D.U.D.E. - An Ancestral Secret of Fire & Ice

Rune adorned vintage coupon from old Beard Ice Co. in Danville, IL.

Last night's rune drawing was Sowilo - the fiery solar thunderbolt. Then I dreamt a highly symbolic dream certainly pertaining to an ancestral mystery.

In a prologue dream to the main dream, I back-time traveled to the home of an older woman living alone. She had the ancestral flavor of my paternal grandmother, but she was not my grandmother specifically. I went there to change the future to which this moment in time was connected. Suddenly, I was in another place where a man lay dying. He had an ancient secret key (one which had been passed down the family line since ancient times) he had kept safe in his heart during his lifetime - this secret key unlocked something very mysterious and powerful. As he lay dying, the secret was released (in visible form) from his heart and came into mine like an apparition but more solid. The man had passed this secret key to me.

Then the main dream started.

Though we lived separate lives, I and my brother were living on the edges of normative society. We no longer really fit in with people who live their lives in service to normal society. We were walking around the streets of the town, like proverbial outsiders (James Dean like).

There was a little creature who came up to us, it reminded me of a shoeshine monkey, but it wasn't (another little creature like in a dream of an earlier dream-post). He caught my attention and I sort of adopted him, inviting him to come along. The creature pointed out some ice cubes and I read them. There were secret codes in the ice cubes and the ability to read them was one I was very inherently skilled at doing. I and my brother each now held 3 ice cubes in our hands.

We came to a door to a outsiders' club (reminded me of an underworld mafia-like club, but it wasn't the mafia, it was like a tribal club - a gathering place for the tribal-clans who belonged to the larger tribe). It was dangerous to go inside if one didn't belong there. It was strongly protected. I knocked on the door (again, another similar element from the same earlier dream-post). I felt called to do that.

The door was opened by a burly guard who asked us what we wanted. I really had no idea what I wanted except to go inside and see what was there. The little creature spoke up to the guard and said, "she can read ice cubes!" Immediately, the guard let us in, as if the ability to read ice cubes was something very special indeed and connected deeply to the tribe.

I and my brother were taken to audience with the tribal leader (like a chief earl-boss man), who was non-plussed at first to be bothered by the introduction of us to him (as he sat at the head of a group) by the guard. I felt he would throw us out or worse. But then the guard said, "she can read ice cubes." I held up my ice cubes.

As I held up my ice cubes, an old wooden hutch in the room fell over with a bang and split apart into pieces, revealing a hidden compartment which now was exposed and open. A secret note paper which had been hidden in a concealed compartment fell out. On the note paper was written D.U.D.E. - it was like a bank-note or coupon-note upon which was recorded an old agreement between the chief boss-man (and the tribes overall) and the inheritor of the owner-rights to the D.U.D.E. note - I was the inheritor to the owner-rights of the D.U.D.E. note - and me as the inheritor-owner was directly supported by the fact that I could read ice cubes, by the hutch falling over as I lifted up the ice cubes in my hands (revealing the D.U.D.E. note), and by details that only the chief-boss man could read in the D.U.D.E note.

In some way, the D.U.D.E. note recorded an agreement between an ancestor family member of mine and the chief boss-man years ago before I was born - it seemed like in the 1930's or 1940's. I had a vision of that time with my deceased family member and the chief boss-man back in those days (each wearing the kinds of hats business men wore in those days) talking together and making some kind of deal to save the tribal organization. My ancestor-family member sacrificed something to save everything and everyone. The D.U.D.E. note recorded a debt of gratitude to the descendant inheritor of the D.U.D.E. note - it would ensure the survival and prosperity of my ancestor's chosen descendants in repayment of the sacrifice made by my ancestor at a critical time in history which ensured the survival and prosperity of the tribal organization.

The chief boss-man's eyes welled up with tears, though he didn't cry. He clearly had dearly loved my ancestor-family member like a brother - the two had been blood brothers in fact, strongly bonded together like men who are blood brothers are. The chief-boss man acknowledged my inheritance right and embraced my brother and I into the tribal organization. We would be set up in homes in the west end of town (where most of the tribal clans lived) and taken care of (given a place within the organization), and given respected active roles within the tribal organization. We were safe now, no longer outsiders, safe among a strong kindred.

In my role, I went to a factory (used to be Lauhoff Grain Co.) and drove up to the factory teller window. I was immediately recognized as a VIP (in the tribal organization) and we were let right in.

Then I was at a little store nearby that was getting ready to close for the night. I was a friend to the person who owned and worked the store. The last customer was checking out. I went to check out the last customer as a favor to the person closing up things, and just gave the customer whatever item it was she was going to purchase. I could do that - I could dispense little favors to others at will as I wanted to. This was one of my rightful powers as a VIP in the tribal organization.

