Kenaz: the Lantern Held Aloft

Kenaz: the Torch

Meaning: Creativity, Discovery, Illumination, Intuition, Learning, Path Finding

Affirmation: I know what I see clearly.

Associations: Divine Feminine, Magick

Kenaz is sometimes associated with the Moon, as well as lanterns as torches, because it involves the energy of revealing and understanding that which was previous unknown or obscured. Much like walking beneath the light of a full moon, or with a lantern aloft, the darkness is no longer so dark when walking with the wisdom of Kenaz. We were each gifted with our own inner beacon in the form of our intuition and psychic senses, which this rune can be used to assist us in connecting with, in addition to providing overall clarity and depth of knowledge within various fields or energies.

Resembling a more or less than symbol, depending on which way it is facing, Kenaz is traditionally open towards the right. Interestingly enough, it can be associated with these mathematical symbols in meaning, too, as it asks us to either put more or less effort into clearly seeing our inner world in relation to our outer realities, or vice versa. It can ask us to learn more about our world or roots in general when opened face down, or can ask us to seek more knowledge or wisdom in relation to spirit or perhaps even space when facing up (depending on what your intuition says, of course!).

Kenaz is one of the more simple runes in the Elder Futhark, and contains only Isa, as far as I can see. It helps form many runes, however, which I think imparts some of its complex but simple nature. Learning is easy, Kenaz suggests. What we do with that knowledge, the truthful and usefulness of it, or even just trusting and accepting that knowledge in the first place, are the much more difficult tasks at hand.

Isa gives Kenaz its steady and contemplative nature. It allows for the light of Kenaz to never go out, only be redirected by our ego (albeit sometimes foolishly, as the ego often is). Isa's steadiness also allows for the path or knowledge which Kenaz helps highlight and find to remain steady and true, so that it can be found in the first place. In this regard, Isa also lends Kenaz the ability to make knowledge true just by illuminating it as knowledge! Even the truest truths are really only true when we allow ourselves to accept and see them as true in the first place (see Flat Earth Theory or other pseudosciences for real world evidence of how "true" can be manipulated by the light of Kenaz). Like when we shine light on the glassy surface of ice, what is reflected there is, in fact, what we are seeing - but it may not be, in fact, what the reflection is actually of at all. This is why Kenaz is not the only rune pertaining to truth and knowledge! You and I, and probably even the Universe, too, need more than one perspective to see things for what they truly are.

Overall, I think Kenaz is simple because learning is simple. It is a fixed part of our daily lives, even if we do not seek it out, earned through the process of life itself. Retaining the knowledge or the knowledge being useful to us isn't ultimately the motivation of Kenaz, either. It simply wants us to go through the process of learning, and then to use our intuition to know what to do with what we just learned - even if that what is absolutely nothing at all.

Knowledge isn't wisdom, after all!

This spread is titled "Self Help Section," and is among several spreads in my upcoming book, Runic Wisdom, that features the wisdom of Kenaz. This particular layout connects Kenaz and our Higher Self to determine our best course of action through a predicament or problem using knowledge and logic. I hope you enjoy it! Please tag #RunicWisdom or #RunicWisdomKenaz if you use this spread and share an image of it on Instagram, or just tag my account there. I'd love to see! There is also an easily shareable version of this spread on either of my social media accounts, linked in the bar above.