Money & Wealth Runes
Hi. I’m a Financial Wellness Coach and I specialize in unblocking financial flow. I’m also a spiritual practitioner and I find Runes to be elegant, full of wisdom and worth reclaiming from those who wield them with ignorance and hatred. Let’s dive into the spiritual lessons and practices connecting each wealth rune to real world money.
Think about it - would there be whole runes dedicated to wealth and money if there wasn’t a spiritual element to wealth? There is no “if, then” statement with money and spirituality, no formula that ends with an equation where we’re all millionaires. If someone says “all you have to do is ____ and you’ll make money,” be skeptical.
Your journey with money is yours and yours alone and while it may look similar to someone else’s, your relationship to money is your responsibility only. Your relationship to spirit is equally your responsibility alone and nobody can say “if you do this, you’ll be enlightened.” Isn’t it wondrous? That means there are as many ways to be spiritual or wealthy as there are people! With all that divine expression, how we could we not be in awe of our own power and delight?
A Note on the Prosperity Gospel & Spiritual Bypassing: I’m seeing a lot of ultra-conservatives co-opt ideas of divine wealth to justify their fascist agendas. That is not what we’ll be exploring in this article. Today I’m writing to you - a person who wants to re-indigenize or explore applied philosophy through the wisdom of the Runes and divine for themselves a more holistic, communal, and ancestral truth of wealth. This is for us - those who know that true wealth is not extractive, but harmonious.
Let’s delight in the wisdom of the runes together.
FEHU
The first rune. The rune of expansion in every direction all at once. All the “yes” of the universe encapsulated in one elegant concept: WEALTH. It’s the first rune!
The Lesson: Abundance is our birthright.
Simply by existing, we are worthy of all the abundance available to us right now: the sun, the earth, our ancestors, the food we eat, the space we float through, the relationships we have, the possessions we take care of, the lives we touch. We are worth creation itself and everything that expanded us to the point where we exist together right now. Wow.
The Practice: Having
Having is a practice wherein we build our awareness of what we have. It is an action, an imperfect practice of soothing our bodies with the truth of what we have. All wealth that is built stems from this practice. If you’re unsure how, check out this workbook or book some time with me.
Uruz
Since Fehu technically means “cattle,” Uruz takes it a step further as it personifies the cosmic cow or wild auroch that freed us from the frozen death of the universe into the divine expression of life by licking fire onto the ice of Isa. It is the twin power of shaping and nourishment.
Bovines have been one of humanities greatest allies in becoming the evolved homo sapiens we are today, with nearly all ancient civilizations having direct relationship with their local “cows.” We drank from their horns, nourished our bodies with their bones, muscles, milk and fed entire families and clans with the sacrifice of only one bovine.
The Lesson: Bring opposites together in order to master our magic
Bringing seemingly opposite aspects of ourselves together is a tantric practice of alchemy. It gives us a chance to love our whole selves - a state in which it is impossible to deny our own power and responsibility. It is beautiful. I created a whole system of archetypes workbook
The Practice: Alchemy
Love your fire and ice. Embrace your Cringe. Love the darkness and the Light equally. This is as uncomfortable and safe as I imagine a cow licking an ice cube would feel - little sticky at first, but ultimately delicious and nourishing.
Alchemy is almost impossible to learn by oneself. If you want an alchemy buddy, reach out, I’m here for you. My goal is to get you to a place where you know how to make your own gold, so you won’t need me anymore.
Ansuz
Odin’s Rune. The rune of language, of divine truths spoken - the rune of Manifestation . . . and Marketing!
The Lesson: Manifest. Speak your truth. Match your insides and outsides.
Bring your heart, spirit, body, mind and desire into alignment and speak.your.truth. There’s a lot of spiritual bunk out there about manifesting. It’s quickly gotten co-opted by faux-spiritual capitalists who want to sell us pyramid scheme jobs. I’m not talking about the “Look at me, I’m a celebrity and all I have to do is ask for stuff and people fall over themselves to give it to me” kind of manifesting but the real magic.
