Gifu: Some Personal Musings

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Xiao Rong
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Gifu: Some Personal Musings

Post by Xiao Rong »

I wanted to dedicate this post to a rune that has really changed my life, and some personal observations I've made about it.

A gift returns to adorn the givers
with greatness and honor; it helps
and heartens those with nothing

- Old English rune poem

Gifu :giftrune: is the rune of the gift (easy to remember because it sounds like its name). When you come across really short summaries of the Elder Futhark runes, they usually say things about how Gifu means something really happy and positive is coming your way - you are about to get a gift! Who doesn't like a gift?

If you dig a little deeper, though, Gifu is also the rune of the sacrifice. Now it doesn't sound as wholly positive. Sacrifice often sounds kind of scary, like you're giving up things, or you have to suffer in order to make a sacrifice. Does it mean you get a gift, or give a gift? What's the point in a gift that comes with strings attached? Isn't that usually a bad thing?

I was lucky enough to attend a workshop on the Elder Futhark where the presenter explained that in ancient times, everything was about mutual obligation. You get a gift, but with the gift comes attached the unspoken responsibility to later give a gift of equal value. This could be, for example, the expectation you have between you and your king, where you pay tribute and he provides protection. One of the biggest faux pas, or ways to coerce people into doing what you wanted them to do, is to give other people too big a gift, one that they do not have the means to repay.

This also applied to one's relationship to the gods. You sacrifice to receive, and you receive so that you may sacrifice. In this way, the giving of gifts by both parties is what binds you two together. You can see that in the very shape of the rune itself - two straight lines of equal length crossing. The equal lengths symbolizes that both parties have equal obligations to each other; fairness and parity are important in healthy relationships.* And if the other party is not giving back to you, then perhaps it's time to cut your ties.

I thought that this was an interesting historical viewpoint, but I also believe this applies very well to our modern day relationships too. I just graduated college not too long ago, and I'm discovering that when I'm staying in touch with my friends, we both need to put in the time to keep our friendship going. And isn't time a gift? This may sound crazy obvious, but it was kind of a revelation to me. When I was growing up, my parents always told me to keep my head down, be polite but you shouldn't put time and energy into relationships, even to people who seem to like you. So it's probably not a huge surprise that I wound up not having very many close friends in high school, and even fewer whom I still communicate with. But after college, I knew I had to put in a real effort to stay in contact with my friends whom I no longer saw every day. It's something I have to schedule, even, but it's been worth it. It's these ties that bind us together.

I also think that Gifu has some applications to other situatoins as well. For example, it's basically thrown the notion of "selfless giving" or "altruism" out the window for me. I don't mean to say that people are innately selfish or evil who only give to others to serve their own purposes. Quite the contrary, I believe that people have unlimited capacities to be kind and compassionate (which they may or may not choose to utilize). But, for example, when you give to a charity (an action usually considered "altruistic" or "selfless"), it comes with strings attached. These strings are not necessarily that the charity will give you back the money, but rather the expectation that the charity will spend it wisely and judiciously for the purposes that they say they will and help others. That's a good expectation to have, and that's a pretty good reason to think of gifts as mutual obligations, not as "selfless". I no longer think that "no strings attached" gifts are possible or desirable. You can see the Nordic values of honor, fairness, and justice coming through. It's all of these gifts that bind all of us in relationship with one another.

So when I see Gifu turning up in my readings, Gifu is not just "Oh hey! You're getting a gift! You're so lucky!" It means a whole host of other things in my life, including honesty, fairness, honor, and it is a symbol of relationship (be it relationship with my loved ones, my country, or even the planet). It's changed the way I approached my friends, and to a large extent clarified my understanding of politics too. It's a rune that comes with strings attached, but I'm okay with that.

That's the rant that's been bubbling up inside of me for a long time about Gifu! I'm glad to get it all out there; I hope it was coherent in some way or another.

* You can see, in contrast, Nauthiz, the rune of Need :needrune:, which also has two lines crossing, but one is significantly shorter than the other. That is an imbalance in the giving/receiving relationship, where one party needs much more giving at the moment. Ideally this is a temporary situation!
~ Xiao Rong ~ 小蓉 ~ Little Lotus ~
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Heartsong
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Re: Gifu: Some Personal Musings

Post by Heartsong »

Oooh, thank you for sharing, Xiao, that was awesome!

I want to ask about your thoughts on the idea of sacrificing one thing in your life in order to attain something either of equal or greater value (An example would be Odin hanging himself on Yggdrasil for nine days and nine nights in order to gain knowledge of the runes).

Since Gifu can't be inverted, do you know of any negative connotations that it could possibly have? This is more of a curiosity-driven question that anything else, but I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I don't have much to add from my own notes (you really covered nearly everything I have down! :) ), but I will say that Gifu also makes an excellent basis for bindrunes, promoting equality in interactions with others and within yourself.
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Xiao Rong
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Re: Gifu: Some Personal Musings

Post by Xiao Rong »

Phew, sorry for the late reply! (got too overwhelmed with Bbennett the other day, and then got busy with work).
I want to ask about your thoughts on the idea of sacrificing one thing in your life in order to attain something either of equal or greater value (An example would be Odin hanging himself on Yggdrasil for nine days and nine nights in order to gain knowledge of the runes).
I think that's a really good association with Gifu as well - you reap what you sow (which is in many ways keeping with the concept of Gifu). I might interpret Odin's sacrifice as a gift in the relationship between himself and the universe/magic, or perhaps a sacrifice to himself, for himself, to unlock hidden knowledge within? What do you think?

I think that the negative connotations are primarily embedded in the concept that gifts come with "strings attached", that you may be roped into obligations or duties that you might not have foreseen, but which must be done anyways ... Or, if ill-placed, I might say that it's an unequal balance or a sign of a toxic relationship which you either need to sever yourself from, or scale back your own commitment, or give more (something to balance out the relationship, or remove it entirely). But, like most runes, it is never wholly positive or negative in my book (of shadows).
I will say that Gifu also makes an excellent basis for bindrunes, promoting equality in interactions with others and within yourself.
That is an excellent point, which I will be making a note of! Thanks, Heartsong ; )
~ Xiao Rong ~ 小蓉 ~ Little Lotus ~
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Re: Gifu: Some Personal Musings

Post by Heartsong »

I think that's a really good association with Gifu as well - you reap what you sow (which is in many ways keeping with the concept of Gifu). I might interpret Odin's sacrifice as a gift in the relationship between himself and the universe/magic, or perhaps a sacrifice to himself, for himself, to unlock hidden knowledge within? What do you think?
I think it can be seen as both. Odin sacrificed himself to himself to achieve knowledge of the runes, but he also shared that knowledge, allowing mankind access to the same gift (which I really do think the runes themselves are - a gift). And I certainly think he has reaped the benefits of that exchange, both with humanity and with the runes.
I think that the negative connotations are primarily embedded in the concept that gifts come with "strings attached", that you may be roped into obligations or duties that you might not have foreseen, but which must be done anyways ... Or, if ill-placed, I might say that it's an unequal balance or a sign of a toxic relationship which you either need to sever yourself from, or scale back your own commitment, or give more (something to balance out the relationship, or remove it entirely). But, like most runes, it is never wholly positive or negative in my book (of shadows).
Well said, and very true. :)
Dance like the Maiden
Laugh like the Mother
Think like the Crone
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