Post by Senbecc on Jan 27, 2007 0:42:47 GMT -5
The essential meaning of this rune is symbolised in the image of a clan flag or banner unfurled in victory.
While the upright stave holds the two angled staves in such a way as to easily resemble a flag or banner, it is important to note that this pictogram is very similar to the pictogram for "Thorn".
If the challenge represented by Thorn was successfully overcome there would be ample reason to raise the flag of victory and the celebration implied in the rune Wunjo might indeed be the end result.
Happiness, joy, and glory are all associated with this rune. The battle well-fought and won, a wand or staff, prosperity, peace, and good fellowship are equally associated with Wunjo. There is also a term in Anglo-Saxon, wuldortanas, meaning "glory twigs" which many experts associate with the rune.
Wynn, or vend, (other names for Wunjo) can also be visualized as a wind-vane, showing "which direction the wind is blowing." This image, while immediately valuable to anyone who understands the importance of knowing "which way the wind is blowing" to the success of the hunt or other ventures dependant upon the use of forces already in motion in the surrounding environment, becomes even more valuable when you delve deeper into the phonetic derivations of this rune.
Phonetically, Wunjo in it's derivative form of Winn and Wend, has influences in the meanings and sounds of present day language. Win is clearly about victory or attainment, Wend also means to change the direction of something, to turn or to run with or against the wind.
This derivation should easily call to mind the importance of being "downwind" to a hunter, or the importance of running "with the wind" to a sailor.
As far as the many derivations of win, winsome, or winning are concerned, little else needs to be said other than a reminder that attainment should always end in a celebration and acknowledgement of that attainment.
Magically, Wunjo is called upon to ensure or encourage a victory or attainment of some much desired outcome. In fact, the rune Wunjo looks beyond the victory to the celebration following the victory and is therefore an essential aid in completing your magical visualization because the most successful magical endeavors assume success at the outset.
To change one situation into another, is another use of Wunjo both magically and in divination and Wunjo is especially good in bind runes for ensuring victory due to the aforementioned assumption of the celebration following victory inherent in the meaning of this rune.
In divination it can represent any of the following forms.
WUNJO UPRIGHT:Joy, celebration, comfort, pleasure, fellowship, harmony, prosperity, ecstasy, glory, reward, success, recognition, accomplishment.
WUNJO MERKSTAVE: Loss, stultification, shame, sorrow, strife, alienation, delirium, intoxication, mourning, impractical enthusiasm, raging frenzy, berzerker.
www.midnightmoonchild.com/moonchildeighthrunepage.html
I used to do volunteer search and rescue work. About thirty times a year, I’d get a call in the middle of the night. Within minutes, several dozen volunteers from over half a state, were up, awake, and starting numerous activities. A government civil servant might turn on the radio in his back room and provide communications statewide. A sixty-five year old seamstress might lead a ground search team, while a college student would monitor the satellite tracking equipment. Then a warehouse worker, a carpenter, and a housewife might fly and man the search aircraft. This is a pretty diverse group. But, for the hours the search goes on, they are one integrated team. Nothing else concerns them for that time. When they successfully pull it off, they all experience a sense of joy, relief and contentment. This is Wunjo at work.
While the magic of Wunjo does work on groups, it also works on the individual members of the group. It speaks of a harmony within the individual members of the group, just as it does on the group as a whole. Drawing Wunjo is a clue that the potential is there, but it happens when the seeker is in personal harmony. When the mundane and spiritual are on the same path. When the self, and the Self, are as one. An individual, personal team working on the same goal.
If you draw Wunjo inversed, look at the path and structure of your life. Is it in harmony? Or, is there something which doesn’t fit? You may have to harmonize and balance your life among the various realms. Also, remember that Wunjo works toward a specific, evolutionary goal. Wunjo inversed could be warning you that you are walking away from a joy which could change the path of your life.
The Old English Rune Poem suggests a method to tap into the power of Wunjo. First, the runemaster must separate from all forms of sadness and woe. But, keeping just enough to remember what it is. Then, he must gain three things. First is prosperity. For a runecaster, this is not getting more money. It is the intake and release of energy. Allowing more spiritual energy to flow through you to others. Next, is Bliss. The sense of being filled with joy and meaningfulness. Finally, a “good enough house for the soul.” Or if you will, a body worthy of maintaining the special power and magic; the divine spark which is your-Self.
www.indigosun.com/oct1998/perkins.htm