Meditations on MAN: Veðrfölnir’s vision

This installment of my meditations on the Armanen Runes was completed on 4 April 2021. It focuses on the all-important rune MAN. The wind-witherer sits between the eyes of the eagle who is perched so gracefully in the highest branches of Yggdrasil.

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As I meditate on the Armanen rune MAN, I begin by internalizing verse 160 of the Hávamál.

A fifteenth I know,
That which Volkrast the Gnome sang by the Gates of Day:
To Strength for the Aesir, and to Force for the Albes (elves)
And to clear my own senses.[1]

Karl Hans Welz assists greatly in relating this obscure verse to several concepts in Norse mythology. He writes, “MAN is the crown and branches of the world tree, Yggdrasil, while YR signifies the roots of the world tree.”[2]  While Yggdrasil is primarily thought of as the structure of the universe or multi-verse, comprised of the Nine Worlds, it may also represent, in microcosm, the human body / soul-complex. In MAN, it is that internal or spiritual structure of Yggdrasil that is key. Welz emphasizes that MAN is not the entirety of the Yggdrasil microcosm, but rather its crown. The crown represents especially the two highest “worlds,” those of enlightenment, Ljosalfheim (Light Elf world) and the world of transcendence Ásgarðr (Æsir world).

Welz continues by breaking down some of the imagery of the verse, “The gnome refers to the fourth element: to consciousness. The gates of the day have a reference to the creation into humanity, the bursting into existence, which springs forth from the roots of destiny, the Norns. MAN strengthens the determination to achieve spiritual Oneness, here symbolized by the Ases (or Æsir, the Nordic Gods), but it also helps overcome material limitations… It is the Rune of the god-man, of power, of Divine, spiritual, magic. MAN clears the perception and it opens the senses and perception.”[3]

When Welz refers to consciousness as an element, he is utilizing a Buddhist concept. Beyond the standard physical elements, consciousness enables the mind to turn its attention to itself.[4] The MAN rune then helps achieve spiritual Oneness by opening the senses and perception into the spiritual world. The phrase “and to clear my own senses” refers both to Odin and to those capable of understanding and using the MAN rune. It is through such clearing of senses, that one becomes capable of perceiving something beyond the normal senses.

The thirteenth century, Norwegian Rune Poem (NRP) states:

“Man is earth’s increase; the hawk’s grasp is great.”[5]

The first half of the verse suggests man’s death, or having one’s physical body buried in the earth. This interpretation aligns with the verse from the Old English Rune Poem (OERP) that speaks of committing one’s “poor flesh to earth.”[6]

The death however of the physical body (the flesh) is juxtaposed with hawk imagery in the NRP’s rejoinder. There is one significant reference to a hawk in Norse mythology. In Gylfaginning, the wanderer Gangleri asks:

“What other particularly notable things are there to tell about the ash [Yggdrasil]?”[7]

High responds:

“There is a great deal to tell of it. There is an eagle sits in the branches of the ash, and it has knowledge of many things, and between its eyes sits a hawk called Veðrfölnir.”[8]

Here we return to Yggdrasil as a microcosmic map of human body/soul complex. The imagery of the hawk Veðrfölnir (Wind-witherer or Storm-Pale) that “sits” between the eyes of the Eagle that sits high atop Yggdrasil’s branches immediately brings to mind the concept of the Third Eye. Odin, the lore tells us, could turn himself into an Eagle. The Eagle in this passage has “knowledge of many things.” Throughout the lore, Odin demonstrates time and time again, his vast knowledge. Here, I believe the Eagle is a metaphor or kenning for Odin himself. The concluding phrase of Hávamál 160 speaks of Odin “clearing his own senses.” It is through this clearing of the senses that Odin and thereby man, using Odin as a model, can become fully conscious and turn the mind inward towards itself.

The sixth chakra, Ajna is associated with the pineal gland. It’s function is seeing and perception. The vowel sound associated with Ajna interestingly is mmmm, identical with the galdr of MAN. It is described as being located “behind the forehead” at, or slightly above eye level.[9]   The Third Eye is associated with seeing beyond the physical world and material limitations. Dr. Anodea Judith describes the Third-Eye as follows:

“The third eye can be seen as the psychic organ of the sixth chakra, just as our physical eyes are tools of perception for the brain… The third eye sees beyond the physical world, bringing us added insight, just as reading between the lines of written material brings us deeper understanding.”[10]

In his classic Heilige Runenmacht [Holy Rune Might], Siegfried Kummer makes the following point regarding MAN:

“To consciously feel the positive MAN-rune in oneself means to follow the path to spiritualization, the path into the subtle world, into the higher sphere.”[11]

MAN is a very powerful rune. It heightens our perception beyond our earthly senses. It is the rune of the god-man. It helps us perceive both the material world as well as the divine spiritual world – the worlds Ljosalfheim and Ásgarðr. It aids in our enlightenment through Veðrfölnir, the hawk who aids the earthward-looking Eagle by seeing beyond the material plane. His vision is keen, and indeed his grasp is great.

Notes:

1. Translation by Karl Hans Welz, Letter of Instructions # 15: The Rune MAN. https://knightsofrunes.com/rune_magic15.html. 

2. Welz.

3. Welz. 

4. The Consciousness Element. https://www.wildmind.org/six-elements/consciousness 

5. Stephen Pollington, Rudiments of Runelore (Cambridgeshire, UK: Anglo-Saxon Books, 2011), 53. 

6. Pollington, 49. 

7. Snorri Sturluson, Edda, trans. Anthony Faulkes (North Clarendon, VT: Everyman, 1995), 18. 

8. Ibid. 

9. See especially. Anodea Judith, Wheels of Life (Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn, 2019), 279-281. It is worth noting that Judith refers to Chakra 6 as “the winged perceiver.” 

10. Judith, 281. 

11. Siegfried Adolf Kummer, Holy Rune Might, trans. Aelfric Avery (Vavenby, CA: Woodharrow Bund Press, 2019),53.