Dagaz – Rune Meaning
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“Time is an illusion that once realized, is lovingly embraced, none the less.”
Dagaz - “Day-gahz” – Literally: “Day” or Dawn – Esoteric: Awakening
Rune of the hyper-consciousness. The process of concept becoming realized.
Psi: paradoxical truth, incommunicable experience, conceptual realization, Enlightenment, satori
Energy: twilight/dawn polarity, non-dual reality, unity, synthesis, transmutation
Mundane: another day, daylight, the inevitability of dawn
Divinations: Awakening, awareness, hope-happiness, the ideal, paradigm shift; or lack of vision, sleep, blindness, hopelessness, cataclysmic change.
Governs:
Attaining the mystical moment through penetration of the secret of paradox or non-duality
Reception of mystical inspiration – the gift of Odin.
Disappearance and the act of becoming the invisible
Invisibility as an organizing principle of Higher Consciousness
Synthesis of right-left brain dynamics.
Transformation of one thing into its opposite
Integration of female and male into complete being
My Notes:
Dagaz is the counterpart to the rune Jera. Both refer to time, Jera on an annual cycle and Dagaz on a daily cycle. Both are runes of change – Jera is a rune of gentle change, Dagaz is a rune of bold change, for example, the burst of light at the moment of illumination. It contains within its energies the experience called ‘satori’, a spiritual awakening experience common in all cultures.
Archaeological evidence proves that Dagaz has been used as a symbol of Light for more than four thousand years. It is the rune of hyper-consciousness. Achievement of this state of mind SEEMS to be a relatively rare occurrence in human life at this stage of evolution. When chronicled, it marks the beginnings of the mission of a World Savior on Earth.
Much has been written on the psychology and metaphysics of uniting left and right brain functions. Dagaz holds dominion over this union and is a tool that gives you great potency for present awareness and future growth. It is reminiscent of the lemniscate, the symbol of infinity, and the moebius strip, timelessness and illimitable potential, as well as an overturned hourglass.
The ‘point of poise’ entails balancing polarities so that all mystery is revealed to consciousness. The transformation of paradox into non-dual awareness occurs with Dagaz energies. It is to find the center between two extremes and maintaining a state of mind undisturbed by any mental or emotional storm. At the center, all power is to be found and equilibrium is a desirable attainment. This practice eventually leads to the practitioner no longer requiring a single right or wrong answer to the mysteries and many truths can exist complimentary to one another. No one single belief or viewpoint is sufficient and so all beliefs and viewpoints can be progressively abandoned. In the stillness and silent questioning of the mind that is left behind, all truth resounds.
Dagaz can be used to gain absolute stillness. It is invisible transforming power. The vibrational patterns of the self, or an object can be dampened so that the perception of material things to the human eye grow faint. Finding this point of poise takes great skill and practice with Dagaz but mastery of this rune of enlightenment leads down the path of disappearance. Mastery of invisibility leads to the understanding of existence through its opposite: non-existence.
An interesting thing to keep in mind is that the futhark has no rune for the night or for the moon. These are absences, not things. Darkness is not darkness, it is a quality of the light. The sun is always ‘there’, it is our world that spins around and causes the illusion that it is not. As well, the light of the moon is a reflection of the sun’s light. There is little reason to think that the ancients were not aware of this, even mathematically. “Darkness is not darkness” is a wonderful saying to meditate upon, and will reveal to the seeker that there is no true opposites as we are often convinced of, but only polarities within the supreme mystery of existence.
13 Comments to “Dagaz – Rune Meaning”
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Vanr says:
I had never unterstood what lies beneath the term “dark magic”, though I felt that there is nothing evil (as a lot of people believe), until I read this article. Now, I believe that dark magic, as opposite to white magic, means litterally that one does not accept to reflect the light of a superior being and tries to produce its own. And this is quite consistent with what left-hand path belief systems declare over their members’ ambitions.
Just some thoughts.
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Viv says:
My comment on Dagaz is neither academic nor practical for other readers or runevitkis. I just want to share an experience with Dagaz, the result of which has dawned on me moments ago after reading Tyriel’s write-up on this rune.