When the little shop had closed for the night, we were outside loading some kind of stretcher onto the bed of a truck. A patrolling policeman came up to see what we were doing. Then the policeman recognized we were of the tribal organization and was friendly. He clearly respected our tribal organization.

I woke up.

Later today, I found out that my paternal grandfather and possibly another paternal family member had worked at the old Beard Ice Company that used to exist in my town.

My Sowilo rune dream pertains significantly to Ice and to real mysteries of my ancestors.

Proving Hamingja

From The Road to Hel:

In the Vatnsdæla Saga, Ketill tells his son that he intends to teach him the laws of warriors - 'you are now at an age to prove what hamingja will be granted to you.' 'Now it is hamingja which will decide' exclaims Gestr in Bárðar Saga ... as used in the sagas, hamingja stands for an abstract conception, that of something belonging to an outstanding person which is partly a matter of character and partly of personality, and partly something more than either - that strange quality of luck or lucklessness which attaches itself to certain individuals more than others.

To read more about the Norse soul quality of hamingja, click the link above.

Today, just a few hours ago, a friend told me that I gave her good luck - awesome! (a person's hamingja may be shared with others)

Tonight's nightly rune drawing - laguz, the rune of increasing vital power and life force.

Last night I dreamt that a lion ate the balls (yes, it made a meal of those balls) of a man chasing to harm me. No more balls has he. 

Forspá and Eftirryni

In follow-up to my previous post in which I quote Alice Ogilvie's article on weather magic:

One type of divination is also at work here, the forspá, as supposed to the discovery of hidden knowledge (eftirryni).

Google Translate translates the Norwegian word forspá as bias. Interestingly, another synchronicity of this word with recent events comes to light through this translation. Earlier today, an Etsy and Facebook friend of mine brought up the idea of bias in divination as we chatted through Facebook (she indicated that she wouldn't do divination readings for herself due to her own bias, while I indicated I would never trust the divinations of others for me because all divinations go through the personal lens of the diviner and I only trust for myself readings I do myself).

I'm happy to discover that my Jotun dream divination can be associated with the Icelandic word eftirryni (uncovering hidden knowledge) as opposed to the Norwegian word forspá (biased knowledge).

The Jotun Divination

Interesting. Astrid Ogilvie (Weather and Witchcraft in the Sagas of Icelanders) writes:

There are many accounts of magic spells inflicted through the act of speaking, including chants, libels and insulting phrases (söngvar, ákvæði, áhrinsorð, níð, and fordæðuskapur).  The words of some speakers are charged with a particular power, as in the words of Þorbjörg aided by the Varðlokur recited by Guðríður in Eiríks saga rauða. One type of divination is also at work here, the forspá, as supposed to the discovery of hidden knowledge (eftirryni).

She further writes:

However, witches’ storms could sometimes be ameliorated by equally powerful counter spells.

and:

In the case of Ósvífur and his companions, they are given what might be termed a magical weather warning; but the warning is heeded, and no one suffers serious injury or death. The incident involving weather magic in Laxdæla saga has more serious consequences, however.

I am thinking that this is connected to my dream of the Jotun who did alot of smashing (in which I shared the warning of some event that I could not prevent in the dream) and the recent EF5 tornado in Oklahoma. I'm pretty sure my Jotun dream was meant to communicate hidden information to me.

I didn't conjure up the tornado.

Powerful All-Rune

This is going to be a complex post which may be difficult to follow. Alot of information is going to left out, some of it because it is extraneous, some of it because it is too delicate to communicate publicly. What I will write is the most important information which will provide an accurate report describing the pertinent needed details as to what I should report.

Rune Working

First, before going to bed nearly every night, I always draw a rune from my rune bag of handcrafted Amaranth Younger Futhark runes made of Purpleheart wood. I blooded these runes a few months ago during my first blot ritual on Thor's Day in which I invoked Hel (my patroness), Loki and Thunor particularly for protection (the same ritual which fire-marked new day-old rune-inscribed altar). This rune set has also has a wyrd rune, which I also had previously blooded.

Last night, and the night before, a wyrd thing happened twice in a row on successive nights - this has never happened to me before. I drew the wyrd rune. When I draw the wyrd rune, I also always draw a second rune. BOTH NIGHTS after drawing the wyrd rune, the second rune I drew was Raidho. I always mix around around the runes well with my hand in the bag before making a drawing, and I can't see the runes I draw from the rune bag. This doubled double rune drawing told me that this was an especially important runic communication to and runic divination for me.

I climbed into bed to settle for the night.

