Nauthiz – Rune Meaning
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“Consciousness is the Necessity.”
“That which does not destroy me makes me stronger.” – Nietzsche
Nauthiz - “Not-this” – Literally: “Need-fire” or “Necessity” – Esoteric: Constraint, Friction
Key Concepts: Need, resistance, constraint, conflict, drama, effort, necessity, urgency, hard work, need-fire, life lessons, creative friction, distress, force of growth, the consequence of past action, short term pain for long term gain
Psi: resistance, need, effort
Energy: necessity, coming forth into being, urgency
Mundane: doing what must be done, chores, hard work
Divinations: Resistance (leading to strength), recognition of örlög (ultimate law, primal truth), innovation, need-fire (self-reliance), personal development and life lessons, achievement through effort; or constraint of freedom, distress, toil, drudgery, laxity, warnings, worry, guilt, moral cowardice, unfulfilled or unrecognized needs.
Governs:
Overcoming distress or negative örlög
Acceptance of the unchangeable
Development of magical will, the manipulation of wyrd
Understanding the dynamic force of “resistance” in the process of creating
The generation of creative energy for problem solving
Protection of one’s own needs
Recognition of personal need
Love magic; especially to obtain a lover
My Notes:
Without resistance, form would fall apart. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. It is the basic resistance of unconscious forces against newly evolved consciousness, but also the overwhelming need for evolution of consciousness, and that unconscious resistance to it.
The mysteries of necessity are at the core of Nauthiz. It is central to manipulating Wyrd so that desired outcomes can be attained through negotiating with the energies of the Norns. Invoking need is more powerful than wishing, but what we need and what we desire are not always the same. In this sense, Nauthiz can protect us from ourselves, but its lessons are often harsh. The force of the past exerts its effect on us in the present. Previous action catches up with us and attempts to restrain and restrict future action, which is the counter-movement of the cyclical processions of JERA. However, armed with humility we can learn our lessons from not only our own errors, but the mistakes and successes of others.
Action governed by Nauthiz is rooted in common sense. The magic of common sense is that it is not so common, because our desires and ideals eclipse our true need and perception of real circumstances. As a war rune, Nauthiz empowers the invoker to have the courage and wisdom to recognize what must be done in an otherwise complex situation. Necessity is the mother of invention. No pain, no gain. It is connected with the harshness of reality, like Hagalaz.
We have a painful fear of necessity and a love hate relationship with our needs. This is illustrated most excellently in the symbol of Nauthiz as two sticks rubbing together to create the ‘Need-Fire’. Our need for fire as a species is balanced with our fear of the power of fire. Consider this well and you will develop a profound understanding of this rune.
German Linguist Guido Von List writes in the early 1900s writes:
“Whoever is able to grasp the primal cause of phenomenon, and whoever gains knowledge of organic lawful evolution and the phenomena arising from it, is also able to judge their consequences just as they are beginning to ferment. Therefore, this person commands knowledge of the future and also understands how to settle all strife through …. the way of fate. Therefore: ‘Use your fate, do not strive against it.’”
Further Reading:
24 Comments to “Nauthiz – Rune Meaning”
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In a positive way, it could mean a potential lover, or a person who fills a need in your life. It could mean that that person has something that could help resolve some sort of problem.
A Nauthiz person could be someone we have a love/hate relationship with.
In a negative way, it could mean over-dependence on that person, or it could mean that that person is blocking us from fulfilling other needs. It could signify a needy person as well, and often these types of people will require more and more of our attention and energy, thus stopping us from fully fulfilling all our needs.
I’m sure there’s more, if you think fully about it, but does that help, selina?
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this helps put it into perspective! thank you. i guess i just need to use my intuition on whether it’s a positive or negative thing in the end :)
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That’s right… using the runes, especially when it comes to divination, requires you think for yourself.
Consciously, and intuitively, you know your own situation and your own experience of reality better than anyone.
But it’s always useful to supplement that with other viewpoints because it can break you out of certain ideas, or see new possibilities.
Feel free to come back and comment whenever you like! It also gets ME thinking, which is pretty necessary when I’ve decided I’m going to write so much on the subject :) So thank YOU, Selina! Have you considered subscribing via email? We’d be happy to have you around!
