This is the rune that was upon the horizon at the moment of your birth. At this moment your attendant Norn gathered the threads of your fate and wove them in to your First Thread rune. This is the thread that ties you to Midgard, the realm of man. It is the anchor of this incarnation and will help you access your practical, skilful warrior-self. Your ascendant rune may not have played an important part in your soul journey until the point of your birth, but it is destined to do so throughout this human lifetime.
The First Thread ties you to this reality and will manifest its force in times of stress and necessity.
How is it calculated?
Your First Thread is the rune that was upon the horizon at the time of your birth. In this sense it is calculated in the same way as the zodiac ‘rising sign’. You can’t take an educated guess from a generic table in the way you can with your Sun Rune because the movement of the Earth in relation to the runic wheel is much swifter than that of the Sun. If you know how to read an astrological chart it is fairly easy to generate one and use the information on my runic calendar page to look up which rune corresponds to your zodiac rising sign.
I provide your First Thread rune and the associated Hearth of the Disir and Hall of the Gods when you purchase a personal birth runes report.
Is it the same as my zodiac rising sign?
No. Other than being calculated based on the position of the horizon upon the ecliptic it is not the same. A rising sign is often described as a ‘mask’ or persona presented to the outside world. The First Thread is more like a trusty-side kick in the classic ‘heroic warrior does battle despite knowing he is doomed, trusty side kick warns him against it but ultimately helps him get the job done’. Example: My sun rune is Laguz which can make me overly sensitive to the feelings of others and my external environment as well as being a bit all over the place with ideas spilling out in every direction at once. My First Thread is Raidho which makes me super-organised and a little bit addicted to ritual. When I think of them together I imagine a water wheel which smoothly converts my Laguz energy into practical action.