Elder Futhark · Tyr's Aett
Berkano
Rune 18 - ᛒ
Upright
A tender new growth is beginning and needs careful nurturing.
Berkano. A tender new growth is beginning and needs careful nurturing. The birch, and the mother. The first tree to return to burned ground: growth, tending, birth, and what is quietly nurtured before anyone can see it. Rune 18 of the twenty-four. It is second of Tyr's Aett, the final eight - the aett of the human sphere at full stretch: will, honour, kinship and the self coming into its own. Upright, the stave stands in its clear aspect and can be worked with directly. Its keyword range runs through new growth, nurturing, fertility, and a fresh start.
Merkstave
New growth is being stifled by anxiety, control, or family strain.
Berkano merkstave. New growth is being stifled by anxiety, control, or family strain. The birch, and the mother. Rune 18 of the twenty-four. It is second of Tyr's Aett, the final eight - the aett of the human sphere at full stretch: will, honour, kinship and the self coming into its own. Fallen merkstave, the timing is wrong rather than the substance. Right thing, wrong hour - early, late, or frozen short of where it was going. In merkstave, read these as strain, blockage, or the caution the rune is raising: stalled growth, family tension, a smothered beginning, and anxiety about the new.
About the Elder Futhark
The oldest runic alphabet, used across Germanic Europe from roughly 150 to 800 CE.
No rune names or meanings are directly recorded for the Elder Futhark. The meanings used here are reconstructed from three later medieval sources - the Old English, Norwegian and Icelandic Rune Poems - which give a verse for each rune. 'Merkstave' (a reversed or ill-dignified rune) is a modern reading convention; runes with no natural upside-down form are read only for merkstave when the surrounding runes are adverse.
Full history →Meanings are a guide to a symbolic tradition, offered for reflection and entertainment. They do not predict the future or describe real people or events. See the Terms.