Mannaz
self·humanity·community
Mannaz comes when you have to see yourself honestly among others.
The meaning
Mannaz is the human being: the self that only becomes itself among other selves. It is about who you are, how you think, and the web of people that shapes both. This rune gathers around the questions of your place among others: your role, your name in the world, the help you owe and the help you are owed. Its wisdom runs two ways at once. Know yourself clearly, without flattery and without cruelty. And remember that no one is fully knowable alone, because you find out who you are, in the end, by how you meet the people around you.
Where it comes from
The old poems circle one sober note again and again: a human is the joy of humans. We are gladdened by one another, made warm and real by company. And yet each of us must one day fail the other, because all of us are mortal. Mannaz holds both of these truths without flinching from either. It does not pretend we will not lose the people we love. It says: knowing that, cherish them all the more, for the company of others is on loan, and that is exactly what makes it precious.