The next questioning to a god which I've been instructed to share here is one to Óðinn, which I'll preface by resharing the leads from these earlier (very) brief notes for those who've not had their own (knowing) encounter with the Lord of Mysteries. It's in this aspect that the Áss revealed himself for this meeting, perhaps because of these questions' subjects, and given the nature of both questions and answers I'm still a bit startled at being exhorted to share them here. Having learned just a thing or two about what to question and what to trust, I'll wrap up this preface with just a few brief and possibly helpful notes on this particular encounter before leaving the words to lead on to other thoughts for the now-still-more-highly-esteemed Reader(s?) whom I've been assured will be able to recognize exactly what's needed from them.
There are many ways to connect to this Áss of many names, but on this occasion I followed an instinct to connect via the naming ᚢᚦᛁᚾ.
Obviously this entity's communication will come across in a very different tone from that of Athena in the previously shared consultation. I can't 100% say that what's sampled here is completely characteristic, because honestly Óðinn is always full of yet more surprises. I can say that I've never heard him speak exactly like he did in answering these questions at this time, and I've had MANY encounters with this one. While Athena in my more limited personal experience can show some variation from straight-business to affectionately humourous to dramatic-heroic there's still very much a feeling of a *constant* in her bearing and demeanour - with Óðinn you know there has to be some constant under the surface because of how all of his manipulations eventually come together, but I'll be damned if I've quite pinned it down, the Wanderer can show so much variation. It's like the psychic equivalent of a shapeshifter. For a long time I've had an excellent ability to 'feel' the energy of a person or especially a spirit if ever I've encountered them, and recognize them again later even through attempts at deception or changed appearance: obviously if anyone else has fooled me and not let me know I'd remain ignorant, but as far as I'm aware I've always correctly identified everyone's energy signature after a first meeting except somehow for Óðinn (whom I've met more times than I'd like to spend time trying to count) when he wants to disguise himself, although a few times he has revealed this deception after the fact. No idea how he does this, but it's no common attribute, and hopefully goes some way towards describing the extreme subtle complexity of this god even when compared to fellow deities of some note. This is also the main reason why I wanted to reshare these older observations as they relate to his characteristic (with me, and I suspect with other deep students of the runes) though of course still-difficult-to-really-classify mode of communication on occult matters.
7/7 Q: How can I best attain the means and momentum with which to attain my worthiest ambitions in honouring the gods and elevating my people to a noble future?
A: "Nobility is within; in the heart You are and must continue Noble. The Path leads through Darkness to Light, and must be braved. Spiritual Excellence is the pursuit which will propel You. There is precedent for fighting Gorgons. Be silent, and first look within. The Noble Heart."
6/7 Q: What is the pinnacle of Excellence in victorious strategy?
A: "To keep the Circle intact. To *BE* Balance, and to throw off-balance. To be a guarded Temple moving, and to be Moving standing still. To cast the sharpest deadliest spear of the Mind. To *SEE*, not only in a straight line but all around. To be MASTER, and thus to be silent eloquently. To speak with the spear, to the point but not always with warning. To have wings, and see not only from on the Earth. There is more to be developed in this than can be revealed in a mortal lifetime." ...
5/7 Q: What does it mean that You preside over Victory and Crafts?
A: "Victory is a thing crafted: Precision, Skill, Talent, all go into the greatest endeavour. My Crafts are developements in Excellence, in Αρετή. War is an artful Discipline in which are brought together MANY crafts, skills, and perfections. War is the most demanding Craft, and the Crafty are the worthiest Victors. War shows [here was a particular image of the shadow beneath a cast spear, at the same time was the physical sound of a small-calibre high-velocity, probably 5.56mm, gunshot in the distance which my wife heard as well] a golden path to Excellence. Excellence is the Goal, and Craft the skilfull means." ...
4/7 Q: What qualities must I embody in order to achieve my goals both short-and-longterm?
