The Ram, The Hare and a bit of Rune chat.
The eve of Aries season 2026, the eve of the spring equinox, I looked out in the darkness, looking out of my window just in time to see a hare loping full stretch across the garden below, then disappearing, round the corner of the building. It had come off The Moss behind where we live.
Only once have I seen “mad March hares” fighting just like this picture below, facing off in a field among a herd of pretty nonchalant munching sheep, late one sunny March morning. The fight ended when one of the hares turned tail and fled, and the other went bounding after him.
There are two hare species in Britain. The mountain hare is native. The brown hare (European hare) is said to have been introduced by the Romans but is now considered native. The hare is symbolic of moonlight, witchcraft and shapeshifting. A harbinger of spring, associated with Easter/Eostre/oestrus it signifies mystery, fertility, intuition, speed, agility and acuteness of the senses.
Considered sacred to the ancient tribes. There is a story that a (brown or mountain?) hare, released from a trap by Queen Boudicca herself, perhaps as an act of orchestrated divination (?) then ran towards the Roman line — a dreadful omen for the tribes, announcing the coming doom of the Iceni…and the conquest of Albion.
This was the moment of sunrise of the day of the spring equinox. The equinox portal of sun and stones, Here, where the sabre-toothed tiger once stalked the mighty wild cattle…the auroch …on the massive meeting/mating ground, or “lek” that is Salisbury Plain, the setting for Watership Down, with animation closely modelled on the actual topography.
The old Norse rune that denotes -or invokes- strength, physical power, stamina and recovery from sickness is URUZ. Named for the auroch.
The magnificent auroch have long ago gone, finally hunted to extinction about 3000 years ago. A few charred bones remain of ancient roasted banquets. Their descendants live on the domesticated cattle, represented by another strong rune, FEHU, signifying wealth earned through cattle and the hard work of husbandry. The modern word in English FEE, payment, comes from this same rune. The domesticated bull is still an immensely powerful animal. But smaller than the ancient auroch. One may call on Fehu for luck in financial affairs and most particularly in job hunting. This is a rune of earned income rather than bequests and legacies, which are connected with another rune, Othala, the rune of ancestors.
The auroch are long gone. Nothing left of them but cave paintings, runes and the aforementioned bones on Salisbury Plain. The sabre-toothed tiger is an ancient memory few would associate with Britain.
The rabbits abide, and the hares. The great plain abides on Watership Down and everywhere. Beauty abides, and sorrow with the joy. But when it is time for us to go, ready or not, the Black Rabbit has seen it all, and means no harm.
Until next time 🙂
True Tarot Tales 