Laguz

What this is

Laguz is the fifth rune of Tyr's aett, and its name is water, the lake, the flowing element that finds its own level and will not be held in a fist. It belongs to Nerthus, whose element it is, and to Njord the sea-god who rules the tides it governs. It is the rune of the deep, of the unconscious, of intuition, dream, and feeling that runs beneath the surface of waking life.

What it governs

Laguz rules water, flow, and the unconscious. It governs emotion, intuition, dreams, the psychic currents, and the tides of feeling that move a person without their always knowing why. It presides over the realm beneath the surface, the well of memory and instinct, and the receptive power that yields and yet wears away stone.

Its properties

Its quality is intuitive flow, and its colour is the deep blue-green of lake and sea. Upright it is flowing with the psychic currents, trusting your intuition completely, refusing to dam the flow, and the cleansing and renewing power of water. Its shadow is being overwhelmed by the unconscious and a fear of the deep waters, the undertow that drags the unwary down. Laguz reverses, and reversed it warns of emotional turmoil or of trusting an intuition that is really a fear.

Where else it appears

Laguz flows the same note as the Moon card of the tarot, the pale light over the water where the deep things stir, and as the High Priestess seated before the veil of the hidden. Its sea is the primordial waters of Genesis over which the spirit moved, the cosmic ocean of the Vedas, the formless deep from which every creation-myth draws the world. The Moon's tides and the watery element the western magicians link to the west and the cup both ripple here. Wherever a tradition makes water the symbol of the unconscious and the source from which life rises, Laguz is the depth of it.

Where you meet it on the Oracle

Laguz appears in the Rune section as Rune of the Day or Rune of the Hour. When it surfaces, your day runs deep with feeling and intuition; the surface mind matters less than what stirs beneath it. Read it as a call to trust your instincts, to honour your dreams, and to let your feelings flow rather than dam them. Reversed, it warns that emotion or confusion may be pulling you under, and asks you to find solid ground before the current carries you off.

Why it matters

Laguz stands fifth in the final row because after the social self comes the inner deep that no one else can see. It asks you to go below the surface, to trust the intuition that knows before the mind does, and to learn the strength of water that yields to everything and outlasts it all.

Correspondences

planet

Moon

element

Water

zodiac

Cancer

number

21

day

Monday

colour

Blue-green

metal

Silver

tarot

The Moon