08 - Fertility - Ingwaz - Inguz

The summary opposite concerns the upright interpretation of the
rune Inguz. Theoretically, the reversed interpretation is the same so in practice there is no "reversed" meaning of this rune.

The rune Inguz concerns fertility and new beginnings in general. It is also a rune of transitions and may call for us to leave the past and matters of previous situations behind us.

This powerful rune implies mental and emotional strength - the strength needed to achieve completion of a task, phase, or situation - and to move into a new cycle.

Inguz can signify many types of cycles as it represents the intuitive faculties (long associated with the moon). Lunar cycles are also associated with tides and with cycles of fertility, nature, and births and new beginnings in general.

This is one rune that is not always drawn in the same way. A simpler alternative to the version shown on the left is just the middle part of that shape - as appears here on the right:

Rune casters and artists have their own preferences, for some the solid shape of the simple square represents strength while for others the slightly more elabourate shape on the left serves as a reminder of the helix (cycles again !) of the structure of DNA - linking back into fertility and new birth/beginnings.

More about the name of the rune Inguz: The rune Inguz is associated with the god "Ing" who was an ancient Danish Hero.

Inguz is a positive, if sometimes challenging, rune - it always has the same positive meaning.

Note that each rune may be referred to differently in different texts. One reason is that some books prefer to use the traditional meanings as the names/titles of the runes (as we do here). Other books refer to runes using the Old English name, their Old (High) German names, or their modern English letter equivalent. There are also other sets of symbols that are associated with runes. These are more difficult to represent electronically because they do not all correspond to standard alpha-numeric characters. More about the runes as listed here.

Other terms used to refer to this rune are mentioned below:
The eighth rune in the series listed on the left is Fertility (Inguz or Ingwaz).
The name of this rune in English is "ing". It is associated with the modern English character/sound "ng". The Germanic name of this rune is "inguz".