DeadEndShrineOnline/runes/15_algiz.html

<title>Algiz</title>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Runic_letter_algiz.svg"><img src="../img/runes/algiz.svg" alt="Algiz rune" title="Algiz rune"></a></p>
<h1>Algiz</h1>

<p>Traditional meaning: elk</p>

<p>Meanings when upright:</p>

<ul>
	<li>strength of the spirit</li>
	<li>connection to all worlds</li>
	<li>birth</li>
	<li>protective blessing</li>
	<li>non-violent feral (hyperthomosopramia type 2) draconity</li>
	<li>divine forces</li>
</ul>

<p>Meanings when inverted:</p>

<ul>
	<li>need for protection</li>
	<li>excessive scattering of attention</li>
	<li>not standing up for yourself</li>
	<li>being drained of energy</li>
	<li>death</li>
</ul>

<p>Algiz can be useful for:</p>

<ul>
	<li>protection and warding</li>
	<li>healing injuries</li>
	<li>marking what has been hallowed</li>
	<li>learning how to work with others, especially those non-human</li>
</ul>

<hr>

<p>Anglo-Saxon rune poem:</p>

<blockquote>Eolh-secg eard hæfþ oftust on fenne<br>
wexeð on wature, wundaþ grimme,<br>
blode breneð beorna gehwylcne<br>
ðe him ænigne onfeng gedeþ.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The Eolh-sedge is mostly to be found in a marsh;<br>it grows in the water and makes a ghastly wound,<br>covering with blood every warrior who touches it.</blockquote>

<p>There is not a Norwegian rune poem for Algiz.</p>

<p>A modern poem:</p>

<blockquote>
	<p>I'm clinging to your waist<br/>
	like you're a floating log<br/>
	and I'm halfway to drowning<br/>
	not knowing how to breathe with a non-human face.</p>

	<p>Someone once called me the Rainbow Bridge,<br/>
	being the crossing point between so many worlds,<br/>
	but I am neither bi<br/>
	nor could I ever abide<br/>
	frost over the surface of this roiling sea<br/>
	in this metaphor of mine.<br/>
	I move too violent,<br/>
	too constant,<br/>
	for the whole thing to freeze<br/>
	over, you see.</p>

	<p>But I certainly feel like being quartered<br/>
	face from hand from back from limb<br/>
	trembling to keep my mind<br/>
	in a bedroom lost and somehow dimmed.<br/>
	Three different bloods rage inside<br/>
	and two are battling for my skin<br/>
	and your fingertips brushing the back of my neck,<br/>
	the temples where bone and antler connect,<br/>
	are the only reminder you're here to protect<br/>
	me, promised by palm to keep me sane<br/>
	even if draconity ever overcame<br/>
	me and my body forcibly changed<br/>
	to that of a beast.</p>

	<p>Do you think, if a stranger ever saw,<br/>
	they'd mistake me for a particularly messed-up elk?<br/>
	Wonder where my eyes went, or why so blunted my maw?<br/>
	A creature too exquisite for this world, too peculiar for their ilk,<br/>
	have to always stay on the periphery<br/>
	or in long-lost bedrooms where nobody can see<br/>
	the ribbons with every breath wavering.<br/>
	You will with me stay<br/>
	until you can see my normal face again<br/>
	and in the meantime reassure that I'm safe.</p>
</blockquote>