S. Kelley Harrell's Blog: Intentional Insights - Ancient Healing, Modern Shamanism, page 73

The Dead Time – The One With Hotel Phillips

Yes, you know–that one.

Without contest, the original post from 2007 on my experience at Hotel Phillips is the most-visited post on Intentional Insights. I don’t know why, exactly. It’s not the most frightening one, and I can’t identify anything particularly outstanding about it. Nonetheless, it’s the most visited post.

In 2003 I traveled with a few work associates to Kansas City, MO, where we settled into Hotel Phillips. The place is gorgeous, and if you have a chance to visit it, do. It’s stunning, really. And as I left it, pretty quiet… now. The original post, Hotel Phillips and Murderous Insomnia, is creepy enough all its own. In the next installment of this series, I’ll tell you how it got even creepier, 11 years later.


If you’d like to read more of my personal encounters of the wyrd, including some not published on Intentional Insights, check out Real Wyrd: A Modern Shaman’s Roots in the Middle World. 

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The Weekly Rune – Sowilu

For the week of 25 October 2015

Joy, to change, to remembering our Divinity, all in one week.

Wunjo holds as the half-month rune through 28 October. At that point Hagalaz moves to the fore. Read right to left is Wunjo above, then Hagalaz below, followed by Sowilu (or Sowilo).

Following is a summary of The Weekly Rune. Read the full runecast, and get the Samhain Sabbat cast, as well. Likewise, sign up to get all the details for my new year-long Intensive Reclaiming the Runes – Putting the ‘Elder’ Back in Futhark. This Intensive is focused on teaching the story  of the runes in as full a context as possible, and instructing on how to work with them as a personal tool for growth, and a facilitator of gaining insight for others.

Telling a more authentic story of the self has been the theme of this year. This week, we shift away from that narrative to a more internal exploration of how we deal with external life.

Between Jera and Dagaz over the last two weeks, we’ve had much time to tally the final observations of who and what we want to be. At this point in the season, we sit at a sabbat. Considered lesser sabbat, it’s one of the cross quarter holy days, half-way between major sabbats. For me, though, Samhain has always been a major shaper of my year, both going out and coming in, and I’ve always taken its missives to heart.

I think it’s no accident that at Samhain we shift from the joyful state of Wunjo to Hagalaz, or hail. Both are transient states, really. We know joy doesn’t sustain for the long haul any more than hail does, though both profoundly mark us, mark our memory of our time with them.

Specifically, Hagalaz indicates harsh change from the outside. It is a new conflict that challenges inner reserves to make sure they know what they think they know, and to be ready to find the resourcefulness of new ways. The new way is never in conflict with the challenge, and it doesn’t come as a result of the challenge. Rather, it’s in the challenge, itself. Go there, look it in the eye, say, “Thank you. What new way can we make of this?”

The brilliance of Sowilu shines all over that potential. This strength of this stave lies in remembering that we are all part of the Divine. We are the Divine. We all have an active place in divinity. This week offers an opportunity to learn or refine what that role is, at a personal level.

This week is about brass tacks, the ones that poke us uncomfortably, and the ones that strip us back to what we’re doing here.

—

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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 quickly fleeing germs and recovered children.

I’m thankful for plans stacking up for next year’s work.

I’m grateful for really gorgeous weather.

I’m happy to feel like my arm is almost an arm, again.

What are you grateful for this week? How will you show thanks? Who is grateful for you? I am!

This post is part of Lexa Cain’s blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things, along with her  co-hostesses L.G. Keltner and Tonja Drecker. 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, and thanks for coming with me on this journey of self-empowerment and collective awareness.

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The Dead Time – Raleigh’s Heck-Andrews house

A Clairvoyant Exploration of Raleigh’s Heck-Andrews House was published last year by Candid Slice. The title is a misnomer, 1) because it wasn’t a clairvoyant experience, and 2) I wasn’t exploring it. I was just there, and wyrd happened.

