Nauthiz

Need & Will

Meaning & Interpretation

Nauthiz is need, constraint, but also the will that grows from it. It teaches patience and self-reliance and reminds us that the greatest strength often grows from want. Ask yourself what this challenge wants to teach you – and what inner strength it awakens in you.

Upright
Need. Want and constraint – but also the will that grows from it. Patience teaches.

Reversed / related
Reversed, Nauthiz sharpens the need through defiance and haste – some constraints are self-made. Accept the pressure rather than running against it; in patience lies the solution.

Name & Origin

‘Nauðr/Nyd’ is need, constraint, distress. Yet in the need lies also the will to overcome it.

In the Rune Poem

The Old English poem says: need presses hard upon the breast – yet it often becomes a help and rescue to the children of men, if it is heeded in time.

Historical Use

The need-rune was considered powerful in defence; it stands for the fire-drill on which the need-fire is kindled – from want, through effort, comes the saving fire.

Good to Know

The image is striking: only pressure (the rubbing of two pieces of wood) brings forth the spark. Need as the midwife of strength.