# Algiz

Traditional meaning: elk

Meanings when upright:

- strength of the spirit
- connection to all worlds
- birth
- protective blessing
- non-violent feral (hyperthomosopramia type 2) draconity
- divine forces

Meanings when inverted:

- need for protection
- excessive scattering of attention
- not standing up for yourself
- being drained of energy
- death

Algiz can be useful for:

- protection and warding
- healing injuries
- marking what has been hallowed
- learning how to work with others, especially those non-human

Anglo-Saxon rune poem:

> Eolh-secg eard hæfþ oftust on fenne
> wexeð on wature, wundaþ grimme,
> blode breneð beorna gehwylcne
> ðe him ænigne onfeng gedeþ.

> The Eolh-sedge is mostly to be found in a marsh;
> it grows in the water and makes a ghastly wound,
> covering with blood every warrior who touches it.

There is not a Norwegian rune poem for Algiz.

A modern poem:

> I'm clinging to your waist
> like you're a floating log
> and I'm halfway to drowning
> not knowing how to breathe with a non-human face.

> Someone once called me the Rainbow Bridge,
> being the crossing point between so many worlds,
> but I am neither bi
> nor could I ever abide
> frost over the surface of this roiling sea
> in this metaphor of mine.
> I move too violent,
> too constant,
> for the whole thing to freeze
> over, you see.

> But I certainly feel like being quartered
> face from hand from back from limb
> trembling to keep my mind
> in a bedroom lost and somehow dimmed.
> Three different bloods rage inside
> and two are battling for my skin
> and your fingertips brushing the back of my neck,
> the temples where bone and antler connect,
> are the only reminder you're here to protect
> me, promised by palm to keep me sane
> even if draconity ever overcame
> me and my body forcibly changed
> to that of a beast.

> Do you think, if a stranger ever saw,
> they'd mistake me for a particularly messed-up elk?
> Wonder where my eyes went, or why so blunted my maw?
> A creature too exquisite for this world, too peculiar for their ilk,
> have to always stay on the periphery
> or in long-lost bedrooms where nobody can see
> the ribbons with every breath wavering.
> You will with me stay
> until you can see my normal face again
> and in the meantime reassure that I'm safe.