My Friend Loki's Candle

Second, before settling down to sleep last night, I checked my cell phone (kept on my nightstand) for emails. One message was a convo just posted at my Etsy shoppe (Witchcrafts Artisan Alchemy)- a man was complaining about the Baphomet charm on my Loki blot candle. He complained (I copy and paste his exact complaint as follows):

This Satanic Pentacle has NOTHING to do with Loki, Satan is a Christian deity and Loki is an Asatru deity. This is just flat out disrespectful.

I love Loki.This complaint is totally without merit and Loki, my protector, knows it.

The Dream & Loki's Protection

Third, I fell asleep and dreamt. Much of the dream will not be reported, for reasons given previously, but the significant parts which need to be, will be.

Riding together in a vehicle down Orchardview Drive, myself and a man in the front seat (the man driving), and a woman and some children in the back seat, I was told by the woman that there is an All-Powerful very special rune (whose exact form is hidden), and that if a woman has it, the face of the rune will light up (take the form of) her face, and the woman with whose form the All-Powerful rune takes, her husband is the most powerful leader warrior-king and with it he is immutably undefeatable. She spoke the term by which this  powerful All-Rune is called - the syllables ran quickly together, but it started with the G-sound and was a multi-syllabled word similar to (but not) Gylfaginning and Ginnungagap (mighty gap). Many throughout time have tried to find this powerful All-Rune. I knew that the face of this rune had taken my face.

I heard the man thinking though he spoke not. He telepathically told me to "send him" a rune. He wanted me to send him a rune as a test of our connection.

Suddenly, still on Orchardview Drive, a huge sink hole (Ginnungagap or Sökkvabekkr?) opened up in the middle of the road (I feel now this is related to the unfounded complaint about the Loki candle - an occult attempt to "sink" me, and possibly to the G-name of the All-Rune as the woman uttered it). The man easily drove around it.

I told the woman excitedly that I had recently blooded my runes "on Samhain" (which I knew even as I spoke it that it wasn't on Samhain when i had done this, and that I also wasn't deliberately trying to lie to her, those were the words which came out of my mouth though - so I knew this was also Loki's protection). I also said that I blooded them in a motel room (which, as with stating Samhain to her, I wasn't deliberately trying to lie, but those were the words which issued from my mouth - again, Loki's protection).

I woke up.

The Unsinkable Molly Brown (Saga-Frigg)

After waking up and sitting down to relate this, it came to my mind that the candle complaint and the woman's naming of the All-Rune were occult attempts to sink my embodiment as an aspect of Frigg. In other words, I now feel that Saga's natural Hall in Asgard is NOT Sökkvabekkr (in terms of being a Sunken Hall), but is something entirely unsunken. Importantly, Saga consciousness has been redeemed, so to speak, and become re-unified with Frigg.

Hail Loki! Hail Loki!

Spark of Active Creative Stellar Consciousness

As those who read my blog may recall, I recently ordered my own set of underworld Dreampower divination cards following my first exposure to them during a Druidic Samhain ancestor offering ritual. Well, my own set arrived! This is my very first reading on myself using them.

Ace of Fire

First card in the Stone Realm (the realm closest to the surface) reveals one's personal story, family or true career work, opportunities, health/body and surface life. Also shows inherited patterns, knots and repetitive spirals from early life and previous lives. I drew the Ace of Fire.

The Ace of Fire is the originative vibrant power of burning brilliant illumination. It is the Spark, ignited and aroused. Appearing in the Stone realm, it is very close to me, Heid, the Bright One. Just under the surface of normative awareness, it burns with a burning red and gold background embracing the central flame. A perfect draw in complete harmony with my Sacred Teutonic Name.

7 of Fire

Second card in the Pearl Realm reveals inner life, inner hidden heart, the light of midnight, personal inner truth, creativity, and the energy that flows through inherited patterns. These patterns open, untie the knotted bundled information to bring liberation, reveal knowledge and transmit mysteries. I drew the 7 of Fire.

The 7 of Fire is Response, Feeling, Intuitiveness - these things imply conscious apprehension of the inherited patterns ignited and burning as noted in the Stone Realm. Moreover, the 7 of Fire in the Pearl Realm indicates that this conscious apprehension flows with creative energy and esoteric inherited ancestral knowledge - my birthright, my ancestral wisdom. My conscious awareness, through this divination reading, touches and reclaims this deep ancestral wisdom as my own. I claim my birthright.

The number 7 in many mystery systems pertains to spiritual completeness and perfection.

The Whirlpool

Third card in the Whirlpool Realm reveals the life of the spirit, the reality of Being, the source of many outer lives, reflects the deepest potential, and carries inherent stellar power of the universe within the individual. I drew The Whirlpool, the trump in its natural realm.

