Let's get back to our journey of the Light which started with Sowilo, was met by Laguz, stepped down along the Sowilo to Wunjo, and after that to Raido.

Now we are closing this loop and taking the full combination of Laguz + Sowilo:

• we have the Berkana rune.

It means Birch and is one of two Tree runes in the Futhark.

The Birch was considered a bright, shining tree in a wide range of Germanic and Slavic languages because of its white bark. In all these languages, the word 'birch' comes from the Proto-Indo-European *bʰerHǵos with root *bherəg-, which means shine, bright, white. Even the English word 'bright' itself is also derived from the same root.

It's interesting to notice that almost all the translations of 'birch' have a secondary R which stands for Raido: Bjǫrk, Birka, Beorc, Birke, Berk, Björk, Birk, Bjørk, Björk, Beryoza, Brzoza, Bříza, Breza, Breza

In the context of Runic Alchemy, considering the Berkana rune contains all the enlightenment-related runes such as Sowilo, Laguz, Wunjo, and Raido, we can say Berkana is the Tree of Light.

In the modern interpretation, the Eihwaz rune is most often associated with World Tree Yggdrasil, even if the Eihwaz name means Yew, not Ash.

From another side in Shamanism, the World Tree is a birch. English "ash" word traces back to the Old English æsc then down to Latin Fraxinus and again we come to PIE *bʰerHǵos so to "bright tree" finally.

So both birch and ash can be considered as bright trees and so we come again to World Tree Yggdrasil.

In Slavic languages, ash also has the meaning "bright" e.g. in Russian "jasny" (ясный) and the same word means "clear" both in aspects of "cleanness" and "clarity".

So in Slavic languages, ideas of brightness and clarity are described by the same word and the same root directly used in the Slavic "ash" tree name, e.g. Russian "yasen" (ясень).

So to recap: in Stone, we have two runes which mean trees, Eihwas-Yew and Berkana-Birch. They both share the same trunk which is by the way the central vertical axis of the Stone.

I believe both Eihwas and Birch should be considered as different but equally important aspects of Yggdrassil.

The Breast

It looks neat, but how complex is it:

• One starting vertical bar of simultaneity of all five worlds
• Four parallel transitions: two descending and two ascending
• From three worlds: Water, Emptiness, and Fire, Berkana collects Light and Order, condensing them in the worlds of Air and Earth.

The meaning and function of this rune are gathering, preparing, and accumulating resources and support/nurturing/feeding/maternity.

The shape of the Berkana rune reminds one of the shape of a woman's breast.

In Old Norse, the breast is "brjóst" from Proto-Germanic *breustą, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrews- (“to swell”).

Phonetically, this word is very related to birch, as it shares "b", "r", and some other sounds depending on the language.

Compare:

• birch ~ breast - in English
• Björk - Brjóst - in Icelandic
• bjǫrk ~ brjóst - in Old Norse
• *bherəg- ~ *bʰrews- in PIE

While there is no direct evidence of associating the Berkana rune with "breast", the symbolic meaning, visual reminiscence, and phonetic similarity convince me enough to believe this rune once directly meant it, because there are too many coincidences simultaneously to ignore.

The Cow

As we will discuss in the next chapter, Berkana is followed by Thurisaz and Perthro runes, and these runes are born and grown by Berkana. Thurisaz means Thurs in Old Norse, so we have Thurs directly supported by Berkana. Entire Runic Alchemy is based on Norse cosmology, which describes how Ymir, the first Thurs, was born from melted and solidified Ice and then fed by the primordial cow Auðumbla.

Berkana was never mentioned in the sources in such a context, but here it is - our pair of Berkana followed by Thurisaz is Auðumbla nurturing Ymir.

Despite the significant role Auðumbla plays in Norse cosmology: she supports the life of the first Thurs Ymir and reveals the first god Búri, grandfather of Odin, by licking him out of Ice, not much is said in the historical sources about Auðumbla herself.

Nevertheless, the symbol of the primordial, life-giving cow is common in various mythologies all over the world. For example, it's interesting to compare Auðumbla with Kamadhenu, also known as Surabhi - the mother of all cows in Hinduism. Kamadhenu is described as a white cow with a female head and breasts and with the wings of a bird and the tail of a peafowl.

What a lucky coincidence:

• White color brings us back to the birch, the white tree.
• And female breasts support our theory of the same meaning for Berkana/Breast rune. s

Berkana Rune

This rune requires some dedicated practice to cast it properly.

Let's imagine an actual birch tree, how does it look? A white shining trunk dominates in the lower part and a rich crown of green leaves in the upper.

If we project our 5-level grid to the human body full scale, the bottom right-headed triangle of Berkana points to the belly, the level of the Earth, which we need to transform into a crystal by descending from solar plexus transparency and ascending from the bottom Light of Fire.

The upper triangle of Berkana points to the breast, the level of air, the home of the heart, and Love as we found in the rune Wunjo.

Now consider yourself looking through your eyes down to your center, the crystal, the source of golden-white Light.

If you're looking down through the layer of blue water onto yellowish light - it appears tinted by green tones, because mixing yellow+blue gives green.

It is a common consensus on the green color of energy of the heart (e.g. Anahata position on the rainbow scale).

When you've managed to reach and are working on Berkana, it is helpful to see this emerald glow of the birch's crown in the warm rays of the Light within your chest.

Here is a meditation I would like you to practice anywhere in nature, in a park, or in a forest.

• Watch spots of sunlight illuminating grass, and leaves, and surrounded by shadowed regions. You usually have such a combination in the forest with deciduous trees where rays of sunlight seek their way between dense tree crowns.
• Just stare into this bright green spot, feel this energy overflowing over the bright spot border, and breathe this energy in.

Sometimes there are such weather conditions when it's raining and at the same time it's sunny or even better when sunlight is still diffused by clouds, but clouds are so thin that they can't really mute the light and only soften it, so everything around slightly glows. If you're lucky to be near some tree at this moment - this is a beautiful Berkana moment, just drink this visual green elixir and let it take you somewhere away.

Try to obtain this experience and it will make it easier to find the same energy within yourself as part of your alchemical process.