Jera as a Birth Rune

Jera people understand that everything has its time. They don't rush events; they steadily put in effort and wait for results. Their life is like a well-tended field that bears a harvest every year.

Jera is the rune of fair reward: everyone receives according to their work. What the rune teaches is trust in the natural course of things and a willingness to invest today for tomorrow's harvest.

• Patience. You can wait for results without abandoning the work halfway.
• Consistency. You move toward a goal step by step, without lurches.
• A sense of timing. You know when to sow and when to reap.
• Fairness. You value honest work and honest reward.

The flip side of Jera is passive waiting. The person hopes things will sort themselves out and forgets that a harvest takes work.

The other extreme is impatience, when the reward seems never to come. What the rune teaches is that the circle of the year can't be hurried, nor can it be stopped: the fruit will come if you keep working.

In love you are a dependable, constant partner. You build relationships for the long term and are willing to invest in them for years. Your love grows stronger with time.

Take care not to put joy off until later. A relationship needs not only to be grown but to be enjoyed now.

Natural fits include work with long cycles and visible results: farming and gardening, teaching, medicine, finance and investing, construction, science, any work where success accumulates over years.

You are strong wherever constancy and patience count. Your success arrives gradually and lasts.

The half-month of Jera falls in mid-December and at the winter solstice, the longest night of the year. After it the day begins to grow, and the yearly circle turns toward light. Jera is the fourth rune of Heimdall's aett.

Before Jera comes Isa: under the ice the turn has ripened. After it comes Eihwaz, the rune of the evergreen yew: life that doesn't break off even in the darkest season.