Cweorth/Qweorth is the letter (or sound) Q

There is no rune poem for Cweorth. It is a Northumbrian rune.

Cweorth is the sacred flame, burning brightly in holy places, the fire of the Holy Ones. It is also the primal flame, the fire responsible for creation, the spark of Muspell, which balances the frozen ice of Nifelheim.

It shows the powers of fire in it’s totality, as both a creative and destructive force. In a reading, it can be either, depending upon the question and runes surrounding it. When it is creative, it is warm and quickening, bringing action, passionate intensity, and some inspiration with it. When it is destructive, Cweorth is burning and consuming, removing obstacles, useless constructions (either physical or metaphysical) and terrible purification, that is terrible because of how swiftly and sometimes painfully it comes, but purifying because once it is over, what is left is clean and open to come into fullness once again.

I have noticed the Cweorth seems to be coming up a lot lately, and it makes me wonder what the source of all this fire is, and what is trying to do. I can’t say that I notice any significant actions occurring, or a burning and consuming, but then it maybe because I take actions and purification in advance. It often seems to be a greatly overlooked practice to me, that spiritual and magical practitioners don’t regularly purify themselves or their spaces, either metaphysically and/or physically. Weekly, Monthly, daily purification can be a great help when things are feeling difficult or there is confusion, lack of clarity or just a string of misfortune. Sometimes, it can all be easily cleared away, and that allows for desired things to enter into you life.
The simplest purification I do is sitting in a bathtub with a cup of table salt mixed in. Bless the water and the salt, and mix them together, and bless them again. You might take a book you are reading or a spiritual text, or you might just sit in silence and relax. The water can be hot or cold (I generally go for hot myself) and I give that space as time to release, reflect and prepare. You could create a more complex bath with your own bath salts, with essential oils and a pinch of ground herbs, or a strong tea made from a combination of herbs. One of my favorites is Hyssop or Eucalyptus

Cweorth/ Qweorth is the letter Q

There is no rune poem for Cweorth. It is a Northumbrian Rune.

I am too tired to post about runes right now. It has been a long day for me, and tomorrow will also be long as well. Have a Happy Mother’s Day! (and go tell your Divine Mother, that you love her!)

Cweorth is the letter Q

There is no rune poem for Qweorth. It is a Northumbrian Rune
Qweorth for me today was the cleansing fire, taking away impurity, removing harmful and unhealthy influences from me. Things that were ready to be taken, consumed and released from me, and purified so they can go to where they are needed.

Qweorth is the letter Q

There is no rune poem for Qweorth

The meaning of Qweorth, much like Peorth, is unclear. The most common meaning I have seen with people who have sought to define it is the fire-twirl. The fire-twirl is the sacred brand or torch that was used by earlier peoples to re-ignite fires. In some cases, it was a longer branch and may have been lit at both ends. To me, that is what I see in the image of the rune Qweorth, a branch that has been lit at both ends.

The fires that the twirl would re-ignite may be home fires, and even sacred fires, although usually the twirl itself was probably lit from a sacred fire, perhaps one that was kept burning all the time, an eternal flame. As the harnessing of fire and learning to create fire is one of the advances that humanity used to protect itself and slowly transformed culture and society, it is often given a sacred status, and the re-lighting of fires was a unique ritual, especially done after the winter solstice.

The other sacred fire is the funeral pyre. This is the meaning that Raven Kaldera focuses on, understandably so as his mistress is Hela, the Northern European Goddess who governs the afterlife and the underworld, known as Hel or Helheim.

As the symbol of the sacred fire, Qweorth symbolizes all of these qualities. It shows that this fire is burning, and it either needs to be tended or perhaps now is the time to re-ignite. It may also show that a great purification is taking place or coming, in which all that is unworthy or lacking will be burned away. It is destructive, but the destruction quickly clears the way for new things to take it’s place. Much like a forest fire will destroy acres of trees, but often the seeds of the trees are now stimulated to grow, their seed coats opened or burned away, allowing them to propagate. The fire also quickened the cycle of fertility, as the ash of the trees and plants now fertilizes the ground that they once fed upon, which may have become depleted because the cycle had become slowed down. The fires of creation can destroy, much like the fires of destruction can create.