Reinventing the wheel

 This year has brought a lot of changes, and one of these is how we gather.  For many Pagans, spending time with other Pagans is a huge part of their path.  It brings a sense of community, of being with people who understand us and who accept what we do.  Even if our individual practices differ, we can gather together and find ways to celebrate or just talk shop.

With the changes in how we gather comes a lot of concerns for many people.  I think most of the Pagans I know care very deeply for others, and want to do what they can to protect and take care of everyone, but especially the most vulnerable.  I know so many Pagans who have always taken special care to make sure people with different needs are seen to at rituals and even just social gatherings, whether that means making sure there are always places to sit, being mindful of smoking, making sure dietary restrictions are taken care of or even being there when someone is overwhelmed or needs a minute.

Even though many Pagan groups aren't following the traditional coven structure, many areas have regular meetups and the Sabbats are often times of gathering and celebration.  For many solitary Pagans, it might be the only times they work with or even see others face to face.  And not being able to do that freely can turn what should be happy points on the wheel of the year into times of disappointment and longing.

Of course, there are many ways that groups can navigate these troubled waters, by hosting events outside, by making sure precautions are in place, but that also may mean that alterations might need to be made to the rituals themselves.

Food and drink come immediately to mind.  Our group doesn't typically include shared food or drink as a part of the ritual itself, we don't pass a cup or plate around, but our gatherings almost always feature a potluck, shared food and fellowship before and after the ritual itself.  This isn't really something that many people are comfortable with right now, and this does change a huge aspect of how we socialize!

But there are still ways to make things fun, whether you go towards a more pre-packaged snack-sized food options or go towards personal potluck (where everyone just brings food for themselves, but you still get to eat and talk with each other).  

I also think that this year will be a life-defining event for anyone old enough to remember it through adulthood.  It's one of those times that make us think about everything else in life, including our spiritual life and practices.  We are pushing a year now, where things have been different, and I am very interested to see how people's practices adjust as we move forward.

For some, this year will be an outlier, it will be a temporary time 'when everything was crazy', but when things get back to 'normal' in the future, they will go back to doing things the way they always have.  For others, this time will be a pivot, and it will be the yardstick with which they measure future years.  When we think of the cycle of the year, this year will stand out, because so much is completely foreign to the way we normally do things.

I think that when we are taken out of our normal routines, we tend to want to cling to anything familiar.  We may be tempted to just keep trying to recognize the wheel in the way we always have, but I think there is great value in really looking to see how the events of the day change how we relate to these phases of the year.

Dramatic situations often make us not only highly grateful for what we do have, but also create in us a deep longing for what we don't have.  The balance is in honoring both.  It is tricky, and sometimes you have to specifically lay out time to mourn the losses of what you don't have.  

I also think there is great value in looking back, and seeing how different things are from where we thought we'd be.  Many of us look at the year as a cycle of manifestation.  We may choose something specific to work on calling into our life, or we may just be aware of how currents in our personal life mimic the currents of the natural cycle.  Either way, as we approach the end of this year's cycle, we become highly aware of how much change has happened.

There are things that, at the start of the year, we were so unused to.  People swore that certain things would never happen...and then they did.  The thing is, when stuff like this happens, you adjust, and over time, it becomes acceptable.  In my town, even though they were recommended (and non-officially 'required') since the start, it took a long time for people to actually wear them.  It was several waves of enforcement, and quite a few incidents of lash backs.  I still see a few people who aren't wearing masks in public, but the vast majority now are, at least in the places where they are required.

Part of my own taking count of this year will be to acknowledge the things that I've become accustomed to.  It will be looking back and seeing the journey this year has taken me on.  It is a very different accounting that I am used to, in some ways it is much more external, but in other ways it is highly internal. 

We don't know what the next year will bring, but it's worth considering that we might not be through the woods.  I think it's also a worthy point of thought to look at how the changes we have adapted to might benefit us even after the current situation has cleared up.  Sometimes, dramatic situations show us that we can do better, even during the good times.

Casting the runes

 

When I first started working with runes, I knew I wanted to cast them.  I had read "The Wolf and the Raven," by Diana Paxson, and there is a great scene in the book where a character is given blank staves and challenged to cast and read the runes....without any rune markings on the staves!  This completely set how I think about reading the runes, and even though it was many years before I finally finished my own rune stave set, I've always approached runes from a casting and not so much drawing perspective.

