For the week of 22 November 2020
Deathwalking for Flow

Nauthiz is the half-month stave through 28 November. Laguz is the intuitive rune, and Fehu indicates Death’s message to us. Read right to left is Nauthiz, Laguz, then Fehu.
I truly believe that #theweeklyrune includes the keys to making better choices based on keen insight into the present, to help each of us be more active in creating a better life for us all. That realization process includes learning to tend what can’t just be fixed, and using every tool at our disposal. 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 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
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- 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
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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
Having been called to tend Sacred Tension last week with Nauthiz, this runecast encourages us to make that an ongoing practice. Or, for those on the animist page, to tend that relationship continuously. In light of Collapse and being in the gap between what used to be and what’s coming, our skills at riding the wave of what is and how it shifts beneath us are paramount.
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?
Nauthiz is a tricky place to be. Somewhat of a crossroads, it’s a point that we have enough info to realize we have to make a choice or take an action to advance along a track. However, we ‘re stuck in knowing what’s needed. We can’t make the choice; thus, we can’t progress. Where Hagalaz brought this experience of an outer interjection of change, Nauthiz points to an internal stuckness. In that respect, they’re almost the total opposites. For that reason, Nauthiz is the point in the Futhark that we start to suss out our needs. In life we really can’t make a move unless or until we know what need it will meet.
But of course, that way of tuning in and listening to what the inside says is best for our outside is not the way we do things in western culture. Most of us have built up a lifetime of casualties from making moves without an aligned inner and outer. And that very dynamic is what the framing runes in this cast address. 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.