Ar-Kan Rune-Lag

Ar-Kan Rune-Lag

Friday 16 February 2018

The Runes UR and YR

The Ur-Rune has the basic meaning of Aurochs which is the 'Ur-Ox' or 'Primal Ox'; this was a massive beast with horns that could reach up to 12ft long. You can imagine the power of such an animal. The Aurochs represents the primal nature of the wilderness, the 'Moor-Stomper' as the Old English Rune Poem calls the beast. This is a very primal power, and a chaotic power such as that found in the 'stampede'. 

The rune itself means 'primal' which means 'first'; this is the Rune of Origins which refers to the source of something. The glyph is said to be that of the horns of an ox or bull; the stave also looks like the body of the ox or bull, which may have been where it derives from.




The above is an alternative, although the ur-glyphic symbol was probably like an upturned 'V' rather than as the stave above. This is the symbol of the Primal Mountain and is a male symbol as opposed to the 'V' shape itself which is female. The Sacred Mountain is Mount Me-Ru or Mount Su-Me-Ru either of which we use within Folkish Wodenism. 

It has been said that the stave represents a 'doorway', probably due to the shape of it, though this does seem to need a bit of imagination to see it for one. The Ox or Ur-Ox is an 'earthly' beast, and like Taurus the Bull it has associations with the Earth. This rune represents the Lower Cauldron of the ALU-ULA Exercise, which is Bodn or 'Earth'. 

The rune is a rune of strength and power; it is a powerful healing-rune in ite own right. Meditating upon the rune will aid in strengthening one's self-discipline and Will-to-Power. The Primal Bull has associations with Rudra-Shiva, which underlines its chaotic, wild nature; it is a rune of the wilderness, of the Primal Wilderness. Use the rune when doing strength-training. In order to feel this power it is necessary to retire into the wilderness at times, to get out into the wild, windy, wet, cold wilderness and to 'feel' its power. 

The alternative meaning of 'drizzle' refers to the misty realm created by the coming together of the Primal Fire and Primal Ice. This is the realm of the Mist Hunter and in Celtic Lore we find the figure of Gwyn ap Nydd - 'Gwyn - Son of the Mist'; Gwyn ('The White One') is the Wild Hunter-God that we know as Woden. Gwyn-Wyn-Gwydion-Wydion-Woden - they are the same archetypal Hunter-God and Magician-Poet.

The stave also represents the 'Path of the Fire-Serpent' in that the long upright stave is the Spinal Column along which the Fire-Serpent rises; the stave going across is the path of the Fire-Serpent over the crown of the head; the shorter stave is the final movement to the Mind's Eye or Third Eye. This can be found on the famous Sutton Hoo Mask where the Serpent moves from the neck, over the head, to the Mind's Eye where it meets with the Eagle-Swan-Winged Serpent. The whole thing represents the transformation of the Serpent (Earth-Mortal) into the Winged Serpent-Eagle (Divine-Immortal). 

The Ur-Rune also features in the English Yr-Rune, as shown below -


This rune is made up of an Ur-Rune within which is an 'Irminsul' which can be more easily seen in a variant where the inner cross-piece goes straight across and not at an angle as here. Here the Ur-Rune seems to be used in its original form and meaning of 'Primal' in that the 'Irminsul' represents the Three Royal Lines of the Angles - Wolsungas, Wulfingas and Heardingas. This is an interpretation used solely within Folkish Wodenism and the Ar-Kan Runes. The Yr-Rune also represents Ymir and the Primal Sound - YM (pronounced as UUUM, as in 'l-UM-inous'). 




The Armanen System and Norse Systems use the above rune for YR; both the Norwegian and Icelandic runes refer to either the Yew-Tree of the Yew-Bow. The Old English Rune-Poem also suggests (to me) a Yew-Bow, and the glyph itself also suggests the same. The use of the bow on horseback is clearly stated in the OE Rune-Poem, or at least suggested if the meaning is that of a Yew-Bow. The YR-Rune shown here is also a glyph of a bow and arrow, when turned onto its side. In the Ar-Kan system the above is the Calc-Rune whilst the top glyph is the Yr-Rune. Times change, technology changes, and the above 'bow and arrow' becomes a 'nuclear warhead' in modern terms of warfare - the symbols remain the same. Just as the 'Ministry for Peace' concerns itself with war in Orwellian terms, so the 'Peace Movement' uses a warlike symbol as its prime symbol.

The Hagal-Rune, shown as the 'snowflake' version below, is made up of the 'Life-Rune' and 'Death-Rune' -




But it is also the case that the Haegl-Rune of the Ar-Kan Runes can be split into two Ur-Runes, one above the other -




The same is true of the Hagal-Rune of the Common Germanic Futhark, which has only one cross-stave. The stave shows - UR-RU. In both cases there is a fusion of opposites into a wholeness. In both cases there is the union of male and female into a wholeness - a Sacred Marriage. There is also a link between the meanings of Ur (Drizzle) and Hagal (Hail); the latter is frozen rain or drizzle.

The difference in sounding UR and YR is quite simple; UR is sounded at the back of the throat, whilst YR is sounded at the front of the mouth. This, I feel, is the way that they could be sounded, but this is just my own idea on the subject. Thus UR is deeper and more 'primal' whilst YR is a shade higher in pitch.

The father of Bor is Buri, and the name 'Buri' is given to a Primal Beast, often the Bear, Boar or the Wolf depending upon cultures. B-Ur-i is a Primal Being, the First of the Gods. His name contains his essence - 'Primal'. He is the 'First of the Gods'. His origins lie in the Primal Ice which also produced the Primal Being Ymir. It was Audhumla, the Cosmic Cow or Cosmic Mother, that licked the Ice and freed Buri; at the same time her milk fed the giant Ymir. Ymir represents the Primal Material from which the worlds were formed by the Gods - Woden, Will and Weoh. 

B = The Creation - Birth.

UR = Primal.

I = Primal Ice - the forming material from which Buri emerged. 

The son of Buri is Bor and the names appear to mean the same; he marries Bestla ('Best Blood' according to Vargs Vikernes); this couple produces Woden, Will and Weoh, the Triple-Godhead. We have the sequence 1 - 2 - 3 which appears as such in various traditions, each giving birth to the next. In fact, we would perhaps be better stating this as 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 since the starting point is really with the Void - Ginnungagap. 














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