Torch in the night.
In the Forge
The Woman gathers the flame
The Man shapes the Fire
From the heart of the Hearth
The fiery child is born.
From the depths of the inner forge, fueled by the union of these two forces, emerges the child of fire, the creation of our future.
The Glyph of Kenaz is unique because it is the first to consist of only two oblique lines forming a horizontal V, thus lacking a vertical axis. Arranged in this way, it expresses an idea of horizontal expansion, where the primordial fire of Fehu burst forth from the vertical axis of Yggdrasil to fertilize the world: this Fire will therefore be a human, Promethean fire.
Furthermore, one can see in the shape of Kenaz the eye, an organ associated with Fire—both vision and Fire—that reveals vision. This eye is not only a receptive organ but also an instrument of creation: what is seen comes to life.
In Ansuz we received the message, the expression of a new supernatural quality: it is the spark. The wheel of Kenaz’s Journey, the wheel of lived experiences, allowed us to internalize it— —thus generating, through its rotation, the Fire of Kenaz. The primordial, undifferentiated Fire of Fehu becomes a creative inner fire enriched by the form of Uruz.
This is the time of Ignescence, the manifestation of the Cloud traversed in Raidho, opening the possibility of creation arising from the correct understanding of the message received in Ansuz. The journey has allowed us to gather new materials, new landscapes that fuel our determination, a powerful fire.
In Kenaz, the first conjunction between the Primordial Fire and the Ice produces an inner fire that manifests outwardly as creation. Ice produces the fuel for Fire, without which no combustion is sustainable or fruitful. In this genesis, the woman gathers the Flame: she is its guardian, and the man uses this flame to complete a new inner creation, providing a vehicle for the Inner Being
What was previously acquired becomes here experience and knowledge: we can and must realize what the initial impulse of Fehu promised. This Fire of Kenaz, now an integral part of our being, is the fire that will fuel our ardor, indispensable for bringing our journey to a successful conclusion. A first glimpse of how the Universal, glimpsed in the first part of the cycle, is embodied in the Singular through this creation blazes here.
In this Rune, we become aware of our creative potential, discovered through our encounter with our inner self in Ansuz and revealed during the journey of Raidho. This rune is particularly important for those of us who engage in any form of creative activity (writing, poetry, painting, music…). Through these activities, we can express what Ansuz has inspired in us, what the journey in our practice of Raidho has brought to fruition. In doing so through Fire, there is both a revelation and an externalization of the figures and energies that inhabit our inner world, as well as the creativity, reconstruction, and purification of this inner world—our psychosomatic complex. Fire is inspiration, the impulse to create; Ice is the indispensable technique acquired during the journey of Raidho.
There are two risks at this stage: the first is to “hide one’s light under a bushel,” letting the fire go out due to a lack of fuel (ice), which means failing to give creation the continuous attention it requires. The second is to let it overflow and risk an explosion, shattering its container (the danger of fire). As we become aware of these creative forces, we also become responsible for them: what emerges from the forge’s fire is us in our becoming.
It is therefore a matter of balancing fire and ice within us (volitional and receptive forces, energy and fuel) so that the inner gestation is continuously nourished, not by a violent fire (a remnant of the Fehu volcano) nor by a flash in the pan, but by a smoldering fire, constant and controlled.