Runes for Malala

Two weeks ago, I wrote a Runes 201 entry about Tiwaz, the warrior Rune.  In that post, I expressed what a warrior is - essentially, someone who stands up for others, for what is right and just, and for him/herself.  Having written that though, I have always struggled to identify a true warrior or hero like that.  Without fail, when people have asked me who my heroes are, who I admire, I have come up largely empty.  There are some people I respect and whose efforts and accomplishments I appreciate, but a hero?  A true warrior?  Honestly, I've never had one, until now.

The day after I wrote about Tiwaz, after I explained what a real warrior is, an amazing young woman (only 14-years-old), named Malala Yousafzai, was shot in the head in Pakistan by members of the Taliban.  They shot her, because she was an activist for the rights of girls to get an education.

After surgery to remove the bullet, she was stabilized, then flown to a hospital in England to receive specialized care her recovery requires.  I learned last night that, though she is still not "out of the woods", Malala is standing, writing, and snuggling a teddy bear.  This girl is my hero.  She epitomizes a real warrior.  She is standing up for girls everywhere, fighting for what is fair and just - namely their right to an education - and, most importantly, she is standing up for herself both literally in recovering from the attempt on her life and figuratively in fighting for her right to attend school.

So today, for Malala, for my hero, and for standing up to injustice, I give you these three Runes:

Eihwaz - the Rune of the yew tree, of stability and toughness; it comes in handy in battle

Dagaz - the Rune of day, of clarity, and awareness; it sheds light on issues to educate

Hagalaz - the Rune of hail, of creative and destructive forces, and a new phase; it depicts a reality where things that are bad, initially, improve and progress positively


Thank you, Malala, for being a true warrior.

Temporary Runes

Once again, I am away from my usual computer on a posting day.  I will add the images when I return, but for now, I ask the question, "Did you forget something?"  This question is quite relevant this week, as I am also away from my Runes.  In all honesty, I forgot them.  So, my question to the Runes this week is - what do I do when I need something that I don't have?

Before I could address this question, I had to make a temporary set of Runes to use.  I divided a piece of paper into 24 even rectangles, then asked for a blessing from the gods (Odin, Heimdall, Freyr) so that I could write the Runes on the paper and they would be imbued with temporary power to offer guidance.  Once the blessing was sorted, I drew the Runes onto the paper rectangles.  Once they were done, I asked the gods for their guidance with the process, since I was working with temporary Runes.

My temporary Runes.  (Photo added 8/13/2012)

Fehu, Hagalaz and Isa offered the guidance to this question.  This was a difficult draw to interpret, but after some thought, I realized that, through the process of making my temporary Runes, I had accomplished my goal.

Fehu is the Rune of wealth.  From a strictly historical perspective, this referred to cattle or money.  However, we must think of wealth as having many potential definitions in today's world.  In this instance, I believe it means a wealth of resources.  For example, my problem was that I didn't have my Runes with me, but the solution lay within many possible choices.  I could have waited until I got back to my office, but that would have delayed my post, so I opted not to choose that path.  I have a very good friend that has a set of Runes.  I could have called her and asked her to draw the Runes for me.  Although I may try this one at some point in the future, I decided I wanted to fend for myself so to speak and not ask for her help.  In thinking of wealth as available resources, I thought of the simplest way to acquire a set of Runes without buying new ones, which was another option.  Thus, I made my temporary set out of a sheet of paper.  That is the perfect overview of this situation.

As is common, Hagalaz challenged me in this draw.  The Rune of hail, of destructive and creative force, is a good challenge.  How can we take a seemingly bad situation and turn it into a good one?  We get creative.  Not having my Runes was a challenge and could have thrown off my weekly posts, but, by being creative, I overcame the challenge that was threatening my plans.

The first two Runes took me a while to reason out, but as soon as I looked at Isa, I knew I had taken the right action.  The Rune of Ice encourages us to exercise caution, for while ice is beautiful, it can cause us to lose our footing quite easily.  This Rune is sometimes referred to as the Rune of standstill (which I used early on in my posts), but I realize that is an oversimplification.  The Runes do not tell us to stand still, but they do offer good warnings of caution.  When I decided to make my temporary Runes, I was very cautious.  Not only did I ask the gods for a blessing on the Runes, but requested their support throughout the process of answering the question as well.  The result is that the answer to my question is the process I went through to be able to answer the question in the first place.

I used the wealth of resources around me to create a  simple, yet effective set of temporary Runes.  I faced the challenge of not having my Runes by being creative and I was cautious while I was making the Runes, even asking the gods for additional guidance.  Most importantly, I did the first reading for myself.  Still, I hope this reading can help you too.