Rune: Ansuz

Names: Ansuz, Ass, Os
Represents: Signals, Messages
Alphabet: A
Color: Purple
Sequence Number: 3 Blume, 3 Meadows, 4 Cooper - Tyson - Thorsson
Aett: Freyja
Gods: All Gods, particularly Odin (Loki according to Blume)
Plants & Minerals: Ash (tree), Air Element
Potency: Creative expression of the spirit
Challenge: Communication with the self, nature, or the divine
Primary Uses: Creative Expression in all forms, gaining insight into situations and to attract "luck"
Stroke Order: Vertical down, then lower diagonal left to right, then upper diagonal left to right.

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For Blume, Ansuz is the first rune of the Cycle of Initiation (13 runes total). The cycle starts when you receive a sign, a message, a call that connects you to something beyond what you have at present. This may have been a wanted or sought after connection, or it may be totally unexpected. It is a time to focus on self-change and integration of unconscious motive with conscious intent. The rune advises, especially when reversed, to unclog the well by clearing out the old. In times of trouble, Ansuz councils you to "Consider the uses of adversity."

For the rest of the rune scholars, Ansuz is the rune of communication and creative inspiration. It is "the word" in a biblical sense: "And the Lord said..." It is the rune of Sacred Knowledge. Tyson mentions that Os also represents the mouth of a river, or spring, which to the Germanic peoples were synonymous with the mouth of the divine from which all things came. Ansuz is the rune that conveys divine knowledge, clearing away blocks and moving use towards our purposes or growth. It is the bridge between the conscious and unconscious and between logic and creativity. It can be used to connect the right and left halves of the brain. Another aspect of this bridging or integrative power is that Ansuz carries both male and female energies, and reminds us that the divine is both masculine and feminine.