The #DoMagick Challenge Day 25

The First Ætt (Made by the Author)

Today I did galdr with the First Ætt.

Given today was the first time in this challenge I was going to do a full ætt, I did a bit more preparation work, especially in deep breathing.  The Fire cleansing seemed especially effective today, and I felt myself fall into the Runework quite well today.

I ended up trying three very different methods of connecting with the Runes, the first two not feeling quite as connective as the last.  The first two attempts I tried to galdr the Runes in succession in a single breath using different intoning and croaking methods.  What I found worked the best was when I took a cleansing breath, and galdred the Rune on the exhale.  When I got it, the first round of galdr brought connection to the Runes, bright and warm, clear connection.

The second round of galdr brought forward more of the rough, the darker aspects of the Runes.  Unlike previous galdr, this was more connection with the Runes as family, and there was interplay between the Runes, such as resonance of power and strength in Uruz and Thurisaz.  As each round of galdr unfolded I felt and experienced these connections play out differently, the first being more a feeling of warmth and connection, this second was more like seeing them in the world.  Fehu was the field, Uruz the auroch, Thurisaz the primal cycles the land and animals follow ending in the auroch’s slaughter, Ansuz a cleansing and celebration of the life given, Raiðo the journey to the feast, Gebo the gifting of the animal and care of its bones, the tending of its horns, and Wunjo the gathering of kin and the celebration of the auroch’s gift and the season’s turning.

The third round of galdr each brought a feeling of echoing back to previous experiences with the Rune.  With Fehu I felt rootedness.  With Uruz I felt strength.  With Thurisaz I felt danger and fury.  With Ansuz I felt cleansing.  With Raiðo I felt journeying, and a bit of a pilgrimage.  With Kenaz I felt the torch in my hand, and was walking the boundary of my home.  With Gebo I was exchanging gifts with a dear friend, wrapping paper and all.  With Wunjo I was gathering my family and Kindred under a banner that each contributed to, and each was comforted in and by.

As before I made my prayer to Rúnatýr and the Runevaettir, and my prayer to Fire Itself, and cleansed before sitting down, designing the aett above, and writing this.

Link to the Daily Ritual for the Challenge.

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The #DoMagick Challenge Day 24

Othala (Wikimedia Commons)

Today I did galdr with Othala.

Today I was distracted internally quite a bit.   I did extra cleansing, and emphasized deep breathing even more, doing deep breath work up to nine times in a row before moving on between parts of the galdr work, and 9 times between each round.  It did the trick.

In the first round of galdr, the first part I experienced with an ancestral home of some kind, possibly ancient Ancestors as I did not recognize the landscape at all except that there was a grove or forest on the land.  The land was mostly plains or expanses of grazing area.  I felt very at home there despite the lack of a standing home.  I remember some kind of mountain or rocky outcropping nearby.  The next part of the galdr I experienced standing before an Ancestor’s grave.   Then, as I looked at the grave, the land around me changed and I found myself standing still but the scene around me changing, as though someone had hit ‘shuffle’ and was standing in a lot of different graveyards simultaneously.  The last part of the first round I was standing outside in my grove at the home I’ve lived at most of my life.

In the second round of galdr, the first part I felt compelled to sing with a high note, and suddenly felt the crush of Disir around me.  I knew some of Their voices, and heard others’.  The next part of the round I had an even tone, and Ancestors of my lines came forward, all speaking excitedly, some talking to each other.  The last part of the second round, I sang the Rune in a deep, resonating voice, and the Väter arrived, in similar fashion to the Disir.  It was being utterly surrounded by the Ancestors…and it felt very warm, familiar, and safe while also feeling like a bit of a kick in the ass.  In this month I will start doing small, 5-15 minute sessions of prayer each day for the Ancestors.

