A Consideration of Karl Welz’s System of Rune-Zodiac Correspondence

I've been planning this article for some time. Clearly there is much more to explore on the topic of Rune-Zodiac correspondence as well as indications of Zodiac references in the old lore. With this article, I only begin to scratch the surface. Written on 7 and 8 April 2023.

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Various Rune Masters have long associated runic systems with the Zodiac. This has been accomplished in different ways, however, through the years. Siegfried Kummer provided such correspondences in his Holy Rune Might: Rebirth of Armanendom through Rune Exercises and Dance. His system aligned a single rune with each of the 12 Zodiac signs over a three-year cycle, for example, he aligned Aries with FA in the first cycle. Kummer used this method, in part, to address the challenge of aligning 18 runes with only 12 Zodiac signs. Hence, over three years, the 36 Zodiac signs (12 x 3=36) align evenly with two sets of the 18-Rune Futhorkh (18 x 2=36). If one reviews the diagram of Kummer’s rune circle, you will find the Zodiac symbols paired with each of the 18 Armanen runes. For example, Aries appears next to FA, the first rune, and also next to BAR, the thirteenth rune indicating the beginning of the second cycle.[1]

Grandmaster Karl Hans Welz proposed in his Letter of Instructions #1: The Rune FA an interesting variation that cycled through the Futhorkh in a single year. For FA, he assigned the "Time of Year" as December 22 through January 12. Therefore, he began his correspondence following the cosmological new year beginning with the Winter Solstice. This timing exactly matches that of Welz’s mentor Karl Spiesberger.[2] He wrote:

“The correlation with the degrees in the zodiac is an affinity, not an exact superimposition. This means that the astrological zodiac may have its beginning anywhere in the Rune zodiac. The Rune zodiac has 18 Rune months of 20 degrees each.”[3]

Welz goes on to associate FA with:

“Rune Zodiac of 18: 0 degrees Capricorn to 20 degrees Capricorn.”

Here Welz utilized the concept that an astrological chart is comprised of a 360° circle that represents the ecliptic. Each of the twelve astrological signs takes up 30° of the circle. Each of these sets of 30° is divided equally into three sets of 10° or decans. In Welz’s system, two decans are assigned to each of the runes. If each astrological Zodiac sign were 30 days, then two decans or 20° would be 20 days, but the number of days for each sign vary slightly and the degrees do not end precisely at midnight or at the beginning of a particular day. For example, Capricorn is only 29 days (in the year 2023) beginning on December 22 and ending on January 19. Each decan is therefore only 9.666 days in duration. If we assign 19 full days to FA we begin on December 22 and end on January 9. Even if we were to round up, we only arrive at January 10 while Welz and Spiesberger identify January 12 as the end of the period.

I would assume that the 20° of UR would then begin on January 10 and run through January 29 for a total of 20 days. Interestingly Welz writes in his description of UR:

“Rune Zodiac of 18: 20 degrees Capricorn to 10 degrees Aquarius”

The dates that he assigns however don't align exactly with that description but rather match those of Spiesberger: January 13 through February 3 for a total of 22 days. The slight addition of days for each rune continues through the entire year providing an interesting result.

FA:  December 22 to January 12

UR:  January 13 to February 3

THORN: February 4 to February 25

OS:  February 26 to March 20

RIT:  March 21 to April 12

KA:  April 13 to May 5

HAGAL: May 6 to May 28

NOD:  May 29 to June 20

IS:  June 21 to July 14

AR:  July 15 to August 7

SIG:  August 8 to August 30

TYR:  August 31 to September 22

BAR:  September 23 to October 15

LAF:  October 16 to November 7

MAN:  November 8 to November 29

YR:  November 30 to December 21

The entire year is completed with only 16 runes. Welz notes for EH, “No connection with the year, referring to polarities unified.”[4] Similarly for GIBOR he writes, “GIBOR has no relation to any part of the zodiac, but it is Symbolism of wholeness.”[5] This exactly restates Spiesberger’s correspondences of runes to "time of the year."

However, it is clear that all 18 runes should have had a corresponding time of year if 20 Zodiac degrees were assigned to each as Welz suggested in his write-up on FA. It is interesting to note that Welz dropped the language “Rune Zodiac of 18” after UR. All subsequent runes simply identify “Time of the year,” which align with Spiesberger’s dates. Did Welz view the correlation of runes with degrees of the Zodiac as a different method altogether from the assignment of a particular time of the year?

