A House Filled with Light
A resplendent magical tree
Bearing spiritual fruits
Whose vision delights you
Immersed in this light
You discover
The fullness of perfect Joy
That is rooted in the Eternal.
The etymological root of “enthusiasm” is “entheos” (inspired, possessed by a god). At the end of this first Aett—which is the revelation of the Divine within us, not an abstract Divine or an idealized representation, but a Divine that permeates who we are and what we experience—we can legitimately feel such enthusiasm that fills every part of our Being. The tree is Yggdrasil, the vertical center that radiates and stabilizes our inner and outer worlds, regenerating our psychosomatic complex.
Inner stability combined with expansion, expressed by a cross in the previous Rune, finds a new form here. The lower leg of Raidho has retracted: the lessons of the journey are firmly integrated. What in Thurisaz was a dangerous and unstable emanation of Fire has risen to the top of the vertical branch like a flag. A flag both firmly anchored in the ground and animated by the breath of the wind always represents, in , a grounding in a place of collective or divine forces illustrated by the colors or symbols it bears.
In Egypt, this glyph signified the Neter and found its embodiment in the Neter mast: the Neter masts that stood at the temple entrance expressed the presence of the Neter in that place, whose breath gave life to the flag at the tip of the mast. These masts were placed before the temple entrance, thus marking the beginning of the inner path through the various parts of the Temple to the Naos, shrouded in mysterious darkness and housing the statue of the Neter, in the mysterious world of origins.
Thus, at the end of the first Aett, Wunjo expresses that we have received “in our land” the seal of the divine and that the path is only just beginning. But this glyph is also a unfurled sail carrying us toward the future: it suggests that the wind is rising and that soon we must set sail for new lands.
In this first Aett, after receiving the initial impulse of Fire in Fehu, having internalized it within our inner ice in Uruz, and having accepted the rupture it demanded in Thurisaz, we were able to welcome the messenger in Ansuz. The message received and brought to consciousness set us on a path toward new lands, making us creators in Kenaz. With this creation externalized and shared in Gebo, we are filled with the enthusiasm of Wunjo, which is radiant fullness. Gebo, when properly understood, roots and makes the sharing of Wunjo fruitful.
The glyph explains that in this rune, Fire is fixed within Ice. The Fire in Wunjo manifests as radiance and inner warmth arising from sharing. This Flame is embodied in the Flag, and the Ice in the flagpole, whose deep roots guarantee the enduring nature of this enthusiasm.
The enthusiasm referred to here is neither an emotional outburst nor a dangerous spiritual complacency. The impetuous fire of the Fehu Volcano has been fully infused within us, and we have assimilated the stages traversed during the journey of this first Aett. It is a certainty, a deeply rooted truth quite different from a blissful quietism, for it implies the certainty of a commitment commensurate with the Gift—the responsibility to carry out the journey undertaken, the responsibility toward what has been infused into us in Ansuz and Gebo, the seed of an immense Tree that we sense.
We must ensure that this profound Joy—which is a recognition of our belonging to a Reality that transcends us—does not degenerate into a form of self-satisfaction that closes us off from the world. Gebo has taught us the importance of the right relationship and the dynamic that accompanies it. Wunjo concerns the present moment, and as this cycle draws to a close, the prospect of a re-evaluation in the second Aett looming on the horizon must not prevent us from immersing ourselves in this fullness. It is a “white stone” of undeniable intensity and quality, a distant glimpse yet of Tir Nan Nog, the goal of our journey, a faithful and unchanging companion.
The wind rises and blows into the sail represented by the Glyph pointing toward the second Aett. We are rested, our vessel has been prepared, and it will soon be time to leave port to face the second cycle of Hagal.