In the third round of galdr, the first part I saw how to bring landvaettir into one’s own fold.  Making oneself and the particular landvaettir or landvaettr part of each other’s Ancestral lines.  I will not describe what I saw or how to do it here.  It seems…improper to do.  The next part of the third round I saw how to honor landvaettir of the place one lives in, especially land that is inherited and is truly Ancestral land.  In the last part of the round, I saw how to inter the Dead into the land, to bring the land and the Ancestors together in the mound.

I did quite a bit more cleansing with the Sacred Fire and a few more prayers than usual this time around.  When I came out of the Runework headspace, I felt quite clean, and very good.

Link to the Daily Ritual for the Challenge.

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The #DoMagick Challenge Day 23

Dagaz (Wikimedia Commons)

Today I did galdr with Dagaz.

The earplugs continue to work well alongside the ritual work and prayer I do to prepare for galdr.  I initially wondered if I should do galdr with both Dagaz and Othala.  As I prepared to do galdr with Dagaz, I let this go and just concentrated on the work with Dagaz.

In the first round of galdr I experienced the sun being pulled in its cart, Sunna guiding Her horses across the sky as I looked up.  It was like seeing Her progression with the cart throughout the year, chased by Sköll, almost being swallowed at times.  The eclipse as His jaws just start to clench over Her, and She bursts forth from them, Her horses frightened and speeding across the sky to outrun Him.  The joy of being in Her glow as She beams down, lighting the World.

In the second round of galdr, I experienced a farm bathed in sunlight.  Flowers opened to the sun as it beamed down on them, and life unfolded from petals as bees and others woke to the morning work of gathering pollen.  Birds had already filled the air with song, and grew louder as the sun rose.  Animals of all kind stirred, other rested.  Eggs were laid, hatched, and chicks grew up and themselves raised more chicks, or were taken for slaughter.  The compost grew as scraps were added to it, shrank and baked in the heat, and turned brown over the summer into winter, bits of it going into the farm to bring rich black soil to the land.

In the third round of galdr, the scene I saw switched slowly, until I was in a sacred grove of a forest.  Light beamed down into the clearing I stood in, and arched down through the trees, and illuminated me.  It was a tangible, visceral feeling of the holy as I stood there, light shining through the trees and onto the vé, the hörgr stacked high with stones as the light shined upon it.  I felt a feeling of “Yes” as I laid a cup of water on it, the light shining down into it.  Then, the scene suddenly shifted, and the last experience I had was of lighting a Sacred Fire with sunstone, beaming the concentrated light onto tinder and catching it.  I believe I was still in the grove.

When I came out of the galdr work, I did my usual prayers of thanks to Rúnatýr and the Runevaettir.  I cleansed with the candle and prayed prayers of thanks to the Eldest Ancestor.  I hesitated, however.  I was not sure if, given the New Year, I should simply galdr Othala and dedicated the last seven days of this work to working through each Aett, or if  I should let Dagaz be the last galdr of this year and Othala to start the new one.  Again, I asked the Eldest Ancestor to cleanse me, and did my Fire Prayer.  I then prayed to Rúnatýr and the Runevaettir for guidance.  Within a few short moments of breathing deep and communing, I knew the right thing to do was start the New Year with Othala.  The symbolism there is packed, and appropriate for the things going on in my life, my family’s life, the life of the Kindred, and my allies.  I cleansed again, thanking Fire, Rúnatýr, and the Runevaettir for working with me, and wrote this post.

Link to the Daily Ritual for the Challenge.

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The #DoMagick Challenge Day 21

Laguz (Wikimedia Commons)

Today I did galdr with Laguz.

Unlike other days where I had to contend with mental chatter, today I put in earplugs.  They worked fairly effectively; all I could hear was my own breathing and speaking as I made the Fire Prayer and cleansed with Fire.

In the first round of galdr I was back at the shores of Lake Michigan and especially Lake Superior.  I was galdring Laguz over the waters as I had when our family took our vacation/pilgrimage two years ago.  I was placing my head in the waters once again, and I could feel the blessings and cleansings of the two Lakes wash over me again in that space.  I stood on the shore and sang to the waters.  Then, in the last part of the round, I saw the fish of the Great Lakes.  There was a fish in my hands, on my spear, on my line.  One after another, the great fish of this place looking up at me as I prayed over them, asking for their wisdom and thanking them for the gift of their bodies.