A: "KNOW your Goals - this is a form of Knowing Yourself. Knowing your goals, MOVE towards them. It is so simple. Your own Nature is displayed by your goals, the clues secretly hidden here contain all you will really need. Move towards your Goals, but see the terrain and the situation with open eyes. Behold what you bring yourself as consequences in real time: You call the tune. This must be learned. This will be fully answered by You." ...
3/7 Q: How can I achieve Victory in providing honourably and well for my family's growth and Destiny?
A: "Achieve Victory by *doing* that which is victorious. Stride forth and WIN victories - see, then, how one follows after another, attracted to the light from the Victor. Be in Motion, unfold, look lively - let things follow after in reaction TO you, this is seizing the initiative which together with certain other threads make up the reins of Fate." ...
2/7 My perhaps-overly-fastidious critiques of speaking on mysteries cut short, though, it's still communicated to me that much good is to be gained from some of you reading what you're supposed to read in what follows.
This is a dictation from things spoken (and sometimes unspoken when words weren't quite good enough). The punctuation is an attempt at conveying the same cadence and rhythm of the goddess' speech to me. Arbitrary-seeming capitalization of Certain Words, ALL CAPS, *bracketing* in asterisks, etc. are my own artifice in attempting to convey different levels of emphasis in the tone of the Aegis-wearer's answers. Some of these questions were less general in scope and particularly reference my own selfish concerns, but I'm encouraged to include these as well since the answers are not only fit to be considered in terms of a bigger picture but - it would seem - were also phrased not just in answer to me but in answer to some questions of some of those who would see what I pass along here. ...
1/7 Part II of the 'Matters Spiritual & Secular' essay is taking an impressive amount of time to do properly, as it should: it's not as if those requiring everything in memes and soundbytes will know what to do with that anyway!
In the meantime, I am expressly assured that it's very important I share here this consultation with the goddess Αθηνα from my own spiritual practice. I'm *extremely* reticent when it comes to revealing these things so 'publicly' (yes, this 200-odd-subscriber telegram channel counts as public in this context) for several reasons. Revealing sacred things to the profane (not necessarily talking about any particular readers, but again, 'public') nearly always results in ill even with the best intentions. Even to a spiritual audience, a given spirit's or deity's manner of expression to me on a particular topic will tend to be most tailored to me in the context of my understanding/maturity/experience/lack thereof, and can lead to (innocent) gaps in full contact with the transmission. ...
The beautiful Birch tree! The birch gets its name from its whiteness. From the Old English Beorc – which is itself the name of the Birch rune – ultimately from the root word *bhereg meaning 'to shine' or 'be white'. It is an excellent wood for bushcrafters to know, as it's papery bark burns even when wet. Here in England there are a couple of villages called Birch, and the place names of Bircham and Burcham both derive their names from the Birth tree (Birch-Ham).
The Beorc rune is certainly a special rune for mothers-to-be. The rune is a pictogram of the swollen breast and belly of a pregnant woman. Certainly a rune for the Birch and Birth goddess!
Don't neglect to try birch bark tea at least once, either: strengthening for the immune system, relieving for pain and inflammation, and all with that sweet minty flavour that sees it rendered into birch 'beer' in the same way that sassafras goes to root beer.
Maðʀ, rune of Menn, summation of Ríg's gifts. Full heritage of all the Fólk, ordred according to patrimony. Structure, distinction, also cohesion, the uniting of Head, Hands, Heart. Culture and learning, wisdom passed down, and other tidings from a certain raven pair.
There are many Death cards in many tarot decks, all with different inflections upon the common theme, and in the PGM deck this theme is manifest with the god Άιδης. In most decks the trump cards are more archetypal, and it can be very interesting when reading into this one's god cards with their actual purposeful intelligence and authority over those archetypal levels.
Where this god's calling card appears it can convey ideas of silence/invisibility, of confident waiting for inevitable advantage, of ruthless obsession, of measured hospitality, and of traps well laid. High authority that can go low profile, the actions of one aligned with this energetic pattern are the subtle and secure ones that stem from knowing that the passage of time and the consequences of events all lead to the increase of one's wealth of resource - not necessarily the most showy display but the advance of real power.
