Meditations on YR: Confronting One's Valkyrie
I begin my meditations on the sixteenth rune, YR, by considering Hávamál strophe 161. Karl Hans Welz translates the strophe as follows:
A sixteenth I know,To experience the pulse of love with you;
I sing this, I am aware of the Goddess,
And her feelings engulf me.[1]
Here Welz’s translation varies significantly from the original Old Norse (ON). An alternative literal translation is more useful for my analysis:
Þat kann ek it sextánda:
ef ek vil ins svinna mans hafa
geð allt ok gaman, hugi ek hverfi
hvítarmri konu, ok sný ek hennar öllum sefa.
A sixteenth I know, | if I seek delight
To win from a maiden wise;
The mind I turn | of the white-armed maid,
And thus change all her thoughts.[2]
The important term to consider is hvitarmri konu (white-armed maid.) While Welz likely used the word “Goddess” to broaden and simplify understanding, the Old Norse is critical for clarity. Through my research, I discovered that “white-armed” is a kenning for Valkyrie that appears in the Hrafnsmál (Raven Song). For those who may not be familiar, Valkyries are beings that choose slain warriors from the field of battle and bring them to Valhalla. These gathered warriors are known as the Einherjar and will comprise much of Odin’s army that fights in the “final battle” of Ragnarök.
Elsewhere in the lore, Valkyries are also known as “wise maidens” and “Odin’s maids.” In this strophe we also have the ON term “Svinna mans” literally “wise maiden.” In Völundarkviða ("The Lay of Völund"), a Valkyrie is named Hlaðguðr svanhvít or “swan white” again emphasizing the “white” imagery and further confirming the Valkyrie association of this Hávamál passage. This verse suggests, if not the evocation of a Valkyrie, the power to change the thoughts and actions of this Higher Order Entity. It may be that the magical evocation of a Valkyrie is similar in concept to the evocation of angels and / or guardian spirits in other faiths and cultures.
The verse then is certainly much more than a simple “love verse.” It suggests that Odin can, via YR, work "his will" and "turn her thoughts" to him. Aelfric Avery writes of YR, “Deeper magical uses include the finding of one’s Valkyrie, the divine feminine within.”[3] While YR can, through the Valkyrie represent the divine feminine, it is also closely associated with death.
YR has long been considered a "death rune" and this association may originate in the lore of the Valkyries. Stephen Flowers comments, “In the esoteric runology of the early twentieth century, chiefly originated by Guido von List and his followers, the sign YR indicated ‘death.’ This is in contrast to the sign MAN, which meant ‘life.’”[4] Some authors, including Karl Hans Welz have appropriately warned against applying a male-chauvinist definition of YR, or improperly contrasting YR with MAN. While Welz is right in correcting such misunderstandings, grasping the Valkyrie-linkage to the verse, shifts dramatically such explanations of the Rune. Valkyries, and not the “divine feminine” or women more generally, have long been associated with death. Snorri Sturluson describes Valkyries in Gylfaginning (“The Tricking of Gylfi”) as follows: “These are called Valkyries. Odin sends them to every battle. They allot death to men and govern victory.”[5]
The theme of death associated with YR is also evident in the Icelandic Rune Poem (IRP)where we read:
"YR (Yew) is a bent bow and a brittle tool and arrow’s lightning."[6]
Here the “arrow’s lightning” is a kenning for a deadly arrow shot from a bow. As we recall the primary role of Valkyries, those who choose warriors fallen in battle to bring them to Valhalla, it is evident that death and not just “selection” is ascribed to the Valkyries. In other words, the Valkyrie doesn’t simply select those who fall in battle and carry them off to Valhalla, but rather chooses who will die in battle. If we consider the shape of rune, we see that it resembles an arrow. Guido von List also suggests finality –at least within this life, when he provides the motto “Think about the end” to YR.[7] Siegfried Kummer similarly writes, “Remember the end!”[8]
It is far too limiting however to think of YR as simply a “death rune.” Author A.D. Mercer, following a point made by List, writes the following about YR:
“[It is] also the darkness before the dawn of life, representing the formation of a new life, prior to its delivery into this world. YR therefore represents the moon also, and the waxing and waning thereof.”[9]
YR then not only represents death, but also the cycles of nature described by List as “arising – being – passing away to new arising.”[10] Welz calls YR, the “Rune of the roots of the world tree, where the three Norns determine the karma of ever-changing appearances of matter.”[11] Here we do well to recall that, like its counterpart MAN, YR’s reference to the world tree Yggdrasil should be considered as a microcosmic map of human body/soul complex. In MAN, we see the crown of Yggdrasil representing especially the two highest “worlds,” those of enlightenment, Ljosalfheim (Light Elf world) and the world of transcendence Ásgarðr (Æsir world). YR then represents the material or physical side of the lower worlds including Swartalfheim (Black Elf world) and Hel (the world of the dead.) It is key however not to think of such worlds within the trappings of a moral dichotomy of “good” and “evil.” The enlightened worlds at the apex of the World Tree would not exist if not for the worlds that comprise its roots.
