Thurisaz

These Pagan Portals are all current works in progress, serialised here on the Pagan Collective blog with each chapter being open for comment. In due course the entire script will be published as a Pagan Portal book.

Over the next few months, we will be running weekly Spirit of the Rune lessons on this blog. Follow along and learn the runes!

Thurisaz:

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Before reading about the meanings and qualities associated with Thurisaz, take time to contemplate this rune.

In Your Journal 

1. In your journal or on a separate piece of paper, trace, draw or doodle Thurisaz. While drawing, say its name out loud: how does it feel? Where does it resonate within your body?
2. Imagine what color(s) best match(es) Thurisaz and apply them to the image you have drawn.
3. What texture do you think goes with Thurisaz? Can you represent the texture in your drawing?
4. Look around. From your surroundings, what objects and shapes, if any, would you connect with Thurisaz? What natural, man-caused phenomena or activities come to mind when you look at your representation of Thurisaz? Write those down.

Now read the lines describing Thurisaz in the rune poems.

•  Icelandic: ”Giant torture of women/and cliff-dweller/and husband of a giantess.”
• Anglo-Saxon: “The thorn is exceedingly sharp,/an evil thing for any knight to touch,/uncommonly severe on all who sit among them.”  
• Norwegian: “Giant causes anguish to women;/ misfortune makes few men cheerful.”

In Your Journal 

5. Can you relate the description in the poems with your own experience of the rune? You may be able to find correlations with the description given in just one poem. Or you may not see any correlations yet. Journal your findings, whatever they are.

Here are some of the meanings commonly attributed to Thurisaz in readings:

• generally translated as thorn, Thursar/giants;
• constrain into complying;
• ailment related to reproductive organs in uterus-bearing people;
• also connected to Thor and protection;
• barrier;
• forces outside one’s control;
• do the unappealing task because the benefit extends to other people.

In Your Journal 

6. Journal about how these meanings fit with your own experiences so far. Be open to the fact that the way you perceive this rune may change over time, with some meanings fading and others emerging. At the end of the course, revisit your journal entry and make updates (if necessary).

  

For more details on Daniela: https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/moon-books/authors/daniela-simina