The Feoh-Rune

In the Inglinga Blog I have worked on the idea of the Eternal War between the Forces of Light and the Forces of Darkness. This came about through concepts contained in the Rig Vedas. It is clear from this that the symbols of the 'Cows' and the 'Gold' are symbols of the Solar-Light of the God-Head, the Divine Light of Swar, the region above the heavens, the highest point of consciousness, the Realm of the Gods - Asgard. 

The earliest meaning we have for the Feoh-Rune is 'cattle', from the Old English Rune-Poem; the later texts replace this with 'gold'. The texts use these in reference to the physical objects and thus contain mundane meanings. Yes - this is one level of meaning but it is not the only one. To find the inner and hidden meaning we need to refer to the children's tale - Jack & the Beanstalk.

Jack is sent out by his mother with a cow which he has to swap for the necessary food to live; on the way to market he comes across a man who persuades Jack to part with the cow in exchange for some Magic Beans. He takes the Magic Beans back and his mother sternly scolds him for his action, so Jack throws the Magic Beans into the garden.

When Jack awakes the next day he finds a vast bean-stalk rising into the skies, so he climbs up to the top. There he enters the realm of an Ogre (Giant) and he finds a Golden Hen that lays Golden Eggs guarded by the Ogre, which he steals and takes back down to his mother. The next day he climbs again and finds a hoard of Golden Coins, which he steals again and takes to his mother. On the third climb he enters the house of the Ogre and finds a Golden Harp which starts to play; the Ogre returns so the wife of the Ogre hides Jack in the oven. The Ogre exclaims -

Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum, I smell the Blood of an Englishman,

Be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread.

The Ogre's wife waits until the Ogre falls asleep and lets Jack go; Jack steals the Golden Harp and climbs down the beanstalk, but the harp starts to play, awakes the Ogre who follows on the heels of Jack as he descends. Jack jumps to the floor, cuts the beanstalk, and the Ogre falls to his death. It becomes clear that the Golden Treasures were originally the property of Jack's father, so in reality he merely took then back.

We have all the elements of the Mystery of the Feoh-Rune here - the 'cow' (Golden Sun), the beanstalk (spiral ascent), the Golden Treasure (The Light of the Arya), the stealing and regaining of the Golden Treasure. We even have the runic formula for this rune - Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum. (It is perhaps expected that the formula is here set to fit into the rhyme and metre of the poem, but the formula in effect would be -

Fa - Fe - Fae - Fi - Fo - Foe - Fum

This is the Sevenfold Sound of Fehu, shortened to Fa-Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum; note that the Latin Alphabetical order is used, whether this is original we cannot tell. The Ogre mentions that he will 'grind' Jack's bones, suggesting that he is the Turner of the Mill. I have discussed this in my book Ar-Kan Rune-Lag : The Secret Aryan Way in which I recognised the 'gold' as symbolic of the Solar Knowledge and Solar Wisdom, as well as the Solar Light. 

We have to recognise that the Solar-Light is stolen by the Great Enemy, by the Forces of Darkness; I have mentioned before how this could relate to an ancient times (perhaps in Egypt) where the Aryan Wisdom was stolen when one of the Aryan Kings was slain (the Legend of Hiram Abif may be related to this). It seems clear that the Aryan Wisdom remains hidden in the lore of the counter-initiation, hidden but distorted to suit their evil aims. It has always been strange that many Western Tradition Occultists have used the Kabalah, but maybe there is some hidden worth in this lore after all, hidden but distorted (as must be recognised, of course, before using such texts). 

The above shows clearly that the runes were not merely mundane symbols for everyday objects; seeing them as such has kept the true meanings hidden. What we need to remember is that words used in ancient texts have to work at an intuitive level and not an intellectual level; they have to work through the right-brain in the way of A = B = C = D etc. rather than 1 + 2 + 3 = 6 when the left-brain is used. Thus, every word used has to be seen in a way in which it evokes many meanings at the same time, even meanings that would seem to contradict. 'Cattle' is the same as 'Gold', even though they seem quite separate and different, for they both symbolise the Solar Light in different ways. Gold is more obvious, but the cow is both motherly and nurturing, and the Sun's rays nurture and feed us with Light. Audhumla is the Cosmic Cow and Cosmic Mother. 

Those scholars who have rejected anything but materialistic meanings to the runes have 'blocked out the Light', have pushed the true meanings into the darkness, where it is the role of the Aryan Mystic to retrieve them and bring them back into the Light of Day. Those who wrote down these symbols would likely have been aware of what they were writing, but had to hide them from the Judaeo-Christian oppressors who sought to destroy the Ancient Wisdom of the Arya. It may be that they were not aware of the hidden meanings, who knows? 

The 'darkness', the 'cave' and the 'lake' are symbolic of the subconscious; it is here that the Aryan Treasure lies hidden. It is here that the 'demons' and the 'darkness' hide that treasure. It is necessary to dive deep into that darkness, to dive into the 'lake', to enter the 'cave of darkness', to slay the Dragon of Darkness that guards the Gold-Hoard, and to retrieve the Gold-Hoard, steal back the cattle, and to bring this back into the Light of Day - the conscious mind. The unconscious has to be made conscious. This is the Mystery of the Blood - the Blood-Memory.

Like the Giantess, Gunnlod, the female Joten (Giants or Ogres) aid and help the Aryan Hero who has to find the treasure. This is clear in the tale of Jack & the Beanstalk. In the Myth of Knit Mountain we find Woden retrieving the Mead of Inspiration which was also stolen by the Joten and retrieved by the Gods. The essence of these tales is that some form of self-sacrifice is needed to regain the treasure, whether it be the Mead of Inspiration or the Golden Hoard, or the Cattle. The essence is struggle, going against all odds, sacrificing all for the sake of the Divine Quest. This is also true of the Graal-Quest, for the Graal is often seen as a 'Divine Light', a brilliant, shining light at the end of the struggle. To whom does the Light belong - the Light is the right of the Arya. The Divine Light is Feoh which can be seen from the OE fah which means 'radiant' or 'bright' and is the Fire of Ingwe. (*) There is another Old English word feorh which means 'life', 'soul' or 'spirit' and which is the Flame of Life. Light and Fire are the realms of Ingwe. (See the book for more details of this rune.)

(*) Woden's Folk uses the formula FAH as a means to remember the key elements for fire-making -

F = Fuel.

A - Air.

H = Heat.