I don't think there is anything wrong with drawing runes, or laying them out in a set spread (much like you would do tarot or oracle cards).  In fact, if you have a rune card deck (and I started early in my rune journey with little home-made flash cards), then drawing them and using spreads makes a lot more sense than trying to cast them (I'm imagining tossing a whole deck of cards....).  This isn't to say that I never do spreads with my runes, I actually like sometimes drawing a trio of runes for a quick question.  Just that, typically speaking, if I am working with runes, I am going to be casting.

This also means that I don't tend to use the blank rune or reversals (or any other version of Merkstave or 'face down' readings).  Again, this comes back to the difference of casting versus drawing.  I know many people like to draw runes, and they will orient them or interpret whether the rune they drew was front (rune-side) or back (blank side) up.  I do work with both of these concepts (orientation and facing), but in very specific situations, which I'll go into later on.

My personal method of casting involves gathering up all my runes and tossing the whole lot of them.  I do normally use a cloth, though I don't have a dedicated casting cloth.  For many years, I used a simple bandana.  I use a cloth to define the boundary of my reading, as well as to give my runes some amount of protection (as they are bone or stone, and casting onto a hard surface could be problematic).  I now have some lovely tarot reading cloths that I've acquired so that gives me more options.

Once I have cast, I first start by looking for any runes that have fallen off the cloth (neither of the castings I did for this post had any of these 'off-cloth' runes).  I find that these runes that don't fit into the reading can sometimes influence the reading by their absence.  I think of it as a complete lack of that energy in the reading (because even runes that are face down and not manifesting are still present and contributing to the situation).

Next, I will look at what I consider the heart of the reading, the largest clump of runes together.  In this case, we see a large clump right in the center of my cloth, but the center of the clump is Tiwaz, Pertho and Thurisaz.  

Here is where I feel that rune casting and drawing really differ.  When I draw cards, I absolutely look at the relationship between a card and the other cards in a reading, but with a casting I am not only thinking about the the runes themselves interact, but also their actual positions with each other. 

So Pertho is on top of Tiwaz and Thurisaz, who are both mostly parallel to each other.  Now, when I cast these runes, I was casting them with the intention of a general reading, kind of a 'checking in with myself' type of thing, so no specific situation.  I would see this as a need for focus and protection (perhaps a troubling situation that I would need to overcome, and it would require me to really tune in), but there is also a sense of the unknown that is laying over it (so perhaps I may not know exactly what the cause of the trouble is).

From there, I follow the runes outward, so Pertho is also touching Raido, which is touching Mannaz.  So I might consider how my state of travel is effecting my role in my community.

In the bottom of the main cluster, we have Fehu covering Eiwaz and Gebo.  I see both Eiwaz and Gebo as exchange type of runes, where there is a transfer going on, one thing moving to another.  Gebo is more of an external (an exchange between two beings), while Eiwaz is internal (a connection of opposites inside myself), and with Fehu on top I would see this as a message to be mindful of the costs and benefits of these types of exchanges.

Going up to the top of the cluster, the runes are more spread out, and we have Kenaz, Algiz and Isa.  They aren't quite touching, but they are very close, so I would see these as energies that may be interacting only through their echos (kind of how you can feel the heat of the fire when you get close, but you don't actually get burnt).  They also (with the aid of the face-down runes) form a nice rectangle, so there is a sense of stability here.  Isa and Kenaz are almost entirely part of the rectangle, while Algiz is only partially involved.  With Isa and Kenaz being on opposite sides, I would think of how stillness and creativity are often drawn upon at different times.  In order to have a well balanced, and stable, endeavor, we need both that quiet stillness (the time to think and reflect), and that frenzied burst of creation.  The addition of Algiz tells me that this balance is something I need to work on to feel secure and safe.

Now, we get into the outliers.  We have Ingwaz out to the bottom left, Pertho up to the top right, and then way out beyond Pertho, right at the edge of the cloth, we have a face-down rune.  This is one of the cases where I might check to see what the face-down rune is (as you can see in this picture, where I flipped it to show Sowilo).  When there is a significantly placed face-down rune, I often read those runes as well, but as a hidden influence.  

