Berkanan (Wikimedia Commons)
Today I did galdr with Berkanan.
I cleansed with Fire, both myself and the new ash cane/staff that I was gifted with by my mother today. I held on to the cane until it was time to begin the work. I set it aside after its cleansing and did not touch it again until after the work was fully complete. I ate before doing the Runework tonight, as I have to get some sleep and then wake for work tonight. It made getting into headspace easier in one sense, in not being distracted by need for food, but also a bit harder in another, in that sometimes doing this work an hour or two after eating tends to give me results that make me feel a little less grounded. Still, it ended up working well as the work I did with the Rune was still quite fruitful.
In the first round of galdr I found myself in a small home. Perhaps a cottage. Around me were herbs. The home smelled earthy. There were bunches of herbs hanging around the beams of the roof, thatch above it. There were shavings of a tree in a bowl on a table in front of me. An older woman was working at it, sitting on a chair. There was an empty one across from her. She was working at something with a knife, shaving away bark. She gestured to me with her open hand and went back to her work. In her heart was a kettle, a good-sized black one. She took it down and poured the steaming water into the bowl of shavings, and pushed it towards me. I drank it, and I felt ease come into my body. My spine relaxed, shoulders eased. She smiled and nodded, knowing what her tea was doing to me.
In the second round of galdr I was in a forest. About me were trees of varying age. One was cut down near the trunk, and from it a new tree was sprouting. It had a soft, high pitch voice, and it said “Hi!” to me. As I started the next part of the round, before me another birch tree unrolled a long, scroll of bark. As I looked upon it, scratches appeared, Runes and images. Then I was back in the small home with the old woman, and there were shavings of that bark being put into a drink and I drank it. I felt at ease, comforted and comfortable.
In the final round of galdr the Fire between my legs was a lamp and I had the sensation of giving birth. It was a series of undulating fierce pulls, fierce pushes, and a cry. Then darkness. When I began the next part of the final round, I had a flurry of images and sensations hit me, including some close to what I experienced earlier in the previous two rounds, and the sensation of bones breaking, being set and held in place. The final part of the final round I saw Runes being written wrong. I found myself correcting Them, laying Them down rightly. Writing Them on birch bark as it unrolled before me, perhaps same birch bark scroll from earlier, and the old woman saying “It is the doing the thing right, of taking knowledge and applying it right!” She was over my shoulder, pointing at the scroll “You see here? You see it done wrong, now do it right. This is knowledge! Knowledge before you, burnt into bark! Pass it on! This is only way way, and you must pass it on! Say the words, right them yes, but remember the words and pass them on!”
I came almost swimming back to my full realization of my body as I opened my eyes again to the candle flame. It took me several moments of deep breathing to catch myself back up to being fully here, present in this body.
I did my prayers of thanks to Rúnatýr and the Runevaettir. I cleansed with the candle and prayed prayers of thanks to the Eldest Ancestor. Now, for some sleep
Link to the Daily Ritual for the Challenge.
#DoMagick
Sarenth Odinsson 