Your Rune For Today
Uruz
Uruz is the Rune of harmony, order and inner strength. Often it marks endings and beginnings of periods in our lives. Uruz also symbolizes your ability to tackle new challenges by confronting them with the powers that lie within you. Opportunities probably abound for you right now.
Your Rune For Today
Naudhiz
Naudhiz may foretell needs unmet and friction in relationships. You may be in a time where you should be very careful in whatever endeavor you take on. Also it may be that you are about to learn some of life’s hard lessons and come out the other side of this period a stronger being.
Eight Virtues Of The Craft
Author: RuneWolf
One of the sovereign touchstones of Wicca, one which is rarely disputed or quibbled over – whatever other differences may exist between camps – is the Charge of the Goddess. Along with the Rede and the Law of Threefold Return, it is as close as Wicca comes to a universal sacred text.
We are not a “revealed” religion, in that we do not adhere to a sacred text or texts said to have been dictated to the faithful by the reigning Deity of the religion. However, we do recognize the phenomenon of Drawing Down, or invoking Deity into a willing and receptive individual, that Deity might more intimately manifest and participate in our rites, and speak through the chosen vessel, if Deity is so moved. If we believe in this, then it follows – in my mind at least – that Deity may choose, at times, to communicate certain Truths spontaneously through members of the faith (or simply through the average Joe, as I believe occurred in the case of Bill Wilson and the basic texts of Alcoholics Anonymous). So I, for one, believe that the Charge of the Goddess is in fact the word of the Goddess, transmitted through the willing and capable instrument of Ms. Valiente, and it deserves careful consideration by those dedicated to this path.
As I do every so often, I am currently overhauling and “buffing up” my routine of prayer and meditation. The practice of a “lovingkindness” meditation has once again been brought to my attention, and I have re-instituted that as part of my meditative practice. But this time around, something rather marvelous has happened. Now, it might seem a bit of a “Duh!” to some of you, but to me it was one of those things that was hiding in plain sight for a long time, and only today was it made clear to me.
In brief, the lovingkindness meditation is – as far as I know – of Buddhist origins, and consists of repeating a mantra of virtues and gifts that one wishes bestowed on oneself, others and, ultimately, the entire world. For instance, one starts by chanting: “May I be joyful, gentle, calm and loving.” Once this has taken root, one expands this, to, say, one’s family: “May my family be joyful, gentle, calm and loving.” When one has worked up to it, one opens the heart and spirit to the totality of our little blue-green marble, chanting: “May all beings in the world be joyful, gentle, calm and loving.”
As with so much of the Buddhist canon – simple, elegant and powerful.
When I incorporate techniques from other paths into my (nominally Wiccan) practice of the Craft, I always try to amend them in some way, to make them more relevant to my experience as a Witch or Warlock. So as I drove to work today, I cast my mind into the aether, searching for virtues and gifts that I might use in my lovingkindness meditation that were a bit more, well, Crafty.
And a soft, contralto voice whispered in my ear: “And therefore let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honor and humility, mirth and reverence within you.”
I almost drove into a bridge abutment…
As soon as I got the old Subaru back on the road, I had to try it out, whispering to myself: “May I be beautiful and strong, powerful and compassionate, honorable and humble, mirthful and reverent…” Wowzers! I got the chills. Needless to say, I had found the “Crafty” terms for my lovingkindness meditation that I was seeking. But in considering those virtues and gifts for the remainder of my commute, I realized that I had also opened a door to a broader possibility.
One of the things I have always admired about Asatru is the “Nine Noble Virtues,” a list of values that one may use as touchstones for living an exemplary life. Many folks I know in the Craft have adopted them, or a version of them (much to the annoyance of certain Asatruar), but I have always thought that we should have “our own,” (although there is certainly nothing wrong with nor lacking in the NNV as they stand).
It struck me this morning, of course, that the blessings wished upon us by the Goddess in Her Charge were a perfect source for the “Virtues of the Craft!” They may not be a comprehensive list of values that one needs to live, love and thrive in one’s life, but they are obviously points worthy of focus, consideration and cultivation, or the Goddess wouldn’t have mentioned them!
Let’s look briefly at each of these:
Beauty: Not necessarily physical beauty, of course, but the appreciation and expression of balance, wholeness and harmony. Accepting each moment for what it is, and realizing the inherent beauty in the interplay of light and dark, pleasure and pain, life and death. In the individual, embracing and expressing the beauty and authenticity of one’s True Self and True Will.
Strength: Not merely physical strength or even “energetic” strength, such as chi or ond, but also strength of Will, belief, conviction and ethics. The strength to do and say the right thing, even in the face of severe consequences. The strength to be gentle, loving and calm in the face of tragedy, fear and aggression.
Power: A little out of order, as far as I’m concerned, because to me power is the synthesis and interplay of all the other virtues. But we’ll leave it where the Goddess put it!
