Veiled Witch Video Update Time.

 

Please forgive the wild hair. (Hubby calls it my mad scientist look and finds it adorable.) I talk about the mass shooting incident that happened at the next city west of us, rant a bit about Covid-19, and give a general update on how things are going on over here. TL:DR/didn't watch - White supremacists should be classified as terrorist organizations; Covid-19 is still a damn problem, so wash your hands; my brain went 'splody for a bit.

Divination: Rune Study: Sowilo

 Dear Reader,

The rune of the Sun is a problematic rune because of the Nazis. They reinterpreted this rune to mean 'victory' and used it in the emblem of the infamous SS troops. The concept of Sowilo as the rune of victory has lingered in various divination practices. I do not believe that the rune of the Sun is a rune of victory.* (Though in my book on divination, I did note this interpretation because it is shockingly common despite the source.)

The Sun in Germanic and Nordic cultures is a source of comfort, joy, and a sign of Divine will. The existing rune poems from antiquity all agree upon this. Interestingly, the Anglo-Saxon Sigel and Younger Futhork Sol variant of this rune can not be reversed. It is considered to be the direct opposition of the rune Isa. This makes sense when one considers the climates these runes come from and the roles played by that which these runes represent. Sowlio could be argued to be the spark that melted the ice and freed Ymir, Burri, and Aldhumba. 

Sowilo is a rune of primordial light and warmth. It is a rune of hope and liberation.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~
* I do not believe that a single rune indicates victory but rather a configuration of various runes, depending upon the lay out and the situation being examined. Even Nyd can potentially indicate a victory of sorts.

Errands, doctor's appointments, and gardening, oh my!

 Dear Reader,

Today has been a busy day and I'm not even half way through my list of things to do. I am working on getting the apartment cleaned up. I did a little gardening. (I think the Oregano is going to win the turf war with the Vinca Vine in the left hand bed, but who knows. It's still early in the game.) I have to take my son to a doctor's appointment because he got bitten by a tick when he was out hiking yesterday. It's just been super busy.

I will have the rune study post up as soon as possible. Fortunately, the weather has sorted itself out and I'm pretty sure that it will not be a week of migraines like last week. That two day migraine was awful and then one came along two days later because of that shift in the weather. Beloved calls me the human barometer because of this. He's not wrong. LOL

Divination: Rune Study - Tiwaz

 Dear Reader,

This is one of the runes directly associated with a deity. Tyr or Tiw is one of the oldest recognized deities within the Norse pantheon. He is known as the Sky-Father, the god of War, and the god of Justice. He is most famous for having his right hand bitten off by the wolf Fenris when he was bound by the Aesir through trickery.

Unfortunately, this rune has a strong modern association with Neo-Nazis and neo-facism. There is an effort to 'take back' this rune from these groups, but like all grass roots efforts, it is taking time and much of the work is happening behind the scenes. Tyr is a god of warfare and is strongly associated with the protection of warriors. It is for this reason that the rune was taken as part of the regimental logo of the 32nd SS Volunteer Grenadier Division. The Nazi appropriation of the Runic system has left something of a bitter taste in the mouths of all who encounter runes, leading to suspicion when they appear as part of a tattoo or some other form of bodily ornamentation.

One must remember, however, that Tyr is a god of justice and likely cursed the Nazis for their use of his rune in that fashion (and said curse likely continues upon others who do the same). Tyr is also a god of sacrifice for the greater good, which one does not find extolled in the communities that use the runes as short hand for white supremacist ideology. In my experience, Tyr is a humble deity who is very approachable, much like Forseti (another deity of justice). From what I have seen, in dealing with justice situations, Tyr handles the adversarial situations (such as criminal justice cases) where Forseti handles the situations where negotiation and mediation are necessary (such as civil cases).

When this rune appears in a reading, it can indicate a number of things. Upright, it can indicate victory over a current conflict, success in legal matters, and a just outcome in a difficult situation. Reversed, it speaks of sacrifice to maintain status quo, ill turn of luck in legal matters, and a possible miscarriage of justice. This is one of the runes that if pulled for a yes/no question gives a very definite answer. Upright the answer is yes, reversed the answer is a hard no.

What's been going on in my neck of the woods.

 Dear Reader,

I haven't been doing exactly too great over here. The tarot reading business that I was running I had to shut down because the site that I was working with has become too predatory in their approach towards advisors. It's bad enough when the cost of overhead for having a listing is 53% of your income. That was why I shut it down before. Then I came back, raised my prices and said if I had a brick-and-mortar site I was working at, that I'd have a good chunk of income go towards that and swallowed down that uptick (when I started with them, it was 30% of your income). 

The company that I was working with to have that listing changed hands again and they made changes to how they assessed metrics and the policies were punitive to part-time advisors. They were also screwing over people who had been long term (as in working with this place from when it was founded in the late 90s, long term) advisors with changes they were making to internal policies. Thrown on top of this, the company was no longer providing technical support advice via forums that had been set up for it, put the onus for trouble shooting problems with their app on the advisors, and made it practically impossible for you to get ahold of someone to actually address problems on the site for advisors, I had to walk away for good. Especially when they started erasing posts in the advisors only forum where advisors were discussing the challenges faced by policy action and posting a 'notice' (read warning) that only 'uplifting' posts were permitted. Sorry, Friend Computer, but happiness is not mandatory so you can go right to Hel.

