Nied byth nearu on breostan, weortheth hi theah oft nitha bearnum

To helpe and to haele gehwaethre,

Gif hi his hlystath aeror.

Need is confinement on the breast,

Though frequently it becomes a grief to the children of men,

If they listen beforehand it can be both a help and a healing.

Nied is truly an amazing rune but even more amazingly is how prevalent the meaning of this rune is in our modern society. There are several meanings of Nied, which bring it a bit more out of the dark, and they are compulsion, hardship, pain and violence. These definitions give us a bit more of a rounder scope which to look through. We all know the feeling of what it means to need. These feelings can be hunger, desire and lust. In order to fully understand Nied we first must look into the past.

To any society living in accordance with and uncomfortably close to nature rely on natures patterns to survive. They relied on spring and summer for a good and fertile harvest in autumn, on plants that grew wild for nutritional and medicinal usage and the abundance and health of live stock to ensure the tribes survival. In times when drought was prevalent crops could not grow or when disease broke out among the livestock great panic most certainly ensued. People needed these things to survive and also to ensure that the children could grow up healthy in order to carry on the ancestral line. When crops failed or livestock became sick the whole society was most likely in a state of sheer panic close to collapse. So they made appeals to the earth goddess and sky father for a good harvest and for the general health of their animals. People also lit Need Fires to assist them in hard times. When livestock were sick they would lit two bonfires and run the animals between both fires to heal them. The shape of this rune gives us hint of its function. It is shaped like two twigs used to start a fire by rubbing them together. When need becomes so great people will go to great lengths to get what the need to survive. This brings us to sacrificial kingship.

In the tribal days of our ancestors the king of the people was seen as a direct link and descendant of the gods. This can be seen when we look at the genealogies of some of the Anglo-Saxons. Woden was seen as a direct ancestor to many royal families. So it was up to the king to do the right rituals to ensure that a bountiful harvest would happen every year. There are many stories from myths and sagas that pertain to such kings. Most of the kings remembered were kings of fertility and during their reign a golden age of peace and prosperity was heralded. One such king was king Frodi of Denmark and during his reign there were no wars and the people prospered and were at peace. Frodi is seen as an earthy representative of the God Frey or Ing and Saxo Grammaticus mentions him in his nine books of Danish history. He is also remembered in one Eddic poem called The Lay of Grotti. In this lay he was also a great king and it makes mention that during his reign that no man hurt another man and that there was no thief of robber in the land during his supreme monarchy. But as all things certainly come to an end King Mysing murdered him. This king hid the fact that Frodi was dead from the people. Frodi had a mill that spun out gold and two giant maidens attended it to. Mysing the Sea King being greedy made these two work all day and night with no break in-between to grind out salt for him. It was through his greed that he met a very unpleasant ending

This in turn brings us to modern times and there are certainly lessons to be learned from our ancestors. Even though we no longer live uncomfortably close to nature or depend on rain for harvests we still have need. Just as times change needs change as well. Today many people are driven by greed and easily mistake desire for need. So many of us think that we need material things to make us happy but we really do not. We mistake money and material possessions as love when usually they bring unhappiness and we tend to forget that there are people in the world with real needs such as love and happiness. Nied describes so much of today's problems; it sums them all up in one poem. In today's society so many people are victims of need be it food, money or shelter. So many of us are shattered by violence, hardship, distress difficulty and pain. This can come from work, home, relationships, etc. So many people just let this need devour their very essence as human beings and just become helpless victims carrying the same wound with them for life. This can lead to all kinds of social dysfunction's including rape, murder and incest. In order to stop these kinds of disturbing social behaviors we have to get to the root of the problem and this rune poem does just that. Nied warns us of what these problems can cause on a person and it states how these problems can become a real grief to the children of men, hence society as a whole. But need is not a grim rune it carries with it a message of hope. This message is that we can learn from what hardship or need we might have and it can make us strong and healthy individuals if we take the time to listen to its message. Nied states that if we listen to our needs and problems that they can be of great help. So I think that it is time that we stop and listen.

Is byth oferceald, ungemetum slidor,

Glisnath glaeshluttur, gimmum gelicust,

Flor forste geworuht, faeger ansyne.

Ice is excessively cold, and extremely slippery,

It gleams like a pleasing transparent jewel,

A floor made of frost is a fair sight.

