The Norse Path

Tiwaz (ᛏ)

July 19, 2026 · Runes

Pronunciation: TEE-wahz · Latin equivalent: T · Týr’s ætt, first rune

Name and meaning

Proto-Germanic tīwaz — the god Týr himself, the rune an arrow aimed at heaven. Týr is the god who laid his hand in Fenrir’s mouth so the binding oath would hold, and lost it: justice paid for personally. The third ætt opens with that hand.

In the rune poems

Attested in all three (týr). The Anglo-Saxon poem reads it as a guiding star that keeps faith with travelers through night and fog, never failing; the Icelandic poem names the one-handed god, leavings of the wolf.

Upright

Justice, honor, the oath kept at cost. Victory in a rightful cause; courage steadier than rage. The guiding star: fixed principle to navigate by when everything else is fog. A rune for hard duty, lawsuits, and doing the thing correctly.

Merkstave

The scales tipped: injustice, cowardice, the oath broken or the sacrifice spent on the wrong cause. Energy poured into proving rather than doing. Ask whose law you are actually serving.

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