PERTHRO

Aett: 2^ND Aett, Hagall’s Aett

Position within the Aett: 6

Position within the Futhark: 14

Meaning: Meaning is unknown

Concept: Wyrd

English Letter Value: P

Sound: P

Pronunciation: Per-throh

Other Names:   Anglo-Saxon:     Peordh

                          Armanen:           None

                          Germanic:          Perthro

                          Gothic:               Pairthra

                          Icelandic:           Perd

                          Norwegian:        Pertra

                          Younger:            None

Associations:

     Element: Water

     World: Vanaheim

Galdr: Perrrrrthhhhroooooh

Rune Poem(s)

Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem

     [Lot Box] is always

     play and laughter

     among bold men.

     Where the warriors sit

     in the beer hall,

     happily together

                     [HUMFREY WANLEY, TRANS.]

Level One Meaning(s)

     As of yet there is not a traditional meaning for perthro. However, there have been many different translations; including “secret”, “lot cup” and “chess piece”. To me, due to the many associations with such ideas as “luck” and “lot cup”, perthro means and is associated with “uncertainty”. This association with uncertainty works very well with the concept of the second aett, that of wyrd. Even though we may know what our wyrd may be, we are still unsure, uncertain, of exactly how we will fulfill our wyrd. Nor do we know of all the nuances that might be hidden within our wyrd.

     Hidden (or secret) knowledge is also a part of the meaning of perthro. Much of life is hidden from us and with good reason. If a part of your wyrd was to die at a certain time and at a certain place, and we knew about it, would we be at that place at that time? I’m pretty sure I would be as far away from that place as I could get. (Unfortunately, avoiding your wyrd isn’t as simple as that. When you decided to avoid the place of your death at the specified time you would automatically change your wyrd or your wyrd would conspire to have you at that place at that time anyway. However, this thought problem does illustrate the decisions that can be made with too much information and why so much must be hidden from us so that we can follow our wyrd.) Due to perthro’s association with secrecy, is also associated with the goddess Frigg. In the Lokasenna, verse 28 & 29, we are told:

          Loki said:

                ‘Frigg, do you want me to say still more about

                my wicked deeds;

                for I brought it about that you will never again

                see Baldr ride to the halls.’

          Freyia said:

                ‘Mad are you, Loki, when you reckon up your

                ugly, hateful deeds;

                Frigg knows, I think, all fate,

                though she herself does not speak out.’

                                           [LARRINGTON TRANSLATION]

As you see, Frigg has intimate knowledge of the future but keeps it to herself. It was this foreknowledge of events that caused Frigg to try spare her son Baldr from his fate (wyrd), but failed to do so because she underestimated both Loki and the humble mistletoe.

     Due to its shape, perthro has been associated with a draw-string bag that is often used to hold the runes. This is easy to see because of the uncertainty of what will come out of that bag in divination. What runes will appear? Will the “omens” be favorable or will they reveal a disaster on the horizon.

     Also, its shape has been associated with the lot cup. This is also very easy to understand as well. Historically, the lot cup was a very important to the Northern Peoples. Tacitus, in circa 100 C.E., tells us in Germania, chapter 24, about the use of the lot cup by the Germanics:

What is marvellous, playing at dice is one of their most serious employments; and even sober, they are gamesters: nay, so desperately do they venture upon the chance of winning or losing, that when their whole substance is played away, they stake their liberty and their persons upon one and the last throw. The loser goes calmly into voluntary bondage. However younger he be, however stronger, he tamely suffers himself to be bound and sold by the winner. Such is their perseverance in an evil course: they themselves call it honour.

                                           [GERMANIA, JAMES RIVES EDITOR]

As can be seen here, the association with the lot cup with perthro is due to the uncertainty of the outcome of such a gambling spree. Also, the lot cup was often used to “view” the outcome of a battle. It was a way of trying to take some of the uncertainty, for good or ill, out of what was to come. If you think that you are going to die in battle, you’ll take some risks you probably wouldn’t normally take. The strange thing about this foreknowledge is that it could turn the tide of battle in your favor, thus changing the foretelling of the lot cup. Then again, it could just get you killed that much sooner. Here, again, is the association with wyrd. The outcome of the reading is affected by ones personal wyrd and the choices that are made on the spot.

     Perthro has also, due again to its shape, been associated with birth and the womb. Freya Aswinn has made a convincing argument on this association . However, I do not completely agree with this association. I believe that berkana would be the more appropriate rune to be associated with birth and the birthing process. I believe that perthro would represent the uncertainties that are associated with birth and the birthing process. This would include such uncertainties as:

     Will the birth be a live birth or will the baby be stillborn? Will the baby be born healthy or with deformities? Will the mother survive the birthing process or not? Etc.

     As you can see the p-rune represents all the unknown, the unknowable, and the uncertain factors in a human’s life. These associations are the very essence of wyrd and how wyrd affects our life and life decisions. It is this relationship with wyrd is why the so-called “wyrd rune” (also known as the “blank rune”) never existed before the 20^th Century. It just wasn’t required because of the existence of perthro.

Level Two Meaning - The 3-3-2 Relationship

     In its relation to the previous two runes (jera and eihwaz) perthro represents the uncertainties that exist to promote or hinder growth. In terms of crops, those uncertainties would include such things as: rain, hail, sunshine, temperatures, etc. In other words, will there be enough rain to grow the crops, or will there be too much. Will there be a hail storm and, if there is, will it help or hinder the growth of the crop? Will there be enough, too much or too little sunshine during the growing season? Etc. (This would also be true for herding, except, instead of crops, the concern would be over the uncertainties associated with the meadows.) 

Level Three Meaning - The 4-4 Relationship

     As eihwaz represents the place to live (Midgard), perthro represents the uncertainties of Midgard as a place to live. Midgard (Earth) is not a very safe place to live. There are many different elements that actually make it seem hostile to human life. There are earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanos, to name a few of the natural disasters that can take human life. These do not even include all the beasts, such as wolves, dragons, kraken, etc., that threaten the human existence. Then there are also the jotuns, evil spirits and other “supernatural” beings that hate humans. And, lest we forget, there is always the constant threat of extinction at the hands of the biggest threat that humans have, other humans. Perthro encompasses all of this uncertainty for continued existence and, in kind, the will to face all these uncertainties and overcome them.

Associated Diety(ies)

     Frigg: Frigg is the wife of Odin and was considered to be identical to her mother, Fyorgyn, who is an Earth Goddess. Frigg was often dressed in the plumage of hawks and falcons in the form of a cloak. She is the head of all the goddesses of Asgard just as her husband Odin was the chief of the gods. Although she spends most all her time in her seal-hall home, she did get out once in a while. She left her home once in an effort to protect her son, Baldr, from death; a death that would herald the beginning of the end; Ragnarok.