Your Rune For Today
Gebo

Gebo represents the coming of gifts and favors. While each are usually positive events, they often carry obligations with them. Gebo often represents strong bonds such as deep friendships and marriage.

 

Additional Information on Today’s Rune, Gebo

 

Gebo: gift

 

Phonetic equivalent: g (as in ‘girl’)

 

DIVINATORY MEANINGS:

gift, offering, relationship, love, marriage, partnership, generosity, unexpected good fortune

 MAGICAL USES:to find or strengthen a relationship, for fertility, to mark a gift or offering, to bring luck

ASSOCIATED MYTHS & DEITIES:Sigurd & Brunhild; Aesir & Vanir treaty

 

ANALYSIS:

Gebo is a rune of connection, particularly the connections between people. Up until now, our journey has been a solitary one. This rune represents those places where our path intersects with others, and allows us to begin to form conscious relationships. Such relationships are strengthened and sanctified by the exchange of gifts.The use of the gift as a symbol of an oath or a bond is an ancient one. When a lord wanted to ensure the loyalty of one of his subjects, he would give that person a gift. The gift would create a debt on the part of the person receiving it, and this debt would ensure his readiness to serve his lord. Similarly, a gift given between lovers, especially that of the ring, symbolizes the bond between them. Originally, only the man gave the ring in a marriage for much the same reason as the lord giving gifts to his vassals, but today the arrangement is usually more equitable. Gifts or offerings given to the Gods often carry the same meaning, representing the giver’s love for or loyalty to their Gods. The giving of a gift implies the acceptance of a debt with the understanding that the debt will not be repaid. It is this imbalance which forms the bond.