BERKANA

Key Phrase
‘Now is the time to put the knowledge and wisdom you have learned into practice’.

Viking Rune Equivalent and Meaning
Growth. Birch Tree. Re-birth. Sacred to the Earth Goddess.

Keywords

Fertility, health, new beginnings, birth, conception, plenty, clearance, nurturing, protection, mental and physical growth, prosperity in an enterprise, youth, vigour, beauty, purification, spring, liberation, regenerative power, renewal, personal growth, brings light, creative abilities.

BERKANA is ‘Rebirth and Feminine Energy’.

Berkana is the rune of the Birch tree and like the young Birch tree, Berkana has the power to be flexible without breaking. In ancient traditions, Birch twigs were used to bring prosperity and to encourage conception. The branches represent fertility. In European folklore and tradition, Birch twigs were fixed above a sweetheart’s door on May Day, and were placed in stables and houses to promote fertility. Young men, women and cattle were struck with Birch twigs for this same purpose, and young boys would be sent out into the fields and around the town, to ‘beat the bounds of the parish’ with branches of Birch to ensure prosperity in the coming year.

‘Witches’ were said to ride broomsticks made from Birch. This concept originated with fertility rituals where dancers would ‘ride’ brooms though the fields, the height of their jumping indicating how high the grain should grow that coming season.

In Norse mythology, the Berkana rune represents various goddesses simultaneously, including Freya, Frigg, Hel, Nerthus, Holda and Berchta. This Rune is one of femininity and represents the ability to give birth, to be motherly and nurturing as well as the sexuality of the breasts. Berkana is the rune in which we find the embodiment of feminine energy which resides in both males and females, although the qualities are generally looked for in women. It is the rune of ‘Mother Earth,’ the ‘Great Mother,’ or the ‘Earth Goddess.’

Berkana represents the path of the mother, the healer and the midwife, bringing new life after death, just as the Birch puts out the first leaves after winter. Berkana’s ‘wound’ is one of menstruation and her ordeal is that of childbirth. The Birch tree is abundant and all providing and heals through nourishment, cleansing and loving. It was often planted before a house was built, to protect the home and its occupants in Nordic countries.

Berkana also comes to represent burial mounds in which we return to after we die. It is a rune which leads to blossoming and ripening and is concerned with life, death, rebirth and renewal. Berkana’s actions are gentle, yet penetrating and pervasive.

Drawing Berkana gives one a sense of protection, in a caring and gentle way. With this rune in play growth is unavoidable on all levels including the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.

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