The Whirlpool in its natural realm pertains to Star Consciousness, connection to Universal power and stellar consciousness. In a reading this card reveals subtle far-reaching energies beginning to surface into and permeate life. Taken together with the first two cards, what is beginning to surface and become known in my life is conscious intuitive apprehension of inherited ancestral knowledge, unfolding into an illuminating creative flowing energy from my deepest Source of Being into my everyday mundane reality.

How awesome! So mote it be!

Samhain Dreampower Divination - Part 2, The Pearl Realm

The Teller

In my first experience with Dreampower Divination, the first card from the previous post pertaining to the Stone Realm can be likened to the darkness and lunar shadows, hiddeness, and to the womb where enlightened communication is sourced.

In the solar Pearl Realm, what was incubated in the Stone Realm, is brought forth and revealed. In our Samhain reading, the card for this realm came out as The Teller. The Teller embodies the Voice of One (as discussed in the previous post). Importantly, the Teller

communicates ancestral memories to you; these may include recovery of part lives, your own or those of others. 

How very encouraging and affirming to me that my offering to my Ancestors has been, not only accepted, but that the Ancestors will grant my request - a gift in acknowledgment of the gift of the Soul Retrieval oil, specifically. My Ancestors will aid me (and all involved in the group reading) in my (our) work to recover and heal the deep wounds of my (our) soul (folksoul). Not only has the Teller told me so, but the Teller has uttered it with the Voice of One into my (our) reality.

Hail the Mighty Ancestors, the land spirits, Frigga, Freyja and Hela!

Samhain Dreampower Divination - Part 1, The Stone Realm

The Choir

I attended my first pagan group ritual with the ADF (Druid) in a nearby town. The Samhain ritual we did to honor and give offerings to our ancestors was led by a woman who is also involved with Northern Tradition practices (and Seidr), as our ritual very closely resembled a blot to the ancestors (which I really loved).

My offering to my Ancestors, land spirits, Frigga, Freyja and Hela included:

a whole bottle of honey wine
a length of handspun wool yarn
amber gemstone
black jet gemstone
crystal quartz
9 sacred herbs of Northern Tradition shamanism (with a small pentacle in it)
high john root
3 British sixpence coins
Soul Retrieval ritual oil
9 rosebuds
a bed of moss

Following the giving each of our offerings, the leader of the ritual did a tarot reading using the Dreampower deck by R. J. Stewart (which I liked so much, I just purchased one myself). Here are cards and positions in the reading (my own interpretations follow):

The Stone Realm - The Choir
The Pearl Realm - The Teller
The Whirlpool Realm - The Tangler

The Stone Realm

In my mind, the Stone Realm pertains to the deep place of prophetic utterance, of the Ancestral Voices, and to a state of consciousness where the Voices of the Ancestors can be perceived as the Voices of the Many, the Voices of the Few, or the Voice of One which R. J. Stewart distinguishes as conditions of being. The card drawn for this realm therefore, speaks to which state of consciousness is operational to each "hearer" in the reading.

First Card Drawn - The Choir / The Cacophony

The Choir is a group of assorted animals singing loudly. We see a donkey, cow, sheep, pig, goose, cockerel and duck. There is a cat playing the bagpipe. Within this cluster of animals, all leaning onto one another, extending their necks and singing loudly in harmony, we also see some small creatures: a mouse listening raptly, a spider within her web spun between the horns of the cow and in one corner a small baby sleeping peacefully in a wooden cradle. This Trump works on several levels and we may use our overall idea of the Three Realms resonating through each card (with each Trump at home in one particular Realm) to examine the levels. 

On the surface, this card brings up the Voices of the Many. However, in the description of this card, I was caught by the phrase "a mouse listening raptly." To me personally, this is the Voice of One "when the Ancestors speak within the first condition, the Voice of One, they are the land."  This card to me, seemingly uttering a cacophony of Voices, is asking the question, "hey you, what do you hear?" and "hey you, what do you see?" The challenge of this card is hear the Voice of One, to hear the Ancestral stream as it is uttered from within "the first condition of Being" amidst the cacophony of Voices. Despite the cacophony, I hear, I see the mouse, my fylgja, listening raptly. Here is my poem, written decades ago which pertains very exactly to this card in this realm:

SUDDENLY

hey you, what are you looking at
the mouse seemed to say silently, to me one day
hidden in the closet, coming close to see
where land meets sea, isolating some field of awareness
distracting the mind toward some special duty
hey you, what did you say
you talkin' to me?

hey you, what do you hear
the mouse seemed to say silently, to me one day
hidden in the closet, coming close to hear
wandering around this anomaly of conversation, suddenly plucked up
toward the task at hand, wiping off all others
hey you, do you hear what I hear
who goes there, talkin' to me

