Viking Elder Futhark Fehu Rune Pendant Necklace

Fehu is the raw archetypal energy of motion and expansion in the multiverse. It is the force that flows from Muspellsheimr, the source of cosmic fire, from which Midhgardhr was produced (see I-rune). The F-rune is the all-encompassing and omnipresent power symbolized by the charging bovine herd and by wildfire. The cosmic fire of Muspellsheimr is instrumental in the creation of the world, but it is also the principal agent in its destruction of Ragnarök. The fire-giant, Surtr, spreads the flames of destruction over the world, thus destroying all but those gods and men who are to survive or to be reborn in the renewed world on the Idha plain (the shining plain). It must be remembered that fehu is not the undifferentiated power of the cosmic fire of Muspellsheimr but rather the mystery of its eternal working eminently throughout the multiverse.

This rune rules the basic force of fertility. The F-rune contains the mystery of both creation and destruction and the harmonious functioning of these two extremes, which leads to dynamic evolutionary force. Fehu is the rune of eternal becoming. Along with several other runes, this describes the holy process of birth-life-death-rebirth or arising-being / becoming-passing-away toward new arising. More specifically, fehu is the archetypal force that gives impetus to this eternal process.

The F-rune is the essence of mobile power. This is evident from the most mundane meaning of its name: “money” or “cattle” (contrast O-rune). This root word originally meant mobile wealth or property, then was attached to the concept of livestock, which was the main mobile form of property known to the most ancient Germanic peoples. Later this term was used for “money,” hence the modern English word “fee.”

All in all, the F-rune defines a mobile form of power. In the psycho-magical realm, this concept of mobile force is closely connected with the old Germanic idea of the hamingja. This is an aspect of the psychosomatic complex that may be best described as mobile and transferable magical power. The hamingja (which is often translated by such concepts as “luck,” and even “guardian spirit”) may be sent forth from an individual in a manner akin to that of the “astral body” in other traditions. Fehu is the directed expansive force that facilitates the projection of soul entities and magical power from person to person, or from a person to an object.

Often the power of the F-rune is manifested in the mythology as an otherworldly glow around grave mounds and hills, or even as a ring of fire.