Nauthiz : Of Sufis and Runic Wisdom

Nauthiz ~ Haindl Rune Oracle

As a way to deepen my relationship with the runic mysteries I've taken to drawing a rune for the week and seeing how it flows in and around my days. Last week's was Mannaz and my journeys with it yielded another layer of understanding. This week I drew from my Haindl Rune Oracle the rune, Nauthiz. Another rune connected with the Fire element.

Nauthiz 

The image is of two sticks positioned to be rubbed together to create fire. Quite simply it means need, the principle of necessity. Need as limit, constraint by circumstance, what holds us back. But the friction implied by the two sticks indicates that need also contains within it the antidote to lack, the power to overcome it. The adages, 'necessity is the mother of invention' and 'needs must' come to mind here.

Two sticks rubbed together can create fire...but not without friction. Fire and sacrifice go hand in hand mythically and sacrifice adds another layer to this rune. Fire is also life, heat, what sustains us. One quality is informed by the other leading us into a multi contextual awareness of the energy this rune holds rather than one single meaning. Much like the Tarot cards whose meaning can change according to the surrounding cards, the question and the querent.

In Haindl's depiction we see a beech tree on a hill at dusk. The tree acts as a barrier to what lies in the landscape beyond. As though it has arms two branches extend themselves from the trunk, left pointing up, right pointing down (from our standpoint). He likens this to the arms of a whirling dervish, who receives from the heavens with one hand, palm open, and directs that gift earthwards with the other hand, palm facing downwards.

In the Sema the quality of effacement is the underlying aspiration, the recognition and embodiment of the essential emptiness, the nexus from which the Beloved is continually arising. The Sufi is the one who realizes this in thought, in heart, in body.

I see in this Rune, with its qualities of a need that has the potential to expand rather than contract if there is enough self-awareness, a similar kind of energy. Indeed from the Old English Rune Poem, Nauthiz is described as, Need is a tight band across the chest, but often it can be transformed into a bringer of help if attended to early. That 'if' is key. The place where the two sticks meet, the nexus of potential transformative energy can also be the knot where stasis finds its home and blocks and lack of all kinds ensue from there. For now I'm content to remain with the paradox that seems to characterize Nauthiz. I'm interested in noticing the place where the two sticks meet in my own life and seeing in that friction how easily the potential for change can also be the potential for limit and lack depending on the level of my awareness. As well as looking for areas where restraint is needed, where boundary and limit are necessary.