At the Young Republican mixer Friday evening a group of Nazis, who openly identified as national socialists, mingled with mainstream conservative personalities, including some from Turning Point USA, and discussed race science and antisemitic conspiracy theories.
As someone who absolutely loves runes, this hurts my heart. At its simplest and most ancient, it is a letter in a written alphabet that represents a sound. But over time, each rune has come to represent a philosophical idea, and for some, spiritual meanings. Othala is no different. But NONE of them involve racial and sexual exclusionary hatred like this.
You’re free to stop reading here because the rest of what I have to say is completely philosophical. But if you want to know what this rune really stands for and how far the Nazis have twisted it from its traditional meaning, read on.
The rune Othala above, the primary rune these racist shitheads have incorrectly appropriated (there are a few others if I remember correctly, including sowilo, the sun rune) is traditionally linked to all the things human beings equally call our home: family, inheritance, family name, duty to family, and ancestors.
In the Northumbrian tradition, it comes from two words meaning “own earth” or “own land.” It’s about what belongs to us by right, but it’s equally about what we owe others, and how inclusion in society requires our own effort and right behavior.
Among others from various Nothern European countries, there is a bit of ancient literature from the UK that defines the Elder Futhark runes called the Old English Rune poem. One translation of the Old English rune poem says of Othala: “Home is loved by all people, if there rightfully and in peace we may enjoy many harvests in the hall.” Again, clearly, the idea of Home and all its goodness is for everyone.
To quote a much more modern book on the runes, “The [Othala] stanza in the Old English rune poem is about heritage, patriotism, rights, and freedom. It says we all love our homeland, as long as we have our rights, proper treatment, and a fair opportunity to prosper. These rights are for “each and every man,” not just the princes and earls that the poem usually talks about. “Properness” means that we need to be treated properly and we need to act in a way that is proper for our society. In other words, we need to belong.”
I could go on, but that’s probably enough. All that’s a far cry from what Othala has been twisted into by the fascists. Othala is about strengthening connections with other people, not this hateful Nazi shit.
Next time you see Othala misused by the white supremacists, remember that this, too, is just one more big fat lie and twisting of historical fact the fascists have on offer for anyone stupid or scared enough to buy into it.
They did the same to the bent cross. There’s one on the Baha’i House of Worship in Wilmette, IL. It’s there because the house of worship was designed and dedicated in 1912, so yeah WWI hadn’t quite kicked off at the time
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baháʼí_House_of_Worship_(Wilmette,_Illinois)
Yes, it’s criminal what they did to the bent cross, a symbol that has been revered by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains for centuries, among others. I like the way the church you linked to used it in their design:
That’s the way it should be. I love that they took it back and returned it to a central place of honor. Thanks for the link!
Even though it is an Abrahamic Religion, the founding concept is Unity Through Diversity. They forgot that El, aka Yahweh, was a God of War back in The Bronze Age Collapse, and focused on the hippy commune part of Christ’s teachings.
Can we take that rune back? I’m pretty big on family, although the patriotism bit I could probably do without
Absolutely take it back! The patriotism is pretty secondary, and to my understanding has nothing to do with “patriotism” as we know it today, but like all the runes, comes from a time where your inclusion and place in a specific tribe guaranteed your survival and dictated the course of the life you would live.
So I guess “tribe loyalty” for those who lived the way of the runes would be a synonym for today’s patriotism, but it was more about just staying alive than what we know as politics.
Likewise, your exclusion from a tribe was easily a death sentence. In those days, in that cold region (Northern Europe) people relied on each other to stay alive in a way we know little of these days. Settlements were small, and everyone had a job to do, and thus individual choices were undertaken with a deep consciousness as to the common good, because you knew if your little community fell apart and couldn’t feed or defend itself there was a very real likelihood you would ALL die.
It’s this second part, the way of living individually for the greater good, that Othala addresses: how in those times the individuals made the group, the group made the home for all in it, and the more that any individual put in the more the entire group prospered as a whole.
Stick a flag on that and call it “patriotism,” I guess, but it’s truly a much deeper meaning – one the Nazis never understood, because marching in lockstep against people of your own community was not something people living in those days could ever imagine.
Hell yeah, take it back!
Hell yeah, loyalty to your local tribe of weirdos(said affectionately)? I can fully get behind that. When I finally save up enough to get my shoulder tat, I’m gonna include Othala into it
Oh, that’s awesome! May I introduce you to bindrunes then? That’s where you combine a rune (or several) into a larger design that has a very specific meaning for you personally, in addition to it just being art. For many people, they also have spiritual significance, but you don’t have to specifically be into the Norse religion(s) for that, as many pagan/ heathen/ wiccan/ witchy/ magical folks also use runes and bindrunes as well.
