Using the Magic in Nature and the Seasons

August 21, 2018 The Rational Heathen Comments 0 Comment

Oh my god! I said the “M” word! Does that mean I’m going to talk about…GULP…Magic? Well, yes, and no. I want to talk about changes in the seasons and how you can recognize them long before most people do. Which means maybe not magic, but more observation and perhaps a bit of empathy.

Let me explain.

Recognizing the Rhythms of Your Land

Regardless of whether you live in the country or the city, in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere, or in the Americas or “across the pond,” the land you live in has its own rhythm, its own wights (and I use that term loosely), and its own timing. Back when I lived further south in the Rocky Mountains, it took me forever to recognize this–mainly because I wasn’t a Heathen then and I had other concerns which took up a good deal of my attention. Back when I was younger, the weather, the climate, and the land were simply distractions from day-to-day living. Now, I realize that day-to-day living is a distraction from the weather, climate, and the land.

Look, you don’t need to become a tree hugger or run around naked in the forest to connect with nature. (However, if that’s what you do to get your rocks off, that’s none of my business.) It involves changing your viewpoint and paying more attention to the natural occurrences that surround you (even in the city.) Changing your viewpoint isn’t that hard, but it does require mindfulness. This is why I often recommend mindfulness training to those who are getting started in Heathenry.

Mindfulness as Magic

If there’s a form of magic I do believe in, it has to do with mindfulness. Seriously, it’s something everyone can do and it will help discipline your mind enough to deal with the stress of modern life. I recommend a book called Mindfulness for Fidgety Skeptics if you’ve never done this before. I get a small stipend from Amazon if you buy it through the link. You support this website if you use the link, so I would appreciate it if you use it. Even if I didn’t get some money through this, I’d still recommend the book.

What You’ll Discover Paying Attention to the Land

Being mindful and paying attention to the land opens a whole new world of experiences you never knew existed. You start noticing not only the cooler temperatures of autumn setting in, but also the increase or decrease in humidity that follows the change. Maybe you start seeing stratus clouds and high cirrus replace the fluffy cumulus. Maybe you see a shift in the bird population, the increase or decrease of certain insects, or even the shift in the quality of light you get. Instead of noticing the latest fall fashions creeping into people’s wardrobes, you notice how the squirrels are moving from tree to tree to gather food. You may see different species of birds. If you live in a place with deer, you may see a shift in their foraging.

At night, you may see a change in the constellations–if the light pollution isn’t too bad. If you live in wildfire country like I do, you can actually see if there are new wildfire starts nearby just by the color of the moon, often before the news picks it up.

How This Makes You a Better Heathen

At this point, you may be wondering how this makes you a better Heathen. Let’s think about this a bit: our gods and the landvaettir are nature entities. Even Odin, who is our creator god, deals with natural forces. (How much more natural is the creation of life?) So, we’re looking at gods who reside over nature. By paying attention to things not human made, we gain a deeper understanding in the world around us. You become a better Heathen, and you even open yourself up to the wights and gods. It may or may not be a type of magic, but I know it works.

How to Communicate with the Gods

That’s one thing about being a Heathen a lot of Heathens miss. You see, you can get close to the gods without all the mumbo-jumbo. In fact, I suspect it’s the best way to get in touch with the gods. You don’t get a conversation with the gods from mumbling prayers or sacrificing goats usually. You get that from opening yourself to them and seeing who pops up. That requires paying attention to them and listening to what they have to say.

If you’re not receptive to the gods unless Thor takes a hammer to you and smacks you silly, you’re unlikely to hear them. That does happen to the most dense of us and it is quite unpleasant. Trust me when I say you will really get shaken out of your reality when the gods do that. It will make you question your overall sanity, unless you’re already bat-shit crazy. Now, it’s a lot easier to deal with because I’m more in tuned with them, but for a while it was fucking nuts.

I hope I’ve given you some things to think about. Let me know what you think.

Runecasting for Recons (not really)

April 18, 2017 Tyra Ulfdottir Comments 0 Comment

Gods, I love alliteration. So, I couldn’t help myself with the title. But who knows? Maybe the recons will learn something when they read this.

Or probably just talk smack on Reddit. Just saying…

Anyway, I’ve decided to talk about how I do runecastings. They’re not the only way. In some heathen circles, they may not even be right. But it works for me, and if it works for me, I go with it. So, let’s go through the basic rune cast.

