Magin Rose

The half month of Fehu began on 29th June, the Elder Futhark has run its cycle and begins again with Fehu, the first rune of the first Aett.  As I sit here I feel the presence of dragon circling joyfully, a stream of gold trailing in filigree patterns as he soars and dives.  The dragon is one of the animals associated with Fehu; its fiery nature and role as guardian of treasure hoards speak to us of both the positive and negative aspects of the rune of wealth, vitality, gold, and life-blood.

In his positive aspect dragon confers the blessings of good luck, inner transformation and outer success.  The energy of Fehu should be in constant motion: coarsing through your veins to renew your cells; flowing through our society bringing nourishment and well-being to all; channeled through the hands to bring healing and vitality; constantly renewed within the soul as the old is released, allowing the radiant energy of Fehu to confer its blessings.  Fehu is the renewer of hamingja, the part of the soul which attracts luck and success – bad deeds will deplete the store of hamingja, good and honourable deeds will increase it.  This is why the rune poems speak so seriously about the importance of sharing what we have with others – jealously hoarding your material wealth will only serve to decrease your soul’s hamingja.

The jealous soul is personified by the dragon in his negative aspect, hoarding his treasure and destroying anyone who comes near it.  In some tales dragons are, by nature, hoarders; but in others they are made that way.   Old Norse tales tell us of Fafnir, a young man who became obsessed with gold after the God Loki gave his family cursed gold in recompense for the death of their brother.  Fafnir killed his father to lay his hands on the gold and transformed into a dragon – some say intentionally so he could guard his gold better). Fafnir the dragon poisoned the land around his hoard with his breath and terrorised his father’s people.  His brother Regin (who is not much better than Fafnir), persuades his young foster-son Sigurd to kill Fafnir; Regin plans to kill Sigurd once the task is done, and runs away to safety as soon as Sigurd approaches Fafnir’s lair.  Luckily for Sigurd, the Gods are on his side and help him to kill Fafnir: but not before Fafnir has warned Sigurd that any man who possesses the gold is fated to die.  Sigurd wisely replies that all men are fated to die and he is therefore unafraid.

There is much more to the tale, but the key parts for the rune Fehu are the consuming jealousy which takes over Fafnir and Regin, and Sigurd’s ability to comprehend that wealth is always temporary and its loss should not be feared. 

Fehu is often used in wealth magic, but the wise practitioner always knows that this type of magic should be done with care.  Fehu will not help you fill your savings account, but it will ensure bread is on the table (and probably even some fancy cake) – especially if you are sharing it with others.  Meditating with Fehu can help you to uncover the deeper, hidden nature of wealth.  In the story, the brother Loki killed was a shape-shifter who could turn into an otter; the weregild (man-payment) demanded by the otter’s family was his skin filled with gold and covered in red gold.  Interestigly, if Fafnir had kept the skin and gotten rid of the gold, then he might have benefit from another bit of old lore which states that wearing an otter skin can render a warrior invincible.