My job was made redundant following a corporate restructure. Trying to disappear from the embarrassment of having everyone in the open plan office convey their support and pity, I started imagining myself being encircled by the Dagaz rune. I noticed that people gradually stopped noticing me even entering the office. It felt great to be moving under the radar!
Then as months rolled on and I started actively seeking job opportunities, no one bothered to respond. I couldn’t get responses from external recruitment companies and the human resources people continued to ignore me and my sense of urgency. As i write this, i’m beginning to understand what it could feel like to “not exist” in one’s own reality. I know that the ego identifies itself with external objects and concepts. And when people have started behaving as though i no longer exist, I’m faced with having to understand that I’ve been defining myself through my reflection off those in my personal reality. The point i’m getting at is that I’m having a tough time existing… or not existing in this way. And I’m struggling to hold on to this boat that’s evidently sailing away.
Yes, on a mundane level, I need a job. I am doubting that I could achieve this through non existence. I don’t know how to achieve this balance that Dagaz speaks of. I don’t know how to undo the invisibility. Perhaps it needs to undo itself (?). Maybe I need to reverse this somehow. Or maybe I need to embrace the lesson and evolution. If anyone has any tips or advice for me, I’d be grateful. I have until the end of this month to make myself visible.
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Mahryan says:
I don’t know Viv – that’s some powerful invisibility shield you have there [lol]. I just wrote and tried to post an answer and it disappeared into cyber space! This time I’m writing it in Word first .
This is just my point of view and you must feel these things out for your self, but I will offer a couple of suggestions.
First, if you have put on an invisibility cloak that you no longer need, then you must take it off. This should be quite simple. I would say, “Thank you for the shield, it served me well. Now I need to be visible again.”
Second, in terms of finding a new job it is important to remember that we work in particular social times and contexts. Right now, the economy is struggling. You are not alone in being laid off; nor in seeking another job.
Nevertheless, runic energies will help you in that search. Which ones to use does depend on your own situation, so you should think about which ones feel right to you. When I have needed work to provide for material needs I have drawn on the energies of Nauthiz (the need fire to achieve what is necessary – cover my necessities; Fehu for material wealth /needs are not alone; and Uruz for the health and strength to do what needs to be done. In your case, as effective communication is now important, you might want to call on Ansuz and perhaps there are other runes that seem to resonate with your field of work.
I hope this helps a little and good luck!
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Hi Viv
On first Mahryan’s suggestion. I once was caught on such a “trap” and that’s how I got off. You can experience again the time when you called Dagaz help. Imagine that you created a, eg wooden, talisman with Dagaz. Now you can return to present and imagine that you burn it out, since it fulfilled its purpose. Since I had not “printed” my wish, I needed to follow this procedure in an imaginary way.
Good luck with your job research.
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Dear Mahryan & Vanr
Thank you both for your suggestions. At least one immensely positive lesson has emerged from all this – I now believe in the invisibility power of Dagaz. I’ll definitely try your suggested methods of turning off the workings of Dagaz and I’ll keep you posted on the result.
Mahryan, thanks for the tip on Nauthiz – I’ve never thought to use it due to the stigma attached to it in divinations.
Coincidently, the runes have been advising me to use Ansuz as well. They have also been spitting out Algiz in Merkstave to remedy my situation. Merkstave Algiz always been a tough one for me to understand practically.LoL @ Mahryan’s disappearing text. I’ve learned my lesson on underestimating the runes.
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Viv: Oh, I don’t know… I still underestimate them once in a while… ;)
Vanr: Yes, I agree here that visualization techniques are extremely useful, especially for stuff that has to do with one’s own psyche.
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There’s a stigma attched to Nauthiz in divination? To me it’s always been a rune of strength – things may be tough but you have what you need (the fire of necessity). The Norse after all were well able to survive the icy weather!
As for Algiz, I’ve always understood it as primarily protective even in murkstave.
Sometimes it can be warning you to protect yourself.
But often I find it is indicating a need to tend to the roots of something. In the context of finding a new job it might be saying “prepare the ground; do the planting” -
Mahryan, my introduction to the runes was through divination. Nauthiz was, from what I’ve read, not the best rune to cast in divination as it presents a warning of some sort. And the good news in it is, according to Aswynn, “forewarned is forearmed”. And so I always considered it a prickly rune. Obviously, i need to start from the beginning again *chuckle* …without judgement. Thanks for the help.
