# Berkana

Traditional meaning: birch

Meanings when upright:

- a warm reassuring hug from a lover
- new beginnings and opportunities
- conscious manifestation
- pride in one's creations/actions
- relief from pain

Meanings when inverted:

- blurring of self-consciousness
- don't allow yourself to be subsumed into Sablade
- sterility/stagnation

Berkana can be useful for:

- gentle healing
- getting one's energy flowing
- creating a solid foundation
- blessing children or a household
- concealment

Anglo-Saxon rune poem:

> Beorc byþ bleda leas, bereþ efne swa ðeah
> tanas butan tudder, biþ on telgum wlitig,
> heah on helme hrysted fægere,
> geloden leafum, lyfte getenge.

> The poplar bears no fruit; yet without seed it brings forth suckers,
> for it is generated from its leaves.
> Splendid are its branches and gloriously adorned
> its lofty crown which reaches to the skies.

Norwegian rune poem:

> Bjarkan er laufgrønstr líma;
> Loki bar flærða tíma.

> Birch has the greenest leaves of any shrub;
> Loki was fortunate in his deceit.

A modern rune poem:

> Lethe Berkana Beltane.
> From this rune
> I took my middle name
> in hopes of carrying with me always
> the warmth of an early spring day,
> a gentle impassioned hug from my wife,
> the promise that soon all will be okay
> and together we'll build a kinder life.

> Berkana makes things grow,
> even after the storms have thrown
> all down
> in shambles onto the ground.
> The seedling that blooms after wildfire,
> alone amidst the ashes.
> Blaze
> razed
> down the treetops, and now sunlight
> through the skeletal branches
> passes.

> "Keep going, Lethe,"
> my wife to me beseeches.
> "You have every right to take pride
> in how long against everything you've survived.
> Stand strong and steal what you can from this world of men
> and I promise you I'll make it worth your effort in the end."