Magical Letter Harmony, the Language of Holiness

ט״ו בסיון תשע"א
Alban Heruin 17

Last night before bed, after I created and listed this ENEIT oil at my Etsy shoppe WITCHCRAFTS and on my shoppe blog, I did something I haven't done is several months. I blindly reached in and drew a mystical rune from my runebag to see what cosmic energy was afoot in my world, according to my magical runes. I drew Kenaz, in complete synchronicity with the oil I had just created. Kenaz is the rune of the artisan craftsman and of the master of the technical aspects of magic, knowledge, cunning, creativity, illumination, observation, intellect, skill, occult female secrets, controlled fire and kinship. Kenaz is the torch of enlightenment. Kenaz is clarity.

Also symbolic of the teaching-learning dynamic and study, this Kenaz rune drawing was also synchronous with my dream from earlier this week, namely Lamed, where the magical Hebrew letter Lamed (ל) is likewise linked to the dynamic of teaching-learning. As with Lamed, Kenaz symbolizes Divine Inspiration. As with Lamed, Kenaz symbolizes the power to control the fire which fuels creativity.

There is wholeness in harmony. Now, I have a clear thought about holiness. Interestingly, this insight, brought into focus through the complexity of Kenaz, was born from the pentacle number five, the Hebrew letter hei (ה) and the Middle Welsh word ENEIT.

The Art Of Magic

כ"ד באב תש"ע
Lughnasadh 25

Tonight I drew the twenty-third rune for my personal runerow - Kenaz, the k-rune, the torch. Kenaz is the force of controlled fire, occult female secrets, esoteric knowledge, regeneration through death or sacrifice, the ability and will to create, the ability and will to control energy and the ability and will to master the technical aspects and artistry of magic.

The Universe is so in tune with what happens in my life. Importantly, this directly speaks to the magical operation I performed earlier today. So mote it be, אמן.



Runerow entries:

Runes 1-3: Transmission of a Sacred Secret
Rune 4: The Wholiness Code
Rune 5: Mysteries of the Staircase
Rune 6: The Ship of Safe Passage
Rune 7: The Ætheling
Rune 8: Communication
Rune 9: The Nature Of My Work
Runes 10-11: Wyrd Shema
Rune 12: The View From My Room
Rune 13: Thurisaz On The Falling Man
Rune 14: Power To Do It
Rune 15: Wyrd Preparation
Rune 16: Mother Of Manifest Blessing
Rune 17: By Force Of Destiny
Rune 18: The Othala Force
Rune 19: Secrets Of The Name
Rune 20: Vardlokkur
Rune 21: Alchemy Of The Word
Rune 22: The Binding Power Of Blæd, Blyss And Byrg Geniht

Ingwaz Force Forthsends Blessing

י"ט באייר תש"ע
Annwyn 20

In follow up to my shabbat sabbat Beltane entry (Blessing of the Cursed), this evening I drew a rune of divination just to see what the Universe has to say on the matter. The rune I drew was Ingwaz.

As I've written before on Ingwaz (Power To Do It):

Edred Thorsson (Runelore) writes, 'The Ingwaz-force is that which is released to give the plentiful year." It is a rune of peace, prosperity, cosmic nourishment, deep-level gestation and new power. In it are new ideas and solutions. Through it, people reach their potential, and homes and hearth are protected.

With perfect synchronicity, on the heels of my shabbat sabbat Beltane entry, Ingwaz comes to say that protected blessing is about to be released from the Divine storehouse into my reality.

The Othala Force

ו' בכסלו תש"ע
Shamash 7

Tonight's motzei shabbat rune drawing is othala, the O-rune of sacred enclosure, the 18th rune of my personal runerow. Edred Thorsson (Runelore) writes on the othala force:

Othala is the sacred enclosure. In it is embodied the central concept of Midhgardhr and the whole idea of "in-sidedness" and "outsidedness" so prominent in Germanic (and Indo-European) thought. The O-rune describes the ring-wall, the symbol of the enclosed land separated from all that is around it and thereby made sacred (ON vé). It is a sign of the site set apart for sacred purposes, the fane or hall. For the most part the othala force acts as a selective barrier. It prevents forces detrimental to the health of the interior from entering, but it actually conducts beneficial energies into its interior.

Amazing! that I should draw this particular rune for the first time in my bedtime ritual immediately following today's "temple"-related entries, namely: Chomah, A Vision of the Temple in the Night, Working Magic, Communion and Living Magically, The Science of Everyday Matters.