Equipment for Runecasters 101

I’m pretty simple when it comes to runecasting. So, when it comes to your runecasting stuff, you need the following:

Runes (duh!) — I use Elder Futhark runes. You can use whatever runes suit you, but I know the Elder Futhark best and I know the meanings (mostly).
A rune pouch to keep the runes in. — It can be something special or not. Most people will probably go with special. Most rune sets come with pouches anyway. If you make your own, you’re going to want to sew your own rune pouch. Or have someone who sews make it for you.
A cloth to do your runecasting on. — It doesn’t have to be fancy. Hel, I don’t think you need it. But it is nice to have. I use a wolf bandana that is a custom design by a woman in this area.

That’s it, essentially. You can have candles, incense, offerings, whatever, if you feel it is appropriate. I don’t worry about such things.

Basic Runecasting

I don’t have a particular casting method, though others may. Other people may shake runes out of the bag, or even dump the bag and pull out the runes that are face up, or select from those that are face down. I’ve heard of gythias and godhis using sticks and tossing them down. The rune patterns that they saw in the crossed sticks were the ones they read.

I don’t do that. I pull each rune from the pouch and place it in its spot where the cast will go. Other runecasters do that too. If I accidentally pull out extra stones or some other stones come out, I read them as well. I figure if the stone wants to be read, who am I to put it back? It might be an extra message. Or it might be garbage. Whatever.

I’ve had my cat suddenly take an interest in my reading occasionally and move the pieces. Apparently I had the runes in the wrong spots, or so she thought. I don’t argue. When you have a cat name Freyja, you listen to her.

I read my runes right to left, not left to right. I’ve heard that others do it that way, but I’ve seen it done left to right too. I don’t use blank runes, nor do I read reverse or merkstave. Those are obvious later inventions, one by Ralph Blum (or someone he knew) and one is too close to tarot. Runes are not tarot. Thank you.

The Patterns

There are plenty of patterns to cast and read your stones. I tend to stick with the simpler casts. The reason is straightforward. I don’t have to worry or pay attention to complex readings.

The pattern I tend to rely on is the three stone pattern. It’s a good pattern and on and you can decide which one works for you.

Single Rune — This is the easiest cast of all. Basically it’s the response to the matter under consideration. Good or bad. It just is.
Three Rune Spread — This is a cast that is flexible enough to gain insight while still simple enough to not have a lot of convoluted mumbo-jumbo. You can cast it the way I do as 1. matter under consideration 2. Problems or situations that may arise 3. Possible outcome. Or you can do the 1. Past 2. Present 3. Future
Five Rune Layout, Seven Rune Layout, etc. This webpage seems to have the basics of these larger layouts.
Tiwaz Shoat — There’s a pattern called the Tiwaz shoat that is in the form of an arrow. For the life of me, I can’t remember the reading directly and I need to dig out my books on it. Let’s just say it’s out there and if I find my books, I’ll try to tell you about it.
Extra Runestones — Occasionally you’ll have some runes spill out. If this happens, look at the stones and see if they have some bearing on the situation at hand. You may find that they do.

Sample Runecast

Okay, you have your runes, your bag, your rune casting cloth, and whatever else you feel is necessary to get yourself in the right frame of mind to do a cast. For the sake of argument, let’s say you’re doing a Three Rune Spread. In this case, start by pulling the first runestone out of the bag and look at it.

I pulled: ᚠ ᛒ ᚱ

Now, don’t forget I read right to left (I pulled the ᚱ first). So I start with ᚱ which is Raidho, which generally means travel, but can mean movement, journey, or a change. The matter under consideration is travel, for the sake of argument. Okay.

The problem or situation that may arise: Berkana or ᛒ. This is the rune of growth, nurturing, fertility, etc. Not necessarily a problem, unless it is growth due to pain or loss. I’m not seeing that in the runes just yet, because

Fehu or ᚠ means wealth or cattle. This rune is associated with fortune and positive outcomes. Usually requires work to achieve them, but what doesn’t?

What the Runecast Might Mean

Here comes the million dollar question: What does the runecast mean? I wasn’t really asking any questions, I just did a general cast. What it suggests is that the travel I take in the future gives me an opportunity for growth and a chance at achieving good fortune or wealth, if I choose to take advantage of it. Overall, it’s a positive spread and I’d be glad to have such outcomes.

I hope this gives you some ideas as to how you can do runecasting for yourself. Let me know about your own castings. I’d be curious to hear about them.

Runecasting and the M- Word

April 10, 2017 Tyra Ulfdottir Comments 0 Comment

I really hate the M- word. It suddenly puts Heathenry into the realm of Wiccan and other m(agic) based beliefs. It suggests that there isn’t a good reason why something happened. And for the Rational Heathen, that drives me batty.

