For the Week of 11 February 2024

Us-all (and the Uncomfortable Galdr)

Algiz is the half-month rune through 12 February, at which point Sowilo moves to the fore until 27 February. The intuitive rune is Hagalaz. The earthly spirit of place anchoring the runes this week is Tree (carved Yggdrasil), in the direction of Beyond (Earth marble), with element Stone (amber chips), in the season of Spring (tree button). The Beyond-earth support comes from Source (pyrite sun).  From right to left are Algiz above (carved, polished Amethyst), Sowilo below, then Hagalaz.

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Algiz usually comes in as this fundamental reminder that we are supported and protected by ecosystem, that we are Nature. This cycle’s experience brought tones of that, for sure. The framing runes gave it a bit more bass though, along the lines of what we need to do to support ecosystem, what’s required on our end from them so that they sustain the fortitude to help us human well. Algiz has been a study in how Nature helps us tend it well, which in turn means we are all animisming well.

Our time with Algiz has not been without tension, particularly the bits prodding us to get our inner worlds aligned with our outer expressions. As we slip into Sowilo later this week that message takes an interesting turn, the joyful likes of which we haven’t seen in the runecast in a long time.

Sowilo is the rune of paying it forward. It means sun, the center of our solar system, from which most of life on Earth springs. There are some burrowing and sea creatures who don’t need the sun to survive, but we do. Surface dwellers need the light it gives, and Sowilo is our celebration of that life, its source, and everything that shapes within that relationship. As a child of darkness, where I find Sowilo actually warming is in its animistic projection that we, too, are life-givers. We, too, can be suns who light ourselves and others to great warmth and all the fuzzy blessing that comes with it. The sun shines on us so that we may shine on others.

Where I hear this differently than I would in another cast or at another time is how lonely the last year or so has been, spiritually speaking. So many folx I work with–including myself–have been deeply searching for Ally kinship, digging deep in the trenches of our unconscious to be who we say we want to be, to learn who we already are. We’ve set a precedent for staying with that work, despite the loneliness, lack of direction, and big-soul community. And we’ve done it. We’ve put on our big human-person agency and shown up to those needs, largely on blind faith and a lot of regulating against forces that would have us do otherwise.

This runecast, this visit with Sowilo, affirms that we’re not alone in it. Our efforts are seen, even if we can’t conceive of that right now. The Sowilo agency of putting Self in the hard place and choosing to find something bright to leave something right has already begun paying forward on our collective trajectory, and that’s what we’ve been working toward the most over the last 3-4 years.

Algiz in relationship with Hagalaz forms a sort of container of protection. With Algiz we have the ecosystem relationships as protection. With Hagalaz we have the shove toward adaptation. The unity with ecosystem doesn’t stop potential for hard change, but it does leave us less bruised by it. When held in community, we’re not the only one taking the blow, digging out. For the remainder of Algiz we are not out of the woods of adversity, but we’re not alone in the woods. Literally.

In the Sowilo-Hagalaz relationship that moves in on Tuesday, that same idea applies, but broadens. Sowilo brings in our true capacity to use our wisdom, experience, and skills to pay-it-forward, within the context of how we elder, how we tend our presence here. The abrupt daze that occurs with Hagalaz is lightened up with Sowilo. The implication is that we can endure, and we can also still be of service. And through that service we retain our humanity, even in very trying times.

The transition from Algiz into Sowilo lightens things considerably, particularly given the emphasis on us doing a lot of deep inner cosmology work, for months. We’ve had our feet to the fire stitching together unconscious and conscious selves for months. This gradual externalization of our focus brings relief and also less intensity. And in a lot of ways, it reminds us of hope, and how we have to hold space for it to blossom.

For the second week in a row–which is incredibly unusual–the direction best holding space for us this week and most able to protect it is Beyond.  Beyond/All Things is the container of all that we know and beyond. It is the direction of sacred order. It’s the realm of Watchers, Norns, Multiversal Jotnar who caretake the machinations of all life. Given that, it can also be the microbes, the mitochondria, the bacteria. It’s not just Out There, but the nthere strata of communities within our bodies, all of whom are part of the managerial oversight that aligns with respect for all life at all levels. Beyond is the direction of Source.

Stone as the element in residence offers slowness, steadfastness, timelessness. It can’t not be embodied. There’s no rushing Stone, in either its formation or its degradation. Both processes only shift it from one form to another. It still remains. What’s significant with Stone is that it is resonant. It’s not just sitting there doing nothing. It picks up on vibrations, is shaped by other elements, flavored by various minerals, embellished by ecosystem. It adjusts to suit the environment, albeit on its own terms and timing. Working with Stone for transmutation demands patience and slowness from us, yet also diligence in seeing the transformation through to the end–well after the thrill of change has worn off.

