Name: Ur (Uruz)
Meaning: Auroch, vigour, vitality and courage.
Rune ritual image: Bovine horns.
Ur is linked to aurochs, a fearsome bovine that ranged across the Indo-European landscape and up into Northern Europe. Unlike the cattle of Feoh, these beasts are wild, Utangard, outside of the tribe, undomesticated and untamed. They are primarily viewed as symbols of masculinity, in comparison to the nurturing femininity of Feoh, and their relationship with male virility and sexual potency continues today.
Tribal initiation for our ancestors often involved hunting, and aspirant youths would be expected to take down one of these ferocious creatures. This demonstration of skill and tenacity against the bovine ferocity earned entry to the group and often the mysteries. This trial evolved into the athletic bull leaping, seen pictorially in bronze Age cultures, and more contemporarily with murderous bull fighting. The Auroch was clearly seen a very dangerous animal that commanded great respect.
Horned bovine have been a symbol for humans ever since they could render images, but their importance may be beyond simply hunting. Entheogens, especially the Amanita Muscaria (fly agaric) have historically been attributed to the bull. Pictorial references of the ritualised use of the psychedelic can be seen in Egypt, signified by the wearing of a bull hide creating a mushroom like shape. This is also true within the Mithras cults, who employed the fly agaric for their mystery traditions, the bull being a key motif for this. It should not be dismissed that the Elder Futhark could contain the same spiritual significance within its runes.
Ur can be evoked for vigour and stamina in magick, especially rude health, but it can also be used to facilitate the necessary potency required for the trials of both physical initiation and the rigours of psychedelic ego death. It is a power beyond human control that should be invoked wisely and with great preparation. Mastery of Ur can be seen as comparable to the mastery necessary for both Lust XI and The Devil XV from the Thoth Tarot. These are primary forces, linked to sex and survival.
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