Meditations on SIG: Victory of the Einherjar

This essay was written in a blinding flash worthy of SIG itself on 23 January 2022. It was subsequently revised on 20 February. It marks an important point in my "Untimely Meditations" as it is the eighteenth such essay. In the past the "conquering" imagery associated with this rune was too brash and superficial. SIG does provide hope and victory in battle against all odds --but such battles are not necessarily of the material world, rather they may also take place in our daily lives in the realm of the spirit. 

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I begin my meditations on the eleventh rune, SIG by considering Hávamál verse 156. Here Odin reveals how to be victorious in life’s battles.

“This I know as eleventh:
When I lead
Into battle the friend,
The beloved;
I sing it in his shield:
He will win in battle
And good luck around him
Wherever you look.”[1]

Once again we are presented with a Hávamál verse that on the surface does not appear to align with the traditional rune poems. Each of the rune poems defines the S-rune as “sun.” The Old English Rune Poem (OERP) conveys a message of hope to sailors:

“SIGEL (Sun) to seamen is always a hope / when they travel
Over the fish’s bath / until the sea-steed[2]
Brings them to land.”[3]

Interestingly in his foundational book of Armanen runes, Das Geheimnis der Runen (The Secret of the Runes), Guido Von List provides several names for the S-Rune including SOL, SAL, and of course SIG. While generally known today as SIG, the various Armanen Rune Masters included lists (sometimes lengthy[4]) of other names for this rune. This point is relevant as some with a rudimentary understanding of Armanism are sometimes dismissive or even disparaging of the interpretations by its masters. Their interpretations however are typically quite nuanced and, when studied more closely, demonstrate a broad understanding of the rune in question. Unlike the name *SOWILO (the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name for this rune) the key terms provided by von List have their origins in antiquity. SÓL is the Old Norse and Old Icelandic term for the S-Rune. Von List’s SIG is a single-syllable version of the Old English term SIGEL. Von List also uses the term SAL which when joined with SIG forms an ancient Germanic greeting and battle cry “Sal and Sig!” meaning “salvation and victory.” He goes onto associate this rune with the phrase, “alaf sal fena!” which translates to “All solar salvation to him who is conscious of power.”[5]

We may understand SIG then to bring salvation to seamen out on what was always a risky and dangerous voyage at sea. SIG “is always a hope” that the sailor will return safely. The Icelandic Rune Poem further clarifies this idea and joins the concepts of Hávamál 156 and the OERP.

“SÓL (Sun) is the clouds’ shield
And a blazing ray
And ice’s destroyer.”[6]

The imagery of the IRP casts SIG as a defender. It shields sailors (or others as the sea is not specifically called out in the IRP) from “clouds.” It also destroys ice that could be tantamount to disaster for travelers. The destruction of such dangers then echoes the OERP as a reference to hope and salvation –of returning safely—from life's sometimes-treacherous journeys. It is important to note that the IRP uses “shield” as a metaphor to explain the idea of “defense” from clouds. This is the same word used in Hávamál 156. While the Hávamál verse speaks of going into battle, the idea is the same as that of the OERP and IRP –that the warrior will return safely. Henry Bellows translates the concluding strophe of this verse in this way:

“Whole from the field of fight,
And whole they come thence home.”[7]

Jackson Crawford translates the concluding strophe as:

“[They will] return from battle unharmed.
They will come home without harm.”[8]

This rune is not, as some have suggested, a conqueror’s rune but one that brings safe passage and salvation. The Norwegian Rune Poem (NRP), while still praising the benefits of the Sun, accepts loss, whether in battle or travel, as divine decree.

