“Why won’t the runes give me a straight answer?” [Ask Me About Odin]
Due to the fact that last night’s oracular seidhr kicked my ass, and that I still have the answers to send out as well as another post I need to make, this week’s installment of “Ask Me About Odin” is going to be shorter than usual. However, it also has an unusual distinction in that this week, rather than “ask me about Odin,” it is “ask Odin.”
It was actually one of last night’s seidhr questions. As sometimes happens when the question is either from one of His own or on a subject matter He is closely concerned with, Odin took my body over to answer the question more directly, and the answer was so shattering that Jolene wondered, as she was taking it down, whether it was something she was even allowed to hear.
At the same time as He was speaking through me, however, Odin also informed me that the answer was to be shared more widely than just with the original querent. “Let them know the price,” He said.
The question was: “I have fallen in love with the Runes so to speak and am trying to learn to work with them at present, I guess what i need is for them to give me a straight answer as trying to read for myself is confusing, what do they (The Gods) want me to do?”
And Odin answered:
“The runes speak in riddles and poetry, not in straight answers. They share their mysteries and they hint and they whisper and they shout, but they do not speak in plain language – not what anyone who has any sense would call plain language, anyhow. To hear them, therefore, you must lose some of your sense. You must let go of your logic, and listen to the spirits of the runes as they speak to you.–as they sing and as they clamour and as they cajole and threaten. They will lead you down many a merry path, winding through landscapes you never dreamt existed, but you must go willingly, though the soles of your feet bleed and you cannot bear to take another step. One does not master the runes – not even I. One is penetrated by them, one is consumed, one is possessed by them. When you have become mad, you will hear them clearly. Sanity is the sacrifice they demand.”
Ah, you have no idea how helpful this was. This confirms what I’ve been thinking in regards to my own runes practice. I’m not ready to go there yet, and it’ll be a while still. I’m putting off working with the runes for now, until I can handle dealing with Odin in any meaningful way. Thanks for sharing this.
You’re welcome! Yes, the runes are pretty intimidating; He is pretty intimidating Himself, and He had to hang and bleed for Them. So I don’t blame you at all for waiting to work up to it.
I hate how flat these things come across in written format. Jolene didn’t merely wonder if she should even be hearing the answer (and, for the record, she should have been, or she wouldn’t have been, she knows that); rather she cringed and shook and was overwhelmed and felt very, very small — as Odin talking is want to make her feel.
The answer to the question touched a bit for my own path as well. You know my relationship with the rune spirits. There is so much potential there, and I can feel it, and it freaks me out and I back away. And, too, you know the struggles I have with wanting to be sure I can come back to this semblance of with-it-ness, that I can tap in to the consensual reality that makes up “everyday life” outside our doors. My desire for that has lessened, and my ability to do that has lessened, too. I am so very out of touch with pop culture, gladly, and I am reminded of this every day at my job. I am beyond weary of this fear, and how tenacious it is. So, I think I’m done with it. And I’m grateful to Odin for helping me see more deeply into this matter.
He kinda rocks.
Yay!!! Yes, He does rock. Seriously. I have had a somewhat different problem with the runes; I tend to approach them too logically, in a “I must read all of the books and apply all of the things” way that just ends up overwhelming me. Recently, He has me working on quieting my mind and just hearing whatever they have to say, just as I have been doing with the Tarot. Obviously, this works much better.
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This was very helpful to me. Thank you for sharing it. Hail Odin!
Hail!
Truth here. I did two readings during the con last weekend. One ended udp being pretty straightforward, though looking back I am amazed at what I pulled out. (And reminded me of something a person in the room said about another system: “the cards are a crutch.”) Though the next reading elicited this reaction “I have no idea what this is supposed to be!” Which ended up being a lot of the reading anyway.
LOL! “The runes speak sideways,” He has said to me since then. “So you need to be able to think sideways to follow what they are saying.”
Very powerful indeed. Though i do think that I have never really approched the Runes with ‘reason’ or straightforwardness to begin with, i have never expected a straight answer from them but that is likely because of some of the ‘Other Influences’ that have played into my magical practicefor as long as i have had a magical practice – of which the runes were a very primary factor.
excellent post!