Runic All-Mother

Hel

The runes support the idea that Hel may rightfully be called the All-Mother. Hagalaz, the mother of all runes, is Hel's rune. Berkano, the rune of the Great Goddess, is a half-half form as is Hel.

Understanding Principal Component 1 and Principal Component 2 In Population Genetics

I've analyzed my genetic data using some of the data tools on the web which make use of Principal Component Analysis and have wondered what the plotted variables (namely PCA-1 and PCA-2) are exactly. For others like myself who may have also wondered, regarding PCA-1 and PCA-2 as they pertain to Principal Component Analysis as used in populations genetics - the video below at [1:07:20-1:07:49] explains the significance of Principal Components 1 and 2 in population genetics:

Commenter - "In your final slide, the upper map was Principle Component 1 which is consistent with the out of Africa Hypothesis, but the lower map - I'm wondering if that's Principal Component 2 ...?"

Evolutionary geneticist Richard Lewontin - "It is."

Commenter - "... and I'm wondering that because there's a line across Africa at the Sahara, there's a line across Eurasia at the Urals, and that would seem to suggest that the primary signal of human genetics is out of Africa and the colonization of the planet, but the next strongest signal is the regional differentiation?"

Lewontin - "Absolutely, you're quite right about that."

So, PCA 1 represents combined genetic elements corresponding to the movement of homo sapiens out of Africa, while PCA 2 represents combined genetic elements corresponding to the differentiation of regional populations of homo sapiens.

My Magical Comb

My hand carved deer antler magical comb.

This is my hand carved magical comb. Made of genuine naturally shed whitetail deer antler (in honor of my Scandinavian U5b1b1-T16192C! genetic motherline), I will soon be ritually risting my own runes into it. I haven't decided what runes I'm going to inscribe yet - I will likely not post that either. May my family's hamingja be strengthened, be our might and main increased!

Notes on Experience Surrounding ᛗᚹᚨ

In follow-up to my previous post (Voces Mysticae - ᛗᚹᚨ), this post records the dream and astral experiences surrounding the reception of this 3-rune phonetic phrase.

I woke up very early this morning before sunrise to the sound of my mother getting ready for work in the bathroom on the other side of the wall against which my bed is situated. I fell back 'asleep', sort of.

Suddenly, I was in my astral body, outside in the front yard near the road which runs in front of our rural home. It was dark outside. I noticed that the row of hedge [haag?] trees was not there as it is now, but the yard looked as it did when I was a little girl when all the neighborhood kids (myself included) would play a hiding game, 'hiding' from cars coming down the road at night with their lights on - we would drop down into the deep ditch which ran parallel to the rural road which ran east-west, sitting north of the property.

A car with its lights on was coming down the road from the east going west, I didn't drop down into the ditch - I remained floating in midair ('flying' in my astral body), caught in the light of the car's headlights as it approached. I wondered if the occupants of the car could see me in my astral body. They didn't seem to at all, as the car continued along its merry way, not slowing down nor doing anything to indicate that the driver could see my 'ghostly' form or anything unusual.

The car passed, and suddenly again, I saw a fog approaching across the road. It wasn't a desirable thing to be overcome by the approaching fog [Niflheimr?], so I went back towards the house to return to my body. Then things changed again, nothing was oriented as it was supposed to be to make navigating my way back to where my body lay easy. The road was now south of the house, windows were mismatched to their actual locations. As an astral being, I got caught by some kind of metal gripping contraption where a tv antennae used to be on the west wall of the house which was also a bit out of its place. Though I struggled, I couldn't get loose of its grip. Suddenly, I looked up toward my own bedroom window where inside, a belled pentacle [femsteor] wind chime hung - through it light streamed toward me - I was immediately released from the contraption's grip and woke up back inside my body.

I heard my mother in the bathroom drying her hair with her hair dryer.

I began to drift off again, but before I did, I 'saw' an ancient Viking 'drop down' into my world into my room.

