For the week of 18 July 2021
The Necessity of Letting Go NOW

Uruz is the half-month rune through 29 July. Berkana (Berkano) reversed is the intuitive rune, and Nauthiz indicates Breathe’s message to us. The bones were not present for this cast. Read right to left is Uruz, Berkana reversed, then Nauthiz.
The Weekly Rune Free Audio Blog - Uruz for the Week of 18 July 2021
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.
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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
As we are solidly in Uruz, we come face-to-face with our primal unconsciousness. If we take a few moments and honor Ancestor Audhumbla, how she created herself into being, we find in ourselves that same thread of tenacity, creativity, and drive to do what must be done for the community. The timing of Uruz alongside the push to return to normal in many corners of the world presents unique tension and opportunity, both of which are well-outlined in this week’s cast.
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?
I’m starting backwards with the runecast this week, in that I’m going straight to the voice of Breathe. Over the last year of trauma and seeing how we’re in relationship with harmful systems, we’ve had to learn to self-soothe. We’ve had to learn to be in our bodies with intention amidst very difficult anxiety, when our bodies didn’t feel like a safe place to be, and when our bodies weren’t protected by greater systems. Yet we breathed.
In the Old Norse tradition, breath was divine. It was Önd, and originated from Odin. Breath was multiversal life force moving through us, enlivening us so that we could do the things that must be done for ourselves, communities, and callings. Breath was the meeting point of elements and divinity, and looking at this simple autonomic process can still go a long way to remind us that we are connected to All Things. It reminds us that we are walking alchemy, and for the challenges of this next few weeks, we will need that alchemy to meet what lies ahead in the later part of the year. 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.