In the second round of galdr I was on a lighthouse and making sure the light could shine out to the ships out in the Lakes.  I believe I was on Lake Superior given the immensity of the waves.  It was not oceanfront, that I knew.  In the next part of the round I was on the dock as great ships put into harbor.  Here was an oceanfront, bustling with business.  As with the fish, I went through a few eras.  The dock of an ancient German town, the dock of Ellis Island as my Great Grandfather came off the boat from the Netherlands, the dock of what I believe is Detroit bringing in a ship to drop off cargo.

In the third round of galdr the waves crested and broke.  I was in them.  Was them.  Tide was coming in, going out, and the vastness of waters was in me and I was in them.  I sloshed on the waves as I made landfall.  I was suddenly in a procession, a wagon behind us being pulled by oxen, draped with a white sheet.  Then I was in a canoe, paddling in a small lake at an old family gathering.  We brought the canoe aground and Dad hoisted it back to where we rented it.  Then the ocean and the waves, mermaids and so many Beings filling its waters.  The Great Lakes and the mermaids and so many Beings filling Their waters.  The last of the connective galdr I remember was Lake Superior again, and the waves lapping around my feet as I knelt in Her Waters.

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.

Link to the Daily Ritual for the Challenge.

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The #DoMagick Challenge Day 20

Mannaz (Wikimedia Commons)

Today I did galdr with Mannaz.

I cleansed myself with Sacred Fire and settled into the work.  I got some decent sleep today so once I got down into the headspace my thoughts weren’t very intrusive.  Tonight was rather a deep-down easing into the galdr.  Almost like…a warm blanket.  Comfortable as I entered into and settled into the headspace.

In the first round of galdr I was clearly shown my relationship with all other people on the world.  At first it was just humans I saw, and then slowly I was drawn back until I saw the world.  Then it was like…touching each hand, paw, claw, and so on.  Then the trees, rocks, cliffs.  It was a rather expanded view of relationships, of the things I am interconnected with, of the Beings I am interconnected with.  As the second part of the galdr started I could see behind me, and there were rows on rows of Ancestors, all looking at me.  Some organized into literal rows, a good chunk meandering about in their own little pockets of relations.  The third part of the round brought with it the feeling of these two very disparate views coming together, being true.  The tribe and the expanded understanding of humanity not at odds with each other so much as being true in the same breath.  Some of the connections I could see were more luminous, could feel were tugging tighter on my bonds.  It was…living Wyrd, lacking better words.

In the second round of galdr I saw a field, and in it a barn was being raised by Amish people.  A similar field, and a group of people were gathered, building a home out of cob on a timber frame.  There were smiles and laughter, joy as layer on layer was fashioned and raised.  There was pride in completion, and a binding together tighter of the family.

In the third round of galdr I saw the faces of my loved ones, my family, my Kindred, my tribe.  Just staying in this space until the galdr was ended, knowing the folks I share my life with was warm and comfortable.  I stayed in this feeling, experiencing this until I opened my eyes.

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, to prepare for work.

Link to the Daily Ritual for the Challenge.

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The #DoMagick Challenge Day 19

Ehwaz (Wikimedia Commons)

Today I did galdr with Ehwaz.

I cleansed myself with Sacred Fire, and settled into the work tonight.  I could feel the weight of not having done the work yesterday.  I worked a double on very little sleep and bedded down as soon as I got home.  I am glad I made the decision not to double up on days where I miss.  I just get back on the proverbial horse and ride again.  I found it hard to concentrate today.   To work against random images and distracting thoughts more breathwork got me through, combined with fully engaging in the galdr as I usually do, falling into the galdr, letting it drive out all else.