Related entries:

Runes 1-3: Transmission of a Sacred Secret
Rune 4: The Wholiness Code
Rune 5: Mysteries of the Staircase
Rune 6: The Ship of Safe Passage
Rune 7: The Ætheling
Rune 8: Communication
Rune 9: The Nature Of My Work
Runes 10-11: Wyrd Shema
Rune 12: The View From My Room
Rune 13: Thurisaz On The Falling Man
Rune 14: Power To Do It
Rune 15: Wyrd Preparation
Rune 16: Mother Of Manifest Blessing
Rune 17: By Force Of Destiny

By Force Of Destiny

י'ג בתשרי תש"ע
Blodlessing 14

Last night before bed, I drew the seventeenth rune of my personal runerow. It was Nauthiz (pronounced now-these), the 'n' rune of change linked with the forces of destiny. An omen of good and necessary transformation, this rune also pertains to banishings, cleansing counterspells, and spell sealings. Nauthiz is the runic equivalent of the ritual words: so mote it be and אמן (amen).

In follow-up to this divination last night, the only unusual thing that happened in my environment today is that my boss left in a hurry this afternoon, telling us that her house had just been broken into. Otherwise, today was unremarkable and uneventful, except for the fact that I am swamped with work to do for end-of-the-month close and with writing complete clinical care plans for seven new Medicare admissions. Our skilled unit is completely full and our average Medicare rate remains, at month-end, excellent and increased above the our year-to-date average Medicare rate.




Related entries:

Runes 1-3: Transmission of a Sacred Secret
Rune 4: The Wholiness Code
Rune 5: Mysteries of the Staircase
Rune 6: The Ship of Safe Passage
Rune 7: The Ætheling
Rune 8: Communication
Rune 9: The Nature Of My Work
Runes 10-11: Wyrd Shema
Rune 12: The View From My Room
Rune 13: Thurisaz On The Falling Man
Rune 14: Power To Do It
Rune 15: Wyrd Preparation
Rune 16: Mother Of Manifest Blessing

Rune Studies

י"ט באב תשס״ט
Lughnasadh 20

I have many books in my library on the magical Hebrew and Ogham alphabets, the systems used by my Jewish and Celtic-English ancestors. Integrating these mystical alphabets into my spiritual practice has been a blessing. So much have I discovered through them.

Now, having just acquired my own set of magical Runes, the magical alphabet of my Celtic-Germanic ancestors, and as I enter into the mystical art of runecasting, I have added some books to my library which explore authentic Celtic-Germanic runelore, philosophy and magic. May integration of this alphabet of my ancestors into my spiritual practice also be a blessing, and open up greater understanding into the mysteries uniquely entrusted to the Divine Spark which enlivens my soul.

These books by Edred Thorsson are those I have chosen with which to begin my rune studies.

Futhark: A Handbook of Rune Magic
Runelore: A Handbook of Esoteric Runology
Runecaster's Handbook: The Well of Wyrd

Quietly Under The Apple Tree

י"ט באב תשס״ט
Lughnasadh 20

The traditional home of the unicorn is known to be beneath the apple tree. Legend teaches that if a pure woman sits quietly beneath the apple tree, the unicorn will come, lay his head in her lap and allow her to fed him apples.

In follow-up to my earlier entry, Still Alive In Me, and in honor of my Celtic-Germanic ancestors, I now own a handcrafted stunning set of magical runes made in the traditional way from a single continuous length of wood from a fruit-bearing apple tree. My set also includes a (blank) wyrd rune. Each rune has the bark still attached and was sawn and sanded by hand, without the use of power tools. Each rune symbol was pyrographed into the wood (also without the use of an electric pyrography tool) by heating in a flame various metal straight lines of different lengths before applying them to the bare wood.

When the time is right - perhaps around Samhain - each rune will be traditionally consecrated and stained with drops of my own blood mixed with red ochre on a white cloth (which will be ritually burned after the runes dry).

I am making my rune bag in the traditional way as well - sewn by my own hand and fashioned from an article of my own clothing.

I invite all my ancestors to attend the ritual preparation and consecration of my mystically magical runes. We are alive. May we all be a blessing and be blessed.

Wind Of The Willow

י"ב בתמוז תשס״ט
Faunus 13

Last night before retiring for bed, I drew an Ogham divination card to read the energy in the atmosphere. That card was Willow, the fid saille. Associated with Goddess, the mistress of the mysteries, the moon, water, protection on deep journeys into the underworld, the power of binding, the harp, music, honey and mead, knowledge of time and proper timing, poetry and psalmistry, harmony, ancestral communication, dreaming, seership, understanding, and all that is feminine, saille has four steps to the right of the stemline (druim).

I dreamt.

