The Conclusion of the Plot

Ing was the first
of the eastern Danes,
who appeared to men,
before he sailed back across the sea;
a chariot followed him;
this is he whom warriors call a hero.

Neutrality’s preparation for the next cycle at the level of forms manifests as a sequence of events that complete the three-part plot of the World Wheel’s movement through the worlds accessible to human awareness.

The first event is the accumulation of potential energy needed to release the generative fertilizing force and the emergence into other levels of being.

The rune Ingwaz (Inguz — Ing [Ingvi] — Freyr) corresponds to this ripening process, the transition of quantitative changes into qualitative ones.

Freyr — the god of earthly fertility, also called Veraldargod, god of the universe — through his being and actions sustains reproductive forces of the cosmos. Gerd (Yord), beloved of Freyr, is the benevolent face of the earth god, by whose power every seed sprouts and every flower blooms.

Ingwaz’s symbolic field includes the forces of fertility in all their manifestations, as sexual energies pervading the cosmos, as forces of assimilation (including knowledge) and digestion, and as forces of regeneration and restoration (of power and body).

Overall, Ingwaz marks the moment of successful completion, the sudden energetic release or climax, and the completion of karmic tasks faced by a particular being or situation.

Another concept linked to Ingwaz’s symbolic field is the notion of the fruit or seed as the end of a cycle and the starting point of a new cycle.

Graphically, Ingwaz can be viewed as the sum of two Gebo (in this aspect it expresses sexual union’s peak), as two Kenaz combined (and here it shows Ingwaz’s fiery nature), and as a combined Jera (reflecting fertility and successful completion).

Magical uses of Ingwaz included ensuring fertility, healing, and growth, and also imbuing magic with vitality, for example spells. Sigrdrífa apparently assigned Ingwaz to the ‘birth runes’, noting its role in generation, and according to Mimir’s Head, Ingwaz adorned the “Shield of the God of Light”, that is, Freyr.