Gebo is the Rune of gift-giving, balance and sacrifice.
Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem
Gyfu gumena byþ gleng and herenys,
wraþu and wyrþscype and wræcna gehwam
ar and ætwist, ðe byþ oþra leas.
Gift is for every man a pride and praise,
help and worthiness; and of every homeless adventurer
it is the estate and substance for those who have nothing else.
This Rune shows a central aspect of the Norse spiritual practice and that’s the concept of exchange. A gift was not something given lightly as it was always seen as a declaration of friendship, which came with benefits as well as obligations. If a friend of yours got involved in a legal dispute or even a blood feud you had to stand by his side, which could be devastating if the other party was more influential and powerful than your own. If you abandoned your friend, you would lose your face and your standing within the community as now everyone knew that you couldn’t be trusted and that could be a death sentence when you found yourself in a time of need.
This concept of exchange also applied to the spiritual practice. The Gods and Wights (elves and dwarves) had no innate interest in human beings or their behavior as they had their own problems to deal with. In order to enlist their cooperation, one had to befriend them and that was achieved through the act of gift-giving. A sacrifice was made either to a Wight or a God/Goddess and then an equally valuable gift would be received in exchange. If that exchange didn’t take place the idea was not to keep on sacrificing, praying harder and more humbly but to move on and find an entity that was more inclined to being befriended by you.
Gebo lies at the heart of practicing the old religion. Instead of submitting to an all-powerful deity, our Ancestors tried to “make friends in high places”. Not getting a response was neither a sign that something was wrong with them, that their intention wasn’t pure enough or that they needed to sacrifice more but simply that the entity one had tried to befriend was not interested.
When practicing magic Gebo can be used in order to forge such connections but is also a great tool to evaluate ones results. If what you invest is far more taxing than what you receive, you’re not on a healthy path. If you have gained tons of spiritual insights but still live in your mom’s basement and work a job that you hate it is time to reevaluate your spiritual practice…