In the first round of galdr’s first part I was a horse, running.  Just experiencing running with hooves beneath me on a wide plain.  The next part I was a wolf running in forested plains.  Then, I was a horse yet again, but this time I had a rider.  None of these were disjointed from each other.  With the galdring of Ehwaz I just…experienced it as natural as breathing.

In the second round of galdr I was being ridden for a purpose.  A young man, about 13 years old, rode me with a leather bag around him.  We were delivering messages.  Then, in the second part of the round, I galdred and had a flood of images all related to messages and communication hit me at once.  Emails flashed across my eyes, IMs and texts, then words scrawled on a page and delivered between hands.  Codes slapped out on Morse devices and turned into light.  Acronyms and codes that required certain knowledge to read.  Seals and occult symbols, sigils, bindrunes, and so much more.  It was a flood of information.  Then, for a moment, I saw myself as I was, sitting on the ground with pillows beneath me, breathing deep with Ehwaz before me, floating above the candle flame, my eyes shut.  Then I fell into my deep breathing and everything was dark as I prepared for the next part of the round.  In the last part of this round, I galdred, and I heard a horse neighing, a plane overhead, and felt my feet tread the Earth.  I felt myself become an eagle and soar overhead.  Again, I became a horse carrying messages through different ages, wars especially prominent this time.  Hermod on Sleipnir at one point I saw in clarity.  When I returned to my body everything was dark.  I blinked a few times in the candlelight, and did deep breathing to get ready for the next round.

The last round of galdr repeated many of the images and sensations previous to this round, especially becoming a horse, an eagle, and a wolf.  In these forms I went to many places in the Nine Worlds.  I returned home safely.

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.

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The #DoMagick Challenge Day 18

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.

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The #DoMagick Challenge Day 17

Teiwaz (Wikimedia Commons)

Today I did galdr with Teiwaz.

I cleansed with Sacred Fire after making the Fire Prayer.  I settled deep, deep into meditation headspace today.  I had done a brief but potent bit of exercising just before coming home and jumping into doing the Runework.  I may repeat this because the result was several moments of connection with the Rune and a kind of disconnect from myself.  Not in a “I have lost myself” but more of a “getting lost in the Rune moreso than usual”.

The first round of galdr brought the experience of The Binding of Fenris, of Fenris biting off Tyr’s hand, with myself being in both roles one after the other.  It was intense, and to this end I will say no more.  The next part of the first round brought with it the holding of a spear before a wall, before a town with farmsteads behind.  Not merely standing, but seeing a threat coming and readying to do something about it, spear in one hand and shield in the other alongside fellows forming a wall of shields and spears.  The last part of the first round was a sword being unsheathed, a spear being held for combat, grit teeth and flashing, then bloodied steel.

The second round of galdr brought with it the feeling of the home, of doing well in the community.  The next part of the second round I experienced a holmgang to defend myself in a matter.  What seemed to matter in what Teiwaz showed me here was not the end, but that I stood up in the sacred space and took to my duty.  I did not see how the fight ended up.  In the final galdr of this round I was sitting as a chieftain in the hall, a fight ready to break out between two families.  It was the act of putting away the swords I was meant to see: the judicious use of violence and force, and the force that can make these things come forth or retreat.

The third round of galdr was very heady.  I fell into and out of being able to articulate what I was experiencing.  I think the closest I can come to is experiencing the meaning of it, God or Gods.  Like dipping into the current of meaning and power there.  As I galdred further, this connected feeling swelled and I was being overwhelmed by the Rune.  It was like swimming in Its power, Its Being.  As I finished the heady feeling stopped crashing over me, and I slowly came back to myself.

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.  I am still a bit blown away by Teiwaz’s response.

Link to the Daily Ritual for the Challenge.

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The #DoMagick Challenge Day 16

Sowilo (Wikimedia Commons)

Today I did galdr with Sowilo.

I had to miss yesterday.  Between working a double shift and celebrating my birthday to turn around and head back to work after, I was beyond tired.  I was in no state to do Runework.  So, today I am picking back up with the Runes and galdr work.