Re Algiz, that is some new insight for me. Quick question: Aside from meditating on runes to understand their mysteries. Is there another way I can do this?
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@Viv: There is another way you can understand, and that is to explore the definitions of various associated concepts. For instance, under each basic rune meaning on the site, I’ve listed:
Psi (an associated psychic or psychological state)
Energy (an associated movement or action or process)
Mundane (seemingly normal things that are profound in their association)
Divinations (what people generally agree they mean in relation to a reading)For instance in Dagaz I mention ‘satori’… well, what IS satori, exactly? I also mention paradoxical truth, and non-dual reality. Well, what are those? What does that mean to you?
We can get more basic: some runes are linked to courage. What is courage? How do we develop it? What are its results? What can I do right now that would take courage?
For nauthiz: Need. What is it like to live needing something? What is it like to live restricting yourself to your needs rather than desires. What is the difference between a need and a desire?
You can think about these things, on your own, or consult philosophy or even what other religions say about these things.
Also words, if you’re into etymology. Healing, wholeness and holiness are common words in spiritual practices. Interestingly enough, they all relate to the more ancient word “HALE”, they all have the same root. This tells us something about how the ancients thought these (in our time) seemingly unrelated ideas were much more associated than we.
So there are many ways of exploring individual concepts, ideas, definitions and the origins of words that will pry apart these mysteries… these ‘rune secrets’ if you will. Ha ha. :D
I hope that helps Viv. Thank you for taking such an interest lately, I value your support of the site!
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Tyriel, I appreciate your advice. I will delve deeper into each meaning using the analyses and articles on the website as a basis for the groundwork. I would definitely prefer a more active approach for my research, so your suggestions work for me. I think i’ll be taking the philosophical / psychological approach.
And yes, the RuneSecrets site has become my first port of call when I need to reference a rune meaning. The articles contributed has been very valuable for me too. The associated concepts under each rune were a terrific idea!
Mahryan / Vanr / Tyriel / and whoever else care to know :)
I DID IT! :D The invisibility shield is Kaput! I like theatrics – so i drew a nice big Dagaz on a piece of paper. Stated my intention, and burned it. I also remembered to thank the rune for its workings in my Wyrd. And I’m so pleased with how effective it was! Everyone greeted me this morning (even people i did not know). Got invited to coffee. Received an email with work propositions… all in 2 hours of being in the office! Feels so good to be present.
Thank you all – you’ve been great!
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[ ... You can think about these things, on your own, or consult philosophy or even what other religions say about these things. ... ]
It is quite interesting to find out that a lot of religions and belief systems share common thoughts, aspects and concepts. For example, the above burn-out procedure reminds me the so-called “Wild Fox Zen” incident, not as a sudden enlightenment, but as a sudden “discovery”. It is an action revealing a special mind activity.
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Barbara says:
Beautiful site thank you for the effort!
I just asked (several times in the last years) the same old question and got the same old rune…what is my life purpose and I got Dagaz. Funny that all my life (before being aware of the runes) I had the number 69 following me everywhere…I find this number reflects pretty much the meaning described here about this rune: the Yin and the Yang union of polarities, transcendence…
I do find myself recognizing Viv´s experience of not being seen…
If I am to admit that Dagaz represents best my life path, yet we do have to work, pay bills and so on…how to procede without ruining the life-process Dagaz is sugesting and at the same time be able to get a job and so on? Burning the rune symbol in this case.
Any sugestions?
Hugs
B
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Tyriel (also known as James Lord Bard) is a writer and graphic designer, living in Canada. He is passionate about the runes, and about bringing spiritual consciousness and heightened freedom to the mainstream. He has a solid background in web design, graphics and video production. He is also a poet, a novelist and musician.
30years ago,a friend and I began an effort to have a social club of sorts organized around the ideals expressed in the Dagaz rune.We didn,t follow up with this effort,but several other folks in the Madison,Wisconsin area did to a greater degree.
How does the relatively recent founding of the Dagaz corp. subsidiary sit with you all?