Fehu Rune Tattoo Meaning
ᚠ — the rune of cattle, wealth, abundance, and prosperity earned.
Fehu (ᚠ) is the first rune of the Elder Futhark — the rune of cattle, and so of wealth, abundance, and prosperity. In a world where a person's riches were counted in livestock, fehu meant movable wealth: the cattle, the herd, the prosperity that could be earned, grown, and shared. It is the rune of fulfillment and success, but also of the responsibility wealth carries. To carry Fehu is to carry abundance — prosperity earned, the wealth that grows, and the fortune to be stewarded well.
Fehu, the first rune of the Elder Futhark, takes its name from the word for cattle or livestock — and in the early Germanic and Norse world, cattle were wealth itself, the measure of a person's prosperity and standing. So fehu came to mean wealth, riches, and abundance: not buried hoarded gold but mobile, living, increasing wealth — the herd that breeds and grows, the prosperity that flows and circulates. It is the rune of material success, fulfillment, and earned abundance.
The Old English and Norse rune poems that describe fehu carry a double note: wealth is a comfort and a joy to all, yet one must share it freely and not cling to it, for fortune hoarded brings strife. So fehu is not only abundance but the right relationship to it — wealth as something earned, enjoyed, circulated, and stewarded with generosity. The Norse Fehu is the rune of living wealth: prosperity that grows, fulfillment earned, and fortune held with an open hand.
Fehu is a popular rune tattoo for those marking prosperity, new ventures, or abundance. As a sacred Norse symbol it is worn with respect for its tradition. In tattoo symbolism it speaks to wealth, success, fulfillment, generosity, and the abundance that grows from good work.
Fehu Rune across cultures
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