I've been in a bit of an emotional tailspin for the last month or so because of this. It's made for a huge change to my daily schedule that I am struggling to cope with. It's further increased my social isolation due to the fact that I live in the boonies and I have a hard time socializing because of my social phobia. It's been a rough couple of weeks, y'all. It also looks like a writing gig that I had set up is falling apart despite the fact that I did a lot of work. It's emotionally really hard to realize that about three years worth of work and emotional investment is ultimately not going to go anywhere.

And then there's the writer's block that I realized was panic that all of my work blogging and writing was futile and a powerful wave of despair. So, in an effort to combat that despair, I am going to resume working on blog posts. I've got more time now. I am also going to get to work on the list of books that were supposed to be done but I was working on that other gig and forgot about those. The books are going to take a while because I have to get my notes in order and transfer stuff from old format to new format and rewrite a bunch of things. That's all before the dreaded editing process.

Next week, I will be back to posting stuff about Runes. We've got six left out of the Elder Futhork to cover and then that series will be finished. I will do a wrap up post that puts all of the links for each rune on it. After that, I haven't decided what direction I am going to go next on the divination front. I have to review what I have up here to see what I have missed. (Side note: sometime late summer <if everything goes according to plan> I will have the condensed version of the handbook for psychics out.)

Practical Witchery: Depression Witchcraft (pt. 3)

 Dear Reader,

It's been rough for a while now over in my neck of the woods. I'm starting to come out of that depressive episode and, boy, is there a mess around here to clean up. Depression can make you neglect things that are important, like self-care. For witches, self-care looks a little different for every witch you meet. One thing that they'll agree on is that regular practice of grounding and centering yourself is important to be on the path to recovery from depression. Now, if you ask 13 witches how to do this, you're going to get 463 answers.

Here's my contribution to that 463 answers.

• Eat or drink something - the act of consuming food and beverages forces one to focus on their body.*
• Sit on the floor or the ground. Then project your energy down through your spine and pelvis into the surface you are sitting on. Allow it to be absorbed and dissipate.
• Take a shower or a bath - this is like the first suggestion and works to get you back to a 'mundane' headspace.*
• Hold a rock or put your hands into dirt. Then project your energy through your arms, out your hands and into the stone or dirt. If you're using a stone, after projecting your energy into the stone, set it on the ground and wait for the energy to dissipate.
• Wash your hands or place your hands in running water
• Hold an ice-cube, for a more intense sensation to focus on place the ice cube in your mouth
• Note five elements of your environment that you see. Repeat the process with your other senses
• Practice the Square Breathing technique: Inhale to a slow count of four, hold your breath to a slow count of four, exhale to a slow count of four. Repeat as necessary.

You may notice that some of my suggestions are classic techniques used to help people with PTSD and other dissociative disorders to refocus on their present situation. These techniques work for people with depression and are struggling to focus. They are also highly effective for helping you let go unwanted energy.

*For people who are bodily dysphoric, these exercises are difficult and I recommend choosing one of the other exercises. Remember, this is supposed to be a gentle exercise to ground unwanted energy and focus you on the present moment.

Addendum: Bodily dysphoria happens for many reasons and to many people. If you are struggling with it, you are not alone. Be gentle with yourself and your body, it is your home on this plane and as special as you are. (And yes you are special and deserve to be happy, healthy, and well.)

Divination: Rune Study - Hagalaz

 Dear Reader,

I first want to apologize for how long it's been since I said I was going to start posting again. The last few weeks have been nothing but chaos. It kind of seems fitting because the next rune is Hagalaz, which is associated with chaos by many diviners. The rune card just sat there lurking beside my laptop as things like my camera quit working for no reason, my allergies suddenly became so bad I thought I had Covid (I didn't, thank goodness!), and my kids went on break from school earlier than was printed in the school calendar. (The school calendar has some misprints in it, like the surprise superintendent's conference day last month.) It's been an interesting time.

Hagalaz translates to the word 'hail'. This is not the greeting but the ice that falls out of the sky and flattens your field of wheat (or busts your car's windshield). Wikipedia has the different variants of how this rune is formed on their page. The rune poems all agree that this rune is discussing hail. In agrarian communities, hail is a big pain in the neck. It can ruin a field of crops, damage equipment, and (if you're caught out in it) injure you or your livestock. This rune is one of the more negative ones in the entire system. It is tied with Nyd and Isa for the amount of misery it predicts.

Hagalaz is also one of the runes that can not be reversed. As one person said: the opposite of chaos is more chaos, not order. Depending on the placement of this rune in a reading, it can mean an immediate challenge that must be endured or a protracted period of difficulty. When you are pulling runes on a yes/no question and this one pops up, the answer to your question is a hard no (this is also true for the runes Nyd and Isa). Either way, this rune portents challenges and hardship where ever it falls. It is my experience that Hagalaz's challenges can not be averted or mitigated as those predicted by Nyd or Isa, only endured.