For the week of 13 February 2022

Embodied Agency

Sowilo (Sowilu, also Sól, and Old English Sigel) is the half-month rune through 27 February. With the Owl rattle looking on, we have Eihwaz as the intuitive rune. Raidho reversed indicates Broken’s message to us, and the fossilized Mosasaur tooth occupies autumn. Read right to left is Sowilo, Eihwaz, then Raidho 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:

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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

Over the last few weeks, the runecasts have brought repeated messages around vulnerability, caution, and risk. The theme of these has been something akin to fragility, in that no matter how hard we work to hold embodiment, being in form is challenging, and the systems we live among are flat-out threats to it. This week we move into half-month Sowilo, marking the end of the second aett. It’s a point of triumph of moving through another seasonal teaching around what it means to be embodied, moving among other human-persons doing the same, dealing with the same or even harder challenges to do so. As we’ve discussed many times, each aett ends on a high note, and Sowilo truly is a supportive light. The framing runes and bones, however bring in another kind of caution.

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?

In traditional translations, Sowilo means sun. It is both the star that generates much of the life on Earth and the force behind it. Thus in my relationship with it, Sowilo is about that act of acknowledging the force that gives us life and also the potential to find meaning in it, which enables us to support the lives of others, both human-persons and other-than-human-persons. The implication of Sowilo is that by the time we reach it in the Futhark progression, we’ve gained not just momentum with our agency, but focus. We’ve learned how to apply intention, focus action, and work the alchemy of manifestation to some degree. This week’s cast discusses what that process looks like in the current climate of pandemic, evolution of Earth, and direction of humanity. Read more…

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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.

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Originally published on Soul Intent Arts.

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

@kelleysoularts

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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.

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