Algiz

Algiz reads three ways, all pointing the same direction: the antlers of an elk, a figure with arms raised, a hand held out to ward. It is also named for the elk-sedge, a marsh grass sharp enough to cut the hand that grasps it. Guarded strength in every version: the kind of shelter that can draw blood if it has to.

When it comes up, protection is present. It may be allies, circumstance, or something in your own makeup sturdier than it has been given credit for, but the shelter is real. The permission this rune grants is to act: the caution being carried is usually heavier than the situation requires. It is widely considered the strongest protective rune in the set.

Algiz also sharpens instinct. The antlers work like antennae, sensing what is wrong before the mind can name it, and this rune tends to appear when that signal deserves more trust than the argument being made against it. When it lands, set the boundary and say the no. Protection is only useful to someone willing to use it.

Algiz reversed is the guard lowered. It points to exposure: boundaries worn thin, energy going to people who do not return it, warning signs that have been reasoned away one at a time.

It rarely means disaster. Far more often it is a prompt: something has stretched further than it should have, and the rune is pointing at it before the consequences arrive. A commitment that drains, a door left open, a risk that stopped registering as a risk. There may also be a sense of vulnerability without an obvious cause, which is worth taking seriously rather than talking yourself out of.

Raise the guard. Close what should be closed, step back from what is draining, and act on the instinct that keeps getting overruled for the sake of keeping things comfortable. Algiz reversed is not a punishment; it is a warning delivered early enough to be useful, which is the most any warning can do.