NgEtal is the reed of thatch, floor coverings, measuring sticks, and pens. In the older world reeds were important in everyday living both for common folk and for the gentry. Everyday maintenance is, however, more of a concern to poorer people with fewer reserves to fall back on. If you live in a thatched hut thatch is more important than it is if you live in the manor. NgEtal is the ogham of the maintenance of order, of the preservation of the right way.

Both the Norse and the Irish placed great value on the rights of the common man and the concurrent responsibilities of the ruling class. Modern North American law is based on the Norman/English model, where all people have a duty upwards to the class over theirs ending in the king who rules by divine right and has a duty only to God. Ancient Ireland and the Celtic communities in Britain were ruled by Brehon Law until those lands were conquered and placed under Norman rule.

Brehon Law details the value and rights of all members of society including the poorest peasants, women, livestock, farmland, wild animals, and trees. All people had responsibilities downwards to the people poorer or weaker than they culminating in the king who was responsible for the well-being of all the people under his rule. Any person under him could accuse him of unfairness or selfishness and be heard by the specialist in remembering and applying the law, the Brehon. No member of society was above the law. In extreme cases, if the king was found to be flawed he could be deposed by vote and a new king elected.

NgEtal is also one of the spiritual warriors. Unlike the other warriors, who are noble, he is the warrior of the common man. An example of the archetype that he represents is the folk hero we call Robin Hood, who stole from the oppressive rich and gave to the deserving poor. He is the warrior for those who suffer and have no resources or champion. Many cultures gave the role of preservation of order to a household god. The Norse god's name was Ing, the god who guards the hearth fire or inglenook. The rune Ing is the obvious pair of NgEtal.

The bird symbol of NgEtal is the gray goose. They are useful birds, providing pens, down, and food but they are also life-mates and live and travel in an orderly and directed routine. Goose quills provide fletching for arrows, the weapon of Robin Hood and of the common man. The secondary meaning of NgEtal is stored potential released, like an arrow towards a target or like male potency.

We think of geese as a fall bird because they migrate away from us in the autumn. The festival of Lammas, when the corn god is cut down in the field, is a festival of Ing; just as Robin Hood, mortally wounded in his struggle for fairness, was carried to the window to shoot one last arrow to mark his grave in the Greenwood.

We can use NgEtal in spell working, not for individual gains, but for the benefit of all. The message of NgEtal is to aim the arrow at the correct target, to always consider the balance of Nature, and to share in the common good. The message of the reversed card is to remind us to have a clear purpose and good sight of the goal before letting loose.