For the week of 25 April 2021
The settling

Mannaz is the half-month rune through 29 April. Eihwaz is the intuitive rune, Ansuz reversed indicates Detachment’s message to us, and the owl occupies Spring. Read right to left is Mannaz, Eihwaz, then Ansuz reversed.
The Elder Futhark runic calendar provides to humanity keys for how we live in season with All Things. Through #theweeklyrune I share the Futhark’s insight on how to live better as animists, to make better choices based on keen insight into the present, and to help each of us be more active in creating a better life for us all. That realization includes living with All Things as family, learning to tend what can’t just be fixed, and using every tool at our disposal to do so. The runes are such a tool, and in the Old Norse tradition, this process is wyrdweaving at it deepest potential. The runes provide one way that we can create ourselves as fit elders, so that upon our good death, we can be well Ancestors.
This is the free version of The Weekly Rune. Get the full benefit of the ad-free, detailed version every Sunday, by joining my private runes community at Patreon.
The paid runecast includes:
- more detail
- ad-free
- the current runes’ impact on human life force
- insights on how to best manage the curves and twists therein
- introspective prompts to nuance and tend self-work
- galdr of the runecast, with sound files and instruction on how to use each sound
- live video sessions
- runic insights, book excerpts, release news, free classes
- optional services with me
- discounts on soul tending services
What’s a half-month rune?
“Half-month” is an astronomical concept in which each month is divided into two parts: days 1-15, then 16-month’s end. In terms of the runic calendar, each half-month rune is one of the 24 runes of the Elder Futhark, and governs for a tad over two weeks (14 and 1/4 days, or a fortnight).
Learn More
The Weekly Rune is a three-rune cast. Those runes are the half-month, the intuitive rune, and the overview. The half-month is a set rune, which for the most part follows the traditional ordering of the Elder Futhark. The intuitive stave (meaning, I draw it blind) indicates the life force most available to us, to the focus of the half-month rune into sharper focus. It suggests how we can best handle the half-month energies. The final rune (also drawn blind) provides a high overview of the current time, and speaks from different voices. These voices have been Nature, Earth, Creation, though are sometimes others. I note who’s speaking each week, as it is revealed.
New to The Weekly Rune?
- Catch a couple of my IGTV videos, which explain the intention and process behind the runecast, and what makes it different from other ways of casting.
- Listen to my What in the Wyrd podcast, which is available across all popular podcast platforms, including Google Play and iTunes.
- A few people have asked the reason that I switch between different rune sets for TWR. The short answer is: because. The more nuanced answer is, I ask which sets wants to speak each week. I don’t assume the same elements are in play according to the timing of the runes; I also don’t assume the same elements of my runes are appropriate to speak each week. I did a podcast on this subject, so there’s more info there. (See above)
- Also, for deep work on coming into relationship with the runes in season, check out my book, Runic Book of Days.
The Runecast
The runes of the last few weeks have been very affirming and supportive. This week’s are as well, though they also come with the message of tending what we put forward. Since December Solstice we’ve carefully allowed our inner cosmology to rebalance and level, and in doing so have shifted how we experience ourselves. Through Mannaz we have been given the opportunity for witnessed and heard acknowledgement of this shift within community. A nuance of Mannaz is to bring forward new consciousness in community that can hold space for it well. While wonderful, inner shift generates external change, even in other people. Our ability to hold space for that change is the focus this week.
Learn more about this seasonal progression, and how to draw its insights into the personal spiritual path in Runic Book of Days.
What does it mean?
The outcome of the contortion and gymnastics we’ve done over the last few months to be true to an emerging version of self now lies at the feet of those we most trust. Yes, we’ve done the really hard inner work. Yes, we honored the season of Mannaz and presented this new reality of ourselves to whomever could meet it well. Metaphorically speaking, this is that awkward point in the fuller Futhark narrative that somewhere in the second aett, we–while gliding through doing our happy dance–have collided into someone else doing theirs. This engagement isn’t an accident or mindless result. Rather, it’s intentional, wanted, and timely. As well, the interaction isn’t likely to look like an altercation at all. More likely, everybody’s fine and still more or less dancing. What comes of owning this new version of self together is the sticky, messy space left after truths are divulged, and another new version of self is beginning. Read more…
For more insight into the runes, tending your unquiet dead and Ancestors, and cultivating a strong spiritual path
join my community Runes for Change.
For suggestions on how to weather the season gracefully, subscribe to my private runes community on Patreon.
#beyourcommunity

S. Kelley Harrell, M. Div.
I’m an animist, author, deathwalker and death doula. For the last 25+ years, through Soul Intent Arts I’ve helped others to ethically build thriving spiritual paths as fit, embodied elders, who upon death become wise, capable Ancestors. My work is Nature-based, and focuses soul tending through the Elder Futhark runes, animism, ancestral healing, and deathwork. I’m author of Runic Book of Days, and I host the podcast, What in the Wyrd. I also write The Weekly Rune as a celebration of the Elder Futhark in season. Full bio.
#beyourcommunity ~ #youareecosystem
elder well, die well, ancestor well
Elder Well
To bear your unique gift to the world.
Die Well
To leave the planet better than you found it.
Ancestor Well
So that your descendants never elder alone.