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“Find your ears before you search for words.”
Ansuz - “Anne – suhz” – Literally: “Woden” – Esoteric: “Breath” or “Ancestral Sovereign God”
Key Concepts: order, gods, Odin, transmission of intelligence, communication, reason, inspiration, language, breath, sound, origins of language, the Voice of the Universe, spellsong, casting, chanting, ancestors, passing of the breath along the ancestral line, evolution of gods, speech, poetry, discussion of runes, memetics, semiotics, etymology, linguistics.
Psi: mental stability, communion, inspiration, listening
Energy: sovereign ancestral god, animating spirit, breath, communication, exploration, order, answers
Mundane: words, conversation, symbols, elders, music
Divinations: Divine inspiration, word-power, synthesis, transformation, intellect, open paths of communication; or misunderstanding, delusion, manipulation by others, boredom, bad advice
Governs:
All powers of naming and conceptualization
Convincing and magnetic speech and writing, and the power of suggestion and hypnosis
Acquisition of creative wisdom, inspiration, ecstasy and divine communication
Reason, analysis and good advice
Connecting and networking
Listening to oneself and one’s own particular inner-voice
My Notes:
Odin’s gifts to the first humans is said to be the breath of life and inspired mental activity, along with form, speech and the cognitive senses. The root energy of this rune triggers inspiration and ecstatic mental states. The ability of our minds to work with patterns (which computers for the most part completely lack) is inherent in the energies of Ansuz. Thorsson aptly states that Ansuz is the “rune of ancestral sovereign power of the mind consciousness, inspiration, enthusiasm and the power of the use of symbols for transformation of consciousness.”
The spirit takes up its residence in the human body when the babe breathes its first breath. It leaves the body with the last breath. Breath is the actual point of osmosis between the physical world of the human being, and the transpersonal energy that animates the universe. Emphasis on the breath is seen in meditation practices in all traditions. Inspiration means to breathe in the exalting or quickening influence of cosmic awareness. The breath is also connected to ancestry, as even the word spirit comes from the same root as breath. Our ancestral lines are unbroken with those of the gods still to this day, in blood and in breath.
Ansuz governs our mental capacities to name all things. Whereas THURISAZ deals with chaotic forces, Ansuz is a rune of ordering. Naming a thing properly can give power over that thing, and in ancient traditions, naming has often been used to dispel mischievous spirits, bind demons or break psychological fetters. The relationship also is indicative chaotic events can be used to shape ordered circumstances and one’s own thoughts, or the thoughts of others. Ansuz is suggestive of the relentless patterns that modern chaos theory declares are universal in every system. The newest theories of language are also found in the mysterious order and ’strange attractors’ of chaos linguistics.
It is here that all speech can be deciphered and understood as well, so Ansuz is a rune connected with listening and speech: communication and meaning in general. Use such skills wisely for manipulation can, through temptation, become an end in and of itself, and corrupt the power of the rune. The problems with propaganda and misdirection are that the mind will follow its own words into confusion and create hypocrisy, which will damage the hamingja. Thought and action are most powerful when aligned and honesty is the best policy.
The rune of secrets, silence and true listening is BERKANO, but there is a type of listening that will allow one to hear the Voice of the universe, and this power lay within the power of Ansuz. The rune of higher reasoning and mental abilities particular to human is MANNAZ. These three runes, used in conjunction are extremely powerful.
You can leave your comments on what you just read using the box below. I always try to reply within 24 hours. Your insights become a permanent part of this article!
April 14th, 2009 at 12:55 am
[...] awareness. It is the rune of leading by example and of actions that speak louder than words. Though ANSUZ may tell the stories, Raidho lives the stories. It represents our deepest personal life journey and [...]
September 9th, 2009 at 9:58 am
These mystic runes… what do they means? I want to know more about them.
September 12th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Well, keep reading the site, and work with the runes until some understanding develops. I notice the site you linked to seems interesting. Why not say more about it?
November 8th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Thank you Tyriel for all the experience you share with us.
I just want to add a little pebble. I think it is interesting that in Greek there is a word that simultaneously means “speech”, “reason” and “thought” (Logos). It was a surprise for me to discover that Ansuz can combine all these attributes. It is another evidence that dispise the various cultures, people share the same World and can hearken the same Voice of the Universe.
November 8th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
The idea of Logos and Ansuz have much in common, and I’m certainwe could find other examples from other cultures in different times and places.
November 8th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Incidentally, why did you capitalize ‘Voice of the Universe’. Any particular reason?
November 9th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
I study and deal with the runes for no more than 2 months.
For now, I cannot justify it, I just felt that this expression (independently of the notation) could mean that, among others, Ansuz expresses the humanity seeking for a unique truth under the same Spirit, no matter the time and place. Voice is produced as a “coloured edition” of the Breath.
On the notation, I just respected the one used above.
If there is a meaning underneath, I would definitely like to be aware of it.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
With Ansuz I always like to note that things like the ’story’ are fairly universal, with a beginning, middle and end… cross cultural. Our minds are story-making machines, in a sense, no matter the language we use, or where we were born.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Therefore, can we say that Voice denotes the whispered dictation of these stories by the same Spirit, and, since it represents its Logos/Ansuz (at least as speech and thinking) and its essence, it can only be sacred and should be noted in capital?
But why do people that hear this Voice n e e d to convert its mental words to explicit stories? Sometimes what you can feel can be expressed in no way that does not spoil its meaning.
November 9th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
I think that we do not always need to convert the mental words to voice – and that probably in the 21st century we do so far too soon and too often, without the reason and thought aspects! On the other hand, I think it is definitely part of the northern tradition(s) to pass on knowledge. For this we must give to it a ‘voice’ and one that can be understood readily. Stories (myths) have been used in all of the ancient traditions to accomplish this. Story telling requires that we give thought and add reason before we give voice.
As someone who has also studied, at one point, astrology, I often contempate the possible relationships of the runes to the zodiac signs and planetary rulers. I have never discovered anything on this I find even remotely satisfactory, so there is plenty of room for contempalation! I bring this up, because I often think about the likenes of Anzuz to the communication role of Mecury in the sign of Gemini – very much to speak or give voice. In contrast, Jupiter in the opposite sign of Sagitarius has more to do with that we just ‘know.’ In french there are two ways to say it – “je sais” and “je Connais” – Anyway, just a few tangental thoughts to add to this discussion.
Welcome to the study of runes, Vanr!
November 10th, 2009 at 10:34 am
I realize that I didn’t quite complete one of yesterdays thoughts. I intended to relate my point about Sagitarius/Jupiter to Kenaz as the torch of knowlege. I think perhaps the energy of Kenaz can shine through us without speech, but through action – lighting the way …