Compassion: True and mature love for oneself and others, including our non-human brothers and sisters and the “inanimate” manifestations of Gaea. The deep sharing of another’s pain, the desire to relieve it and the willingness to put that desire into action.
Honor: “Say what you mean, mean what you say, do what you say you are going to do.” We often hear that “A Witch’s word is her bond.” Upholding that bond is honor. Being honest with oneself and others is honor. Living up to our commitments is honor. Living by the Rede, the Law of Return or whatever ethical system you embrace is honor. As the Asatruar say, “Reputation is what others say about you. Honor is what you know to be true about yourself.”
Humility: Being “right sized.” Humility is very much misunderstood in the West, and has been warped into a kind of neurotic and obligatory self-abasement by the misapplication of Abrahamic philosophy. Toxic or false humility – “Oh, it’s really nothing. I have no real talent for art!” – is a slap in the face of the God and Goddess who gave us our gifts! True humility is recognizing both our strengths and our weaknesses, and working to cultivate the former and transform the latter. True humility, I have often been told, is looking someone in the eye when they give you a compliment and simply saying, “Thank you.”
Mirth: “Rule 62: Don’t take yourself so seriously.” Mirth isn’t just about getting a case of “the giggles” in the middle of a ritual, nor about singing bawdy filksongs around a festival fire (although these are certainly aspects of mirth). Mirth is about finding and joining in the sheer joy of living, of laughing out loud at the way trees dance in the wind or guffawing at oneself when you realize you have just invoked “the Grateful Dead” instead of “the Mighty Dead.” It’s about realizing that The Joke is on everybody, not just on you, and that it’s a wonderful, blissful, eternal Joke, not a nasty one.
Reverence: Love, awe, respect and veneration for Life, the Gods and ourselves. Gratitude for all the gifts we have been given, and the heartfelt willingness to pass those gifts on to others.
These then, are my nominees for the “Eight Virtues of the Craft;” the short list, if you will. There are obviously other virtues and values that are important in living a decent and fulfilling life in the service of the Lord and Lady, but I can’t help but think, once again, that She wouldn’t have pointed these particular virtues out if She didn’t want us to consider them carefully. I shall be doing that very thing in the days to come.
May you always be beautiful and strong, powerful and compassionate, honorable and humble, mirthful and reverent.
READING THE RUNES
Runes, along with many other forms of divination can be valuable allies. In preparing to do a runecast you are preparing to ask your higher self for answers and assistance. There are many factors to take into account when interpreting a runecast, it takes practice. So, don’t be discouraged if you come up with a few “duds” in your first readings. Because of divinations’ similarity to counceling, I highly recomend that you practice readings on yourself before doing spreads for anyone else. You should prepare yourself before you begin to read or cast the runes. Start by relaxing. Find somewhere free of distractions, and then clear your mind of any unrelated thoughts. It is important to concentrate on your specific question or issue while drawing and casting the runes. Focusing your mind and having a clear intent will greatly enhance the accuracy of your readings. Interpreting a runecast is like telling a story. Your job is to find the characters, themes, events, and advice of the reading. Take as much time as you need to interpret a spread, and pay close attention to all the connections. The times I am most satisfied in the accuracy of my readings are when each rune clearly plays a part in the runecast, or rather when the runecast itself becomes a comprehensable story.
Sometimes the runes will clearly answer your question, and sometimes they will ignore it completely, choosing to focus on other issues instead. Often times these are issues that you knew existed but didn’t want to face. Look within to see if the runes haven’t met the mark. Runes (in divination) work by connecting you to that part of you that is in touch with your subconcious, higher self or that part of you that is in tune with the all. However you want to look at it. Even the most accurate of runecasts can not tell you what is destined to be. They only predict what is likely to happen based on current information. A negative runecast should never be taken as irreversable, you always have the choice to change your situation in life. In divination, runes are used to tell you what path you are currently on. Remember, it is always within your power to keep with or alter that path.
You may use these, or other techniques and rune spreads that you come across. There are an abundance of tarot spreads available, for example, tarot spreads adapt very well to rune divination. You could certainly form your own spreads and techniques for a reading, or maybe incorporate methods from various spreads. Generally, the more runes used in a runecast or spread, the more involved, the reading.
Runes are read either upright or reversed. When casting the runes, it is helpful to have a system of deciding which runes you will consider upright, and which you will consider reversed. I usually interpret all the runes with their top pointing up or to the left, upright; and all the runes that have their top pointing down or to the right, reversed.