And yes, today’s self-created “tribes of weirdos” are exactly what Othala is about: for everyone who doesn’t have a family, but creates one out of people they come to know and love, Othala is every bit as meaningful and powerful – perhaps even much more so, because for people on the fringe today, the “belonging” of Othala is every bit as much about survival and thriving with the help of others as it was about physical survival in ancient days.
So I finally found some time to read your link and do some general googling found a bindrune created by the “Wayfarers Mark” tumbler called the Initiate’s Bindrune that I like. I’ll definitely look into this stuff more than I have already, and I thank you for showing me this world
That’s awesome! I looked up the Wayfarer Initiate’s Bindrune, that’s a really nice one, lots of great mojo and meaning in it. Fantastic choice. I love that the maker went ahead and traced out all the included runes for you, because otherwise you have to know them well enough to be able to pick them out yourself, and they spared you that. Even I can’t necessarily pick them all out, and I know them pretty well now.
But take your time, no hurry, runes are as superficial or as endlessly deep as anyone wants to take them, so as soon as you said you’re going to look into them you opened a very deep rabbit hole, lol. If you ever have a question or want book recommendations feel free to hit up my DMs, I could talk about runes all day. Thank you for letting me know you found your bindrune!
Yeah, I went and looked up the meaning of all the runes thanks to that chart laying out which ones were in it,and overall I’m happy with each of the vibes conveyed. The only vibe I’m not sure I identify with are the fertility vibes, but eh, I’m not AGAINST fertility vibes xD Its shape is also something I could see easily being incoporated with a “tribal” pheonix tattoo that was already going to be my eventual tattoo. I’m definitely down for further rune chats! Also I apologize for how long it takes me to respond to you, you seem like a cool person, so I’ve been waiting til I had the energy for proper responses before I respond
No problem at all. I am older and have a number of post-Covid problems myself, so I am all too familiar with the Not Now Maybe Later Personal Energy Forecast. Take your time. These things, I think, happen exactly as they are supposed to. I don’t know what you belief system is (and I don’t want to step on it so please forgive any offense) but the way I see it is that because you were so resonant when you were introduced to the runes, they were kind of “meant to be” for you, and I just happened to be the one to open that door. Later, you’ll open other doors yourself, and even further on, you’ll be like me, accidentally opening a door for someone totally new like yourself.
If you have the intention and will to learn and grow (and you do!) it will all happen exactly as it is supposed to.
I see you ran into Berkana, lol. It’s the one that looks like a B and it’s THE fertility rune. But no worries. It’s not just about sprogs! (We’d ALL be in trouble if I woke up in the family way, lol.) Rather, think about fertility in terms of creative energy and all the NON-diaper-wearing things you give life to – everything from an amazing recipe, to a unique solution to a problem, to wording a post, to the innovative way you juggle your schedule and manage to get done more than you thought you could. Fertility is about all things creative.
Berkana is also about nurturing. I find it to be roughly analogous to The Empress card in tarot: that which is nourishing, comforting, soothing, and renewing; about ensuring you care for yourself as well as the others around you, and in a fair way. If you have a caring soul, you will find yourself often drained because you’re taking care of everyone around you. Let Berkana be a reminder that you’re on that personal 'needs care" list too, and not in last place.
Because these runes come from ancient times when children were the greatest source of wealth a community could have, pretty much every ancient community has overtly sexual fertility totems, statues, rites, etc. But if a general definition like fertility = babies or even wealth = cattle (Fehu) is simply not for you, you can safely forget all that and bring it to your own modern sense of what it means. Fertility, at its core, is about creativity: for some that’s creating new life, for the rest of us it’s about creativity in everyday living.
When I was getting into the runes, I read a lot of things from different sources, and I would suggest the same to you. The list you have now of what they mean is a great place to start, but they will each acquire their own specific-to-you meaning along the way. So if you run into a rune – or a rune-related idea – that’s just ??? for you, no worries. Chances are excellent that 1) that’s not the only thing that rune is about, and 2) within the general framework, that rune was never going to mean EXACTLY to you what it means to that other person anyway. All that you read is a starting off point: find that core idea behind each, take what resonates, learn the general ideas behind each one, but be open to the runes teaching you their secrets themselves. And they will.