Jara

JARA

Jara (YAH - rah) - Also known as Jera, Jarazh (alternative Vilturr pron.), Jer, Ger, Ar

Value - Y (sometimes J)

Numeric Order - 11

Traditionally represents - Harvest. Cycles. Year.

Represents - Time. Harvest. Cycles. Year. Good Harvest. Fire. Summer. Spring. Yellow. Fruit. Flowers. Success. Change. The Norns. Fate. Beginnings Circles. Major Change. Reversal. Fruition. Freajr (Freyr).

'From Winter, Summer's harvest comes
a bounteous world of fruit and flower
for all the people of all the land.'

- Vilturj rune poem.

The word Jara means 'harvest', or 'good harvest.' It is generally simplified in mainstream culture to mean cycles or culmination.

Jara is the Summer after Winter, when the plants and trees fruit and flower. It breaks through the frozen nature of Isa and reminds us that good times as well as the bad, are decreed by the Norns. Jara tells us that our lives are not just the low points that Haurgl can bring, but the happiness, joy and peace of a fruitful season. This rune breaks through all stagnancy, in the same way the power of sunlight and warming seas breaks up the sea ice.

Jara broadly represents important cycles of change. There are so many ways change can manifest. It can be a change in job. A change in luck. A cycle of life ending and then beginning. It could be the cycles of the moon, sun, plants and trees, the cycle of seasons. It's most specific cycle is that from Winter to Summer, and this change from barrenness to fruit can be applied to other cycles. In other words, Jara is a positive change. A cycle that leads to more positive and enjoyable times.

Jara also represents a vortex, or whirling energy, and sometimes the changes in our lives, even the good ones, can feel a bit like this. Jara can be a bit of an out of control time, everything seems to be fruiting at once, and it can all seem a bit overwhelming. Sometimes this energy takes control of our lives, and for those who are perfectionists, or like control for themselves, this can be very hard to take even if all the changes are positive. It's important to take a step back and look at what's changing, what's good, and what's getting better, and focus on one thing at a time even if multiple things are changing.

Jara is a rune of regeneration, it regenerates what has been lost, and brings back what we felt we'd never feel again. New love. New laughter. Maybe new tears. And certainly new joys and much new happiness. It builds onto our spirits, and it can help us - importantly - to find the lost parts of our soul and bring them back to us in a fruitfulness that will lead to wholeness and better fortify ourselves for the tough times.

Some people can interpret Jara as an inversion of anything, like a high point into a low point, or a low point into a high point. In my experience, this isn't the case, but please keep this in mind when reading and/or interpreting the runes as it is something that other rune-readers have canvassed. However, combined with Haurgl or Isa, it can represent energy retribution (karma, if you will) from bad deeds, and signify a time of 'return' which is not pleasant, but positive in that it may evoke a sense of closure and ending.

Jara and Freajr go hand in hand. Regeneration, rebirth and growth are all the domain of Freajr, god of fertility and brother of Freaje. Freajr's festival was celebrated at the end of Summer with the gathering of the harvest. The act of bringing in food to nourish was a metaphor for bringing in new life to nourish the soul. Jara in a reading can also suggest the presence and energy of Freajr around you, and an emphasis on benevolent masculinity both from within and without. This can also suggest things like empowerment, and strength.

Jara in a reading can indicate an expectation or presence of reward and emotional, spiritual or material prosperity. It suggests that everything changes in its own time, to the positive, to the negative. At this stage in the querent's life, everything is moving towards (or is at) a positive and healthful stage.

Merk - Jara technically does not 'reverse', but can lie in opposition. In this instance it represents a sudden setback when the querent has been moving towards something positive. It's adjacency to other runes will determine the nature of the setback or the reversal.

Jara reversed can also represent a repetition in the lessons the querent is learning and suggests that there is a stagnancy in the cycle itself. Rather than spiraling up or down, there is only a spherical movement that travels no where. Also, Jara can warn against judging others, lest you be judged - it can also signal an exchange of harsh words which ends any kind of positive relationship, friendship or partnership.

This rune can also represent the bad-timing of the positive. It is difficult to celebrate joy, peace and positivity when the people around us may be suffering. Jara can teach us how to celebrate without feeling guilty, but reversed it may caution us that celebration is inappropriate, despite a positive turning of the seasons yet again.

At worst, this rune Merked can represent emotional, spiritual or material poverty, and its adjacency to reversed runes like Fehu and Haurgl will emphasise this particular meaning.

In Ritual - Jara is excellent when used to break old, unhealthy patterns of behaviour and lifestyle, as it represents breaking into positive and healthier cycles. Those who are stuck in negative thinking patterns, who feel messed around because they consistently miss good jobs, or any jobs, people who might want or need a pay-rise, people who want to simply work something better into their lives can really do with creating a Jara based bind-rune, or working with Jara magically on a long-term basis. This rune is also excellent for people undergoing therapy, rehabilitation and who are recovering from 'hard times.' It can help them to see that there is a new Summer really coming into their lives, and it's going to be good. Jara can also bring old cycles into 'completion', it's a good rune for mothers who have just given birth, houses that have just been completed, etc.

Jara is exceptionally good for aiding shamans in soul-retrieval, particularly when it means retrieving lost pieces of soul - as opposed to extracting unwelcome fragments of soul in the body - because Jara helps with regeneration and new life, and will help 'seal' the soul back in and promote positive healing and a positive environment. This is a good rune for healers in general, as it will promote the changes needed to effect healing in the first place.

Jara also assists shamans and energy workers with working directly with manipulating or understanding cycles and time. Those who need to understand how time works in otherworlds, or who wish to view the cycles in their lives more objectively (or the cycles in other's lives), will be greatly assisted by the use of this rune. Jara is a luminous, iridescent rune in otherworlds, and can appear fiery.

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