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kat says:
okay reversed achievement through effort, but much effort, a life lesson that is difficult and long, destiny path that you can not avoid but a strong need. I struggle with reversed as in you mention about reversed or not. I don’t feel there is just and opposite effect, it is more than that it is an affect of the normal. Since only some can be reversed there is a reason, but each rune holds its own positive/negative (if you want to look at it that way) message. Life is not black/white, it is alot of grey, that is what reversed is, I believe, just alot of grey. Help me if I am on the wrong track.
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Mahryan says:
Hi Kat:
I don’t think you atre on the ‘wrong’ track. All of our contemplations are valuable. Nauthiz is one of the three runes that represent the three Norns (Hagalaz, Nauthiz, Isa and there is another special article it would useful to have). All three are to do with harshness and challenge – associated with the northern winter environment. But that is also associated with hardiness in the people. Hagalaz and Isa do not invert, so I guess that would provide some weight to the possibility that the disection line of Nauthiz should be drawn at the centre of rune …[thoughts on that would be welcome!]. On the other hand, Hagalaz and Isa primarily represent forces beyond the individual whereas Nauthiz is very much about an individual imperative – that is meeting our absolute survival necessities ( the fire of need that makes us act in extreme adversity to preserve life). Personally I think there is value in this rune having an inverted position. -
thank you mahryan,yes i am trying to understand the inverted. Tyriel mentions a book in one entry here “using the runes” i think that inverted is not necessarilly bad, i think it delays or makes it more of what the rune is, in a sense harder to achieve or we are not seeing the message clearly. I am waiting for that book. It seems like the author makes a great interpretation of reversed and flipped runes. at this moment i do accept reversed, but I do not cast so none are flipped. thank you for your input.
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Vanr says:
Mahryan
[...]I guess that would provide some weight to the possibility that the disection line of Nauthiz should be drawn at the centre of rune …[thoughts on that would be welcome!].[...]I have heard that the 9 worlds of Norse Mythology are represented by non-reversible runes (eg Sowilo for Alfheimr, Eihwaz for Svartalfheimr etc). This could be because Space is fully symmetrical.
In this case, one could suppose that Nauthiz, which I feel is the most associated one with Time, is asymmetical because the Time is not bi-directional but has only one direction: forward.
Just a thought.
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Vanr,
interesting that you say that because when you look at the way some runes with Nauthiz, it does not look like it reverses. It looks the same both ways. I felt that about this rune.
thanks for that outlook. -
I bet you are right. I have been drawing Nauthiz asymmetrically – I cannot state why. It was a surprise for me to notice that finally it is not. :-S
Thanks for the remark. :-)
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Tyriel,
What is your say on this one. I saw in your article about Nauthiz that is does not reverse.
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Well, I know that some draw this rune so that it CAN be reversed, and I think that’s fine. But this is a very neutral rune. Along with Hagalaz and Isa, even Jera, these runes represent a portion of the universe inimical to human influence. For instance, Jera… “Time stops for no man.”
Necessity, that is need, is love-hate. While we must meet our needs, we really have no choice. That’s the meaning of the need-fire. Humankind was gifted the ability to make fire. We both depend greatly on this ability, as it has spurred endless innovation, and yet its destructive powers are also our worst enemy.
So when looking at Nauthiz, see if you can discover the positive and reversed meanings both at once.
Contemplating both the positives and negatives of any rune lay seems to work stronger for me than sorting out whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing. If you focus so much on whether something is good or bad, you’re busy judging something in advance of fully understanding it. Does that make sense?
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Yes thank you very much, that cleared it for me. It is like most things in life , they have a positive and a negative. I really like the runes and feel very drawn to them, so I am trying to get some guidelines to start with. I know I have to just start to “feel” the meanings and develop my inner guidance with the runes. Let them speak to me. I am going to get that book you recommended though by cooper, using the runes. It looks like he has a great way of describing alt/”neg” attributes of the runes. Thank you so much for the info.
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Thanks to everyone for this thought provoking discussion. As I said in the “Is there aRight or a Wrong Way” article, I think that the positioning of the runes and the positive-negative energies are much more complex than a simple upright-reversal association. Personally I have found the positions of runes helpful and have always considered Nauthiz as reversable (that was they way I was introduced to it). This discussion, and the points made by Vanr and Tyriel form a really strong argument for Nauthiz to NOT be reversable and I am going to be giving a lot of thought to that.