I was among a small group of individuals who had been gathered together for the purpose of being moved around in the world as a matter of protection. We were loaded onto an airplane and flown 'above it' and 'out of harm's way'. The scene had the feeling of high level otherworldly espionage - those from whom we kept safely away were not of the normative human world, but of the mystical hidden world. Those of us flown to safety were masters in training. There were only a very few of us in the entire world.

Once we landed, we all went our separate ways, each of us accompanied by a pair of masters who had already crossed the fuzzy liminal line which distinguished novices from masters. The masters of protection worked in pairs. I had a pair watching over me, a master in training.

The liminal line that few novices survived (to become masters in training) was the place of beginning seership. At the place of beginning seership, a seer's eyes were opened to see the hidden but had not yet come to understanding. Seership at this level was literally fascinating - one became mesmerized by her or his visions and gazed into them with innocent curiosity in the effort to gain a clearer view of the vision. There was nothing inherently wrong with the novice doing this. The problem with doing this was that a deathly trap had been deliberately woven into the very act of doing it by ... by this ancient Creator Creature of the Deep Sea.

Each evolving seer had a trap woven since the beginning of creation into her or his budding power of seership. As soon as the person began to see, the act of seeing triggered a shift in the reality around the seer such a lethal lazerbeam was generated that the novice seer could not see. The lazerbeam was drawn from the seer's own sight, to focus specifically and directly on the seer, to kill her or him. A novice seer, though able to see a little bit into deeper reality, couldn't see deep enough to see the lazerbeam focused on to kill the novice seer. Only a master seer could see it.

From a set aside place in reality, I saw the lazerbeam focused on to kill me the first time I began to see. I also saw the pair of masters charged to protect me push me out of its path such that I had not been killed. From there, they had been teaching me to see it and how to avoid its lethal touch, as my seership developed into understanding. As novice seership evolved to include understanding, the lethal lazerbeam would no longer exist because a master seer's mind was so fast and moved at such a high vibration as to make the lazerbeam nothing by default before it became anything. Nevertheless, very few in the world ever survived the liminal line where the lazerbeam operated, where novice seers were either destroyed or lived on to become masters in training.

The Creator Creature in the Deep Sea was a masculine force in a silent Deep Sea. It appeared as a big worm-like fish. I saw it emerge from the hidden depths, and it spoke to me in defense of its killing of seers, saying thus, "I am the Creator Who brought All into being. I Create and I can Take Away."

"What a chutzpahdik little fish," I thought. On the one hand, I understood that in some manner it was the Creator. On the other hand, I understood that despite that it may be the Creator (in terms of Bringing Forth energy), it was still a fish Creature in the Deep Sea. The Deep Sea in which it existed had remained silent in the stillness following its boast. Something perturbed me about this silence.

The Sea is a feminine energy. Now, while the masculine Creator fish had spoken, the Sea he was dwelling in had remained silent. I saw and understood my own power.

I woke up.

"No!" I spoke with the Voice of the Wind of the Willow to the little Creator fish Creature, "you don't have the Authority to Take Away. The power of Destruction is a Female Authority."

Simply walk four steps in the complex Land on the left with a Voice Who Speaks. It is.

Deep.

Eight Charge Dimensions Of Everything

ה' בתמוז תשס״ט
Faunus 6

As the five primary elements which comprise the molecules we perceive as scent through the sense of smell are numerically related to the Divine Feminine by way of the 'feminine' number five (through the magical Hebrew letter hei and the sefirot Malchut and Binah), so too are the eight charge dimensions which are theorized to comprise everything related to the Divine Feminine by way of the 'feminine' number eight (through the magical Hebrew letter chet and the sefirot Binah and Hod.



Of related interest - Vodou Math

Leying The Land

כ"ח בסיון תשס"ט
Mab 28

Today I initiated my newest card deck consisting of Ogham letters, the Celtic Tree Oracle.

Just now, during the planetary hour of Mars (ג), I opened my new deck, shuffled the cards of magical Ogham letters, and drew out one card - drawing forth with it, the initiatory energy which shall characterize this deck.

The card holds the letter Coll, corresponding to the Hazel tree, mediation, measurement and calculation. In Celtic mysticism, Hazel/Coll is associated with the Druids, who:

are inheritors of the knowledge of measurement and calculation of the earlier 'dodmen', the prehistoric surveyors of the ley lines and trackways portrayed in the ancient chalk-cut figure of the Long Man of Wilmington, shown holding staves or rods. Also skilled in the Law, the Druids were called upon to mediate disputes concerning property and land boundaries, much as present day surveyors.

In other words, the magic of this card pertains to laying out mystical pathways and setting up the boundaries of the Land. This card Coll resonates in perfect harmony with my earlier parsha entry about the Land - Walking With Giants.

The word dodmen comes from the Welsh word dodi meaning to lay or place.

