S. Kelley Harrell's Blog: Intentional Insights - Ancient Healing, Modern Shamanism, page 107

Weekly Rune – Othala

Othala – property – I don’t generally draw reversed Runes, so working with them has seldom been a concern for The Weekly Rune. However, this week’s Othala did, indeed, present murk-stave, and I feel it’s worth exploring the Rune as such. Note that the image presents Othala upright, or bright-stave.

Othala reminds us of what is most important. Where Fehu brings awareness to wealth that must be tended–assets, and investments–Othala focuses on that which we own that in many ways tends us–our property, that which we inherit, then pass on. Spiritually speaking, it calls our attention to the wisdom of our ancestors, and calls us to own ourselves as part of that wise legacy. In other words, Othala makes us deal with our crap.

When I see it reversed, what comes to mind are the places that we have become out of sync with how our legacy must move forward. What does it mean for that wisdom not to be dispersed? What if we’re not getting needed memos from our ancestors? How, then, do we know what should be pass on? Without that awareness, how can we step into our role as elders of our lines?

In my Thursday Betwixt series I will discuss this more in-depth over the coming weeks, though offer condensed insight here. In the west, we generally don’t focus our lives on spiritual healing, by which I specifically mean alleviating that which obscures our joy, our connection to All Things, the way that indigenous cultures do.

The result of this omission is that we take our traumas and hurts into our deathwalk, which means that when our consciousness releases from the body, that distress remains. It has to go somewhere, which is to the successors of that line. Because we don’t focus on peaceful life, thus transition, instead of gaining the wisdom of our elders, we take on their pain.

Othala indicates that we are carrying a weight greater than a single life can bear. It’s telling us that before we can seat into the role of elder in our lines, we must bless those who came before us. We must relieve them.

Go into this week with the awareness that your ancestors need and deserve delivery from their pain, and that by giving it, you gift yourself their fortitude, their timelessness, and the wisdom of ages.

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Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude

My weekly gratitude post, in the Celebrate the Small Things [ongoing] Blog Hop.

I’m grateful for a really chilled weekend with friends, and an overnight away from the kids!

I’m grateful for the manuscript submission process, however harrowing it can be.

I’m thankful for spiritual insight into physical concerns.

I’m happy to spend exciting times with my family!

What are you grateful for this week? How will you show thanks?

This post is part of VikLit‘s blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. Participate by following the link and adding your name to the Linky list, then post your gratitude every Friday.  Easiest blog hop ever!

Click here to hop on… the hop, and thanks for coming with me on this journey of self-empowerment.

Photo credit: Shermeee / Foter.com / CC BY

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Wordless Wednesday

Photo by Nicky

The post Wordless Wednesday appeared first on Soul Intent Arts.

Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude

My weekly gratitude post, in the Celebrate the Small Things [ongoing] Blog Hop.

This was a big week. So many things going on.  I’m grateful for a really fun spooky (and kind of damp) adventure with my family and friends!

I’m excited to begin my first year of seidr.

I’m grateful to have been named a Wisdom Keeper by Shaman Portal.

Likewise am happy that Shaman Portal featured Gift of the Dreamtime as Book of the Month.

I’m happy to have submitted my thesis, gotten feedback on it, and have it wrapped up, soon!

I’m very relieved to have set a timeframe with my agent for the preparation and introduction of my first novel, The Last Snow Moon, to the world!

What are you grateful for this week? How will you show thanks?

This post is part of VikLit‘s blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. Participate by following the link and adding your name to the Linky list, then post your gratitude every Friday.  Easiest blog hop ever!

Click here to hop on… the hop, and thanks for coming with me on this journey of self-empowerment.

Photo credit: Shermeee / Foter.com / CC BY

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Wordless Wednesday

Photo by geopungo

The post Wordless Wednesday appeared first on Soul Intent Arts.

Weekly Rune – Sowilo

Sowilo - Sun - This cast brings the second appearance of Sowilo as we enter this cycle’s Dark Time.  I’ve never drawn the Rune of light once during the Dark Time. Twice is, indeed, telling.

It’s no accident that cats  can locate the smallest patch of sunlight, curl themselves to fit it almost precisely, and extract every second of warmth from it for the coziest of naps. Such precision and creature comfort is the tone of Sowilo, at this time.

This year has been tough on a lot of people, financially, socially, physically, mentally. A lot of work has gone into mere survival. For many of us, the same amount of effort goes into rest. We just don’t give ourselves a break, or the ability to enjoy a natural reprieve. Likewise, Nature doesn’t often offer them.

Sowilo offers a safe, snug ray of light to rest on, for now. Allow the resourcefulness of cats at this time. Find the places where you can find respite, perhaps warmth. Give yourself the opportunity to accept the breaks you’re given, and use them to express gratitude, to regain strength, and to muse on what comes next.

Alas, even cats know the sun slips away. Such is Nature, cycles, timing. When the skies part and offer you a blessing in the form of rest, take it. Don’t push through and keep working. Don’t spin on what you should have done, and how you can do it all better. Those are constants. Good, bad, or indifferent, they are our standard mode of operation. Step out of rote patterning and take this time for yourself, to lie back and dream. As you know, through dreams come our most profound insights into ourselves, life, and our deepest desires.

Kick back and play hookie, because as sure as the sun rises, it sets. Claim your path of sunlight, recharge, and boldly carrying that renewed life force, persevere into change.