The 16 runes which make up the entire year in both Spiesberger’s and Welz’s systems reminds us of Welz’s system of assigning only 16 runes to create the outer circle of the Outer Rune Realm with the final two runes, EH and GIBOR, placed inside the circle to the west and east respectively. Welz explains:

“An ideal circle is formed by laying out all 18 Runes, which will then be in tune with your Inner Rune Realm.  Have the sixteen Runes arranged on the periphery of your circle, starting with FA in the North, counter clockwise to YR, which will then be on the right side of FA.  Have EH and GIBOR inside the circle, since those Runes symbolize the marriage of opposites and the universe of the symbolism. EH West and Gibor East just inside the outer circle of Runes.”[6]

Aelfric Avery takes up the subject of Rune-Zodiac correspondence in some detail. He adds this important consideration:

“The energies of each rune are strongest during their period of the Zodiac, which is their natural time of the year. Therefore, Armanen rune practices which involve going through the whole Futhorkh are best undertaken over the course of an entire year, practicing each rune during its natural time period.”[7]

The correspondence of the 18 rune Futhorkh to times of the year and 12 Zodiac signs result in the following:

FA:  December 22 to January 9

UR:  January 10 to January 29

THORN: January 30 to February 18

OS:  February 19 to March 11

RIT:  March 12 to March 30

KA:  March 31 to April 19

HAGAL: April 20 to May 10

NOD:  May 11 to May 31

IS:  June 1 to June 21 

AR: June 22 to July 12

SIG:  July 13 to August 1

TYR:  August 2 to August 22

BAR:  August 23 to September 12

LAF:  September 13 to October 3

MAN:  October 4 to October 23

YR:  October 24 to November 11

EH:  November 12 to November 30

GIBOR:  December 1 to December 21

Following this approach, and depending on the precise timing of the decan, certain runes may be associated with more than one Zodiac sign. The correspondence would be as follows:

FA:  Capricorn

UR:  Capricorn / Aquarius

THORN: Aquarius

OS:  Pisces 

RIT:  Pisces / Aries

KA:  Aries 

HAGAL: Taurus

NOD:  Taurus / Gemini

IS:  Gemini 

AR:  Cancer

SIG:  Cancer / Leo

TYR:  Leo 

BAR:  Virgo 

LAF:  Virgo / Libra

MAN:  Libra 

YR:  Scorpio 

EH:  Scorpio / Sagittarius

GIBOR:  Sagittarius

Finally, I will add for those who think that such correspondences are are little more than a new-age invention, that thousands of runic calendars have been found. These were sometimes written on parchment, but at other times carved into wood or bone. Most of these calendars date between the 13th and 17th centuries —although a bit of a renaissance occurred during the 18th century when such calendars were made in the form of tobacco boxes and continued into the 19th century. Many of these calendars identify the first full moon following the first new moon as well as the solstices, equinoxes, and important heathen (and Christian) holidays and feasts. Such calendars were based on the Metonic cycle which is a period of 19 years after which lunar phases recur at the same time each year. Since the Metonic cycle is comprised of 19 years —each year is represented by a rune. Generally we find the first 16 years correspond to the 16 runes of the Younger Futhark with 3 additional runes added to round out the system. In 1636, Ole Worm documented this system including the 3 additional runes: ARLAUG, TVIMADUR, and BELGTHOR in his Runir set Danica literatura antiquissima (Runes: The Older Danish Literature.)[8]

If this is not evidence enough, several authors have considered the association of the halls of the Norse gods as described in the Grimnismál to the Zodiac. Avery also points out that the Hymiskvida (The Lay of Hymir) “contains descriptions of a ‘water goat,’ a man rowing, a fish, a ram, an ox, and a bull, and ‘two whales together,’ which correspond to Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, and Gemini. These six consecutive constellations cover 180 degrees of the sky: the half circle of the Zodiac which is as much as may be seen at one time.”[9]

There is overwhelming evidence that the Germanic peoples have long been aware of the Zodiac and marked time as well as solar and lunar cycles with the runes. Our greatest challenge is to sort out which of the several methods documented by various Rune Masters is most accurate. For that determination, further study, analysis, and practical experimentation is needed.

Notes:

1. Siegfried Adolf Kummer, Holy Rune Might: Rebirth of the Armanendom through Rune Exercises and Dance, trans. Aelfric Avery (Vavenby, CA: Woodharrow Bund Press, 2019). See especially 176-202.

2. See Karl Spiesberger, Runenmagie: Handbuch der Runenkunde (Basel: Esoterischer Verlag, 2020) 19. Spiesberger apparently did not develop this correlation but repeats it from Roland Dionys Jossé.

3. Karl Welz, Letter of Instructions # 1, The Rune FA. https://knightsofrunes.godaddysites.com/lesson-1:-fa

4. Karl Welz, Letter of Instructions #8, The Rune NOD. https://knightsofrunes.godaddysites.com/lesson-8:-nod

5. Ibid.

6. Karl Welz, Letter of Instructions #5, The Rune RIT. https://knightsofrunes.godaddysites.com/lesson-5:-rit

7. Aelfric Avery, Armanen Runes and the Black Sun in Modern Heathenry Vol.1 (Vavenby, CA: Woodharrow Gild Press, 2018), 141.

8. See Runic Calendar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runic_calendar#External_links

9. Avery, 138.