| The seventh rune of the Elder Futhark is called "Gebo". It's sound is "G" as in "gift". It is the X-shaped "sacred mark", the linking rune that symbolizes connections between people or gods. "Giving is an ornament that displays worth", the Anglo-Saxon rune poem tells us: "It is substance and honor". Literally, Gebo is a gift that brings about connections between people through exchange. It symbolizes unity between the donor and the person to whom the gift is given, creating a state of balance and harmony. Gebo is personified by the Norse goddess Gefn, "The Bountiful Giver". It gives us the power to link ourselves with other people, helping further a common cause or a business partnership. When illiterate people "signed" a document that bound them to an oath or contract, they used the Gebo rune to make their mark, signifying a gift from one to another. Gebo also links the human world with the divine. In rune work, we should write Gebo as a crossing of two lines only when we mean the general principle of giving. At other times, we should use the combination of two strokes, ">" and "<". When these are written horizontally, they represent a link between two people on an equal basis. But when written one on top of the other, these strokes symbolize a connection between humans and other powers, either above in Asgard, or below, in Utgard. |