The Yr Or Ir Rune
The “Yr, Eur, Irr” Rune According to Guido Von List
yr, eur = Iris [Iris], Bow [Bogen], Rainbow [Regenbogen], Yew-Wood Bow [Eigenholzbogen], to be Wrong or to be Mistaken [Irren ], Anger/Wrath [Zorn], and so on.
A sixteenth I speak to a coy maiden,
to get me goodness and luck:
that changes and turns the wishes and mind
of the white swan armed beauty.
The “Yr Rune” is the inverted “Man Rune”, and just as it designates the Bow/Arc, it also presents the Waxing & Waning Moon in contrast to the Full Moon of the “Man Rune”.
So, first and foremost, it refers to the Changeability [Wandelbarkeit ] of the Moon; second, as the “Irr Rune” (or Error Rune), it refers to the lunar-like Changeability of the feminine Nature (or passive/receptive element), portrayed in later Verses of the “Havamäl ” in the following way:
Do not trust the true words of a maid,
do not trust the woman’s true words,
her heart was shaped on a spinning wheel:
the feminine heart is the home of fickleness.
The Yr– or Error-Rune, which causes Confusion, whether through the Excitement of the Passions [Leidenschaften ] in Love, in play, in Drink (Intoxication), or through pretexts of Speech (Sophistry), or through whatever other Cause, may defeat the Resistance through Confusion.
But the Success of a Victory gained by such means is just as illusory as the Victory itself — for it brings Anger/Wrath, wild Rage, and (in the end) Madness [Wahns].
The Yr or Irr Rune (the Error Rune) is therefore also in Contrast with the “Os Rune”, since it tries to force the Conquest of an Adversary on False-Grounds [Scheingründen ] instead of on Solid-Grounds [Gründen].
Therefore it teaches: “Consider the Outcome [Ende]!”
-Paraphrase from The Mystery/Secret of the Runes [Das Geheimnis der Runen] (1908)
by Guido von List
The “Yr, Irr, Eur, Eibe, Eybe” Rune According to R.J. Gorsleben
Letter Y and the number 16. The Yr, Irr, Eur, Eibe, Eybe, W-ybe Rune. YR refers to the letter Y as well as the letter R, and represents the inversion of the Man-Rune.
The Rune means error, confusion, reversal, negation, destruction, fall, but also woman (as an opposite to man) as well as matter, evil, etc.
At the same time, the Yr Rune represents the Earthen-Human side (that which is inclined towards the earth), the active joy of the senses and the sensuality of human nature. But, as a warning symbol of our times, it shows us (as the reverse of the Man -Rune, of manas , of the divine Reason [göttlichen Vernunft]) the turning away from God and Spirit [Gott und Geist] and, in this way, it also becomes the symbol of revolution, of godlessness, of greed for gold (or ‘gold rush’, that is ‘gold abused and muddied’), of materialism and of erring.
Its Ur-word is Vollendung meaning “Completion” as well as finishing, bringing to an end, perfection, accomplishment, and fulfillment.
“A sixteenth I spoke, when the maiden resisted
to wake her lust and desire
I banish the heart of the joyful woman
so that her desire turns towards me”
As its shape shows, the Yr Rune is the tipped over Man Rune, it is the symbol of the erring human being, and of the world that is upside down. Since all of the true man’s striving is upward-aiming, in the same way, everything for this Rune is aiming downward and pertains to the under-human, the low-aiming human. It is this Rune which creates confusion and error.
Since the Man Rune refers to the Full Moon, in the same way the Yr Rune refers to the Moon Phases (its waxing & waning). It also points towards the changeability and adjustability of the Feminine and therefore it is also the Rune of the woman.
The Man Rune stretches the arms upward, and the Woman Rune points the arms downward. As man is rooted in spirit, so the woman (as his equally valid opposite) is rooted in matter, in the “increaser” of nature, in Maria or Mary. The material world (represented by the feminine) is changing, passing, mortal; it is Maya, the “great illusion” (as the Hindus called it); the seduction, the temptation, the bewitching, the confusion, that is part of everything terrestrial-feminine and material (or Yin), in contrast to the masculine-spiritual, divine, eternal (or Yang).
This juxtaposition does not have the meaning or intent of “putting down” the woman, but rather an outpouring of the knowledge of the eternal balance between two forces, which can solve their common task only in union. Man and woman are different, but equally oriented unities, who are both perfect when united as one.
The world consists of opposites, of eternal polarities, of good & evil, yes & no! If man, manas (reason), the Mannus and his “horn” of salvation (his procreation of salvation) are bent or reversed, then revolution is the necessary consequence.
Everything that happens is based on eternal change, upon the lawful cooperation of the polar opposites. This way the Man & Woman Runes creatively complement each other. In their union they are a symbol of the last judgment, the ‘horn of change’ (which is similar to the Hagal-Rune, but without the common point of intersection and therefore not yet perfect in its unity), and promises new ascension.
The Woman Rune is the sixteenth Rune. The number 16 is composed of: six and ten (6 + 10). Six, we already know (from the Man-Rune), is a hidden reference to sex, and this means sex on a personal level, on the level of the individual, of the king/queen, of the one who is capable (see the Kaun or Kings-Rune). Ten, the second number, means: completion, perfection; in other words the clan, the bloodline, from which descends the individual, the one who can. Sixteen is therefore copulation.
The three beams of the Yr Rune are the roots of the Yggdrasil World Tree, from which the seeds extract their food. Here also sit the three Norns (Urda, Werdandi and Skuld), the women of fate, who spin the fate of all of humanity according to the laws of the World Tree.
-Paraphrase from The Peak-Time of Humanity [Die Hoch-Zeit der Menschheit] (1930)
by Rudolf John Gorsleben