Thor's hammer or a 
sharp thorn on brambles

1st aett, 3rd rune

Protection, the enemy of unfriendly 
forces, a thorny vine, such as blackberry, 
that provides a defense against invaders

Protection, destruction, defense, 
polarity, action, regeneration

Oak

Houseleek

Bloodstone, garnet, red jasper, 
obsidian, onyx, black tourmaline

Red

July 29 - August 13

2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

The Germanic name: Thyth (Thurisaz)
 The Norse name: Thurs
 The Anglo-Saxon name: Thorn
 The Icelandic name: Thurs
 The Norwegian name: Thurs

Named after a race of giants, 
Thurisaz is a power of defense and 
destruction symbolized by brambles, 
thorny bushes that fence in livestock 
and protect boundaries. Depending on 
how it is used, Thurisaz can represent 
an active defense or an attack against 
adversaries.
 The rune is used as a source of protection, 
particularly from unwanted energies and 
malicious people.
 It appears in the variant shape of "Y" 
in pub and inn signs in England, such as 
Ye Olde Pub.

Thor was the strongest of all the 
Norse gods: his footsteps were thunder itself 
and he carried a hammer called Mjollnir 
that could level a mountain with one blow. 
To weild this hot weapon, he needed an 
iron glove named Iarn Greiper, a magic 
gauntlet that enabled him to catch Mjollnir 
without harm when the hammer returned to 
him. Another of his magical tools was 
Megen-giord, a girdle or big belt that when 
worn doubled his power. Thor rode through 
Midgard in a wagon drawn by two goats named 
Tanngniortr and Tanngrisnr. Because the heat 
of his presence was so great, Thor could never 
use the Bifrost Bridge, a bridge between Asgard 
and Midgard. Instead, he had to wade across the 
many rivers. Thor was married twice, first to the 
giantress Iarnsaxa, who bore him two sons, Modi 
(courage) and Magni (strength), and second to Sif, 
a beautiful golden-haired goddess who bore him a 
son, Lorride, and a daughter, Thrud. The Norse 
Thunder God lived in Asgard in Thrudheim, the Land 
of Strength. His spacious palace, called Belskirnir, 
had 540 halls. Widely worshipped by the common people, 
he was called upon to protect the fertility of the 
land. Hammer-shaped amulets, Thor's symbol, were worn 
well into the Christianization of Scandinavia. Thursday 
gets its name from him.

Goat, ram, dragon, hound, cat, 
tiger, lion, leopard, porcupine, mosquito, 
Tasmanian devil, wasp, bear, elephant, 
mongoose, rhinoceros

Fire

3

Mars

Justice

Thurisaz is a symbol of lightning 
and thunder, equated with Mjollnir, 
the hammer of Thor. This weapon was 
the destroyer of the etins (giants) 
and the protector of Midgard and 
Asgard. Thor was related to the 
giants-called "thursars"-in his 
gigantic size and brute strength, 
as well as in his lineage, because 
his grandfather, Odin's father, was 
a giant. The Aesir constantly strove 
to maintain their protective enclosures 
in the world, and the power of this 
rune was invaluable in this effort. 
The giants were not morally evil, but 
were detrimental to the established 
and instinctual life urge exemplified 
by the Aesir, Vanir, and humankind. 
The thorn protected Midgard, Vanaheim, 
and Asgard, the middle and upper worlds.
 Thursars were giants who went by several 
names, including "rime-thurses," or frost
giants. They were the enormous, ancient, 
and wise creatures who fought against the 
gods. They represented primal forces, 
elemental in nature. On one pole, the 
Thurisaz-rune represented the powers of 
the hoar-frost, who were the giants from 
Nifelheim, the cold land; on the other 
pole, the fire-giants from Muspelheim, 
the fire land. In Norse Mythology, as in 
Greek cosmology, the giants came first. 
Ymir, the first giant, a huge troll, was 
shaped by the cold but brought to life by
the heat. He was created at the same time 
as the cosmic cow, Audhumla, was released 
by her licking the rune, and was sustained 
by her generously flowing milk, essentially 
beginning the cycle of life.