Is is the last of the three winter runes and its message is a continuation of the other two runes before it. It is by far one of the easiest runes to decipher and the meaning behind it is powerful. It ties in nicely and rounds off the other winter runes in absolute perfection to comprise a whole.

Ice to the people of the north was a treacherous element and it took skill and cunning to maneuver amongst it. It was seen as the fifth element to our ancestor, especially those in the Scandinavian countries. When traveling in winter over the snow covered country it would be easy not to see a stream or a pond covered with snow or ice. It was also just as easy to fall through the ice into the freezing water and this would have meant almost absolute death. So it must have taken knowledge of the countryside and cunning of mind to avoid such a mishap and even then misfortune could easily strike. Just like the rune poem say, a floor made of frost is a fair sight but can be exceedingly dangerous.

The Anglo-Saxon rune poem about Is holds within it a very powerful lesson. This lesson being that what we see might not appear to be what it seems. This can be anything that we might want or desire. Is warns that everything has a price attached to it no matter how small or how big it is. Take for example, one might want a new car and the idea of owning it sounds great and to may people that is all that matters be it a social or economic symbol. What Is reminds us of is all the attachments that come with what we might desire. With a new car there would be monthly payments, insurance and maintenance. Not to mention what if there is an accident. All of these things can be added stress in our lives and draining on our bank accounts. Also these added burdens could make our lives more complicated. Is is mostly a rune that applies to the material world and all of its pitfalls. But we must also never forget that we can't live our lives in fear. Just as the Norsemen had to go out into the winter landscape so must we live our lives as well, but with cunning and foresight in any situation that might present itself before us.

On an emotional and/or physical level Is represents all that is static in our lives and by this I am meaning to say any patterns which happen in our lives over and over again. It is almost like we can be frozen in the same patterns again and again throughout our lives. These patterns can be habits and they can also be emotional. This ties in perfectly with Hagol and Nied in being that we must understand our emotions and needs in order to understand our life patterns and how they affect us. Whenever we keep repeating the same situations continually there is no room for personal or spiritual growth. It is almost like have the same wound opened up time after time and so we must keep repeating the same turmoils. This can have devastating effects on our personal well being causing all sorts of problems. Take for example, those individuals who are always attracted to somebody who is abusive. They know that these individuals are no good for them but yet they still attract them be it intentional or not. These relationships can lead to years of abuse and pain and in extreme cases even death. These patterns can be avoided if the person delves into the past and discovers the root of the problem and only by doing so can they liberate themselves from these negative patterns. Again what we think might be good for us might not be.

Gear byth gumena hiht, thon god laeteth,

Halig heofones cyning, hrusan syllan

Beorhte bleda beornum and thearfum.

Year is gladness for men,

When god lets, heavens holy king,

The earth to lend her splendid fruits      

To the rich and the poor.

While the winter runes were more emotional and material in nature Gear is a highly esoteric rune and it is the beginning of the more secretive and mysterious runes. While the three proceeding runes were associated with winter Gear is representative of spring and fall hence sowing and harvesting. This rune is also equated with time and this is represented in the meaning of its name, that being year, but not the conventional year. I believe it to represent the time from planting to the time of harvesting. Gear holds within it a continuation of a system of worship that every culture around the once shared in common. It is the worship of Sky Father and Earth Mother and we shall see why once we examine the rune poem a bit closer.

It is my belief that when the dawning of Christianity came to Northern Europe our ancestors cleverly imbedded the secrets of the old religion and beliefs in the rune poems and other works such as the Maxims. Even though most of the old writings of our people were written down by monks they tended to overlook the encoded stories of our ancestors and merely saw them as works of poetry, which they are. Gear is a prime example of this. When we look at the poem we can see its connection with fertility. The rune poem states that year is gladness for men, when god lets, heavens holy king, the earth to lend her splendid fruits, to the rich and poor alike. What does that tell us? If we look at it closer it is telling us they story of the Sky Fathers marriage with the Earth Goddess impregnating her with his sperm i.e. rain so that she can give birth to new life. Trees bud, seeds are sown and the land comes alive again after winters long grasp on the earth. The poem also reinforces the earth goddesses openness to all people and that she discriminates against no one.