Manifesting is how we dance with destiny. We speak what we want to come to us as if it’s true now. We repeat it until our brains, bodies, hearts, and spirits feel so comfortable with it being true that all we can do is look for opportunities from the universe for it to be true. We say “I make $________/year and travel ______ times per year” and find the opportunities that get us closer simply because we’re looking for them …. and my goodness, how the universe provides!
I won’t say it’s always easy. Truthfully, manifesting can be uncomfortable at first. If you want help practicing, I’m with you as you find your voice.
The Practice: Congruence
When we hide our truths from ourselves and others, we diminish our authenticity and our power. We hide opportunities for wealth from ourselves. WE DO THAT, not anyone else or the universe - us.
Marketing can be a healthy way to manifest our desires. If it still feels gross to you, reach out to me or check out Practical Business Magic or Simone for some techniques to practice ethical, magical marketing that is in alignment with the earth and the universe.
Congruence is a great first step. For a quick tip, try speaking in congruent statements like: I hunger. I decide. I want. I delight. I observe. I love. — remove the overidentifying, permanent qualities of the verb “to be” and see what happens for you.
Gebo
Who doesn’t love a good gift? Gebo is the rune of generosity and exchange - of Trust.
The Lesson: Generosity is required for REAL wealth.
Hoarding is fake, illusionary wealth. It is a wealth that is destitute and starving for connection. Wealth is a communal experience because can’t experience wealth alone. It requires trade/exchange and Trust in: partnership (Ehwaz), the earth (Ingwaz), our ancestors (Othala), the sky, every abundant thing we have.
In my work, I’ve often found that the most isolated, terrified people alive are the ultrawealthy. They have no practices for real intimacy. It hurts my heart. They only have skills in amassing wealth, and very few for spending, which ironically, pushes them further from others. Spending requires trust and surrender. You get the picture.
We exchange to support life. We see it in our relationship to trees and plants, to livestock, and each other. We cannot exist without exchange, and by simply being, we are in relationship to all things, exchanging our energy with everything and everyone else. Gebo is about the natural relational energy between all things. Trust is the element that expands and deepens our relationships. The trees trust us to provide CO2. We trust them to provide Oxygen. See what I mean? It’s everywhere.
The Practice: Share what you have in excess. Ask for what you need more of.
Either of these can be a little tricky when we have an unconscious or unhealthy relationship to money. Both require trust in ourselves AND others. We have to trust ourselves to know our capacity and to share in a way that doesn’t overextend ourselves. We have to trust that if we get a “no” when we ask for what we need that we can keep looking and find a “yes” eventually.
Jera
The Union of cause and effect. The equal sign in any equation. The spiral of fractal growth expanding and holding the tension of balance. Reaping what has been created.
The Lesson: Looking only to reap will leave us hungry.
If we don’t nourish ourselves, our projects, our bodies, our spirits, our lives, we will not reap the blessings or benefits.
Most people I work with are so focused on getting what they don’t already have. They focus on the reaping. “I want more money.” “I want more intimacy.” I get it. We all want that stuff, and who are you willing to become to give yourself a chance to actually get them? If we look at an empty field and don’t plant anything (Ingwaz), tend & nourish the new growth (Berkano), then we will continue to reap nothing and struggle.
The Practice: Ask for more of what you have already.
I know it sounds counterintuitive - but have you tried it yet? As you practice Having (Fehu), take note that all of those things already came to you - focus on what came to you with ease. What did you do to get them? Are you rich in relationships? Items? Space? Time? Energy? Money? Nourish those. Ask for more. Network. Buy or sell more belongings. Got a lot of money? Ask for more! Then do something with them!