Importantly though, I believe that when we appraoch them with sincerity, the runes respond to our level of understanding. So while I believed Nauthiz to have a reversed position the rune energies worked with my understanding.
Kat – that Jason Cooper book is out of print. I did a quick search and there are cheap used copies via Amazon and e-bay, but who knows what the condition is like, mine is falling apart. The owners of ‘new’ copies are asking $70USD for a book that originally cost $8. I would also like to clarify, that I din’t explicitly recommend the book. I find it to have a different, and thought provoking perspective, but I have seen reviews roundly condeming Cooper for being different! As readers of my previous comments will know, I don’t think anyone should be condemed for having and sharing thoughts and really different perspectives can be the most valuable in provoking growth in our own views – just like this discussion on Nauthiz! -
Mahryan,
I like the feedback. I did get the book and it is really in good condition, got is for one penny and 3.99 shipping. I haven’t had a chance to look at yet. You are right though as are all here, this is one reason this is the best site on the web. All of us giving input on the runes. No wrong or right. I put meaning in revearsals it is just what meaning. Seems as if I am introduced to Nauthiz with a reversal but had an epiphany that for me it is symetrical and therefore not reversable. I like the thoughts about this as needs, and needs are sometimes good and bad, so in a sense how can you reverse. Like Vanr’s comment about time for this rune, you can not reverse time. Time means good and bad at the same time. -
Reiste says:
This rune was quite significant to me when I started getting into the runes. The suffering/undergoing energy as a result of need was (and to some extent, still is) a strong force in my life. I wanted to share this quotation – one of my favorites – that links to that:
“He who learns must suffer.
And even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart.
And in our own despair,
Against our will,
Comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.”
– Aeschylus, Agamemnon -
My first shock was KAT’s remark on my comment.
My second one was when I re-checked and found out that Nauthiz is finally associated to a world (Jötunheimr). I just had been dealing only with vertical axis (Asgard to Hel) and had not even realized it was on the horizontal axis.
I accept that Nauthiz is supposed to be symmetrical. This is something I won’t argue with. What is interesting to me is to find out which was the underlying and subconscious reason that made follow my differentiation. This is extremely important to me and in case I find something I believe will affect and interest the community, I will gladfully share it out.
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I think that quotation resonates well with Nauthiz, Reiste. Thanks for sharing it, and welcome!
Vanr: Looking forward to your future insights into Nauthiz!
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Vanr,
Yes if you do find something, write it down. The reason this question came out is because I pulled for a question and Blum’s book (the only one I had at the time) showed reverse. So I did not think about it till this site. It definitely can be drawn so that you can see a reversal. Thank you very much for the input.
Reiste,
I really like that poem. I feel like I have been living that.
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I’m not certain how many of you are aware that last summer, I did do an Rune Meaning Analysis on Nauthiz, as part of the extended series I plan to complete.
http://runesecrets.com/rune-meanings/nauthiz-rune-meaning-analysis
I forgot to cross link it to this page, but it’s fixed now. Take a look through the Nauthiz Analysis if you haven’t already..!
-Tyriel
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Mahryan
I owe you an apology. I wrote in one of my posts here asking Tyriel a question about the article written on the reversals. It was your article. I am so sorry. I read it again, as a matter of fact I have read it many times now. It really does clear up alot of things and is a most excellent article.
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Yes I did see that article, It is a great analysis Nauthiz. I really like your detailed analysis of the runes, keep em coming.
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Absolutely no need to apologize Kat. It isn’t importnat who wrote it – only that it is helpful to others.
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Adriane says:
This rune always has me flumoxed… I pulled it with someone specific in mind (enlightenment of current situation), and then pulled Jera as the clarification rune; then I pulled Inguz (for what is in his heart rune).
I’m okay with having somewhat of an understanding of the separate aspects of the runes, but tend to have difficulty correlating a grouping or how several relate to each other and to my question or situation at hand.
Would greatly appreciate any input on these.
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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.
what does it mean when nauthiz represents a person? is the person a need? a constraint? positive/negative?