Rune 9 of 24 · Hagal's aett
Hagalaz
“hail” · sound: h
Looks the same either way up: never reversed.
Historical evidence
Hail in all three poems (hægl, hagall). The Old English poem calls it the whitest of grain that melts into water; the Icelandic poem calls it cold grain.
The name Hagalaz is a modern reconstruction of the Proto-Germanic name; the Elder Futhark’s own names are not recorded.
In the rune poems (original texts)
Hægl byþ hwitust corna; hwyrft hit of heofones lyfte,
wealcaþ hit windes scura; weorþeþ hit to wætere syððan.Hagall er kaldastr korna;
Kristr skóp hæimenn forna.Hagall er kaldakorn
ok krapadrífa
ok snáka sótt
grando hildingr.Original texts as printed in Bruce Dickins, Runic and Heroic Poems of the Old Teutonic Peoples, Cambridge University Press, 1915. Public domain. The summary above is Scryway’s own; no translation is reproduced.
Modern interpretation
From 20th-century and later divinatory practice, written for Scryway. Not a historical meaning.
Keywords: disruption, sudden change, forces outside your control
Upright
A sudden storm you did not cause: disruption that clears the way for something new, as hail melts to water.