Fehu: Rune of Wealth

In my last post I briefly went over what Sociology was, who Emile Durkheim was, and his theory of Collective Representation. If you missed that post go a head and skim it here. Having a background on his theory of culture will give you an idea of how I approach rune study so you know that I’m not just pulling this stuff out of my ass. I actually have it based on solid academic research. Mostly.

Nonetheless, let’s go ahead and dive into what we really want to study. The actual futhark itself. The natural place to start is Fehu of course. Being the first rune of the alphabet, it is also the first rune of the poems. So, in keeping with tradition it’s where we’ll start too.

Fehu is translated to cattle, and cattle is often transcribed to mean wealth. What makes rune study difficult isn’t the complexity of the meanings of the individual runes, but rather the simplicity. Wealth is as broad a term as they come, but thankfully wealth is derived from cattle, in this case domestic cattle which gives us more to work with.

In ancient Norse society, wealth was associated with cattle. In many agrarian societies, wealth was measured not only by land but by livestock. Since cultivating grain, while time consuming, didn’t require near the amount of labor or land or resources, livestock was a bit of a luxury. Not every homestead had the ability to raise cattle aside from a single dairy cow, or oxen to pull the plow. Assuming they had the resources to even afford those in the first place.

Cattle is an interesting source to measure one’s wealth. Because unlike crops which more or less stay put, cattle can, and often times do wander off. There are also predators to watch out for, disease, and yes even thieves. Aside from the level of maintenance required to ensure your herd is healthy, it’s also required to move your herd from field to field to prevent over grazing. The sheer amount of labor necessary to herd cattle is mind boggling. So much so that over time, humans would eventually breed dogs to help them with the monumental task of guarding, and herding.

Either way you slice it, Fehu is the type of wealth that demands your labor. As is often the case in Heathen theology, everything is earned and wealth especially is no different. Then again, does wealth ever just fall into anyone’s lap freely?

The Old Norse Poem

Wealth is a source of discord among kinsmen;

the wolf lives in the forest.

The Icelandic Poem

Source of discord among kinsmen

and fire of the sea

and path of the serpent.

The Anglo-Saxon Poem

Wealth is a comfort to every man,

although every man must share it out greatly

if he would obtain a portion of the Lord’s glory.

Let’s take a closer look at those poems. Two offer stark warnings to the dark side of greed, and one offers a solution to a largely human problem.

Of these three, the Old Norse is my favorite. It’s such a bone chilling image. Kinsmen, it’s important to note, doesn’t necessarily refer to someone you’re blood related to as it is often translated to. It has a level of distance associated to it that I feel is a tad more difficult for modern students to understand. It’s fairly archaic word. A better word would be tribesmen, or clansmen. (If you’ve seen Outlander, you’ll have a better idea of what kinsmen means).

Speaking from personal experience, funerals never bother me much. In fact, the service, viewing, all that is the easy part. The hard part is watching your family fight over what’s left behind like a pack of rabid dogs. That’s on a micro level, on a macro level you see that pan out on our political sphere such as Fight for 15, Medicare for All, and Occupy Wallstreet. The fancy sociology, or academic term for what I think the Old Norse Poem is describing is Wealth Inequality.

The Anglo-Saxon Poem

Wealth is a comfort to every man,

although every man must share it out greatly

if he would obtain a portion of the Lord’s glory.

Immediately the ASP (we’ll just abbreviate it) is much gentler and kinder than the Old Norse and Icelandic. For starters, the stanza explains to us the positive of wealth, that is, it is a comfort. From there it offers a cautionary warning. Although… one must share if he would be honorable. It is important to note here that the ASP is the youngest of all three of these poems and thus has the most Christian imagery, especially considering it was catholic monks who were first recording these poems and other stories down from oral history into writing for the first time. That usually meant additions and omissions, and the most common of these was removing any reference of a pagan god and adding in Christian ones.

Another interesting aspect of this poem is the direct suggestion that one must not horde their wealth but share it. Not because of any great evil, but if you want the lord’s glory. Which in today’s culture is no big deal, but back then the health of one’s immortal soul was just as important as one’s physical and mental health. So, while that may sound like a passive suggestion to us, it was anything but back then.

So how does that tie into a contemporary meaning we can use when it comes up in a reading? Well synthesizing what we know of history, sociology, and gleaning implied meanings from translated tidbits found in some dead rich white guy’s library; let’s start with career.

Fehu is most obviously going to translate to a career, investments and places in life where prosperity and wealth are earned. For example, starting a successful business, a promotion, making the dean’s list at school. You’ll see Fehu reflected in budget planning, investment planning, 401k deductions and even insurance policies. And while Fehu can certainly be used in spellwork to draw wealth, and particularly money, be prepared to work for it. Fehu particularly powerful if you are negotiating a raise at work or if you’re looking for a better paying job. Anywhere money is on the table, Fehu can be called for a little extra aid.

Another interesting place one can see Fehu reflected in the modern world would be our concept of The 1%; those multibillionaires that are uniquely a 21^st century phenomena. Like Jeff Bezos, J.K Rowling, Elon Musk, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates. Are these people who are using their wealth for good, or for destruction? Are they bettering society or are they employing wealth to their own selfish gains? Remember, wealth is a source of discord amongst kinsmen; the wolf lurks in the forest.