Heimdall's Aett · Rune 10
Nauthiz
“Need, Constraint” · sound: N
Keywords
need · constraint · necessity · hardship · resistance · endurance · friction · need-fire
What Nauthiz means
Nauthiz is the rune of need, constraint, and necessity. It represents the friction of hardship that kindles the need-fire (naudhfyr), the sacred flame created by rubbing two sticks together in times of dire need. In the Norse worldview, necessity and constraint are powerful teachers. The Norns weave fate with threads of both fortune and hardship. In Heathen practice, Nauthiz counsels the practitioner to recognize the lessons hidden in difficulty, to exercise patience and restraint, and to understand that from the greatest need comes the greatest innovation.
Nauthiz in the historical rune poems
Three medieval poems preserve the meanings of the runes — the oldest testimony we have.
Trouble is oppressive to the heart; yet often it proves a source of help and salvation to the children of men, to everyone who heeds it betimes.
Constraint gives scant choice; a naked man is chilled by the frost.
Constraint is grief of the bond-maid, and state of oppression, and toilsome work.
Correspondences
Deities
Skuld · The Norns
Element
fire
Color
black