Actively protects from enemies and harm
 Overcomes unfriendly situations
 Love Magic
 Awakens your will and helps you take action
 Awareness of the separation and commonality 
of all things
 Projected energy and applied power

Thurisaz, thurisaz, thurisaz
 Th th th th th th th th th th
 Thur thar thir ther thor
 Thu tha thi the tho
 Th th th th th th th th th th

Thurisaz embodies the life-death 
polarity, and has the potential of melding 
the two polarities of kinetic energy into 
one pattern of action. This rune can warn 
you to not rush headlong into things but 
think them through first. Thurisaz is either 
active energy directed outward or passive 
Thurisaz energy contained and directed 
inward. It acts mostly as a carrier, and 
combines well with various other runes to 
ensure success when you're doing works of 
magic.
 Also associated with the forces of 
regeneration and fertilization, the TH-rune 
breaks down barriers, setting the stage for 
new beginnings. In faerytale, it is the thicket 
that protects Sleeping Beauty's castle, and, 
traditionally, the hedge surrounding sacred 
enclosures. In magic, sleep spells were cast 
using the thorn or the spindle, and, as in 
"Sleeping Beauty," this rune also symbolizes 
the thorn of awakening.
 The first two runes of the first aett, Fehu 
and Uruz, embody an unconscious or unmanifested 
dynamic force. As Thurisaz enters the aett, 
this runic force moves to the edge of consciousness. 
Its energy is neither totally unconscious, as 
with the first two runes, nor totally conscious, 
as with the following rune, Ansuz, which governs 
consciousness. In this sense, Thurisaz remains 
on the edge, between the unmanifested and the 
manifested. Slightly submerged, this rune resides 
in the levels of the unconscious mind that are 
easily accessible. A negative side of this rune 
appears in the shadows of the unconscious mind. 
It represents the repressed, shadow aspects of 
your being, which when not dealt with can 
fester and become potentially dangerous.
 The Gateway represents tumult, conflict, 
combustion, complexity, good luck on the horizon, 
or misfortune about to fall. It suggests 
restlessness and change, which can be good or bad. 
Its final significance will depend largely on the 
other runes. Because of its ambiguity, it changes 
little when reversed.
 Thurisaz is the first of the runes of "need", 
"poverty". Such a "short supply" is not destructive 
by definition, rather lying on our way to reinforce 
us and to teach us something.
 This rune communicates to us that the essence of 
learning is suffering - what at first glance appears 
to us to be negative, destructive and painful, proves 
in reality to be a very important lesson, the learning 
and acquisition of which can possibly change our life 
for the better.
 When used in divination it signifies: poverty, painful 
outcome of a situation, discipline, insight/knowledge, 
introspection, focus.

For use in magik: as an aid in the process of 
learning, assistance in meditating and attaining 
self-discipline, for clearing up the meaning 
and essence of a grave situation.

A thorn's function is to protect the plant, 
and thus it is Thurisaz also that appears 
in sense of all forms of self-protection. 
The rune says that better results are achieved 
if allowed is an unobstacled flow of energy 
that surrounds one, without any pressures.
 In its upright position the rune denotes a 
dilemma. If bringing some important decision 
is in question, the rune advises that thorougly 
and without any haste light be thrown upon all 
details of the problem prior to making the decision. 
To view and understand things clearly and 
realistically in order to bring a correct decision 
some certain time is needed, and we should let it 
pass if possibility exists to do that. When drawn 
in the reversed position this rune suggests 
disappointment, delay, or loss. Fehu reversed also 
suggests failures in love. In the financial spheres, 
too, this is a bad sign, as expectations are not going 
to be materialized. 
 If this rune stops in its reversed position it announces 
bringing of an imprudent, hasty and abrupt decision, 
to be regretted later and which could possibly produce 
serious discords in the family. 

Fehu Uruz Thurisaz Ansuz Raidho Kenaz
Gebo Wunjo Hagalaz Naudhiz Isa Jera
Eihwaz Perdhro Algiz Sowilo Tiwaz Berkana
Ehwaz Mannaz Laguz Ingwaz Othala Dagaz


Rune Interpretations

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