Note: This is the second in a series on six runes which I use as special tools of personal transformation. The first in the series dealt with the rune “Uruz,” and was posted a few days ago. The idea behind this six-part series is that Odin/Woden/Wotan does not want us to “worship” him or pander to him in hope of his favors… He wants us to evolve, to become more like him
Bjarkan appears in the younger rune row, the one in use during the Viking Age. In addition to the ideas of “transformation in a concealed and safe place” and “fertility,” it takes on the meanings of the rune Perthro, which can be translated as “dice cup” – dealing with the idea of “fate” not as predestination but as the logical outcomes of one’s deeds. In the Germanic mind, “fate” is not imposed on a person from outside, but something the individual makes by his or her actions. “You get the fate you make.”
Since Bjarkan deals with the very nature of manifestation and becoming, this is obviously a key rune in changing oneself, and changing one’s world.
Bjarkan represents, among other things, the smallest possible cycle of “birth, being/becoming, falling away to a new arising” – you can think of it as the very “quantum of becoming.” By contemplating this rune, one can pierce what Edred Thorsson calls “the magic of the moment” and effect change in a situation, and more importantly, in one’s self. In simpler words, it helps us do the right things at the right times This sounds like “New Age” psychobabble, but makes a lot more sense with study.
Recommended resources: 1. Futhark ; 2. Runelore; 3. ALU – An advanced guide to operant runology , all by Thorsson.