In order to interpret these outliers, I also look at the whole flow of the casting.  So, this feels like it is stretching out towards that top corner, and I might see this as Ingwaz being the seed that is planted to create this situation, but as the runes are resolved, I am growing towards a place of happiness and ultimately this will bring an energetic boost.

After looking at the bits one at a time, I go back and look at the whole spread.  I am at a time where I can start planting some roots, that will lead me through focused work where I am working with community (though restricted or modified by not being able to travel).  I should be mindful of how much I am giving and what I am taking, and I need to balance my enthusiasm with periods of reflection, but working on this will be a good thing in my life, and I will not only feel more happiness but also renewed energy.

One thing that I didn't feel came up much in this casting was a lot of runes in the fall of the staves themselves.  That one rectangle felt important, and I can see other runes in the ways the staves fell (like Kenaz and the face down rune under it could be either another Kennaz or a Gebo).  This is a very much gut thing for me, because some rune shapes can pretty much always be found (any rune on it's own is Isa, any crossed runes can be Nauthiz or Gebo depending on how they are crossed), so sometimes I find these layers to add, and sometimes I just look at how the staves interact in a more abstract way (runes on top may be a governing force, the run underneath may be held down by the rune on top or it may be supporting it).

I also wanted to mention, you can totally do this type of casting methods with stones (or wood circles, or other roundish rune shape).  I like how staves more clearly make rune shapes, but stones can also create those types of phantom runes, if you look at the lines drawn between the stones (or if you extend imaginary lines along the axis of the rune symbols).

 

In this picture, I drew those imaginary lines out, so you can see how the runes might interact with each other.  I think the most important interactions are the cross between Raidho and Fehu, which I would probably read as a Nauthiz energy (it's not quite even enough for Gebo).   I might also see if Hagalaz made sense for the interaction between the Hagalaz stone, the Lagaz stone and the Othala stone.  I probably wouldn't look at the interaction between Berkana (to the far right), and Raidho, because they aren't very close, and Manaz at the bottom is likewise on it's own.

One thing that stood out for me on this casting was the two stones that were kind of piled on each other, even though both were face down.  I flipped them over, and found Uruz and Tiwaz.  I always find stacked runes to be really interesting and the higher the pile, the more I feel like is going on right there.  This was only two, but they were definitely calling my attention.  With Uruz on the bottom, I feel like there was a tendency to resist movement, to be stubborn and fixed in place.  Tiwaz indicates that focus and dedication could overcome this, but both of them being face down is giving me the feeling that the timing isn't right for this energy just yet.  It's something that is coming, but it's not here, so I can be aware, and prepare, but I don't need to do anything yet.

One final note, on casting cloths.  As I said, I don't have a dedicated casting cloth, but both of these cloths I used today do have design on them, and could add extra layers to the reading.  The first one features a compass rose in the center, and looking at the runes in terms of the compass directions (and possibly the elements) could definitely bring more layers of meaning.  I might also think about the progression of left to right (from past through present to the future), and the layer of up and down (earth versus spirit or subconscious versus thinking mind).  I could view the circle around the compass rose as internal influences and anything outside as exterior ones (self versus others). 

With the second casting cloth, there is both the spider and her web to work with, as well as the elemental symbols in the corners.  I might view the center of the web as closest to me, or it might be the future (and the edge of the web is the present and anything outside of that is the past).  I can quarter the cloth and think of runes in each quadrant as being flavored by the element in their corner.

What I love about rune casting is that there are so many ways to go!  There is a sense of boundlessness, and each time I sit to cast I am opening myself up to what is going to come through.  In some ways, it's a bit scary, because there isn't that framework to work with.  I often end up 'talking myself through' the reading, where I'll pick one place to start, and work my way outward, thinking about each rune or the pattern of the staves/stones in one area, and then as I add in different runes I might change how I saw things from earlier.  I do like to go through, at the end, and kind of sum up the whole casting.  

I also find that taking a picture (or sketching it out, though taking a picture is easier) can be very helpful.  I almost always like to have a journal handy to take notes of my impressions, and with both, I can refer back to my picture and my notes and I might notice things later that I didn't see at first.

I love casting, and thing it's a fantastic way to work with runes, and I highly recommend giving it a try if you haven't.  If you are finding it intimidating, take a picture, and work with just one part at a time.  Think about one rune and what is surrounding it.  Then, another day, come back and work with another section.  

