Surrounded by snowy, ice covered fields, I inhaled the spark that only winter’s air can bring. The fire sparked in ten degree weather, echoing the bright sunlight. Deep in the center of the logs, I saw the shape of the elk, the sign of the protector. On this past Yule, this recent Winter Solstice, as my breath filled the air with small wispy white puffs in front of the fire with its brilliant blaze, the logs formed Algiz.
Algiz – Letra y símbolo del alfabeto rúnico escrito en madera. Presagia Protección, Victoria. [A letter and symbol from the runic alphabet written on wood. It portends protection and victory.] // Armando Olivo Martín del Campo, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
In a year that should have thrived in brilliance, the concept of disaster in real time flourished for all too many.
Seeing the flames rise, I realize that we are at a crossroads: the pain of real life may be mitigated by the choice to protect our lives, our souls, and our boundaries by standing up. We are the guardians of our society.
Just as we stand and reach with our arms outspread towards the sky as we embrace the divine, our ancestors, and our connection with the natural world, we need to recall reality: we have the power to say no. We have the power to take a stance in our own way, in our own spheres of influence in this new year.
In 2026, we are more prepared than in January 2025 to acknowledge the truth that faces us and to take action in our own best interest.
At this time, let us ask ourselves: where are we willing to fight for what we believe? Where are we willing to stand on our own and to take on the issues in our lives?
The Fool – Pamela Colman Smith, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The Fool in tarot often reflects the start of a journey, the new beginnings that we seek and hope will bring us clarity, peace, and internal sustenance. The very image of the fool as one who steps with faith onto the unknown path reminds me of where we stand as a community, and globally as a world.
As the classic Gerry Rafferty song “Get It Right Next Time” reminds us, “When you’re standing in the crossroads every highway looks the same…” before giving us wisdom that is sorely needed at this time: “If you get it wrong, you get it right next time.”
The start of any given chronological year is a crossroads where we have no choice as living beings: we must take a step forward. As humans, our presence as living beings means that with each inhalation and exhalation, our biology reminds us that we exist.
If we exist, then that means we have the opportunity for a second chance. We do not have to remain stuck in our past struggles and pains.
A part of the Elder Futhark, Algiz represents protection, defense, and our connection with the divine. Our devotion helps us to keep the candle burning, lighting the path before us that we need to take to get through the hard times, to cast off the detritus of the recent past, and to discover the new.
When we strike out in faith, we can change the world of thoughts, feelings, and intangible connections that guide us to a nurturing and sustainable foundation in our future.
Protection in its basic form is about guarding who and what we are from any form of attack – physical, emotional, or psychological. The weapons used in protection at this time vary, but given the fast changing conditions, our historical memory and our flexibility are two types of defense which always will be needed. We have concluded a year of dangers ranging from a rise in the use of artificial intelligence to governmental interference in the daily lives of millions of individuals due to presumed lack of documentation status to drastic changes in the recommendations by the Department of Health and Human Services. The year end lapse of health care subsidies that assist others demonstrates the erasure of a much needed safeguard.
This leads us to the start of a new journey, one where we do not know where our lives and well-being will be a year from now. In tarot, the Fool signifies the start of one on the journey with all that will be needed: faith, will, and the ability to step forward.
Algiz reminds us with its presence that we can use various forms of defense to protect what is ours, including our beliefs, our lifestyle, our values, and our literal selves. Likewise, the Fool reminds us that we need to trust and believe that each step will bear fruit in a positive way, especially when we are unsure. We walk off the cliff, we embrace an honest decision to allow growth into our lives.
While the Fool encourages us to go forward, it is not blindly. We see the reality around us and our choice now is to do so having noted our strengths, our resources, our weaknesses, and our limited stores. Without a firm evaluation of where we are and what we have, our journey may be less successful than we would like.
The Fool symbolizes fresh starts, but even during a time of new beginnings, if we have not faced baggage of the past, our forward movement might be impeded or even paused. Our fear may paralyze us, preventing our intended plans from coming to fruition or even to begin.
We need to protect ourselves. We need to protect what is most important. The traditional Rider-Waite-Smith deck has the individual holding the knowledge we do not know we have in the bag on the stick, while the beautiful rose can represent innocence – perhaps of the path to come and of our own preparation.
The Fool’s defense is in some ways, the innocence represented by the beautiful rose, the lack of knowing the path to come or of our own preparation. We bring the spiritual into the literal world with our journey on the Fool’s path, if we dare.
The visual antlers in the rune Algiz remind us always that we should face the world, our problems, and our lives with courage, with a natural defense, and with the assistance of the divine.
Rose – Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Each of us stands as a guardian for what we cherish, how we live, who we love, and what we do. It is during times like these, when the skies seem the most bleak that we need to remember our internal promise as humans, as Pagans, Heathens, and polytheists to protect our home.
Home is more than the physical land. It is who we are instinctively, internally, and intuitively. Our spirituality is a defense. Our religious practices are a defense. Our shared memories and knowledge are a defense. Our willingness to cherish through protection what we wish to keep – our way of life and our freedom – these require the innocent willingness of the Fool and the strength of Algiz.
Let us step forward in faith, like the Fool and let us embrace the watchfulness of the elk, in the spirit of Heimdall.
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