Coll means life force within as a channel for creative energy, to catalyze and mediate manifest transformation.

Hazel/Coll in Celtic Folklore

Ancient Time Cycles In My Life

י"ד בסיון תשס"ט
Mab 14

My earlier entry (Time For Changes) suggests a Saturn Return-like period in my life, but I'm only 48. Given my age, what is happening right now in my life cannot be clearly linked with a Saturn Return astrological event occurring in my life. Nevertheless, the suggestion bears good fruit.

Considering the possibility of a Saturn Return brought to my mind another period in my life which could similarly be described as Saturn Return-like.

In the summer of 1996, I "returned to Torah". Thus, 1996 clearly marks an earlier Saturn Return-like upheaval in my life similar to the one of the present time. It is now the summer of 2009 - 13 years later.

The 13-year cycle clearly evident in my life may be a microcosmic reflection, first of the 13 katuns associated with the prophecy cycle in the short count, and second of the 13 baktuns in the long count, of the Mayan calendar. According to the Mayan calendar we are currently in the 13th baktun.

The 13th baktun will come to a close on on 13.0.0.0.0 (December 21, 2012), turning time over into the 14th baktun. December 21, 2012 is a Capricorn solstice. I was born under the sign of Capricorn. But as written in my previous entry, I have choices. I shall be buried under the sign of Pentacle.

Time shall move on. And so shall I.

It isn't fate, it's destiny.

Ancestor Mysteries & The Tree Of Transformation

כ"ו אדר א' תשס"ט
Keolwulf 27

A reader emailed to me an inquiry regarding ancester mysteries. His question may be answered in the dream(s) I had last night.

Up Through Time, The Snake Tree

For some reason it wasn't such a good thing to be a head of this family. The reason was not so much because of the family, but because of the position of being the heads. The heads were in the most dangerous unprotected position in the family and more vulnerable to attack.

Adam and Eve were the heads of this family tree, literally. The entire family line was joined together like a single organism in the form a tree. Adam and Eve were the head trunk-limbs. The head trunk-limbs were in the form of two snakes branching up straight and high through time together from the main trunk of the snake tree. Their heads were at the summit of the tree, their faces like two pieces of white fruit among the uppermost leaves. Like fruit, the heads of Adam and Eve were always in danger of being eaten by the ancient animals of the primeval forest-garden.

One ancient animal flew up like a bird to the snake tree. The ancient creature had a long sword-like bird-like beak, but like a spider's jaws might, the ancient bird thrust into one of the fruits of the snake tree (which was really an individual human) below the heads of Adam and Eve. Like a spider, it injected venom into the human which was a fruit, liquifying the innards of his body. Then, like a spider might, the bird sucked out the juices of fruit-human, eating him this way.

It was not easy to be a human in those days, when humans were like fruits on a snake tree.

Down Through Time, Folding Over Continents

I've forgotten much of this dream, but it pertained to ancient family matters through time as well. It also had a stellar aspect to it, including the idea of finding lost family members down through time. It had an element of cataclysmic nature in it too.

We were from the stars, but in folding over the north american continent, many were drowned under the sea, lost in time. I remember vowing to find you, stepping out from the sea onto the new shore to do it. I had not been drowned by the sea, and like a mermaid, had survived the cataclysm of folding over continents.

The Snake & the Fish, Two Totem Meanings of the Hebrew Letter Nun

The Hebrew letter nun in modern times carries the Aramaic meaning of fish in the sea. The Hebrew letter nun is derived from the ancient pictograph meaning snake.

In my dream, Adam and Eve were formed like two sofiyot, like two straight extended final letters nun extending through time.

Prophetic Kabbalistic Witchcraft, As Above So Below

Every night before I go to bed, I do a quick dream divination using my Well Worn Path witchcraft deck. Last night, using these cards (which I keep by my altar in a handmade Dark Forest Divination pouch), I drew the card 'As Above So Below.'

'As Above So Below' is also a kabbalistic teaching of the Hebrew letter nun.

Complete alignment and harmony exist throughout my Celtic-Jewish shamanic practice of kabbalistic witchcraft.

The Tree Behind the Hedge, Hedge Riding to the Tree of Transformation

The first two items listed yesterday evening at WITCHCRAFTS by Liorah Lleucu, are related to this week's Torah portion Vayikra, and discussed on Garden of the Dark Moon Jubilee - Two Turtledoves In Action.

Hedgecraft is a form of witchcraft which redefines witchcraft as centered around the journey to the Underworld and contact with the Unseen to transform the essence humanity into something greater. Hedge-riding is the act of doing it.

Related - Red Thread Witch Tea made with a base ingredient of Ancient Forest black tea.