That house is dying history. It’s an absolutely gorgeous home, slated for ruin, and it’s alive, not just with history but with a perspective on this area that few others have. Needless to say, the place haunted me, and it haunts me, still. For years, I’ve tracked its restoration meticulously and spoken boldly about its demise. At this point, I’d be happy to officiate its deathwalk. That majestic beauty is tired, and I’m reminded of that every time I walk by her.

If you’d like to read more of my personal encounters of the wyrd, including some not published on Intentional Insights, check out Real Wyrd: A Modern Shaman’s Roots in the Middle World. 

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The Dead Time – An Unearthly Warning

I’ve noted before that my engagement with the dead, or at least discarnate, is about listening and releasing, where appropriate. Sometimes the souls that linger do so for a reason, and I learned this keenly after an experience at my sister’s house a few years ago.

She lives in a part of the North Carolina mountains where etheric activity is high all the time. I don’t think I could live there, for that reason. Nonetheless, when I was there a few years ago, we received An Unearthly Warning, and we learned why just a few weeks later.

If you’d like to read more of my personal encounters of the wyrd, including some not published on Intentional Insights, check out Real Wyrd: A Modern Shaman’s Roots in the Middle World. 

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The Weekly Rune – Jera

For the week of 18 October 2015

Accounting and accountability remain on the horizon, this week.

Wunjo holds as the half-month rune through 28 October. Read right to left is Jera above, then Wunjo below.

Following is a summary of The Weekly Rune. Read the full runecast. Likewise, sign up to get all the details for my new year-long Intensive Reclaiming the Runes – Putting the ‘Elder’ Back in Futhark. This Intensive is focused on teaching the story  of the runes in as full a context as possible, and instructing on how to work with them as a personal tool for growth, and a facilitator of gaining insight for others.

The Weekly Rune is the half-month stave as indicated in Nigel Pennick’s work, then an intuitive stave drawn to elucidate the life force most available to us for the week. As such, this series isn’t intended to cover every nuance of every stave. It covers those relevant to the intention–which is how we can best navigate the native and intuitive energies at the fore at this time.

Telling a more authentic story of the self has been the theme of this year. Sustaining the half-month emphasis on accounting, where Dagaz had us weeding out the minutia, fellow accounting stave, Jera, widens our ledger to a broader view.

Where Dagaz is ‘Heart Accounting, 101,’ Jera is ‘Hearth Accounting, 101.’ Generally we view Jera as the rune for ‘year,’ meaning our accounting for how we fared over the plotted solar return. What worked, what didn’t, what to repeat, what to scrap, what new undertakings to attempt, what rote patterning to declutter, etc. The list that potentially never ends, yet we must find some kind of status quo with in order to plan the year to come. We have to have goals in order to know if we’ve manifest what’s needed.

Combined with Wunjo as the half-month stave, the outlook is optimistic, and pretty interesting. This stave indicates a generally satisfying time of needs met, wants satisfied, and thoughtforms manifest, all the while realizing it will pass.

Wunjo presents a recursive deal, in that what you have to get used to about impermanence is impermanence.

Jera can help with that, for now. Examine what aspects of life need to change alongside ones that can change. This isn’t a wishlist approach to accounting, but a nuts-and-bolts honest evaluation of what change is doable at this time. Make your elections, draw your lines, and carry them out, without guilt grief, or moaning of what could have been. Deal. with. what. is. Because that’s enough.

The better we get at doing personal inventories, the better prepared we are for ones the Multiverse imposes the upon us (?). If we can become active in our own processes of personal accounting, we can be more in the natural groove of change.

—

Join me this morning, Monday 19 October, for Twitter primer on the runes. I’d love to hear how you relate to the runes!

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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 few sunny days.

I’m thankful for my dreams telling me to go to the chiropractor.

I’m grateful for progressive conversations with my agent.

I’m happy to be more self-aware.

I’m grateful for my life

What are you grateful for this week? How will you show thanks? Who is grateful for you? I am!

This post is part of Lexa Cain’s blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things, along with her  co-hostesses L.G. Keltner and Tonja Drecker. 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, and thanks for coming with me on this journey of self-empowerment and collective awareness.

