FEHU
f
Aett: 1st Aett, Freyr’s Aett
Position within the Aett: 1
Position within the Futhark: 1
Meaning: Cattle, Wealth
Concept: Orlog
English Letter Value: F
Sound: F
Pronunciation: Fay-hoo
Other Names: Anglo-Saxon: Feoh
Armanen: Fa
Germanic: Fehu
Gothic: Faihu
Icelandic: Fé
Norwegian: Fé
Younger: Fé
Associations:
Polarity: Masculine
Element: Fire
World: Muspellheim
Galdr: Faaaaaaaayhooooooo
Rune Poem(s)
Norwegian Rune Rhyme
[Money] causes strife among kinsmen;
the wolf grows up in the woods.
Icelandic Rune Poem
[Money] is the [cause of] strife among kinsmen;
and the fire of the flood tide,
and the path of the serpent.
gold “leader of the war-band”
Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem
[Money] is a comfort
to everybody
although every man ought
to deal it out freely
if he wants to get approval
from the lord.
Level One Meaning(s)
Fehu's main meaning is cattle. To the ancient tribes animals were often a symbol of how wealthy a person was (this is still true today among many of the tribes of Africa and Siberia). To the Northern Europeans, the animals used to measure wealth were cattle and the reindeer. The larger the herd the wealthier the person was. Because of this fehu is associated with wealth. However, as time passed, this association changed and evolved.
As the people of the North became less and less nomadic and more agrarian, farm produce became more important; not only as a way to feed the livestock and the family, but as a trade commodity. A person who could produce more than s/he needed could trade the excess for other goods. This lead to the ability of people to be able to specialize in certain tasks (i.e.: black smithing, tailoring, baking, etc.). As this evolved and pretty stones became to be valued, it lead to the next step in fehu's evolution: currency.
At first currency was still ruled by the old barter system. So many "pretty stones" (especially the golden ones) for so many goods and the amount was negotiable. With time, the "pretty stones" started taking on a value of their own and turned into the metal coin which had a fixed value. The purchasing power of the coin was still negotiated between buyer and seller, however, the seller no longer set the value of the "trade good" (i.e.: the metal coin). This association with currency lead to the word that is derived from fehu: fee.
Fehu is not associated with such items of wealth like ones home or land. Fehu means mobile wealth, such as the examples above. Today we would call it liquid wealth, that with can be turned into cash easily or the cash itself. One of the reasons that a home or land was not considered as wealth was that the Northern Peoples did not consider land to be something that could be bought or sold. Rather, they viewed their land or home as something that belonged to the family, both past, present, and future, and not as something that was really theirs.
Fehu can be used to draw money (wealth) to a person. This can be done in one of two ways. The first is to perform a ritual in which fehu is invoked; either as a single rune (using is primal fire aspect) or as bind rune (we'll talk more about bind runes later) using isa or nauthiz to calm the fires of the rune. The other way to attract money is to wear a pendent with fehu on it; again by itself or as a bind rune.
Fehu, like most of the runes, has a dark side to it. As the rune poems warn, hoarded wealth can cause strife among family members (as well as friends). Also, being greedy, miserly, lusting after things or money, or even being a spendthrift can destroy a person’s soul.
Associated Deity(ies)
Freyr: Freyr is one of the Vanir who was traded to the Aesir, after the Vanir/Aesir war, as war hostage (common practice to assure peace between two tribes who had been at war). Freyr is a fertility god; which was very important to the ancient northern European peoples. Freyr made the seed grow and the cattle increase. If Freyr smiled on you, then your herd would increase and so would your wealth. If not, at best there would be no increase; at worse, your herd would decrease or die out.
Freyja: Freyja was, like her brother Freyr, traded to the Aesir as a war hostage. Also, like her brother, is associated with fertility. She is also associated with gold and amber (two very precious stones even today). According to the lore, Freyja's husband Od decided to go wandering the worlds. After awhile she became concerned because he was gone a very long time. She went looking for him, but to no avail. She began weeping for her loss while she searched. If her tears landed on land, they turned to gold. If they landed in the sea, they turned into amber. (Note: Baltic amber is only found on sea shores where it is washed up by the tide and is considered the most valuable of all ambers.)
Gullveig: Gullveig, who is a Vanir goddess whose name means "gold lust", is another goddess associated with fehu; the dark side of this rune. Gullveig came to Asgard in the early times and caused a lot of trouble. The lore isn't too specific about exactly what happened, but it doesn't take too much imagination to figure it out with a name like hers. Odin had to decree that she be put to death for the good of Asgard. They captured her, tied her to a stake and burned her at the stake. When the fires had run their course, they found her still alive, looking more beautiful than she had before the fire, and just grinning at them. So the Aesir gathered more wood and brush and set it and her aflame again. For the second time she was unscathed, alive and more beautiful than before. For the third time the Aesir tried to burn her at the stake, only this time Loki decided to take matters into his own hands. He reached through the flames, tore out the black heart of Gullveig and ate it to insure that she died. The coming of Gullveig and the act to get rid of her was the end of the innocence of the Aesir. It also started the Vanir/Aesir war.
Surtr: Surtr (the "giant" who rules Muspellsheim) is also associated with fehu due to frehu's association with the primal fire (which resides in the land of Muspellsheim).
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