Runes
Dagaz
The twenty third rune, Dagaz, sounds as D. It is the seventh rune of Tyr's aett, the third row of the Elder Futhark. The shape is two upright strokes joined by lines that cross in the middle, like an hourglass laid on its side or a bow tie drawn with a ruler. The thing it names is day, and through the day it speaks of breakthrough, awakening, the turn from dark to light, a new dawn.
The picture
Dawn. Specifically the moment of it, when the sky has been grey for a while and then, without anything you could point to, it is light.
The shape tells the story. Two sides, a narrow waist between them, and the whole figure balanced on that one point where the lines cross. On one side is night. On the other side is day. The crossing is the instant of change, and it is tiny. I find that true of most real change. People expect a breakthrough to feel like a door being kicked in, and more often it feels like noticing you can see the kettle without the light on.
In ordinary life Dagaz is the morning after the worst of a flu when you wake up hungry. It is the day you realise you have not thought about the person who hurt you for a week. It is the idea that lands fully formed after months of being nearly there. It is the end of the night shift, the first coffee on the verandah, the birds starting up in the dark before anyone can see why.
When it comes up
When Dagaz comes up I read it as a moment that is turning. You may not feel it yet. The rune often arrives a little before the light does, while things still look the same as they did yesterday, and its message is that they are about to look different. Hold on. The grey is the last part.
It is also a rune of seeing. Something you did not understand is about to make sense, often all at once. I suspect the understanding usually turns out to have been available for some time, and what changes is your willingness to look at it. Dagaz is the light coming on over information you already had. That can be a relief and it can be a shock. Daylight shows the dust as well as the view.
The third thread is a plain one. Get up. Dagaz favours action in the morning of a thing, while the energy is fresh. If you have been waiting for a sign, this is as near as the runes get to giving you one. Standing in this rune means trusting that the turn has happened and behaving as though it is already light, even while your eyes are still adjusting.
Reversed
Dagaz looks the same whichever way up it lands, so it has no reversed position. Its hard side shows in the runes around it. Beside Isa, the ice, the dawn is slow and cold and you will need patience. Beside Thurisaz, the thorn, the light shows something sharp that you will have to deal with before you can enjoy the view. Beside Nauthiz, need, the breakthrough comes with a cost attached. On its own, the rune is a sunrise and I do not know anyone who argues with one of those.
Across the traditions
In the tarot I put Dagaz beside Judgement, the twentieth card of the Major Arcana, the figures rising from their boxes at the sound of the horn, the big wake up. That is my own pairing and nothing stronger, and The Sun, card nineteen, sits right beside it for the plain brightness of the thing. The Judgement page in The 78 Cards goes further into the card. The rune before this one, Ingwaz, is the seed, and Dagaz is the morning it comes up, so the two read well together in a draw. There is no tree in this picture, so the Ogham stays out of it. One small note on order: The Elder Futhark page explains why a few old carvings swap this rune and Othala, and why these pages keep Dagaz at twenty three.
What have you been able to see for a while now, and are you ready to act as if it were light?
If you would like this read against your own chart, my readings are here.
The Runes
The other pages in this set, and where they sit in the Library.
See every page and post in the Contents.
The Members area has songs, Moon pages to print, the Sunday article a day early and a first look at new Library pages.