For the week of 3 March 2019
The New Direction
Tiwaz is the half-month stave through 14 March. Berkana (Berkano) reversed is the intuitive rune, and Fehu indicates Nature’s message to us. Read right to left is Tiwaz, Berkana reversed, 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 reality for us all. That realization process includes learning to tend what can’t just be fixed, and using every tool at our disposal to accomplish that. The runes are such a tool, and in the Old Norse tradition, this process is wyrdweaving at it deepest potential.
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, the half-month rune is based on the Elder Futhark, and governs for a tad over two weeks (14 and 1/4 days, or a fortnight).
As we experience a shift between the half-month runes this week, the energies subtly reflect a change in focus.
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 are usually 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 transition from Sowilo to Tiwaz has been fraught with internal tension. We’ve spent the last few weeks of the runecast and podcast talking about the transition from the second to the third aett, specifically that Sowilo makes very personal demands regarding identifying fragility and standing in our power. This week we continue exploring those depths from a very different stance.
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?
Tiwaz is a tough rune for most people. They see it and tension lines their faces, because they know the battle they’re feeling is real, that they will have to sacrifice something to turn its tide, and face the uncertainty of that transition. I am someone for whom Tiwaz is relief.
Tiwaz translates to Tyr, or Tuisto, gods of ancient Norse and Germanic cultures, who are associated with battle and sacrifice.We can strip their story down and say that every civilization falls, thus gives way to some evolution of being, or we can read it as, sooner or later we are call called to show up for community. However we choose to relate to their narratives, the moral of both stories is the sacrifice of self, and the deep realization that the only way forward is… not what we’re doing right now.
Tiwaz is gut stuff. It’s hard-won legitimacy and cherished calling. It’s everything we’ve defined ourselves by. The battle may be external in origin, though the real conflict is internal, in realizing the current trajectory isn’t working, and that the only person who can change it is ourselves. And of course upon that realization, we must actually change it. We must find and go with Plan B, though in order to be able to do that well, we have to let Plan A go. Therein lies the grief that holds up the whole process.
Berkana reversed gives commentary on that dynamic in the form of reframing focus on what is, rather than on what could be. Now is not the time for fantasy or imaginative flights. Reversed, Berkana is saying, point blank, that we’re not on the right track, and to get there we have to allow the change in narrative that’s guiding us from the inside. The newsflash, again, is that the narrative has already changed. We’re just refusing to acknowledge that fact. We’re refusing to live it out. And the longer we belabor that refusal, the further we get from the success of Plan B.
Because that’s what at the end of Tiwaz. We get so stuck in the grief process of letting heartsong go, of tending the fragility of sacrifice, that we can’t see what lies beyond that process. Beyond that horizon is life. It’s strength, stamina, it’s new resources, an improved playing field, community. In short, it’s victory.
Fehu, prosperity, from the voice of Nature, reminds us that the tendency of energy is to continue. In whatever iteration, manifestation, dynamic–all goes on. Sometimes profitability isn’t in what we make off of something, but in how it sets us up to continue producing.
This week we are challenged to change direction, and to, through the grief of doing so, remember the new route serves us all, better.
For suggestions on how to do that gracefully, subscribe to my private runes community on Patreon.