As death arrives in the form of a Valkyrie, Odin tells us that the maiden’s “thoughts” can be changed. This suggests that one’s karma may be altered. Welz states, “YR also relates to the three Norns, goddesses who spin the threads of destiny (of consciously perceived destiny): Urda, the ever present, Verdandi, the ever becoming, and Skuld, karmic debt, or structure.” While an individual may be confronted by karmic tests or karmic debt, these may be overcome. Valkyries are not only represented as death-bringers but as bearers of mead. In Grímnismál ("The Lay of Grimnir") Odin, disguised as Grimnir finds himself tortured, starved, and thirsty, bound between two fires by King Geirröth. In such a dire situation, one might imagine Valkyries bringing death to the seemingly doomed Odin. But rather he calls upon two of them, Hrist and Mist to bear him a mead horn instead.[12] Valkyries are also described as lovers of heroes – most famously in Sigrdrífumál ("The Lay of Sigrdrífa") when Sigurðr awakens the sleeping Valkyrie Sigrdrífa, not with a kiss, but rather by cutting off her defensive armor with his sword. On the surface then Odin can utilize YR to change the intent of the Valkyrie – from bringer of death –to bringer of “delight” or even “love.” Used in this way, YR may alter one’s karma. Still, whether we speak of death, merriment through the consumption of mead, or delights of the flesh, we notice an emphasis on the physical and the material –the lower worlds of Yggdrasil.
Recall that the roots of Yggdrasil arise from the very place where the Ginnungagap occurred. The coming together of Fire and Ice – of all the potential of the universe / multiverse resulted (with Odin’s assistance) in Yggdrasil itself (the shaped universe rising up from shapeless chaos). This coming together is a metaphor for sexual union – establishing then the origin from whence the human tree as a microcosmic representation of Yggdrasil derives. Aelfric Avery utilizes Peryt Shou’s system from his The Edda as Key to the Coming Age to correspond worlds to “energy structures in the body.” Here the lowest worlds are identified as Hel -equivalent to the base of the spine and the first chakra and Swartalfheim equivalent to the sexual organs and the second chakra.[13]
The first, or root chakra (muladhara) is related to our grounding – our material selves. Anodea Judith describes the first chakra:
“Our ground anchors the very roots for which this chakra is named. Through our roots, we gain nourishment, power, stability, and growth. Without this connection we are separated from nature, separated from our biological source.”[14]
She continues,
“When we are grounded, we are humble and close to the Earth. We live simply, in a state of grace. We can embrace stillness, solidity, and clarity, ‘ grounding out’ the stresses of everyday life, and increasing the vitality of our basic life force.”[15]
Of the second chakra (svadhisthana) Judith writes:
“This chakra is the center of sexuality as well as emotions, sensation, pleasure, movement, and nurturance. In the Tree of Life, the second chakra corresponds to Yesod, the sphere of water and the moon. Its associated celestial body is the moon which pulls the oceans of water to and fro in a dualistic rhythmic motion.”[16]
We do well then to understand that YR and MAN ultimately go hand in hand – with neither intended to be superior to the other. Together these runes represent the union of male and female divine principles. They represent Night and Day, the roots and the crown of the world tree. Together they bring life.
The Valkyrie Sigrdrifa sings in the Sigrdrífumál:
Hail to thee, day! Hail, ye day’s sons!
Hail, night and daughter of night![17]
There is balance between the fifteenth and sixteenth runes and their position adjacent to each other in the Futhorkh is indeed purposeful and perfect. A critical lesson is that MAN and YR complement one other. One without the other signals life out of balance. Ultimately, we should pursue YR, no less than we might pursue MAN. But when that white-armed maid comes bearing some karmic debt, we are wise to turn her thoughts to our advantage, and to our delight.
Notes:
1. Karl Hans Welz, Letters of Instructions # 16, The Rune YR, https://knightsofrunes.com/rune_magic16.html
2. http://www.voluspa.org/havamal161-164.htm
3. Aelfric Avery, Armanen Runes and the Black Sun In Modern Heathenry, Vol. 2, (Vavenby, CA: Woodharrow Gild Press, 2018), 71.
4. Stephen Edred Flowers, Revival of the Runes: The Modern Rediscovery and Reinvention of the Germanic Runes (Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 2021), 207.
5. Snorri Sturluson, Edda, trans. Anthony Faulkes (North Clarendon, VT: Everyman, 1995) 31.
6. Stephen Pollington, Rudiments of Runelore (Cambridgeshire, UK: Anglo-Saxon Books, 2011), 55.
7. Guido von List, Secret of the Runes, trans. Stephen E. Flowers (Rochester, VT: Destiny Books, 1988), 63.
8. Siegfried Kummer, Holy Rune Might, trans. Aelfric Avery (Vavenby, CA: Woodharrow Bund Press, 2019) 96.
9. A.D. Mercer, Runen: The Wisdom of the Runes (NL: Aeon Sophia Press: 2016), 59.
10. List, 20.
11. Welz.
12. Lee M. Hollander trans., The Poetic Edda (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2012), 60.
13. Avery, 154.
14. Anodea Judith, Wheels of Life: A User’s Guide to the Chakra System (Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn, 2019), 67.
15. Judith, 67.
16. Judith 112.
17. Hollander, 234.
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