bloodteethandflame

This post has been knocking about my brain for a few weeks, perhaps more. 

I’ve been having difficulty writing in this blog lately, and I’m not exactly sure why. 

I have no shortage of topics, actually, it’s just that once I sit down and start typing, things seem to go awry from there.

But I’m determined to write about my adventures learning about (Futhark) runes lately, because, dammit, I’ve been trying to learn about runes for a long time.

So here it goes.

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I’m ashamed to admit that I bought a set of runes about six months ago. 

I’d initially ordered a set from a Norse shaman/craftsman around April or so, but after a few months, I received word from him that things weren’t going well.  The tree branches that he’d been intending to cut the blanks from kept coming up cracked and/or damaged, and therefore, the wood supply wasn’t any good for cutting blanks for a rune set.

I should’ve taken that as a sign that maybe this wasn’t the right time for me to learn about runes, but I’m an impatient sort of person, and I thought, well, I’d like to get a set to hold me over.

So I did this past June.

And when I took them out from the bag, I was immediately…depressed, for reasons that I’m not going to get into right now.  But I did what I had been told/read/seen that I was supposed to do next upon receipt of runes.  And everything seemed OK. 

Three different sources gave me an overview of different ways that one can ‘get to know’ the runes once they are in ones’ hands. 

One source said to say their names aloud, study them, meditate on each one, and that was that. 

One source said that I should sleep on them — one at a time — and write out the resulting dreams.

And another source said that the other two ways were fine, but the best way would be to do a ritual with them – involving fluids – that I’m still trying to sort out, because there’s debate on which fluids are best.

I don’t want anyone to think that I don’t take this seriously, because I do…  

But I will say this, it strikes me as very true that runes are interesting, and I’ve been having some very interesting times with the runes.

First, Laguz gave me some very interesting dreams way back in August.  Some of the ink came off of my Laguz rune when it got wet during that week when I first focused on it.  Somehow I wonder if that was, in some way, appropriate.

And the Ingwaz rune made for some very tasty baked goods, and an interesting time concerning yard work, physical work, and growth during the week that I first focused on it.

And then, Othala.  I would like to say that Othala upright is my favorite rune.  I’ve felt drawn to it the minute that I first saw it — but what Othala ended up being was a rather forceful representation of a few things that I *really* need to work on.   No matter which way I see Othala interpreted, it always seems to come up to remind me of things that I should work on, especially when I’d rather not.   Othala, I love you, but you can be a lot to take.

Kenaz is another favorite.  Kenaz, like Othala, could generate its own post, with all my feels about it.

Dagaz and Mannaz were tricky…as were Sowilo and Eiwhaz.  Just when I thought I was certain that that was the rune that I was seeing, I’d realize that it was actually another rune entirely.  Or maybe those four like to shape-change when I’m not looking. 

Fehu.  Fehu, no pun intended, is what started it all.   Because, if I never mentioned this, there is a mark on my bedroom door, that looks basically like Fehu.  I think that it has been here since the day that we moved in, almost 3 years ago.

But then again, there’s another person that lives in this house that thinks that it looks more like Ansuz.

And no, I haven’t focused on Ansuz yet, so I don’t want to speculate.