Spring, the season whose energy we can best draw upon, the lightness of which presents new growth, creativity is also the seasonal point that human-persons can more safely venture beyond their own thresholds–utangardr–return to the forest. The space that Spring holds is one of opportunity to verge outward and explore new territory.

So, all of that, right? All of that support, plus what we’ve been conjuring within and around ourselves over the last couple of weeks, and the Beyond-Earth Ally walking directly with us this week is Source. What does Self call the animating life force of All Things, the creator, the original, the first? Because that’s what is whispering to us directly this week. Skip the Allies. Skip the ecosystem. Skip whatever it is that’s been holding everyday life together by a thread, because Source is in the runecast this week as focused Beyond-earth Ally.

Before we get to that–the directions came in differently this time when I called them in, and what was evident right away was a clearer felt sense of what the directions are and what they bring. It was apparent in this cast that the directions are the earthly foundation of the weave. They are what hold it so that we can human, and they know this. They do it with intention. I felt this awareness needs to become part of how I call in directions going forward.

Also what was different with the directions coming in for this runecast was unfettered Source. Source is in every runecast, every Ally, every ecosystem. But we can’t often parse the tremendousness of that awareness or such a presence on an everyday level. And so we start small. We animism local with the grass, the streams, and the warm breeze that turns cold by nightfall. Because that’s how humans work best: with what’s right in front of us, supported, resourced, and engaged. That said, Source came in with no preamble, no pretense, and it was a direct statement on the muzzy Ally connections of the last few months. Years, really. 

Source as the Beyond-earth Ally was a clear statement that we are tended, big, small, stressed, exhausted…  We are tended. We are part of and in sacred order, and what seeks to interfere with our awareness of that is all middle men, for lack of a more colloquial term. It’s white noise in an otherwise clear and evident signal. 

In my cosmology Source is that not-so-easily-definable creator that is also the force created from, the question that’s not answerable, the beginning that is also before itself…  However Self acknowledges that life force, feel it in life, this week cut straight to it. We don’t have to omit our usual ecosystem acknowledgements and relationships. Rather, as we honor them, also make space for Source, specifically. Name it, as much as is possible. Allow it, Be it. Dance it. Sing it. This is a week of revelry on a spiritual level. It’s a respite we haven’t had in a long time, and a significant moment to enjoy being Self among all of this….  life. All of this crazy, beautiful, frightening, overwhelming life.

Tree as the helping spirit on the ground with us taps into expansive memory, roots that grant us incredible power over time. It speaks to having and realizing a strong foundation, which helps us gather our scattered energies. In several cosmologies (including ON) humans were made from trees. Tree is a centralized organization of the pluriverse for a reason: it draws on the unseen energies above and the deep, nutritive density below, even as it uses both to create habitable space for Earth life. For us-all. Between life-giving sun (Sowilo) and Tree in this runecast, the memo is cellular, energetic support all around, and literally all through us.

We are Source.

Half-month Rune Prompts

• How do you observe Source in your cosmology?

• What rituals and ceremonies help you feel connected to Source?

Galdr

The way that I use galdr is through chanting. I find repetition of the base phonetic helps me feel the rune. Remember that the Elder Futhark isn’t a language. It was originally an alphabet, incorporated into mythical origin. It functions phonetically, both in spelling and pronunciation. Given that, galdr isn’t terribly different from the overall pronunciation, and the emphasis is on the intention of the chant, not so much the pronunciation.

My personal emphasis in galdr is on the vowels initially and I incorporate the consonants later. For instance, with Ansuz, I focus on ‘ahw-oo,’ before incorporating the middle ‘n,’ such as ‘ahwnsoo.’ There is no right or wrong with galdr (although I guess there could be a flat-out wrong?), though often the final consonants aren’t pronounced, as in ‘ahwsoo.’ Practice galdring different ways, and go with the way that you feel in your body.

• Algiz – Elhaz or Eolh, Awl, Awlyee, Ail, Ailhaw, Ailha, Elha, Elhwa

• Sowilo/Sowilu – Soh, Sohl, Sohwi, Sohli, Sig

• Hagalaz – Haw, Hawga, Hah, Hahg, Hahgal

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S. Kelley Harrell, M. Div.

Kelley Harrell is an animist, author, deathwalker, and death doula held by Tuscarora, Woccon, and Sissipihaw land. For the last 30 years, through Soul Intent Arts she’s helped others ethically build thriving spiritual paths. Her work is Nature-based, and centers soul tending through the Elder Futhark runes, animism, ancestral tending, and deathwork. She hosts the podcast, What in the Wyrd, and also writes The Weekly Rune as a celebration of the Elder Futhark in season. Work with her in the Runes for Change community or in her intensive soul tending training, The Spirited Path.  Full bio.

#beyourcommunity ~ #youareecosystem

elder well, die well, ancestor well

@kelleysoularts

Ancestor Well

So that your descendants never elder alone.