And most of all, have fun with it!  I see casting as a way to tap into parts of my mind that I can't readily access, and there is no wrong way to do it.  Some days I feel like I'm just seeing super obvious stuff, but maybe I needed to be hit over the head with the obvious!  While other days I might find myself really going down a winding path of tenuous connections, but ending up somewhere that I never would have expected.  But always, I feel that I have connected a little bit more with my runes, and my self.

Re-studying

 

For many of us, learning is something that never ceases.  We acknowledge the fact that there is so much to know, and always something new to uncover.  But I think that we sometimes keep looking for fresh ideas from new sources, and forget that as we grow, we can glean new insight into things we have already studied.

 

I am participating in a rune study group right now, and we are working our way through the Elder Futhark.  Now, I have been working with runes for quite a while now...like over twenty years.  So, my experience in this group is very different from the people who are experiencing the runes for the first time.  However, I am definitely finding new insight and things to think about, and some of it is where I am learning from the other people in the group (no matter their level of experience!), but some of it is also me going back to my own notes and books and reading things over that I haven't read in years.

 

I think with many subjects, we reach a level of familiarity where we feel like we 'get' the subject.  While I still don't consider myself a master of the runes, I do think that I get them.  I can look at a rune and meanings come to my mind.  If asked what runes I would use to work magic on a particular subject, I can answer (without looking it up....though I often also look it up because memory is not a strong suit for me).  

 

When I seek out new rune information, I do typically look for more advanced books now.  If I stumble across a beginner source, I often take a peek, just because I know that different perspectives are always great, but also because I like to see what is out there for people just starting out.  But if I am going to spend money on a new book, I want it to be something more than just the basic meanings.

 

But here's the interesting part.  By being a part of this study group, we are going through the runes, one by one, and sharing our thoughts, interpretations, what we know about the runes.  Since I am familiar with them, when I read a new book, I don't tend to sit with each rune as much.  I will read the new information, and maybe make some notes, or think about how it relates to what I already know...but I don't stop and try to consolidate all the information into one blurb...like I am doing to share with the group.

 

Approaching familiar topics as if they were new to you makes you think about things from a different angle.  You approach study differently the first time you learn something versus the tenth or twentieth time.  Of course, you can never truly recreate that first experience.  Even with subjects that don't tend to stick with you (astrology I'm looking at you!), once you get into the books, you find yourself remembering things that you didn't think you knew.  But I think it's worse with super familiar subjects, there is a tendency to just skip a bunch of material and not really think about it...because you've read it so many times before.

 

Most of the time, this is an efficient way to approach integrating new information.  And this is something I sort of struggle with (skimming books or outright skipping sections), even though I know that trying to slog through something I've read in a slightly different version a dozen times makes me less likely to actually read it at all.  It's something I'm getting better at.

 

But it is definitely worth it, from time to time, to go back through and treat a subject as if it were new to you.  Write new notes, as if you didn't already have books of notes!  Things come up when we try to condense our knowledge into clear and concise notes that we might not have paid attention to.  We make connections that we didn't think of before, because we are actually slowing down and giving things a proper study.

I have also found that the more you interact with other people of varying knowledge about a subject, the greater your understanding will grow.  If you only interact with people at your own level of understanding, you aren't challenged as much.  People who know more about a subject will often introduce you to ideas that you maybe wouldn't have stumbled across for a long time.  And people who are newer to a subject may be looking at things in a completely different way, especially if they come from a different path.  Also, the questions people ask can be amazing thought sparkers, and answering questions can be a wonderful learning too.  I often find that, by trying to word my explanation in a way that makes sense to someone who may not be as well versed in a subject means I end up with a much clearer view myself.

There is also something very soothing about returning to a source (especially your own notes) that you are already familiar with.  It kind of reminds me of looking back at old photos...or your yearbook.  You have these vague memories, but as you flip through, things sharpen and come back into focus.  And sometimes you become very aware of how much you have grown, but other times you realize how accurate some of your early observations were, and by going back and revisiting them, you can take what might have been a simple thought or idea and turn it into a fully realized connection or interpretation.

