(Torch)

Guidance, inner Voice, illumination, inner strength

Kenaz is one of the Fire Runes, the fire that lit the great halls as well as more humble abodes and was made from pine dipped in resin. As well as giving light it could ignite the forge, the fire of the hearth or even a funeral pyre. It was used to kindle the Need fire, (the rune Naudhiz) that was lit at festivals. But as always the other aspect is present, the burnishing, cleansing aspect of fire and it is the purgative effect that is emphasised in the Norse and Icelandic poems.

This is the Cosmic Fire from Muspellheim in the South that met with Ice from Nieflheim in the north in the creation of the Norse world, but which would bring about the destruction of the Aesir and Vanir order of the gods. Its alter ego is Hagel the rune of Hail and the second element in creation. And the appearance of these runes in a reading or indeed any fire and ice runes, indicates a fusion of opposites. Without the torch there is darkness and without the inner flame there is emptiness within.