Laguz (ᛚ) is the twenty-first rune of the Elder Futhark and stands for the sound l. Its name means "water," whether lake, stream or sea. The medieval rune poems show water in motion: an ocean that terrifies sailors, a waterfall, an eddying stream. In modern rune reading Laguz is taken to mean flow, intuition and emotions, and it is read as a maybe.
What does the Laguz rune mean?
In the alphabet, Laguz is the letter l. Its name is a general word for a body of water.
In modern rune reading, a practice that dates from the 20th century, water becomes a picture of the inner life:
- Flow. Movement that finds its own course.
- Intuition. Knowing something before you can explain it.
- Emotions. Feelings that are deep, shifting and hard to hold.
The Laguz sign and its sound
Laguz is an upright line with a single short stroke slanting down from its top to the right, like a capital L turned upside down, or a hook. Some see a wave about to break, others a leek shoot bent at the tip.
It stands for l. The reconstructed name is Laguz; the Old English form is Lagu and the Old Norse Lögr.
The name Laguz and what the rune poems say
The runologist Tineke Looijenga gives the reconstructed name as laguz and translates Old English lagu as "lake, water." All three medieval rune poems have a verse for it. They are quoted from Bruce Dickins's 1915 translation, and each poet looks at a different kind of water.
The Old English poet is at sea and not enjoying it: "The ocean seems interminable to men, if they venture on the rolling bark and the waves of the sea terrify them and the courser of the deep heed not its bridle." The "bark" is the ship; so is the "courser of the deep," a horse that will not answer the reins. This is water as something far stronger than the people on it.
The Old Norwegian poet stays on land: "A waterfall is a River which falls from a mountain-side; but ornaments are of gold."
The Old Icelandic poet gives three quick images: "Eddying stream and broad geysir and land of the fish."
Put side by side, the verses are about water that will not keep still: rolling, falling, swirling, boiling up. None of them mentions feelings or intuition. That link is modern, and it is easy to see how it was made. A sea that "seems interminable" and a ship that ignores its bridle are a good description of being carried by a mood. But the fear in the English verse deserves to be kept in the picture. The old poets respected water more than they trusted it.
Laguz in a modern rune reading
These are modern readings, offered as such.
As a rune of the day, Laguz is taken as encouragement to trust your gut on the thing you cannot quite explain.
In a three-rune cast:
- The situation. Things are fluid. The shape of the matter has not set yet.
- The challenge. Wanting firm ground too soon. The task is to steer lightly and keep your balance while it moves.
- The likely outcome. The current takes you somewhere; where depends on how well you read it. It is a direction, not a verdict.
Asked a yes-or-no question, our tool reads Laguz as maybe.
Intuition is a fine guide to what you feel. For decisions about health, money or the law it is not enough, and neither is a rune: those call for a qualified professional.
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Is there a reversed Laguz?
An upside-down Laguz is described in some books as confusion or being swamped. The Old English verse, with its terrified sailors, shows that the upright rune already holds that possibility. Our rune reading therefore reads it one way up, like every other rune.
Laguz in its ætt and neighboring runes
Laguz is the fifth rune of the third ætt, the final group of eight.
Before it comes Mannaz, humankind, and after it Ingwaz, the rune of Ing, a figure who in the English poem departs "over the waves." Water runs through this corner of the alphabet. To see where it sits among all 24, go to the guide to the Elder Futhark runes.