In the coolness of dawn
You went
To the foot of the Tree of Destiny.
Beneath the fingers of the Night
From the half-open Horn
The Rune appears.
In this revealed Destiny
you discover a new freedom
That fills you with Joy.
Perthro is a rendezvous with destiny under the auspices of Yggdrasil.
The glyph depicts a womb, a cavern, a place of gestation. The cavern is a dark, mysterious place, leading to the depths of the earth, where the secret of our destiny lies. Here, this place is open, suggesting a birth, a revelation of what is hidden. In the symbolism of the dice cup, there is the birth of previously latent possibilities represented by the dice, which will thus shape our future.
In Nauthiz we learned the lesson of the necessity to accept limitations; in Isa, a first perception of a timeless inner permanence; in Eihwaz, slow growth, concerning both the branches (our conscious self) and the roots (our depths). These two dynamics concern our conscious projections, our desires to shape our future (the branches), but also the dark side that determines the broad outlines of our destiny (the roots).
Now Perthro confronts us more radically with the forces that shape our destiny. Something that was hidden and latent is emerging from the depths, in a chiaroscuro revelation that shakes the very foundations of our world. The cold clarity emanating from these depths casts doubt on many of our certainties but also reveals unexpected paths.
If we are confronted here with the unexpected, it is precisely because the circulation of energies in Eihwaz has awakened new forces in our lives. In that previous rune, we became aware of the currents that determined our destiny, even if some of these currents remain hidden: here, their interaction unveils new horizons that may surprise us.
Fire and ice produce the interplay between chance and necessity, fate and free will in the way we approach unforeseen events. Ice is present in the dice, the determinisms that condition and limit our destiny. Fire, on the other hand, reveals itself in our free will, the impulse and intention given to the dice, and the way we combine them.
There is a possibility of harmonizing the conscious (fire) and latent (ice) dynamics—personal and internal—that determine our destiny.
Perthro is a roll of the dice. It is no coincidence that the glyph is open: what unfolds in this episode requires great open-mindedness to fully and consciously understand and engage with the unforeseen elements that fate holds for us, which means a profound acceptance of the unpredictable while equally rejecting fatalism or denial.
The dice cup speaks of play, of taking risks. This rune is addressed to the adventurer, already prepared by Nauthiz, who is willing to risk his possessions, whatever their nature, for a far greater gain. At this crossroads, we accept the questioning of past achievements. Here lies the simultaneous clarity of the reality of the goal and the genesis that continues day after day within us and around us, as much in the mystery of our consciousness as in all that constitutes our world in the representations that form its foundation. It is this clarity that allows us to question ourselves even as a hidden meaning surfaces.
Faced with circumstances that defy our logic—whether positive, negative, or unsettling—if we have cultivated the stability of Yggdrasil, we can sense an inner coherence behind a form of chaos, even if we do not understand where it is leading us. Thus, the obstacles and difficulties encountered in Hagalaz and Nauthiz become opportunities here, and the fruits of Jera become assets to be developed.
If the previous work has been continued, we will have the intuition that what appears to be random is in reality part of a deeper determinism, and even if we do not fully understand it, we sense how integral it is to our being and our future.
For those of us who consult the runes, it can be tempting to adhere to a literal interpretation, based on texts consistent with the rune’s meaning—whether positive or negative—by applying the suggested automatism to our situation.
In reality, every oracle is a fleeting glimpse of the forces at play in that moment. If astrology, properly understood, states that “The stars incline but do not govern,” the reading does not abolish our free will, and whatever aspects are revealed, it is up to us to seek to understand how they relate to our present situation by interpreting them in order to best “navigate” the uncertainties of the path they foretell.
Signposts at the crossroads, the runes warn and guide. Understood in this way, a “negative” reading signifies a challenge to overcome, a “positive” reading an asset to leverage, but in both cases, there is no passive submission to what the runes reveal: submission becomes inspiration, then participation.