“SÓL (Sun) is the light of lands;
I bow to holy judgment.”[9]

Considered esoterically, the SIG rune is not one of ruthless armies, but of creative spirit. Von List emphasized this point with the motto he created for this rune, “The creative spirit must conquer.” In his “The Song of SIG” Karl Hans Welz highlights this concept:

“SIG -- Spirit of creation is bound to be victorious. The Divine spark within myself is bound to be victorious. I am a winner on all levels. I will win in the battle of life. I will win in battle.”[10]

Applied personally to the Rune practitioner, SIG provides certainty that the willed outcome will succeed –it banishes worries and thoughts of failure. Here I am reminded of the work of Emile Coué who devised a self-affirming mantra in the 1920s.[11] His work may be said to be the forerunner of the popular idea of the power of positive thinking. SIG’s association with “will” makes this particularly relevant.

From the perspective of Germanic Spirituality, I associate SIG with the Einherjar, Odin’s handpicked heroes who fight alongside him during the battle of Ragnarök. In Gylfaginning Snorri Sturluson describes the Einherjar in this way:

“[Odin] is also called Val-father [father of the slain], since all those who fall in battle are his adopted sons. He assigns them places in Val-hall and Vingolf, and they are then known as Einheriar [Einherjar].”[12]

Snorri goes on to explain that the Einherjar are those warriors who have fallen in battle since the beginning of time. The fallen are selected by Odin and transported by the Valkyries to Valhalla. In Valhalla the Einherjar fight each day –even to the point of death—only to be resurrected in the evening to take part in a large feast where they dine on boar and have their fill of mead.

As I consider these slain heroes, who did not return from battle safely, I return to the wisdom of the NRP. Recall that the NRP professes, “I bow to holy judgment.” So while SIG is a rune of victory, when warriors fall, it is a matter of destiny (wyrd) and Odin’s judgment. Such judgment, far from being tragic, brings salvation to the warrior and an afterlife in the heavenly hall Valhalla.

It has long been my thought that the eighteen exchanges of Vafþrúðnismál (“The Lay of Vafthruthnir”) align precisely with the eighteen rune verses of the Hávamál. With that in mind, the eleventh exchange between Odin and Vafthruthnir is particularly enlightening:

“Othin (Odin) said:
Say as eleventh where e’erliving men
slay each other with swords;
fighting they fall, then fare from battle
and drain goblets together.
Vafthruthnir said:
All the Einherjar in Othin’s garth
slay each other with swords:
fighting they fall, then fare from battle
and drain goblets together.”[13]

Here we read of the Einherjar returning from battle in language similar to Hávamál 156. With the Einherjar however, while they return from battle to “drain goblets together,” we are to understand that they do so in the afterlife in Valhalla. To better appreciate the association of Einherjar with the S-rune, we must define “Einherjar.” Here I suggest that there is a long lost esoteric meaning that is typically overlooked due to the power of the exoteric narrative. Einherjar may be literally translated as “one man army.” Einherjar is the plural of “einheri” which is literally “one who fights alone.” This name is attributed to Thor in Lokasenna (“The Flyting of Loki”). While this may be a kenning for “hero,” for their value in battle is that of an entire army, the meaning may be deeper still.

Von List explains that the idea of the spiritual protection of those who fall in battle should be extended to those who “go into death with the firm conviction of the truth and necessity of their purpose.”[14] When such individuals die, they are reincarnated and ultimately take up their unfinished work. In this way they may continue to work towards the victory of their ideas and purpose. He continues:

“This esoterically explains the exoteric promise of Walhalla (Valhalla), as well as its fulfillment: the Einherjar who fall as sacrifices for their ideas, whether on the battlefield, at the stake, or by starvation—the sacrifices of the modern excommunicant, of the boycotted heroes of the spirit—all find in the conviction of their martyrdom that all-conquering bliss and in life after death that state of happiness which determines their next human incarnation and which leads them to renewed heroic career and final victory. This is the promised Walhalla: heroic providence in future epochs of life in renewed human bodies.”[15]

While von List expanded the meaning of the Einherjar significantly, I think it must be expanded still further. The sea-journeys of the traditional rune poems may be understood as metaphors for one’s personal life journey. Each of us must confront challenges in our day-to-day life. Such challenges, whether derived from an internal or external source can be entirely destructive. SIG promises a positive outcome. It ensures us of personal victory. Siegfried Kummer makes this very point regarding SIG, "through victory over oneself, one gets closer to the Allfather. One thereby becomes blessed, victorious and receives spiritual sun, might, and power.”[16] It is fair to say that the S-rune is a rune of personal salvation. Emphasizing the spiritual nature of this rune, Welz counsels, “SIG strengthens my spiritual powers.”[17]

