Stadha & Gadr: Othala

part 9

Rune of immobile property.

Property that can not be moved and is not fluid like currency. While both fluid and static property can be inherited, and thus fehu and othala both point to things that can be inherited but the difference lies in what can or ought to be done with that property. While fehu is a fluid force with an expansive energetic motion, othala points to that which ought to be protected through sacred enclosure.

Like Asgard, the realm of the Aesir, was a protected enclosure and home to the Aesir gods amidst the chaos of existence. This is the seed from which society can come to exist. But as the sagas tell us, is always under some kind of siege from outside forces.

In a more practical sense then, othala is the rune of the home, of the sacred space. Which the home definitely is, I have heard Thomas Sheridan mention this too that the home ought to be protected as if it was your own personal magick circle.

It is that part of our lives that we should always safeguard from the influences from outside chaos and destruction. So our families and children can thrive, something to fall back on when the outside world becomes too hostile and dangerous.

And in runic magick, this is often how the rune is used, to fortify the boundaries between our inner (home) world and that which lays outside of it and must stay outside of it.