I’ve been accused in the past of being atheistic because I waffle on certain elements of our beliefs. And yet, there are plenty of nonbelievers in the ranks of heathens, who don’t necessarily believe in the gods as people, but still wish to preserve the old ways. And yet, I have had more encounters with our gods, and even the wights, than some of the staunch believers have.

Go figure.

About Runecasting

So, when I talk about runecasting, understand that this is my interpretation of it. It isn’t necessarily the only way to do it. It’s not even the right way. But it is my way and if you can learn some things from my methods, then terrific.

Before I get started on this, I don’t consider myself an expert in the runes. I know the Elder Futhark and I cast those runes. There are other runes that are equally valuable such as the Younger Futhark, the Anglo Saxon runes, and others. None of them are inferior. But unless you make yourself a set, or find someone who makes these runes, chances are the runes you’ll pick up are Elder Futhark. Which is okay. There’s a lot more written about them than the other runes, anyway.

How I Got into Runecasting

My sister (who, weirdly enough is a devout Christian), gave me Ralph Blum’s Book on runes when it first came out when I was in junior high or high school (yeah, it was that long ago). I dinked around with them throughout high school and college, not knowing what the Hel I was doing. Even so, the runes had a tendency to give me consistent, true readings. As I started reading other rune material, I outlined the rules in my own mind, what the runes meant, and how to runecast. Even now, I follow these rules when I do a runecast.

It works for me. It may not work for you.

My Rules to Runecasting

These are my rules when it comes to runecasting. Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV), and you probably have a method that suits you.

Choose Runes that Speak to You

I’m not talking about actual speech here. I’m talking about what feels right in your hands. I have probably around 10 rune sets, some which I do not like or connect with. There’s one runeset, a runeset made from hematite, that feels right in my hands. I have one runeset I totally despise that is a card runeset (similar to Tarot) that I picked up because I thought it would be different. (Boy howdy, it was.) I’ve been ambivalent on some wooden runes I bought. I don’t know the wood and they don’t seem to have a connection to me. So, I don’t use them. YMMV. Again.

Abandon Conventional Tarot Wisdom

Don’t treat the runes as though they were Tarot cards (they’re not). That means there is no merkstave (upside down) readings. We have enough negative implications with some of the runes, depending on how you read them. The rune, whether you pull it out upside down or sideways, or whatever, is the rune. However, can you read a different interpretation with an upside down rune? You can do what you like. I think it’s incorrect, but hey, that’s my interpretation. Again, YMMV.

Abandon the Blank Rune

This is clearly a Ralph Blum invention, although someone might call me on this and tell me somewhere in yada…yada… lore someone used one. Pertho is more the unknown rune, so we use that. Someone always says to use it as a spare. For the life of me, I don’t know how I would cut into the hematite to replace a lost stone. I’d probably just rob a stone from another set.

Read Right to Left

Okay, I’m sure there’s no real cause for this other than learning it this way. You can read anyway you want, as long as you have the rules settled in your mind and with the runes.

Read as Much as You can on Interpretations

This seems a no-brainer, but I would argue that you need to read as much as you can on the various interpretations of a particular rune. Even when I think I’m settled on an interpretation, I’ll get an odd reading that causes me to go back to the books.

How I Believe the Runes Work

I’m avoiding the M-word when it comes to runes, because I sincerely don’t believe in magic. I suspect how they work is that they tap into our subconscious which pays far more attention to the world than our conscious selves. I remember having the runes come up with a positive outcome to a particularly difficult time in my life and later discussing them with a physicist friend of mine. He thought they worked because they offered only general interpretation that could fit any circumstance, and yet, I’ve hit the nail on the head more times with runes than not. So, if there’s something else going on, I suspect it’s largely subconscious. But occasionally I’ve seen the gods intervene in the runes, which suggest maybe they have a hand in tipping the scales, subconsciously, or through quantum means.

Remember what I’ve quoted Arthur C. Clarke so many times about technology being indistinguishable from magic?

Next week, I’ll do a sample rune reading…

Rune Casting

February 13, 2016 Tyra Ulfdottir Comments 1 comment

I’m a rune caster. I’ve given some pretty amazing castings that were spot on, which is why I’m going to talk to you about them. Everything within my scientific brain says they shouldn’t work. And yet, everything I’ve experienced seems to point in the direction that the runes do work. I once asked a friend who was getting his degree in Physics why it seemed to work. He shrugged and told me that it was probably just the ambiguity of the runes.

He might be right. What’s more, it’s likely that subconsciously my brain keeps track of the rune stones and how they feel. So, when I do a reading, I’m actually tapping into my subconsciousness.

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