Ingwaz — god/hero Ing / Ingwiz

sound ŋ · Proto-Germanic *ingwaz · rune 22 of 24 · also spelled Ing

The name of the ancient Germanic earth-god Ing, who — as the revival reads it — acts in a pair with the mother-goddess Nerthus (the peoples called themselves Ingaevones — "those of Ing"; later Freyr became Ing-Yngvi). In the cult of Ing-Nerthus the feminine is said to absorb the masculine so as to replenish its forces after giving fertility to the earth: the masculine is framed as a self-replenishing "cosmic food" of potential energy, held by the goddess through the winter and released in a rush in spring. The NG-rune is taken as a storehouse of potential energy that must pass through a period of ripening (gestation) to gather strength: any force, before its most powerful manifestation, is said to pass through such a sheltered ripening.

Core meaningmodern reconstruction, 20th c.

The name of the ancient Germanic earth-god Ing, who — as the revival reads it — acts in a pair with the mother-goddess Nerthus (the peoples called themselves Ingaevones — "those of Ing"; later Freyr became Ing-Yngvi). In the cult of Ing-Nerthus the feminine is said to absorb the masculine so as to replenish its forces after giving fertility to the earth: the masculine is framed as a self-replenishing "cosmic food" of potential energy, held by the goddess through the winter and released in a rush in spring. The NG-rune is taken as a storehouse of potential energy that must pass through a period of ripening (gestation) to gather strength: any force, before its most powerful manifestation, is said to pass through such a sheltered ripening. The rune is held to contain one of the great mysteries of Norse sex-magic.

Ingwaz in divinationmodern reconstruction, 20th c.

Paxson: INGWAZ — creative power (especially male), the passage to a new stage of the cycle, a completion leading to a new beginning, transformation, possibly sacrifice for a positive goal, fertility. Often — the successful completion of a project; kin to Fehu and Jera; a rune of sexuality and male energy when the force "gives" rather than only "takes."

Ingwaz reversed (merkstave)modern reconstruction, 20th c.

The rune is symmetrical (a closed diamond), so there is no reversal; the shadow arises from the rune's nature: the sacrificial god gives his power to the earth and goes down into death/the barrow — the energy must pass through a hidden gestation, a potential that is "dormant"; the masculine and feminine must interact as equals, or the force is not realized.

Ingwaz in rune magicmodern reconstruction, 20th c.

• storing and transforming power for ritual use
• rites of fertility
• passive meditation and the centering of energy and thought
• sudden release of energy
• galdr: "ingwaz-ingwaz-ingwaz… iiiiinnnnnggggg…"
• Paxson (practice): meditation on INGWAZ as a key to the "male mysteries" — mentally pass through the cycle of the grain-god: emergence from the sea, radiant youth, the Sacred Marriage, the begetting and protection of offspring, beneficent rule, death-transformation into an ancestor.

The historical layerhistorical fact

The reconstructed Proto-Germanic name *ingwaz means “god/hero Ing / Ingwiz” — that much comes from the rune poems and comparative linguistics. The esoteric readings above are a 20th–21st-century reconstruction, not an attested ancient practice — see the Elder Futhark reference for what is actually historical.

Sources

Esoteric core and magical workings — Thorsson, "Futhark" (1984); divination/shadow/practice — Diana Paxson, "Taking Up the Runes" (2005). Both are 20th–21st-c. revival, not antiquity and not proof.

Questions about Ingwaz

What does the Ingwaz rune mean?

Ingwaz (*ingwaz) — god/hero Ing / Ingwiz. The name of the ancient Germanic earth-god Ing, who — as the revival reads it — acts in a pair with the mother-goddess Nerthus (the peoples called themselves Ingaevones — "those of Ing"; later Freyr became Ing-Yngvi). In the cult of Ing-Nerthus the feminine is said to absorb the masculine so as to replenish its forces after giving fertility to the earth: the masculine is framed as a self-replenishing "cosmic food" of potential energy, held by the goddess through the winter and released in a rush in spring.

What does Ingwaz reversed mean?

The rune is symmetrical (a closed diamond), so there is no reversal; the shadow arises from the rune's nature: the sacrificial god gives his power to the earth and goes down into death/the barrow — the energy must pass through a hidden gestation, a potential that is "dormant"; the masculine and feminine must interact as equals, or the force is not realized.

How do you pronounce Ingwaz?

The sound is “ŋ”; the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name is *ingwaz.