Perthro - ? - Unknown - Elder Futhark Rune Meaning
KEY CONCEPTS: unknown, chance, randomness, meaninglessness, guessing, luck, risk, infinite possibilities, the unknowable, co-incidence
The meaning of Perthro is unknown. Rather than suppose the meaning is lost, treat this as intentional: Perthro represents that which is unknowable and meaningless in the universe. It is the symbolic equivalent of a blank rune.
The idea that we are here by chance, that the universe is random, that not all things have causes, that co-incidence can often be meaningless, that even our most precise mathematics are fundamentally based on our best guess about the nature of things -- all this is intolerable to most people. Our minds rebel against the idea.
Perthro represents once again, the indifference of the universe toward our attempts to know it, to explain it and to give it meaning. If there is an absolute truth, it is unknowable, however many mysteries we uncover and solve. Where Ihwaz represents a mystery to be solved, it is an error to consider Perthro as representing a mystery. Perthro is the unknowable. Something that is solved, or solvable, is not Perthro, which is unsolvable. It is that which we do not even know we do not know. This rune solidly stands in the abyss beyond the human mind's utmost capabilities.
Perthro also represents the nameless, that which cannot be spoken of because it defies our attempts to understand and know and explain. As a consequence it also represents the immeasurable and the unmanifest. It is emptiness. It is nothingness.
Perthro is the domain of chance and events without causation. The fact that we cannot reliably predict the future, that we must guess and take risks, turns all of our lives into a gamble. Perthro frames the makeup of the universe as uncompromisingly playful. The way to deal with this is to realize life is, in a sense, a sort of high-stakes game. We can transform our life’s work into play. This is the connection of Perthro to the lot-cup, to gambling and dice. At a deeper level, we are constantly involved in a game of chance, with luck as its basis. Therefore, Perthro magic involves our powers of guessing. Though there may be ways of improving our odds, remember that chance is still the domain of unforgiving random chaos.
One of the harshest realities of Perthro is the suggestion that the universe is ultimately meaningless -- a suggestion that taken too much to heart can drive us to madness and suicide. Many people are, at first, deeply disturbed or depressed by this idea, and will delude themselves by various degrees through fantasy that things have deeper meaning, even if we cannot understand it. The creation of meaning is actually necessary to our survival!
Properly examined, Perthro suggests that the fundamental background of the meaninglessness it represents is the equivalent of a blank canvas of infinite possibilities. It empowers us to consciously create ourselves and fulfill our human potential. It allows us to consciously evolve. The meaninglessness and nothingness only threaten us if we wish to shirk the responsibility of living our lives by choice, rather than by chance or by someone else's rules. We can even harness this creativity in shaping our destiny, making it easier to predict our future. In essence, the secret of Perthro is the secret of the runes -- to bring us past the need for divination and into the realm of transformation and manifestation.
The energy of this rune flows from the unmanifested into the manifest. Being born from non-being. It is random because it can represent events that have no cause, such as quantum events. These events, without causation and outside of the normal flow of reaction, transcend probabilities and are interwoven with the very fabric of our universe. Their consequences ensure a certain freedom within the system, and prevent a clockwork, deterministic universe from being possible. It is Perthro, ultimately, that insures the future is unwritten, and that the past can always be broken away from.
See: The 24 Elder Futhark Runes - Standard Interpretations
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