Jóʀ: Stallion or Nightmare, Above or Below, Mount of Óðinn or Horse of Hel, this rune speaks of joinings and of partnerships, of that which like steed or fylgja is both a part of and apart from the hero on his quest.
While Reið may see the hero beginning his journey ranging the whole world round, this further iteration in the rune circle can send the seeker venturing higher and farther ranging from the heavens to the underworld itself.
Knowledge is sought by experience here, by going forth to see for oneself, hence this mystery is one not only of intrepidity - but of trust.
The Moon is the Gateway of Dream and Inspiration - also Illusion and Madness. The Moon's power is the power of the Imagination, which can be either a bridge to previously inconceivable Truth or a plunge into the abyss of delusion. In both of these reflexions, the Moon's very cycle of surreal fluxion makes its tides a vivifying force behind and through the world of Nature and of Life.
"To men is imparted a soul emanated from those eternal fires you call stars and luminaries which, round and spherical, quickened by divine spirits, perform their revolutions and perambulate their orbits with an admirable celerity."
3/3 You can reach that Power through *Proto-, as through a veil or layer of mist or smoke. You can also reach that power much more directly through names in Old Norse. I won't pretend to know why, but I can tell you (and this should be the number one criterion it should go without saying) that IT WORKS. Again, so does calling everything *-az instead of -ʀ, but one of these *works MUCH better.*
Now we get to an interesting point, that even though some of these runes like Fé will see us on solid ground for a project like this, others (particularly in Hagallsætt) are much trickier to call an Old Norse name *within the limitations of mere scholarship* without eventually having to make a choice that must be considered by the materialists to be quite arbitrary (perhaps even as arbitrary as materialists bothering with such a topic).
This is where good old fashioned divination and spirit communication must lead our way: for those of us, that is, for whom these things must be living rather than wholly classifiable.
2/3 You can have very real contact with the runes themselves (on some level) through the variously contended theories for more ancient names, even those that are wrong - if you yourself provide the 'right'. This is exactly how I first pathworked the Elder Fuþark over ten years ago, and while there is always so much more to learn from the runes it was absolutely a life-changeingly powerful initiation to live through.
However.
I challenge you, those doomed to take up the runes, to weigh and to test whether there is a better way of working.
This isn't the part where I describe Elder Fuþark as being a 'better' rune row than English Fuþork: I've had it from Óðinn himself that far more important than the 'choice' between them (at least for me?) is to simply commit and stick through learning whichever system was begun.
What I mean is that in working the Elder Fuþark, there is good reason for my present practice of using Old Norse names: you can simply tell the difference in clarity and Power called. ...
1/3 It may be noted that even when describing runes of the Elder Fuþark I'll tend to use names in Old Norse rather than either attested or even (educated but) hypothetical Proto-Norse or Proto-Germanic (Fé instead of *Fehu, etc). Those more formally educated in the (current) academic understanding may be struck by the anachronism of this, and I'm always interested in the (present state of the) archaeology, but ultimately I'm not out to be most 'academically correct' (explicitly material facts appreciable to the uninitiated) so much as I am to truly Know the Runes through magick and divination (implicitly fathomed realities made known to those seeking more deeply).
I won't tell you that using hypothetical reconstructions (impressively educated guesses) of Proto-Germanic won't get you results with the runes, if you're made of the right stuff (most painfully short abbreviation of Rígsþula yet?). ...
Bjǫrk, of Dark and Light aspect, both Jǫrð's and Freyja's rune, sings of spirit in Nature in birch-tree form. Natural nvmen, this sprightly sprout of the North is first to return in the forest fire's wake. Rejuvenation, fertility, and growth through Nature's seasons are the fair gifts of this mystery.
Feminine power of Life, raw and sometimes terrifying strength of Mother Nature - yet also the tutelage leading to wisdom, self improvement, and other less immediately tangible buddings of Growth.
Śáktic, the mysterious Force behind Form in Nature, beautifully living and breathing union of physical and spiritual.
