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August 27th, 2017 
Awake Goy By Nigel Pennick
Letters in an alphabet are metaphors for reality. Although they are ultimately derived from picture-writing, most individual characters or shape-forms have lost these original associations, and their meaning is now only in the minds of those who use them.
However, myths and legends from all over the world tell how ancient symbols once had a magical and religious significance, being given by the gods to human beings.
Generally, alphabets explore the presence of the infinite within the finite. The letters of an alphabet are a finite set of elements from which an infinite number of combinations can be made. According to religious ideas, they represent divine power within the world, showing the infinite possibilities that can come into being.
Ancient alphabets were believed to express the fundamental elements of everything in creation. The Greek word stoicheia – “the alphabet” – encompasses the idea of these universal elements, a concept that most is developed in the Hebrew alphabet and the runes. According to the Cabalistic (mythical Jewish) text called the Sepher Yetzirah, the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet are expressions of the fundamental structure of creation. Three of these characters are called the “mothers.” They are the letters Aleph (A), Mem (M), and Shin (Sh). They represent three elements: air, water, and fire respectively. To the Jewish Cabalists, all creation emanated from these three elements. The heavens are composed of fire, and the earth of water, while between them the air symbolizes the mediating spirit. The three “mothers” are also associated with parts of the body and time.
The Welsh bardic tradition also teaches that the universe emanates from three “mother” letters of the alphabet, called Coelbren Y Beirdd. The Elder Futhark similarly has three “mother” runes: Fehu (F), Hagalaz (H), and Teiwaz (T). They are the primary runes of the three groups known as aettir, into which rune-rows are divided.
THE RUNIC COSMOS:
The runes belong to the Northern Tradition – a system of beliefs and culture shared by the Germanic, Norse, and Celtic peoples – which has its way to describe existence. The tradition sees the cosmos in a nine-fold way. Nine is the most potent of numbers, being, as an old English spell says, “the power of three times three.” Nine appears frequently in ancient writings. There are nine worlds in the cosmos, and the nine-fold grid is the most powerful pattern in Northern European magic.
According to the Norse sages, there are nine distinct aspects in every human being. They are the physical body, the Lik or Lich, and Hamr, one’s personal shape or body image. The body also possesses Odhr, the faculty of inspiration, Hugr, the power of cognition and perception, and Minni, the mind, the reflective capability. These are empowered by Ond, the vital breath of the cosmos, of which we each have a share, and the Hamingja, our “luck” or “guardian angel” that brings protection and good fortune. Connected with the body-aspects but external to them are the Sal, an after-death image, a shade or ghost. Lastly, there is the Fylgja (the Old Norse equivalent of the Old English Fetch), a partly separate aspect of ourselves that sometimes appears in animal form as a power-beast.
The number nine is found in the legend of Wotan, who hung on the “windswept tree” for nine days and nights to obtain the runes. This tree was, in fact, the world tree, known in ancient Germany as Irminsul and in Norse myth as Yggdrasil (commemorated in the maypoles set up every May Day) Symbolically, this World Tree is the cosmic axis that links the three levels of the universe containing the nine worlds of creation. In the upper level is the heavenly Asgard, home of the gods; in the middle is Midgard, or Middle Earth, the world of humans; and below is the underworld of Utgard.
The runes operate on all three of these levels. Fundamentally, of course, is the earthly, Midgard, level, which deals with everyday interpretations. But we must not forget the spiritual, Asgard, level above it, and the unconscious, Utgard, level, below. When we use the runes, we must interpret them in the light of all. Every rune can relate to one or other of the nine parts of the human being, giving us an enormous range of possibilities.
From author Nigel Pennick’s 1999 book titled “The Complete Illustrated Guide To Runes”, via Ron McVan.
Source Article from http://www.renegadetribune.com/characters-of-creation/
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