I am tired tonight as well due to lack of sleep, but I am in a much more rested head state than yesterday.  I can do this.  So, I do my prayers to the Eldest Ancestor, and ask it to help me cleanse.  It feels like the Sacred Fire is eating things all around my body, my head, the Fire eating up all this gunk.  I ease into the headspace for the work, and make my prayers to Rúnatýr and the Runevaettir.

The first round of galdr brings a black screen in my vision.  Then, as the first galdr of the round goes on, Sowilo appears in white contrast, shining.  The next galdr of the Rune starts, and Sowilo doubles into the sunwheel or fylfot, and then it doubles again and again.  As the final galdr of the round starts the Runes have overlapped and combined until it is a single, great, shining sun in my vision against a screen of black.  My vision goes white as I breathe and prepare for the next round of galdr.

The second round of galdr is a vision of a scar over the lid of an eye, looking fresh.  For the first part of this round it is all I see, with the feeling of reflection and victory with it.  As I galdr again I feel warmth, and a sunbeam beams down onto me, and the garden I am standing in front of.  As I enter the last galdr I see sun on a golden field, on a white field, on a green field, on a browning field.

The third round of galdr brings with it darkness.  At first I am confused.  Why darkness again?  I breathe and do the second galdr of this round, and darkness is still largely here, though it is lightening, like sunrise peaking through, from cold to a gentle warmth just starting.  I galdred and a clash of imagery and thoughts came through my mind.  My concentration was starting to falter here, so I did a round of breathing and galdred again.  I was seeing a sunrise.  A very slow sunrise.  As I opened my eyes, I was looking into the candle flame I cleansed with.

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.  I relaxed, grabbed some water, and wrote.

Link to the Daily Ritual for the Challenge.

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The #DoMagick Challenge Day 15

Algiz (Wikimedia Commons)

Today I did galdr with Algiz.

As yesterday, I cleansed with the Eldest Ancestor, Fire.   Today’s galdr was held before my altar to Rúnatýr and the Runevaettir.  When I lit the candle, a white seven day candle, I made the Fire Prayer and thanked the Eldest Ancestor for cleansing me, purifying me for the work ahead.  I then sat the candle on the ground in front of me throughout the galdr.

In my first round of galdr, I felt a hooking into the Earth similar to when I do tree meditation.  The knitting together of roots with my ‘root’, and a connection to Midgard came and hooked roots into my spine.  I felt relaxed as I breathed, and a kind of balance came.  It is worth noting I do not usually do lotus position for meditation work, and here I felt quite comfortable with it.

For the first and some of the second part of the first round of galdr, this is all I experienced.  As I was finishing the second part of the first round and into and through the last part, I experienced being before a great tree.  It was both immensely vast and yet I could still see all its parts, from roots going into the soil to its tower height.

For the second round of galdr  I sat with this great tree.  It was Yggdrasil and it was every sacred tree in connection with It.  It was incredible, it was vast, and Worlds were growing in Its various branches and roots, and yet it was climbable. I could feel the waters taken up in Its roots and I could walk among them.  It felt both like home and uncanny.

For the third round of galdr I had an experience of a rite before a tree.  I felt the blood of sacrifice drip down my upward, outstretched arms, and felt the place become holy.  Then the scene changed and I was standing in a grove and kneeling in prayer, again, arms outstretched.  It felt like arms were reaching down in kind, in answer.  I felt I needed to raise my arms in imitation of the Rune’s form and as I galdred it was a moment of union between the Tree and I, that feeling for a few moments of truly being Ask and Embla’s son.

When I was finished I cleansed with the candle as before, thanking it for cleansing me.  I then did my usual prayers to Rúnatýr and the Runevaettir, asking the Eldest Ancestor to help me come back to normal space as I snuffed the candle, thanking the Eldest Ancestor.  I felt relaxation and peace as the smoke curled up around me.

Link to the Daily Ritual for the Challenge.

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