Thoughts on Tyr: the Warrior’s Rune

I have walked the warrior’s path for as long as I have had any self-awareness of being on a path at all. In many ways, this path has defined me and it has certainly defined the ferocity with which I approach my own spiritual work. I’ve had many teachers on my journey, but none have been as steadfast and ongoing a set of teachers as the runes. This family of spirits rapidly became far more than simply a system of divination to me: they became teachers and spirit-allies. Of all the runes that had the most impact on me in the early years of my journey, none were quite so strong in my life as Tiewaz or Tyr: the warrior’s rune.

This was, if I recall correctly, the very first rune that I ever learned. The priestess with whom I was at the time studying, gave me a silver pendant (that she herself had crafted) with this rune inscribed on it. Then she sat me down and told me what the rune mean, that it was the ‘warrior’s rune.’ Since I walked the warrior’s path, I didn’t look too deeply then: the gift seemed very appropriate and I was very touched. Later though, when I began to study the runes for true, I remembered her words.

Tyr often comes upon a reading to tell the querent that he or she knows what the right path is. It is the difficult path, the path he or she does not want to take. It is what they pulled runes hoping the diviner or the runes themselves would say does not have to be done. It often comes up reversed to indicate when a path would be the coward’s way out, an abrogation of necessary duty. This rune is all about what is necessary, not necessarily what is good.

There are no short cuts around Tyr, no easy way out. This rune is about doing one’s right duty and accepting the consequences. It is about necessary sacrifice, including the sacrifice of one’s honor if need be. It is about looking at one’s duty, the larger picture, and acting accordingly. There is something in Tyr that ties very strongly into the Japanese concept of ‘giri,’ which often translates as ‘burden of obligation.’  This is a rune of bravery and courage, but it is not the rune of a braggart. It is duty, the right action done, because it was the right thing to do and without fanfare.

Tyr/Tiewaz is a voluntary sacrifice and therein lies its power. It’s very much about choosing the warrior’s path again and again, each and every day. Tyr is all about those conscious choices that we make, those choices that can make us strong or weak, that can develop character or demean it. Tyr is the hard but correct course of action that must be chosen and committed to again and again and again, most especially when it is difficult.

Tyr is less about nobility and more about necessity of circumstance. Why did he betray his word to Fenris knowing his sword hand would be forfeit? Someone had to and if not him then who, if not that moment, then when? Tyr is the rune that says ‘this is your duty. It must be done; and if you do not take up this burden, if you do not shoulder this responsibility, if you do not do this, then no one else can.”

I dislike the word heroism with Tyr (the rune). That implies and outward show of courage (and often stupidity, think about it: heroes aren’t long lived. They’re the ones rushing in where sensible people would balk), that isn’t really what this rune is all about. Tyr isn’t about the outward bravado. It’s about looking at gut wrenching terror, about seeing the thing that is that which you most fear and most wish to avoid and stepping up and doing your job anyway knowing exactly what it’s going to cost you. It’s about that quiet moment where the character tips over the edge into courage specifically because of the fear and sacrifice required. Such courage may never be acknowledged by anyone else. The gravest sacrifices often occur in the deepest chambers of the heart and that, more than anything else is the mystery of this rune.

Someone commented to me recently that Tyr the God was notable in a pantheon not known for its sense of ethics. My response: They may not be known for their sense of ethics, as we would describe them, but they are known for their understanding of sacrifice. They are, as a pantheon, however, known for their understanding of sacrifice. As to the rest, I can only respond by quoting an ancient Greek philosopher Bion Smyrnaeus (and to be nice, I’ll even do it in English): “Ill it beseems that mortals should judge divine handiwork.”

This rune is about self-regulation, discipline, and responsibility. It is about looking at everything in your life and taking responsibility for it. That is the warrior’s way: we are responsible for everything in our world. There are no easy outs, there is no absolution through victimhood.  Tyr (or Tiewaz) is about  understanding that discipline is one of the most valuable gifts you can give yourself. It is that which will carry you through when courage and character often fail.

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