I drifted off to sleep. There was a Viking raid in my ancient village. I'm not sure if I was a native of the particular village or not - I'm inclined to think probably not as I don't really recall that kind of emotional connection in the dream. Vikings were all over the village. I was trying to find a place to hide, but still out in the open, one Viking saw me. Everyone in the village was killed in the raid but me. I was captured by the Viking who had 'dropped down' as I had drifted off to sleep. He had decided to keep me - I became his captive bride, although I soon came to love him - he treated me well and loved me.

As I began to wake up, I heard the utterance - "mwa." ᛗᚹᚨ

Voces Mysticae - ᛗᚹᚨ

ALU, An Advanced Guide to Operative Runology

 
My copy of ALU, An Advanced Guide to Operative Runology by Edred Thorsson came in the mail yesterday! Yay! Read the first chapter, and had some awesome dreams (including an astral experience) last night, complete with another mystical 3-rune phonetic phrase (a voces mysticae, also known as voces magicae) - ᛗᚹᚨ

Runic Warriors - Conversations In Valhalla

Bear with me, I'm pretty excited about what I've just discovered. Background, this is what I wrote in a private forum thread, with significant parts emphasized:

... hearing the cacophony [ancestral Voice of the Many as described in Celtic mystical tradition] was pretty common for me about two decades ago, the commanding male voice was common about a decade ago. Now, I don't have either experience much anymore. I used to "see" runes and other magical letters/symbols written in the inky black darkness around me in the room alot about a decade ago too. Once in awhile I'll hear a discussion between two people, and even occasionally, I'd hear a group talking - like discussing me in a small meeting - sometimes their discussion was along the lines of "should we tell her?" "is this a good idea?" and so on, as if a group of beings were discussing amongst themselves just how much should be revealed to me by the main male communicator who I would hear more directly. Mostly, I'd just hear the commanding male, but like I said, a few times, he'd open up the veil for me to hear what else was going on around me - like the conversation of the small group discussing me. Also, many times, it wouldn't be my name I would hear, it would be a "magical phrase" (for lack of a better term) - words not in any language I'd ever learned and I'd often have to decipher the meaning using the meaning of the letters and syllables as I understood them. These mystery phrases became more common than hearing my name.

Here are the connections I'm making regarding this:

In the study of such formulas among Classicists and Egyptologists the idea that the voces mysticae were mere nonsense or gibberish has been once and for all rejected. By applying some of the same anthropological research as I used in Runes & Magic (1986), Gager concludes that the voces mysticae are forms of precise communication with beings of a higher order than man. Furthermore he points out that "the use of unintelligible forms of speech ... signaled the passage from the lower mundane realms to the sphere of true spiritual conversation with higher orders of being (Gager 1992, 9-10)." - source, Jelling Runes: Fifth International Symposium on Runes & Runic Inscriptions, page 77-78.

A few lines down from that quoted above, I also note this little bit:

Evidence seems to indicate that the Germanic rune-masters, and more especially the self-designated Erulians, were concerned with the same problems of language and symbolism as were the Mediterranean creators of lead tablets, amulets, phylacteries and magical papyri."

So, I looked up these rune-masters, the Erulians, and this is what I found:

So, I’ll conclude with the original question, are the Einherjar necessarily Eurlians? The answer would seem to be no. A warrior may have been chosen for his valor or distinction in battle and not his runic knowledge, not all warriors had this knowledge, and obviously not all warriors were chosen. But what of the Erulian ~ Rune Master? By their very nature, the runic warrior, does battle with elements seen and unseen, in all the worlds. By this virtue they secure for themselves a place at the table in Valhalla. source - Einherjar or Erulian, A Study of How One Arrives at the Table in Valhalla.

Taking all of these little bits together, it's not so inconceivable that the conversations I heard as described above in my experiences (all within the proximal context of seeing runes and other symbols in the inky blackness of the night around me) were conversations taking place in Valhalla among a group of the Einherjar, perhaps among an Einherjar-Erulian rune-master and other Einherjar - and important to me personally - I heard them! in Valhalla!

I'm ecstatic! And now I'm even more set on wanting the 13th warrior prayer said over me at my funeral when I pass over!

Lo, there do I see my father.
Lo, there do I see my mother, my sisters and my brothers.
Lo, there do I see the line of my people back to the beginning.
Lo, they do call to me.
They bid me take my place among them in the halls of Valhalla,
Where the brave, they live forever.