The post Weekly Rune – Sowilo appeared first on Soul Intent Arts.

Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude

My weekly gratitude post, in the Celebrate the Small Things [ongoing] Blog Hop.

I’m grateful for fun travels with my family!

I’m excited about completing the first Sabbat reading for The Runic Wheel of the Year Alliance.

I’m grateful for options in educating our children.

I’m happy to have submitted my thesis, and completed another manuscript.

What are you grateful for this week? How will you show thanks?

This post is part of VikLit‘s blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things. Participate by following the link and adding your name to the Linky list, then post your gratitude every Friday.  Easiest blog hop ever!

Click here to hop on… the hop, and thanks for coming with me on this journey of self-empowerment.

Photo credit: Shermeee / Foter.com / CC BY

The post Celebrate the Small Things – Gratitude appeared first on Soul Intent Arts.

Thursday Betwixt – The Sacred I Don’t Know

In keeping with the examination I’ve done on how we derive higher guidance, regarding reciprocity with guides, taking the next step in our guidance, today I’m reflecting on a more intangible source of guidance: Everything.

You would think that one would be pretty obvious, since it’s around us all the time, but most of us don’t regard what’s right in front of us as being Divine. I’ve been taking time daily, to connect with the spirits of my space, at work, home, the grocery store, the homes of others, and the commute connecting it all. It seems so silly. I’ve spent all these years focused on THIS totem, THAT guide, THIS space, sacred on/off, despite that intellectually I’ve known it’s with me all the time. I am it. It is All.

What’s the expression–the hell you know–to say nothing of the sacred.

I guess I’m beginning to sit more comfortably with not having to name things, less lines,  deeper relationships–even if they only last a few moments. The realization that whatever I need is wherever I am, etherically, all the time, no matter what, is heady empowerment. It’s also terribly humbling.

One thing I tell students and mentorees all the time is the only trick to whatever technique you’re learning or path you’re exploring, is remembering to do what you need to do. Pause for a split second, step out of the routine, and remember your goal. How hard that can be to implement in everyday life!

There’s another thing, though, that’s just as important, and that’s forgiving yourself when you finally realize how hard you’ve been making it.

What is your need in this moment? Take the time, now, to ask and allow whatever life force in your immediate space can help, to meet that need.  Bring it in on your breath. You don’t have to know what it is, how it works, what it does. Just ask and allow it. Let it do its thing. Let the allies of your external space bring you to a better internal place. Intend it on your breath for a couple of minutes, then re-asses how you feel.

In that allowance, consider what you can give back. Thanks? A blessing of some sort? A song or dance?

The body is many things, the least of which is how we engage formed being. It is the vessel through which we divine All Things.

 

“Wherever you stand, be the soul of that place.” -Rumi

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Wordless Wednesday

Photo by by Valters Krontals

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The Dead Time

Every year I honor The Dead Time by posting some of my creepier accounts mucking about in the Middle World. Last year I compiled them, along with a few new stories, in  Real Wyrd: A Modern Shaman’s Roots in the Middle World. 

To our Western European Pagan forebearers, Samhain marked the beginning of the Dead Time. At harvest’s end when the sunlight was in short supply, it was a natural time of thanksgiving. On a practical level, it was appropriate to cull what must be stored for sustenance during winter, what must be seed for the next planting season. Spiritually, it was the time of honoring the spirit world—deities, Nature spirits, and the recently deceased. Closing the year, along with celebrations of successful harvest, so were the dead honored. A place-setting was laid at the celebratory table for those who had died that year, and food was left for them. I would imagine that ages ago, when resources were scarce, the gratitude expressed for the dead at year’s end was heartfelt and sincere, as was the enjoyment of the celebratory feast. These were the last decadent celebrations of the year, heralding the bleak winter ahead.

Samhain is commonly called The Witches’ New Year, though it was taught to me as marking only the year’s end. The new year didn’t begin until several weeks later, at Winter Solstice. Just as harvest closed the year in autumn, the return of sunlight at Solstice brought hope for the new year, as well as affirmed survival of the harsh cold. The time between these holy observations was the Dead Time, a space outside mundane time and perception, the mystical birth of the notion that the veil between worlds thins. I don’t experience a veil anytime, though this final harvest our psyche seems a bit more raw, more receptive to things we would otherwise filter out.

The darkest time of the year, the Dead Time brought the depths of winter, from which there was no assurance of spring. Not only was physical survival of the dark winter a challenge, it also tested sanity and stamina. Worry that there wouldn’t be enough to get to spring pervaded life, thus, spiritual observation.

We don’t approach Samhain or The Dead Time the same our ancestors. We don’t generally live in fear that the light won’t return (although it’s something to think about), that we won’t be fed, or that we won’t have the opportunity to manifest our desires. We do however, acknowledge Seasonal Affective Disorder, a cyclic form of depression that many experience in winter, while other socially and economically beleaguered spirits cope with the holiday blues. In light of these modern trends, The Dead Time is still a naturally provocative passage.

As time, itself, seems to suspend between Samhain and Winter Solstice, giving us natural pause to hibernate and reflect on what we’re finished with and can leave behind, what we most want to carry forward and grow, we can still experience death and rebirth as our elders did. Hold these observations in mind as you approach the next waning of the sun and the procession to the Dead Time. Enjoy the solitude of shadow, and know the light will soon warm!

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