When I consider the position of SIG, the eleventh rune, in the Futhorkh, I understand first that it is part of the aett that I associate with “being.” It is the fifth rune of the second aett and therefore aligns with RIT, the fifth rune and EH, the seventeenth rune. RIT is known as the “wheel-rune” and may be understood as the spinning sun-wheel. The sun-wheel represents both cosmic and natural law. Therefore we find sun imagery aligning from the “arising” aett to the “being” aett. We must recall, as Freya Aswynn has explained, that for Germanic cultures the sun is regarded as feminine. Even in modern German the gender of sonne is feminine.[18] This is particularly interesting when we align SIG with EH. EH is a rune that esoterically joins male and female principles through the Norse concept of Fylgja.[19] SIG also immediately follows AR. As I have discussed in detail, AR is the rune of the “sun-man”—of the spiritually enlightened man. In SIG, the sun imagery continues –moving beyond personal doubts and darkness to the broader challenges of life itself. In the second aett we see the transition from the material world (through IS) to the spiritual world (beginning with AR). SIG then holds a central place in the spiritual growth of the second aett between AR and TYR. We continue to grow from overcoming self, to victory in purpose, and finally to self-sacrifice. Through this final principle we are able to “pass away to a new arising.” In SIG we already have a premonition of what is to come through the association with the Einherjar. We accept Odin’s judgment and find both victory and salvation through the SIG / SAL rune.

Notes:

1.Karl Hans Welz, Letter of Instructions # 11: The Rune SIG. https://runemagick.com/rune_magic11.html 

2. “Sea-Steed” is a kenning for “ship” according to the Skaldskaparmal (“The Language of Poetry”) 

3. Stephen Pollington, Rudiments of Runelore (Cambridgeshire, UK: Anglo-Saxon Books, 2011), 48. 

4. Karl Spiesberger lists thirteen names in his Runenmagie: Handbuch der Runenkunde (Basel: Esoterischer Verlag, 2020) for instance. 

5. Von List, The Secret of the Runes, trans. Stephen Flowers (Rochester, VT: Destiny Books, 1988), 57n. 

6. Pollington, 55. 

7. Henry Adams Bellows trans., The Poetic Edda: The Mythological Poems (New York: Dover Publications, 2004), 65 

8. Jackson Crawford trans., The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2015), 46. 

9. Pollington, 53. 

10. Welz. 

11. Emile Coué developed the simple mantra, “Day by day, in every way, I am getting better and better.” Both Paul McCartney and John Lennon later worked his mantra into songs that they wrote. For a brief discussion of his work see the article, “Is Your Mind a Technology for Utopia? (Finding Out is Easier than you Think) by Mitch Horowitz in The Fenris Wolf Issue No. 10, Carl Abrahamsson, ed. (Stockholm: Trapart Books, 2020).

12. Snorri Sturluson, Edda, trans., Anthony Faulkes (North Clarendon, VT: Everyman, 1995), 21. 

13. Lee M. Hollander trans., The Poetic Edda (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2012), 49. 

14. Von List, 108. 

15. Ibid., 108-109. 

16. Siegfried A. Kummer, Holy Rune Might, trans. Aelfric Avery (Vavenby, CA: Woodharrow Bund Press,  2019), 69.

17. Welz. 

18. For a discussion of the idea of the sun as feminine and how that contrasts with Hermetic and other magical traditions see: Freya Aswynn, Northern Mysteries and Magick: Runes and Feminine Powers (Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn, 2018) 64-65. 

19. See my article, "Meditations on EH: Uniting with the Fylgja." https://talesfromtheironwood.blogspot.com/2021/05/meditations-on-eh-uniting-with-fylgja.html