Rune 16 of 24 · Hagal's aett
Sowilo
“sun” · sound: s
Looks the same either way up: never reversed.
Historical evidence
The sun in all three poems (sigel, sól). The Old English poem calls it a hope to seafarers; the Icelandic poem calls it the shield of the clouds.
The name Sowilo is a modern reconstruction of the Proto-Germanic name; the Elder Futhark’s own names are not recorded.
In the rune poems (original texts)
Sigel semannum symble biþ on hihte,
ðonne hi hine feriaþ ofer fisces beþ,
oþ hi brimhengest bringeþ to lande.Sól er landa ljóme;
lúti ek helgum dóme.Sól er skýja skjöldr
ok skínandi röðull
ok ísa aldrtregi
rota siklingr.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: success, vitality, guidance
Upright
Energy, health and success; the sun that lights the way and gives direction.