Hello Everyone-
I am in San Francisco attending BATS–the Bay Area Tarot Symposium. What fun! I get meet the movers anmd shakers in the tarot world and deepen my divination knowledge.
Today
Category: Uncategorized
All Hail-Hail All
Just walked out the door into the first hail of the season in Bellingham. What attention it commands; what energy it releases! While running to my car I pondered how saluting our Gods, ancestors, or those we look up to with “Hail!” has a more visceral meaning. There is so much magic in really experiencing the coporal existence we are having. Everything lives in the body. The trick is to pay attention.
I think of hail as Isa meeting Hagalaz. The ice and stillness of water is thrown around and released with destructive force. And chaos is coming to NW Washington. The huge storm that has been battering Alaska is moving down to assault us. My daughter just called that the power is out at home, the hail continues, and the winds are becoming fierce. Appropriate for Veterans Day, I think.
All Hail the warriors that kept our ancestors safe so we could be. All Hail the warriors that sacrificed so we can live in freedom on this great land. All Hail the warriors that remain ever steadfast at their posts. All Hail!!
Deb
Saturday: Lordag (Bath Day)
The Norse did not name Saturday after a god or Goddess; it simply remained lordag which translates to bath day. Even a culture that interwove the Gods into daily life knew that some days were needed to recharge and reconnect to our human bodies. Bath houses were built near or over natural hot springs–the basis for the Scandinavian love of saunas. If there were no hot springs, the bath house would be placed near a spring or stream. Bathing was a group event in the bathhouse weekly. But the Vikings washed their faces, washed and combed their hair in the morning and washed their hands before eating. There is some evidence that they rinsed out their mouths and noses as well. Certainly not the picture of filthy barbarians that is commonly portrayed.
I remember as a child that we took weekly baths, although they were on Sunday nights so we would be clean for school on Monday. I can still feel how it felt to be fresh and clean after my bath, wrapped up in a towel and a robe; watching Walt Disney and Wild Kingdom. Fresh sheets, and getting tucked in my Mom. Aaaaaaahhh. Now as a an adult I do make Satudays my day to refresh and renew. It can be a hot tub on my deck with a glass of iced tea or wine; soaking in my jacuzzi tub in my master bath, shaving, tweezing, trimming….or it can be a girls day out for a pedicure and maybe a manicure too. I go to the http://www.olympusspa.net/Lynnwood/index.aspx or http://www.olympusspa.net/tacoma/index.aspx a couple times a year to really pamper my skin and my soul. It is a Korean spa that you can spend all day being pampered. Entrance fee is only $35 and all the pools, heated rooms, sauna are included. Many other services are available and are reasonalby priced. Olympus Spa’s mission is to make self care in the style of Korea available to the common woman. In Korea, the women go to hte baths in the morning, using mugwort infusion to purify and the soaks to remove any old skin. When I go, I always get the Korean Body Scrub and Korean Moisturizing. My skin feels great for weeks afterwards. I try to get my scrub late so I can enjoy the day in the various pools before I get moisturized. Then I eat at the Korean restaurant and rest in the heated rooms until close. What a lovely day–perfect to take a friend and spend all day catching up.
How do you spend Saturday? Do you pamper yourself, take some time to refresh? I hope so!!
Saturday Blessings,
Deb
Wednesday: Woden’s Day
- Eihwaz
Wednesday is dedicated to Oden (Woden). The runic mythology credits Odin, the AllFather with bringing the runes to conscious use. He hung suspended on Yggdrasi, the World Tree for 9 days and 9 nights without food or drink. Suspended between the 9 worlds of existance; he was awakened with a flash of insight that included the runes and how to use them for weal or woe. In today’s language it was like having an instant download of everything you need to know about runes, instantly.
Because of the importance of being suspended between the worlds; the rune Eihwaz–which is literally symboic of the World Tree–Yggdrasil is ruled by Odin. It connects the highest and deepest realms, and is a vehicle for shamans to use to travel between the worlds.
How can I honor Odin on Wednsdays?
Practice Divination: Toss the runes and read the upright ones; or draw a single rune to illuminate the answer to your question.
Try yoga or an other balancing practice: What does it feel like to be poised between two different points; or how does it fell to stand on your head? If you cannot try this physically, engage with the process of looking at things from the perspective of someone upside down. Look at the underbelly of the issue; what possibilities are available to you if you look at the issue from a totally different perspective?
Fast: Pick a level of fasting that is safe and you are comfortable with. Listen to your body, and experience what you feel like when your body isnt busy processing food–what thoughts do you now have time to process instead?
Adorn yourself or you space with Ravens: Huginn and Muninn (“thought” and “memory”) are the two ravens on Odin’s shoulder. Much of the energy around Odin is mental-battle strategy; trickery by clever wording, and long memories that tie clues together and work slowly towards victory and delivery of “just” rewards.
Be a Leader: Where do you provide leadership in your life? What new perspective do you have to share with the world? Wednesday is a great day to work on innovative projects. And since those are usually energizing, Wednesday (in the middle of the week) is a great day to spend time on them.
What do you do as a practive to honor Odin on Wednesdays? Please share with us in a comment below.
Blessings,
Deb
Musings on Days of the Week
I find it interesting that the days of the week carry mostly Norse or Germanic names…
Sunday ( Sunna’s Day or the day of the Sun)
Monday (Moon Day)
Tuesday (Tiew’s day or Tyr’s day)
Wednesday (Woden’s Day for the God Odin)
Thursday (Thor’s Day)
Friday (Freya’s Day or Frigga’s Day)
Saturday (Saturn’s Day–OK this one is Roman)
Saturday is the exception–and I read that the day between Friday and Sunday was called lordag which literally means bath day. The culture was to bath once a week. Since it was not a day to honor the Gods, it did not supercede what the Roman’s called it: Saturn’s Day. It seems that even the Vikings knew it was good to take a day for renewal and self-care. On Saturdays we’ll be looking at ways to take time out just for ourselves.
Dagaz is the rune for “day”. I see two Kennaz runes facing each other in it–which could be seen as a double dose of creation. Each dawn is a new day; the first day of the rest of your life. Each day you create your experience through the choices you make. It also looks like the Othalla rune; it has a third Kennaz –symbolizing the continuation of creation. What we do today can influence our life in a way that can make lasting changes; and even influence what we pass down through the generations.
Today is indeed a new day. Sunny and bright; full of possibility and new choices. May you embrace the opportunity to choose anew today and everyday.
Summer Blessings,
Deb
The Music of Mannez
Today my daughter and I are performing a song for two dear friends who are renewing their wedding vows on their 50th wedding anniversary. Mannaz came to me this morning as a perfect reminder of the joy we experience through the vehicle of music created in partnership.
Music is certainly a vehicle that carries our hopes and dreams, our pain and fear, our success and joy. And when two or more make music together something magical happens. The music lifts us to a place we could not reach alone.
We “play” music. That is how connected music is to joy. And the rune Mannaz looks like two Wunjo (joy) runes facing each other–as if they are ready to dance. And that is another way that we experience and embody music. Musicians move to the rhythm and phrasing of the music that they play. If fact, if they are having difficulty with a section of music–moving more may actually help them to flow right through that passage.
Music is supposed to fun. The key is to relax into it and just love who you are playing with and who you are playing for. Not a problem today!
May your day be filled with music- Deb