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

The Dead Time – Working with Max the Crystal Skull

I don’t know if the legend of the 13 crystal skulls still has the spellinding power it did years ago. For a while, they were a pretty hot topic in the New Age community. I didn’t think anything of them until a friend lent me the book, The Mystery of the Crystal Skulls: Unlocking the Secrets of the Past, Present, and Future. The idea that something so elemental yet intricate could have symbolized the unity of the original 13 tribes, and could etherically reunite them now, fascinated me. In 2003, when the opportunity presented itself to sit with one of the most well-known skulls, I pounced.

This post was originally published in 2009, and it’s one of the less jarring entries in the creepy season chronicles. Join me for An Afternoon with Max.

Have you had an experience with one of the crystal skulls? I’d love to hear about it!



If you’d like to read more of my personal encounters of the wyrd, including some not published on Intentional Insights, check out Real Wyrd: A Modern Shaman’s Roots in the Middle World. 

The post The Dead Time – Working with Max the Crystal Skull appeared first on Soul Intent Arts - Intentional Insights.

The Weekly Rune – Dagaz

For the week of 11 October 2015

Accounting and accountability are on the horizon, this week.

Gebo remains the half-month rune through 13 October, followed by Wunjo. Read right to left is Gebo above, Wunjo below, then Dagaz.

Following is a summary of The Weekly Rune. Read the full runecast. Likewise, sign up to get all the details for my new year-long Intensive Reclaiming the Runes – Putting the ‘Elder’ Back in Futhark. This Intensive is focused on teaching the story  of the runes in as full a context as possible, and instructing on how to work with them as a personal tool for growth, and a facilitator of gaining insight for others.

Thanks to everyone who comments and write to me about The Weekly Rune. It’s always great to engage with readers. Also, to re-iterate for new readers what The Weekly Rune is, I work with the half-month stave as indicated in Nigel Pennick’s work, then draw an intuitive stave to elucidate the life force most available to us for the week. As such, this series isn’t intended to cover every nuance of every stave. It covers those relevant to the intention–which is how we can best navigate the native and intuitive energies at the fore at this time.

Telling a more authentic story of the self has been the theme of this year. The crossover of the half-month staves from sacrifice to self-realization combined with meticulous and somewhat methodical Dagaz put us in the prime spot for seeing ourselves as we truly are, this week.

As Gebo indicates the exchange of gifts, Wunjo progresses that outcome to a state of rapture. It’s THE rune that everyone wants in their casts. It’s generally considered  a thumbs up, supportive nod to the set intention. However, there’s a lot more to it than just song and dance.

With Wunjo the recognition of the power of self becomes crystal clear, or so we hope. It’s the latter that is most significant. Wunjo is equated with the contemporary Law of Attraction, or moment when we realize how the elements work, we work them, and *poof* good things manifest. What’s not overtly covered in most approaches to LoA that Wunjo brings is deep realization that the self plays a critical role in wyrd, and recognition of that fact is required to truly access the joy.

Dagaz, which I refer to as the rune of ‘Hearth Accounting, 101,’ makes that process a little more esoteric and cerebral than it would normally be. This week, pay attention to thoughts, beliefs, philosophies, and dynamics that interfere with accountability to joy. It’s a tough gig to realize that we may be our biggest obstacle in beholding our magnificence, in honoring our power. However, that’s exactly what’s required this week. What supports recognizing joy? What doesn’t? How is it honored? Ignored? Sabotaged? How can it be welcomed and fostered? What physical sensations accompany joy? How can it be remembered and savored in darker times?

Above all, this week is about gratitude. There’s a bit more homework than usual, though that’s part for manifestation. Take some extra time in front of the mirror, and honor who you see.

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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 the rain abating and to have had no overt damage from the storms.

I’m thankful for great family time as a result of being housebound from said storms.

I’m grateful to have made progress on my blog-to-book release.

I’m happy to be relatively happy.

I’m grateful for coping skills and mindfulness.

What are you grateful for this week? How will you show thanks? Who is grateful for you? I am!

This post is part of Lexa Cain’s blog hop, Celebrate the Small Things, along with her  co-hostesses L.G. Keltner and Tonja Drecker. 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, and thanks for coming with me on this journey of self-empowerment and collective awareness.

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