RUNE POUCH
Runes are always kept in a pouch. This is for the obvious reason of keeping them together (you should always have 25 runes), and it is also a handy way to carry them around. In the rune readings and runecasts I have included, you will notice instructions to “draw” a rune. Drawing runes directly from the pouch allows the choosing of runes to be done on a subconcious level. (You can’t see them in the pouch.) To enhance the connection to your subconcious, it is suggested that you draw your runes with your passive hand (left hand if you’re a “righty”, and right hand if you are a “lefty”). You may wish to put your name (using the runes) on your rune pouch. Or you may wish to make yourself a new one of a prefered color or size. Feel free to decorate your rune pouch in any way, personal touches on your pouch can only enhance the bond between you and your runes.
Your Rune For Today
Uruz
Uruz is the Rune of harmony, order and inner strength. Often it marks endings and beginnings of periods in our lives. Uruz also symbolizes your ability to tackle new challenges by confronting them with the powers that lie within you. Opportunities probably abound for you right now.
by: Donald Tyson
Runes are the manifest symbols through which rune magic is worked. They can be employed for all of the magical purposes that other magical systems serve, but they possess unique aspects that make them superior for certain uses.
Because they were forged over the centuries in the same creative fire that shaped the pagan gods of the Teutonic peoples, runes are indispensable in magical dealings that involve the northern hierarchy. They are a key that unlocks the powers of these gods, and they are a book that unfolds the secrets of their personalities. Before the rediscovery of runes, the Aesir, lords of Asgard – who number among their ranks Odin, Thor, Tiw, Heimdall, Baldar, Loki, Freyja and Hel – were difficult to integrate into modern ceremonial magic. An elemental wildness distinguishes them from the more civilized gods of Greece and Rome and the abstract, almost technical natures of the angels and spirits of Hebrew occultism. It would be absurd to invoke the Aesir with Hebrew numerology or Greek words. Yet before the rebirth of runes, the magus had little option.
Because runes form the magical language of the northern gods and express the forces upon which those gods are framed, manipulating the runes gives direct control over the actions- not just of the deities but also of the spirits and lesser entities of Norse mythology, which all arose out of the same primeval crucible of mythic archetypes. They are more than just arbitrary symbols chosen to represent occult forces by the Germanic shamans; each rune contains in its structure the same essence that is in the god, spirit, or magical potential to which it corresponds. It is the magical name of that god or natural power. Anyone seeking to contact and communicate with the northern hierarchy – whether for purposes of worship, divination, or active magic – must use the runes. It is possible to invoke the Aesir without runes, but this is akin to driving a nail with a rock when a hammer is sitting within easy reach. It makes no sense. More and more, those with Teutonic roots are seeking to know the gods of their ancestors. Runes are indispensable in building this bridge to the past.
Perhaps because they rested forgotten for so many centuries, the runes remain undiluted by modem skepticism and rationalization. Of all the symbolic tools of magic, they are the most powerful for causing material change in the world. Rune magic makes things happen – often violently, sometimes unpredictably. Most potent physically, rune magic is also most dangerous to the unwary. The elemental powers contained and defined by the runes are not conscious in the human sense, but they possess a type of animation and awareness not unlike the self-awareness of animals, plants, or embodied spirits – a watchful, quick, sometimes malicious awareness that might almost be called mad in its unexpectedness. But madness is a human concept, and the runes are true to themselves and terribly sane.
All types of occult work that seek material change – or transformations on the human level of emotions and urges that are linked to the body – can be fulfilled with rune magic. Rune magic also embraces the spiritual level of the human soul, and great works of the spirit are possible using the runes. The point that should be grasped here is that runes are weighted more toward the physical, tangible end of the scale than any other ancient magical system. It may be that in their beginnings all magical systems were mainly concerned with material change, but it is only the runes that have descended through time in their pristine, primitive state.
Another unique aspect of the runes has to do with their structure. Because they are simple letters that can be carried in the head and inscribed on any surface as easily as the alphabet, they are the most compact and accessible of magical systems. Bulky temple instruments are not needed in rune magic. They can be written anywhere on virtually anything in moments when an emergency arises. No one can ever take the runes away or destroy them; they live in the mind.
In their portability runes resemble the Hebrew letters, which are combined into magical names and words of power based upon the numerical values of the letters in the system of Jewish occultism known as the Kabbalah. At one time each letter of the Hebrew alphabet also had its elemental meaning, independent of its numerical value. But in modern times, the natural powers embodied in the Hebrew letters have largely been forgotten, displaced by the number values.
As is true of the Hebrew letters, the runes can be combined both occultly in numerical and symbolic groupings and phonetically to form words and sentences. The same runes can both embody a magical desire in their combination of elemental potentials and explicitly define that desire in words. These methods complement and support each other, and are frequently encountered together on rune artifacts made for magical purposes. For example, the sixth-century Lindholm amulet of Sweden bears the intelligible inscription of its magician maker: “I am an Herulian, I am called the Cunning One.” But it also bears a string of runes that cannot be translated, because they convey only an occult, not a literal, meaning.
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