ᚲ · sound “k” · Torch, also ulcer
Kaunan (ᚲ) is rune 6 of the 24 runes of the Elder Futhark, in Freyr's aett. Its name means torch, also ulcer.
A torch in the dark: knowledge, skill and creative fire. Something becomes clear, and you can see well enough to make or mend it.
Darkness, fading energy or a creative block. A fire has burnt down, or an old wound is flaring up. Tend the source before you try to make more.
Carry the light to where it is needed.
Kaunan is reconstructed as a sore or ulcer, which is how the Norwegian and Icelandic rune poems remember it. The Old English rune poem instead gives cēn, a torch, and modern readers mostly follow the torch. That split gives the rune two faces: a light that reveals and a painful thing that needs attention. It is written with the letter k.
Kaunan is a rune of visibility. In its upright, torch sense it stands for skill, insight and creative fire, and for seeing something clearly for the first time. Reversed, it points to the sore side: a problem you have been ignoring, or a light that has gone out.