In love
In an emotional bond, Sowilo speaks of warmth and frankness: a relationship lived in the open, with regular gestures of attention.
Rune
Sowilo: rune meaning
Sowilo is the rune of the sun: a clear energy that lights the way and gives confidence.
- sun
- energy
- success
The essentials
Sowilo at a glance
For you, Sowilo signals a good moment to move forward in full light, building on what you have already accomplished.
A strength
A confidence grounded in concrete things, and the ability to bring others along with your energy.
Something to watch
Too much light blinds: enthusiasm can make you forget the details or the fatigue of the people around you.
- Reversed
- Always upright
- Family
- Hagalaz’s aett
The meaning of Sowilo
Sowilo bears the name of the sun. The rune gathers everything the star evokes: warmth, visibility, the direction you find again when day breaks. It stands on the side of deserved success and returning energy.
The modern reading sees a steady fire in it, different from the wavering flame of passing inspiration. Sowilo values what shows itself in broad daylight: a project that can be presented, a decision you own, a confidence that is passed on.
Its shadow is dazzle: wanting to shine rather than to illuminate what surrounds you and those who walk beside you.
Sowilo in your life
At work
Visible success, a presentation that lands, a team regaining confidence: Sowilo stresses the energy that carries others along and the shared result.
Draw Sowilo or another rune
One rune for advice, three to read a situation: the interpretation starts with what the reading means for you.
Free, no account · nothing is sent · no predictions
Why Sowilo does not reverse
The shape of Sowilo stays the same when turned over: there is no way to tell whether the rune came up reversed. It is always read upright, including in a reading.
The divinatory meanings of the runes are a modern reading: take them as lines of reflection, not as answers.
What the ancient sources say
The reconstructed name, *sōwilō, means the sun. The divinatory meaning of Sowilo, energy and success that radiate, is a modern reading, which extends the image of the star. Its lightning-bolt shape is symmetrical: on the page, it keeps the same look upside down, which rules out any reversed reading.
Reflecting on Sowilo
A question
What could be shown in broad daylight, now that it seems solid to you?
A gesture
Show a piece of work that has stayed in a drawer to someone you trust, and simply take in how they see it.
How is it built?
- Glyph
- ᛊ (U+16CA)
- Reconstructed name
- *sōwilō
- Meaning of the name
- sun
- Sound
- s
- Position
- 16th rune of the futhark, 8th in Hagalaz’s aett
Where the sources disagree
- Runes that do not reverse: Nine runes whose shape stays the same after a half turn (Gebo, Hagalaz, Nauthiz, Isa, Jera, Eihwaz, Sowilo, Ingwaz, Dagaz) are never read reversed; Labyrinthos keeps eight, without Nauthiz.
Sources
- Wikipedia (English), “Elder Futhark,” read on October 15, 2026: table of the 24 runes, reconstructed Proto-Germanic names (asterisk), meanings, aett.
- Unicode, Runic block (U+16A0–U+16FF), character names (Python’s Unicode database).
- Wikipedia (English), “Rune poem,” read on October 15, 2026: Anglo-Saxon poem (composed around the 7th century, Cotton Otho B.x manuscript destroyed in 1731, Hickes’s copy, 1705), Norwegian poem (17th-century copy of a 13th-century manuscript) and Icelandic poem (manuscripts from around 1500), the last two on the 16 runes of the Younger Futhark.
Frequently asked questions about Sowilo
What does the rune Sowilo mean?
Sowilo means the sun, clear energy, and success that radiates. Its ancient name simply designates the sun.
Can Sowilo come up reversed?
Its bolt is considered symmetrical: turned over, it looks like itself, so no reversal can be recognized. Sowilo is always read the same way.
Nearby runes