So, while we may always be temped to look for that new, fresh perspective that gives us that "aha!" moment, sometimes it is by looking back, by re-studying a subject, that we find that clarity.  Taking time to not only read through your old notes and favorite books, but actually study them as if it were the first time, brings a depth to your practice that can't be readily acquired by only seeking out the new and unknown.  Sometimes we have to turn to the familiar to grow.

Harvesting a fallow year

As we pass Lugnasadh and start into the harvest part of the year, we may be struggling to find the bounty this year.  It has been a hard year for so many people, and a strange year, and things just don't feel right.  We are facing issues that we haven't ever had to deal with in our lifetimes, and so much is thrown off balance, trying to celebrate the harvest can feel monumental.

I feel like we are the closest to understanding how our ancestors felt, during years of bad harvest.  When something happened and the fields didn't give enough to put away for the winter, and it wasn't just going to be a lean year, but there was this knowledge that many people wouldn't see the spring.

Celebrating the harvest and honoring the cycle of the year will be just as different as everything else this year.  We are firmly reminded that even though the Sabbats honor the turning of the wheel, it isn't actually a proper circle, it is a spiral, it is coming back around but also being in a different place, and we are definitely in a different place than we were last year.  And honoring the harvest doesn't only mean the good times, but recognizing what is and deciding how we move forward.

For me, a big part of this is drawing a firm line between what I can control and what I can't.  There is a lot going on right now that I can't control.  I can't control what the virus does, I can't control what the government does, I can't control what restrictions are placed on me, or what the other people in my town do. 

Acknowledging what I can't control is really just the first step to letting it all go.  Yes, I am upset about all of these things, and some of them make me rightly mad.  But what am I doing with those emotions?  If I am just holding onto them, then they are poison to me.  They are me giving up the control I have and allowing my circumstances to conquer me.

On the other hand, if I start asking myself what I can control, I can control what I choose to do, giving my circumstances.  Shall I do my part to keep myself and those around me safe?  Shall I find ways to turn my anger into action and work towards changing things?  Shall I sit with my feelings, and sort out what they are trying to tell me?

I think a big part of our harvest for the year is a reminder that we may not see the results of our actions for a long time, and we still have to put in the work.  So much of the 'harvests' in our life are subtle, and sometimes feel mysterious.  We do stuff at work, but we may work hard for many years and not see any signs that we are moving ahead in our job.  We might put money aside, but problems keep coming up and that money slips through our fingers, no matter how hard we try to save it.

What we are seeing right now, across the country, is how the actions we take from the start effect how things turn out in the end.  We are seeing what over-reaction and under-reaction looks like (sometimes in the same place!)  We are realizing how important action is but also accurate information and knowledge...and we are seeing the effects of blind ignorance.

The harvest this year might not be physical, we may not be counting our blessings and seeing the bounty in our lives the way we normally do.  We might be looking back at the past year and wondering how we made it as far as we did and how we are going to make it through the next few months.  We may be starting to think about the turning of the year in a very different light.

But harvest time is a time of reflection, and it is time to look back, and to really think about what has happened this year.  To take an accounting of what we started with, and where we are at now...and where we are going. 

There is a tendency, when things get bad, to avoid looking.  Because if we actually see what is going on, then it's real.  If we distance ourselves from it, if we hide from the truth or distract ourselves with fantasy, then we don't have to deal with the harsh reality.  But reality is funny in that just because we avoid acknowledging it, doesn't mean it goes away.

Honoring the harvest means opening our eyes.  It means really addressing what is going on in our lives, and what has been going on in our lives over the course of this year.  It means making plans for the rest of the year, and trying to find ways to do our best to see the next spring (whether that is an actual spring of a metaphorical one).

It also means finding the blessings that might be hidden under all the chaff.  When the harvest is light, it is easy to loose the valuable grains, but it is more important than ever to find each and every one.  I think that when things are crazy and horrible and it feels like everything is burning, that is the time when we most can benefit from counting our blessings, from actually stopping and listing out each and every thing we can think of that in any way makes our lives better.

It's times like this that shift your perspective, that make you appreciate all the tiny things that often go unnoticed.  So stop, and really seek out the parts of your life where there is bounty, where there is goodness and where you have found value.  And write it down!  It is so easy to forget the blessings when the next wave of sorrow hits, but we can turn back to our journal, we can read our own words and remember.