Shay's Rune

For the most part, our Winter here in this Eastern part of the Midwest has been fairly mild. Of course it's not over yet.....the crocuses and daffodils have not peeked their heads up yet. Nevertheless, despite the groundhog predicting 6 more weeks of winter, I have already seen the first harbinger of the coming Spring......the robin! We are, at this point, ready to shed our coats, or at least go to lighter weight ones, and to pack away boots and gloves. Unfortunately we still have some time to go and probably a surprise or two from Mother Nature (I will not mention the precipitation words....lol). What I want to focus on though is this time of transition. And a good rune for that is Eiwhaz, the yew rune.  It seems almost contradictory because the yew has associations with death because of the fact that the whole tree is toxic. It can neither be ingested, or its wood burned as an incense. But think on this, the yew tree is part of the evergreen family, and, there are components ...

Summer is in full swing now, and the weather shows it. Hot, occasionally sticky, maybe a microburst dropping down some much needed rain to cool things off. I'm going to talk about two runes for this writing, because they are inexorably intertwined for harvest. First, the rune Sowilo represents the sun wheel, and the sun at its strongest, which is summer. Although now with Litha behind us and the sun making its journey back South, which means the daylight is gradually decreasing, we still enjoy sunset well past 8pm. Sowilo is vitality, for when we feel healthy, we feel we can overcome anything, be successful at everything. It is the sun's light that kisses the crops and helps them grow full and abundant during the Spring and Summer, and has now brought them to fruition and ripeness, so it is now time to reap them. Now we turn to Jera, the harvest rune. The time of first harvest celebrates the blessings of the sun's life giving light to the crops we need to sustain u...

So the warmer temperatures and growing light are definitely more noticeable now, and I have dared to pull out a pair or two of capris (I am not even THINKING of regular shorts yet) to wear on the occasional warm days that sneak in between the cold weather. The robins have come back en-mass, but I think the poor things are confused at best with the fluctuations in temperature and conditions. Nevertheless, we approach a time of new beginnings, a time to clear out the old and stale, a time to throw open the windows and take a huge deep breath of "Ahhhhhh", and bask in the warmth of the sunny days. We look to Berkana, the rune of growth and nurturing. Right now the focus needs to be on the seeds that we planted previously, like the tulip bulbs that were planted in autumn. During the winter, those bulbs have not been idle, they have been gestating, transforming, and growing, but now they are inching their way up to the surface, the crocuses and daffodils coming first, represen...

I am really asking myself that question. There are still too many cloudy, or partially cloudy days to sometimes tell, but on the days where the sky is clear.....ah yes, I can definitely see and experience sunset after 5pm, and I relish in it. But the fact too that I'm seeing some trees and bushes with little "budlets" on them, even though I know full and well it's too early for them, fills me with the hope that Spring is truly on its way and the sunlight is gaining ground. In all honesty, we're only half way thru the winter......and, admittedly, it has been a mild one, so I have been out and about locally, even during the dark time. That being said,  I am really enjoying the longer days. That ol sun just  looks and feels soon nice! Imbolc is a Celtic feast referring to "ewe's milk", for this is a time when most livestock such as sheep and goats start lactating again in preparation for spring births. The time of milk means that dairy foods like but...

As we come upon the Winter Solstice holiday, we take time to ponder how we feel about the light and the dark.  After all, Yule celebrates both the longest night of the year, AND the birth of the Sun God to the Mother Goddess. In many cultures, especially those to the North, beacons are lit on Yule night to chase away the confusion and soon to be obscurity of darkness and encourage the return of the Sun.  There is feasting and celebration. Gifts are exchanged in there hopes that bonds will be strengthened between friends and family. The bright, joyful colors of green, gold and red abound, and there is laughing and merriment. Many will stay up the whole night, sitting round bonfires that are lit to welcome back the sun with the dawn of the solstice day.  For me, DAGAZ expresses this perfectly. This is the dawn/day rune. It looks like an X with lines drawn in on the sides, or two sideways triangles facing in with tips touching, like a mirror ima...

So I'm going through a bunch of stuff on my phone when I find my Blogger app and realize I never updated anything for October here. How totally embarrassing and unlike me. If you've been checking in regularly, I apologize. That being said, Do you believe it's actually the middle of fall? Yup, pretty much smack dab in the middle between the Autumn equinox and Winter Solstice, which you do know to be the official  start of Winter, right? We just got done last weekend turning our clocks back and hour to end daylight savings time, and subsequently are dealing with the early darkness that sets in. To think that this was normal for thousands of years! Kind of gives a new meaning to "early to bed, early to rise", doesn't it? I mean, if you wanted to take full advantage of the daylight hours in the late fall and winter, that's exactly what one needed to do! This time of year has a tendency to put one in a reflective mood. Most of the trees have lost their lea...

We are into the final weeks of summer........and can see it too. Some of the trees out by me are releasing leaves, and I've even seen a few small splashes of color on others. The seasons are definitely in transition mode. With the Fall equinox, we have a time of balance. It is the point where daylight and darkness are equal, but the darkness overtakes the daytime, and for the next six months, will "rule" the calendar. The earth is heading towards her rest, the soil cannot yield anything more that is productive. She must rest, replenish. What crops are still in the ground will be her final gifts to us when they are harvested in a month's time. Meanwhile, various trees and bushes put forth a blaze of color that takes our collective breath away, a poignant reminder that they will soon be bare and sleeping themselves. Surprisingly though, it is still a time of celebration, for the second harvest is gathered, early squashes, grapes, more corn, nuts, and apples. the ca...