Runes 403 - Rune Interpretations - The Waiting

I have to laugh as I begin this post about 'the waiting', because my first inclination was to write that I have been 'waiting' a long time to write it.  It also brings to mind one of my favorite songs of the same name, The Waiting, by Tom Petty wherein he assures us that the waiting is the hardest part.  Given this truth, I asked the Runes what they wanted to show us about managing the waiting.  How do we address that moment in time, that part of the process, when we feel the momentum wanting us to move forward, but we must resist and wait for someone else to make the next move?

The three Runes I drew in response to this question get right to the heart of the matter.  Although Ansuz's meaning in this situation and as the first in the draw may seem unclear at first, a short pause clarifies it very well.   When we see Ansuz, we relate it to the gods, particularly Odin. Of course, it is always good to have Odin with us from the start, but it means more than that here.  I view Odin as stepping in only at critical moments, which signifies to me that this is one of those moments and drawing a Rune that represents him reiterates the importance of waiting through it.

However,  there is another meaning for this Rune, that of an estuary, which is equally important. As I've mentioned before, an estuary is a place of transition between rivers and the ocean, placing us in a position of transition and making 'the wait' a necessary part of it.

That being said, Ansuz has one other meaning that lends us the best way to manage this time.  We know that Odin places significance on the situation and that we are in the middle of a transition, but how do we manage it?  The third meaning associated with this Rune is communication, which tells us that, instead of doing nothing while we wait, we can prepare for the next step, for that moment when the waiting ends and the next step in the process begins.  It is that preparation that will carry us through not only the waiting period, but the next step as well.

Why is that important?  Why should we prepare, especially if we might be unsure what the next step will bring?  Raido, the riding Rune, as the second Rune in this draw tells us that the waiting is part of the journey.  It highlights the transition we are in and that we must approach it in an intentional way, but it also says that waiting does not negate our ability to move. This lends support to what Ansuz says about preparing for the next step this journey is leading to. We can sit and let 'the waiting' happen to us and fill us with angst or we can take control of 'the waiting' so that we are ready when it ends.  Besides supporting the latter, Raido assures us that greater movement is on its way; it is coming and the better prepared we are, the better able we will be to manage it and complete this transition phase smoothly.

The final Rune, Berkana, unquestionably tells us that the result of actively waiting (doing what we can to prepare for the next step while we are waiting for others to move) leads us to a beginning.  Berkana represents the birch tree, and the Old English Rune poem, in particular, highlights one of the most interesting aspects of this tree - though it doesn't flower or bear fruit, its boughs are green and beautiful.  This fits well into our journey's transition and tells us that, even though there is no obvious flowering in our process, the end result will still provide a full bloom.  We just have to wait for it... actively wait.