Oct 1, 2025
Remembrance of Ingvi-Freyr
Original image was created by Gemini AI.
Mounted by @gifts-of-heimdall-runes
Font: Beowulf (by Peter S. Baker.)
seen from China
seen from Malaysia
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Canada
seen from Canada
seen from Taiwan
seen from Canada
seen from Germany
seen from Canada
seen from Yemen
seen from Malaysia
seen from India
seen from United States
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Türkiye
seen from China
seen from Netherlands
Remembrance of Ingvi-Freyr
Original image was created by Gemini AI.
Mounted by @gifts-of-heimdall-runes
Font: Beowulf (by Peter S. Baker.)
We're on a roll of not waiting until 10:00 pm to make this post, woo! This week's rune is Ingwaz. This rune is one that I associate with life cycles: it is a mound in the earth, whether it be a funeral mound or a a place with a new seed has been planted. (Sometimes both!) What is standing out to me today, though, is the relation to funeral mounds. The practice of sitting on grave mounds, or Utiseta, is an Old Norse tradition in which a seer would sit over a burial mound to gain wisdom from the ancestors buried there. Here in the Northern hemisphere, we're starting our inward spiral as fall rounds the corner and our days become shorter and shorter. The veil is growing ever thinner as we approach Samhain. Whether or not you are able to literally sit on someone's burial site, this rune is indicative of a need to connect with ancestors as we begin this inward spiral of introspection and contemplation as the dark seasons approach.
This does not have to be a biological ancestor. It could be an ancestor of order (one of your shared faith path) or of community (like if you are LGBT+ reaching out to the queer dead, for example). It could even been chosen family or close friends that have passed on to the next life. As you go through the week, take some time to contemplate the influence of an ancestor (or ancestors) on your life. How did they make your life better? Or worse? What did their life on this side of the veil teach you? The result of this meditation might be the key to your shadow work during the dark season this year. It may not be The Work, exactly, but rather a stepping stone to get you to find what that work really is. It's at the other end of this shadow work that the seeds of growth get planted for the next light season. It could also lead you to find an ancestor that is raring to help you in doing this season's shadow work. Keep yourself open to these various possibilities.
If you are in the Southern hemisphere, this rune indicates to me that now is a good time to reflect on the progress you've made from the shadow work done in the dark season that is now behind you, and to start shifting your focus to growing the seed that that work has planted. Remember how the ancestors helped guide you to this place, and remember the ancestors of the future that your seed will help foster. Like us here in the North, there might be an ancestor reaching out to help you as you fertilize this new seed and watch it grow.
Also worth noting: Ingwaz is associated with Frey (Ingvi-Freyr). In addition to everything above, if Frey has been calling to you (or is even already a part of your practice), now might be a particularly great time to connect with him, especially in relation to your seasonal work!
A Prayer for Ingvi-Freyr on Freyfaxi
Hail Ingvi-Freyr, lord of the fields, King of the harvest! The grains bend and bow their heads as You pass. The sweet scent of honey announces You, And the bright growing green is left in Your footprints. You are the deep-sown seed, The shooting stalk, The fertile seed pod, And the bountiful fruit. You are the rich earth from which we are fed, And You give to us the nourishment that keeps us healthy and whole. You are the noble beast who gives their life so that we may survive another day. Today on Your holy day, I offer You my thanks for the blessings you bring into my life and community, For keeping us fed and strong. You watch over our fields and bring us fair weather so that they do not wither, And You watch over our livestock so they come to no harm. Your gifts have shaped our very history and made us who we are. Giver of wealth, Let me grow my own seeds of abundance, prosperity, love, and joy, So that my life may be rich with Your presence. Hail, bright and beautiful king of beasts and crops! Hail to the one who feeds us in body and soul!
(photo attributed to Pixabay, no photographer listed/credited)