to every living man ‘by its pale, bright flame’ and burning in the hall where princes sit. In the Norwegian and Icelandic poems kaun is an ulcer, fatal to children. Which meaning the Elder Futhark name had is uncertain: the name Kaunan follows the Norse line, the other common name, Kenaz, the English one.
How it is read today
Modern rune readers mostly follow the Old English torch and read this rune as light, knowledge and craft. In the modern books it stands for seeing clearly, for learning and for making things with your hands. The darker Norse ulcer is usually left out, which is a modern choice, not an old teaching.
Reversed
Modern books read it reversed as a light grown dim, or a lack of clarity. That is a modern device.
As your rune of the day
Something that was unclear may light up today if you give it a quiet look.
Make something with your hands today, however small.
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.