Yule Wishes

Whether you celebrate Yule or Christmas or Hanukkah or another holiday at this special time of year, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for reading my blog.

I celebrate multiple holidays between now and the end of December, some with friends and some with family.  But it is Yule, which occurs on the solstice, that is the holiday I link to my spirituality for many reasons.

I did a three-Rune draw for the solstice and want to share it with you along with my best wishes for the coming year!

Please remember that you can always email me if you have any questions or would like your own personal reading.

 The Runes I drew were Laguz, Perthro, and Berkana.  They address the simple question: What Runes will you give me to share for the Solstice?

I like these Runes, because they answer the question as simply as it was asked and lend themselves to moving into the new year in a thoughtful and positive way.  They seem to say relax and enjoy yourself.  Have fun with friends and family and prepare for the new year to begin.  Perhaps, most importantly, in this draw there exists a strong sense of optimism, which I hope we can all carry with us into and throughout the new year.

Laguz has always been a bit perplexing to me, because as the water Rune it represents fluidity and flexibility (go with the flow), but it also beckons the mysteries that lie within the depths of the water, which may also be advice to look deeper into things and into ourselves.  This may be great chance to take some time to reflect, think more about what we want for ourselves and how we might get it, and prepare to go into the new year strong, happy, and committed to your goals.  At the same time, this time of year can be very festive and a good opportunity to enjoy time with friends and family.

I think that is why Laguz is followed by Perthro.  For me, Perthro represents social gatherings, the perfect Rune for this time of year.  It is a time to gather with loved ones, to relax and have fun, play games and eat and drink.  Plus, being with family and friends can provide support to make looking more deeply at our hopes and dreams easier and more productive.

Berkana as the last Rune is quite encouraging too, because it signifies beginnings.  It can represent the fact that a new year is starting and with that new year comes hope and maybe optimism about what we can accomplish in the next twelve months.  It can be a fresh start or a chance to begin again.  How ever you decide to approach 2017, I hope you have a wonderful year!

Remember, the Runes are always here for you!

See you next year.

Connecting on the Solstice

On this, the longest day of the year for us northern hemisphere dwellers, I sit in my living room looking out the window at a cloudy, rainy day.  This image does not immediately beckon the ideas I like to associate with this day - our summer solstice - but it does connect me to Earth in a similar way.  Rain, just like the sun, nourishes the planet and is required for our most basic survival.  Given this perspective, I asked the Runes what they would like to share with me about this day.  What they presented relates to the way we look at things.

Berkana coming first was very interesting to me.  It is the birch Rune, associated with beginnings, creativity, and birth.  Perhaps this ties into new perspectives, looking at things in new ways.  Just as I am getting a new perspective on the solstice, experiencing things that we know from a new or different view point can change or enhance the way that we understand them.  This can pertain to how we view and acknowledge this day to anything and everything else in our lives.  Simply put, this may be the perfect opportunity for us to gain some fresh perspectives on which we can build and doing it without expectation.  Instead of expecting something to be a certain way, use an. "I wonder," approach to see it differently.

Having Hagalaz, the hail Rune, follow Berkana reinforces this line of thought for me.  Hail contains a process that I have mentioned before.  Destruction or upheaval is the first part; when hail strikes, it can damage even destroy crops and property if it hits hard enough.  A new perspective on something can create problems as well, depending on how dramatic the shift in perception is.  In a way, we are reminded that change is uncomfortable, but with time, we adapt, adjust, and ideally embrace what we have come to understand based on our new perception.  I might even go so far as to call this personal growth.  Notice that I didn't say that we agree with it.  The focus is more on creating a more holistic understanding of things than blind acceptance of them.

Two years ago when I posted Runes for the Solstice, Mannaz immediately followed Berkana. Drawing Mannaz here, though it makes similar sense intuitively as it did back then, is more challenging to explain.  What this gets to is the hope that, once we finish the process of Hagalaz, that we will reap the benefits of this new perspective and that the realization will have an overall positive influence on us as individuals, but also as we participate in the larger human experience.

Whether acknowledging and celebrating the solstice today or likening this insight into another aspect of our lives, we can carry this idea or ideal with us and see if we can find that new perspective, build on it in a positive way, and and keep that positive energy moving forward.