A crow flies off toward the horizon
The storm rages.
The sky darkens.
Firmly rooted between sky and earth
The tree stands firm
At dawn, the sound of the horn
Awakens a new creation
That welcomes you
And reveals you to yourself
The raven flying toward the storm
Carries with it the sediments
Of the past cycle
The tree is Yggdrasil, supporting
The beings and energies that inhabit
Our inner universe
Sown in Mannaz
A new world is taking shape in Ingwaz
As it strengthens its roots
Celestial and earthly in Othalaz
It remains true to its essence
In the storm of Dagaz.
This end of a cycle signifies
a re-examination
of everything we believe ourselves to be.
Just as the storm
sweeps away all certainty
Then the ephemeral dissolves
A new thread of eternity appears.
This glyph very clearly expresses a contraction of time and space into a single point, followed by a new expansion of space and time. It is the end of a cycle; our universe condenses and retracts into a tiny point before unfolding into a new world. The glyph also suggests a millstone, grinding the shells of the past to extract “the very essence.” It is the “eye of the needle,” the mysterious center from which a new world will be born, the narrowing of the hourglass that compresses time.
The successive oppositions of Fire and Ice have accomplished their work; all duality disappears, dissolving after a final confrontation.
Othalaz, as a summary of the previous cycle, revealed the hoarded assets. This potential contains embryonic elements that are decisive for the new cycle. After condensing all the benefits of the experience lived, this legacy takes on a new meaning here that was previously inaccessible. What was causal, the fruit of the past in Othalaz, becomes final, the seed of the future in Dagaz.
We often speak of “time standing still” in relation to this rune. It is therefore a tipping point, a revolution in the truest sense of the word, marking the end of a complete cycle and the beginning of a new one. We find this notion in the “suspense” of a detective film: a precarious calm settles in, but in an instant events will come to a head: we “hold our breath.” We prepare to pass through a “Sas,” to take a leap into the unknown that is ourselves. At this point, we briefly return to the origin of all things—cosmogony and ontogenesis—in a confrontation with the primordial abyss, a fragile bridge spanning the void. Whether we like it or not, there is no turning back.
The Ragnarök associated with this rune speaks to us of the death of the gods and the end of a world, followed by the emergence of a new world and a new divine figure, Balder. The falling world represents the collapse of the landscape that structures our inner world: the ordered cosmos of the previous cycle gives way to chaos. The gods who reigned there and are dying are —our inner representations, our motivations and desires (good or bad)—that animated the previous cycle. They served their purpose, whether as active (fiery) or reactive (icy) forces, but are destined to disappear: they are obsolete and must be dissolved. This dissolution must be radical so that no vestige of the previous world remains, no “Old God” that will disrupt the new cycle by sowing the seeds of chaos.
This dissolution will be followed by a new coagulation: the coagulation of a new world, Tir Nan Nogg, of this new cycle, with Balder as the central solar figure illuminating this world.
The renewal of Yggdrasil means that what endures is the “World-Tree” of our psychosomatic complex, which, after having been radicalized, prepares to cover itself with new branches.
At the end of the journey through the 24 Runes, the superficial has faded; our vision of beings and things has profoundly changed, undergoing a radical upheaval. Depending on our attachments and our inner dynamics, this transition may be painful or barely felt: in any case, if we have followed the Futhark cycle, it leads to a regenerated world.
But this is not an end; Tir Nan Nogg reveals itself in a new form more intimately linked to our future, a new consciousness permeates us, clearer, and a new adventure begins.