Perthro
Chaos. Luck. Chance. Destiny. Oh boy. I have a whole archetype from my Free Money Mindset Quiz dedicated to this one in my workbook. It’s so easy to let go of all financial responsibility and say “F**K it, blow it all! and let __ insert Deity here__ take the wheel!!” Americans are some of the first to shirk our responsibility to ourselves and others in the name of incomplete piety.
The Lesson: Surrender.
Total Faith doesn’t look like removing our responsibility or our agency. Total faith is a dance that requires 2 partners. In truth, if gambling or leaning into luck or faith feels easy or fun, then chances are that we’re actually just being irresponsible. Perthro asks us to surrender to our whole selves, to embrace the parts we don’t like and celebrate the parts we do. It asks us to dance with chance so we can evolve and trust that what we evolve into next is making us more of who we are meant to be. To actually dance with luck, chaos and destiny, we are required to completely surrender and that makes most people uneasy at first.
It can, however, become ecstatic. When our full, deep desires are satiated in surrender, we embrace destiny with the wisdom of a sage and the playfulness of a child - whole-bodied and panting. Is this a kinky rune? I think so. Hence the suggested practice:
The Practice: Kink it up.
Example: “I can’t stand people who spend their money irresponsibly.”
To kink it up say this out loud: “I love spending money irresponsibly. I delight in being irresponsible with money. I get off on spending money irresponsibly.” Notice any bodily reactions you may have. I squirm and grit my teeth. I repeat this over a few days until I don’t squirm with it anymore and can feel shameless in my statement.
By surrendering to our judgments of others and claiming our delight in wanting what they have for ourselves, we erase the taboo, shame, and guilt keeping us from accessing more wealth flow. Surrender to your deepest dirtiest desires … and then let yourself experience them in a safe container. If you need help, I’m here for you.
Ehwaz
The horses. Partnership. Cooperation. Symbiosis. Working TOWARD something together. Exponential directed energy.
The Lesson: We go further together.
This is human magic. In order to work together, we need to practice manifesting (Ansuz) and telling each other where we’re going so we can align and go there together when it serves us. Humans survive because we work together. We are wealthier together.
The Practice: Lean into Community
Tell people what you have to share. Tell people what you need. Listen to what others have to share. Listen to what others need. Strategize and move together! Find your win-wins. Get it done! Murmurating birds are in constant communication with each other as they blot out the skies with their migrations and they cover more ground than almost any other kind of animal. It is a vulnerable practice.
Ex: I hosted a Cleansing party after a particularly difficult time in my life. Did we do spiritual cleansing? Yes, of course. I also created a task list for my friends to clean something small in my house. A microwave, vacuum, clear a table etc. Now every time I interact with those things, I remember each of my friends and how much they care about me. It was perfect.
Othala
Ancestral magic, gifts and inheritance. I don’t just mean inheriting generational wealth or poverty, I also mean the belief systems and stories we inherit about money from our lineage and culture. I was born into poverty and a poverty mindset in a culture that exploited my family. I believed that money wasn’t for me and never was going to be.
I don’t believe that anymore and it made all the difference. Now I know wealth is for me because I’ve experienced wealth that I attracted to me and said “yes” to. I am wealth. It is something I have become.
The Lesson: Evolve with integrity and honor.
Honoring our ancestors means trusting they did the best they could with what they were given and their own capacity. It also means acknowledging that what they have to offer us may not be the most authentic truth for our current context. It may not be the best strategies for our generation.
The Practice: Money Stories
What’s your first memory of money? How did it make you feel?
What story did you learn about money from that experience and how people treated you? Does it suit you? If not, try on a new story and make it yours. Thank your ancestors for what they gave you and own what’s uniquely yours. This is evolution alive in you.
Meet the Author:
Candis Fox is a Financial Wellness & Integrity Coach with 10+ years in Education, Cognitive Therapy, Relational Training and over 30 years of Spiritual Practice.
Financial Wellness Offerings
Public Speaking, Podcast, Trainings
Money, Power, Intimacy Coaching & Workshops: Leadership, Team, Partner, 1:1