An Endless Sea
A tiny speck lost
in the immensity of possibilities
A tiny ripple tossed about
at the mercy of the currents
Drawn toward infinity
You consciously let go.
And by becoming Nothing
You celebrate your wedding
With the Whole
In Laguz, we become aware both of our insignificance within the immensity and depth of the Ocean, and of our profound union with this Life.
Laguz consists of a vertical stem topped by a hook that descends to the right. Whereas Tiwaz at the beginning of the cycle evoked an ascending force and Mannaz a horizontal balance, here we see a descending current like a waterfall, a plunge into an unknown world. The absence of a closed shape in the glyph, as in Wunjo, expresses a notion of complete openness without isolation; yet while Wunjo conveyed a profound joy, here we are confronted with an “oceanic” feeling—an awareness of merging into the “Great Whole”—but also a risk of our individuality being diluted.
If Mannaz indicated a conjunction between Fire and Ice, in Laguz Fire has melted the Ice into water. Fire represents direction, the deep impulse that guides us; Ice, in its form as water, represents both a return to the origin, undifferentiation, and nourishment for the form created in Mannaz.
The tendency of Ice in its oceanic form is a tendency toward union, toward merging into the infinity of horizons and depth, whereas Fire, in its verticality, manifests the affirmation of singularity, of differentiation.
In the previous rune, the form of Man—the conscious embodiment of Life—took shape. But what has manifested is now confronted here by a primal force of dissolution. In the accepted loss of what was so dearly won lies the gain of a new wholeness, rich with a thousand possibilities.
Indeed, this form is not definitive; it still represents a separation: the wholeness engendered in Mannaz must set out on the journey toward Tir Nan Ogg without losing its way; the needle of Tiwaz’s compass shows it the direction.
We are approaching the end of the cycle, and Laguz is here to purify us of the last residual latencies. Here everything can be called into question in the confrontation with: the great Sea of the Unconscious, the “Oceanic Consciousness.” We must neither lose ourselves in this ocean in a return to the warm consciousness of our origins nor refuse to venture into unknown waters. The awareness of the inner form experienced in the previous rune will fade, but the essential—the intuitive perception of inner Reality—remains.
If in Mannaz we gained stability on our journey, Laguz confronts us with tides, ebbs and flows arising from our depths—powerful currents that can carry us where we do not wish to go. This awareness, acceptance, and participation in such currents without renouncing our deepest Self is essential to lead us to fulfillment.
Paradoxically, while the spatial confrontation with this immensity makes us infinitely small, the emergence of a new consciousness at the end of this cycle embraces the infinitely great.
Here lies a new form of conjunction, of Union between the finitude of our human consciousness and the unfathomable depth of the great Life: we must immerse ourselves in it in order to emerge regenerated.