The Isa rune

Sound «И», image: ice.

Meaning of the Isa rune

Ice: standstill, a pause, stillness. Isa is what has stopped and will not move, and that is not always a bad thing. Sometimes the ice needs to be left to lie, and chipping away at it gets you nowhere. Patience. The thaw keeps its own schedule and rarely answers to being hurried along, so use the quiet while you have it.

The shadow side

Isa is symmetrical, so turning it leaves the same sign and there is no reversed position. Every force still has its dark edge. The rune is symmetrical, there is no reversal. The shadow of Isa lies in a standstill mistaken for peace: still for so long that you have forgotten how to move. In a difficult surrounding it asks how much of this stillness you actually chose. A long winter is no disgrace. Taking it for the whole year is.

Isa in a spread

If it comes up upright, read it by the meaning above. You cannot turn it, the sign is symmetrical, so here the neighbours matter: which runes fall beside it and where they lean. A single rune gives you the leaning, and for an answer with a thread through it you draw three: what is behind, what is now, what comes ahead.

Isa as a talisman

When everything around you is racing, take isa, the rune of ice and stillness. As a talisman it cools the blood, quiets the fuss and helps you hold still where haste would spoil things. As a charm it freezes hostile will, damps down a quarrel and cools passions that burn for nothing. Worn to take a pause and keep your strength under the ice.

FAQ

Is the Isa rune a good sign or a bad one?

Runes do not split into good ones and bad ones. Isa speaks of ice, and in a spread it hints at where the force is leaning. It is no final sentence, and a lot depends on which runes fall beside it.

Does the Isa rune have a reversed meaning?

No. Isa is symmetrical, so turning it leaves the same sign. Every force still has its dark edge though, and the shadow side of Isa is explained above.

Which aett does Isa belong to?

The aett of Heimdall, one of the three groups of the Elder Futhark, eight runes each. The aett tells you which octave the rune sits in and which runes it neighbours.

The rune said its piece in short. The arcana tell it more slowly.

✦ The Major Arcana