Fehu Poem and Future Plans

The Fehu rune is one that leaves many confused. It being the first Rune it is obviously of the utmost importance, yet, the most common meaning attributed to it is that of “wealth”. The word wealth instantly conjures a very superficial image, especially in our modern minds. This has left many dissatisfied, even some to believe it shouldn’t actually be the first rune at all.

I will admit as I began to look deeper into the Runes, I too was troubled by its apparent superficial meaning. From a beginners point of view, Uruz seems far more appropriate in nature to be the first Rune, especially as it is followed by Thurisaz; a seemingly primal force followed by struggle and adversity. This feeling, that of being slightly uneasy with the Fehu rune as it was presented, led me to look deeper, much deeper.

As I stated in a previous post, I began to look again at the Rune poems associated with it, surely there was something I had missed? I also took it upon myself to try to reference its usage in the sagas, did the word “Fe” always simply translate to wealth or cattle? This all lead me on a rather long journey and ultimately made me question much about the Runes, well as they are presented to us.

In fact this is why I became fascinated with words, I began looking deeper into every aspect of them, all of their associations. As opposed to just tracing etymology in a straight line I began to move laterally. This can bee seen in some of my Woden articles. I have two up at the moment, but both give totally different etymological routes, plus references in other articles, I give the most accepted route via Wodanaz (poetic fury, inspiration, rage). This lateral movement may seem a little confusing, but it helps to bring in word associations, similar to the way we use puns today, albeit in a more profound manner. Certain words carry overtones of different meanings, and if you are a master of words, you can hide much within one word using such lateral movements. In doing this, the words almost come to life, they begin to move in interesting patterns almost with their own intent, or were created with such genius that the patterns were imbued within them at their origin.

When looking deeper into the Proto Germanic “Fehu”, I found some interesting “lateral” connections there too. The most prominent being that with the word “Frey”, which seemed quite fitting given its position in Freya’s Aett.

As I delved deeper into the words and associations much began to fall into place. Whilst looking through the Sagas I found it was connected not just to cattle, but to all livestock, wealth and even estates. Whilst this at first seems to go against the idea of “moveable wealth” it doesn’t really as estates are passed via inheritance, which is a transfer of wealth from one generation to another. This led me down paths to fully understand wealth, as a word and a concept. Ideas of currency, as a river flows, electricity moves and even as it is most commonly used today in monetary transfer. Even areas like that of the exchange between life and death, the transfer of energy, all began to become important.

As for the poems, well they took a life of their own. Trying to retranslate them, I came up with many options. In keeping with the “lateral” ideas above, many of the words, could be “puns” or homonyms. What I found most interesting here, was again these dual meanings and sometimes more, seemed to parallel each other in their journeys.

Now, you may be thinking, this is all good and well, but its a little vague? And I do apologise for that, but there is a reason for it. I have been researching the Fehu Rune specifically for nearly a year now in the background. In fact it’s one of the reasons my articles are late sometimes, I get a little distracted. I can be easily distracted granted and go off into tangents on minute details, that by the end of it take on a whole new articles worth of information in of themselves. Anyway, point is to do the Fehu Rune justice I will need to write a book on it. I did consider presenting the information in a series of articles, but that just would not do it justice. Fear not though, if you are interested in my work, the book will be released chapter by chapter on the website when it’s done, for free, as is all our work. The book will also allow me to really go in depth in areas, and even present raw research material from which the reader can construct their own ideas. Some of the things I find whilst delving into the words and old tales, I know fit somewhere, but where? I may be missing a vital clue, but you may have it, in co-operation maybe we can shed some new light on this old and powerful symbol of the folk?

To complete this task of writing the book, I will have to reduce my article output to once every two weeks, like the videos. Whilst this will in the short term reduce the content provided on the site, in the long run it will help increase it. Not just because the book will be up on the site at some point, but also in other ways.

I also want to get on with making some meaningful heathen jewellery. Applying my research to a physical form. This is something I am very keen on and have the equipment to do it. It will give me a chance to view the Runes and other aspects of heathenism in a different way, that of creation. The more ways you can work with anything, ultimately gives you more perspectives. This I believe is invaluable for complete development within a field. Just sitting reading and researching is all good and well, but the more physical aspects of creation, really help get the mind wondering.

I also hope to try my hand at live streams in the coming months. Going into detail on certain subjects, or fleshing out an article with the all the little bits of info that never made it in. All in all I have a lot of plans for Mimirs Brunnr, to increase output and become much more interactive.

So whilst the short term it will be two less articles a month, in the long run much more is going to be happening here at Mimir’s Brunnr.

I hope this “article” wasn’t to pretentious, I just like to explain my position, especially to those who have been following us now for a little. The encouragement we have gotten from your comments and shares ect, has been quite astounding. It has giving a whole new meaning to my research and ideas, of which I am exceptionally grateful. Anyway thanks for taking the time to read my words here.