I'm Overwhelmed

Everyone feels overwhelmed at one point or another and it can happen for any number of reasons.  A single thing or lots of little things at once can overwhelm us.  What I ask the Runes this week is how to manage this feeling and get back on our feet.  Two of the Runes from last week made a follow up appearance today, joined by a Rune I don't draw very often.

Hagalaz sets the stage.  This makes perfect sense.  The Rune of hail and disruption is the perfect representation of being overwhelmed.  Hailstorms leave everything they hit looking beaten and ragged.  Similarly, we certainly feel like our lives have been disrupted when something overwhelms us.  The second part of the picture painted by Hagalaz is that, once we find our footing again, we feel better and more energized, nourished by our ability to repair the initial damage of the hail.  This second part is what's coming.

Our other Rune from last week offers this week's challenge - Algiz, the Rune of self-defense and protection.  Somewhere along the line, we stopped doing this, stopped looking out for ourselves.  Perhaps we have taken on too much, because we can't say 'no'.  Maybe something caught us completely off-guard and knocked us to our knees.  Any number of things could have put us in this situation, but the ultimate reason we are here is because we left ourselves open to whatever is overwhelming us right now.  We need to alter our situation so that we feel empowered and able to put ourselves back into a manageable situation.  But how?

Thurisaz, the Rune of giants or thorns is the required action.  New Age interpretations relate it to Thor and call it a gateway.  If this is so, we must think of Thor - fierce temper (easily lost, but just as easily regained), strongest of all the gods  - and ponder what it means to have such power as he possesses.  Contemplating this puts us at a gateway which requires thought before action, thought before stepping through said gateway.  Our traditional interpretation of this Rune is less clear, as the Rune poems don't agree on the meaning of this Rune and there is no mention of Thor in them.  Despite the different meanings in the poems, the bottom line agreement around Thurisaz is that it is a Rune of focused power, standing in contrast to our current situation.  Presently, the overwhelmed sensation we're experiencing makes us feel powerless.  What Thurisaz says is that it is time to take the reins and unleash the focused power that we possess, but have lost site of.  Doing this allows us to overcome the things that have created our sense of being overwhelmed.

I am ready to unleash the power if you are.  Shall we do it together?