Rune of the Week: Sowilo

This week's rune is Sowilo meaning sun.
The poems for it are:

Old Norwegian Poem
Sun is the light of the world;
I bow to the divine decree.

Old Icelandic Poem
Sun is the shield of the clouds
and shining ray
and destroyer of ice.

Anglo-Saxon Poem
The sun is ever a joy in the hopes of seafarers
when they journey away over the fishes' bath,
until the courser of the deep bears them to land.

The lighthouse. A guide. A spot of optimism. Good times.

Rune of the Week: Algiz

This week's rune is Algiz. Meaning Elk. The poem for it is:

"The Elk-sedge usally lives in the fen,
growing in the water. It wounds severely,
staining with blood any man
who makes a grab at it. "

It's Elk-sedge is actually a sharp bladed grass. This rune ostensibly stands for protection. The sustenance of the grass and the elk is bladed against the protection and defense mechanisms both have.

Rune of the Week: Pertho

This week's rune is Pertho. There's not really any poems to post. It basically is life where Eihwaz was death. It is a rune about our possibilities and potential. Our beginnings not our ends. It's also associated with games and play.

This is the sole poem for the rune:

"Peorð is a source of recreation and amusement to the great,

where warriors sit blithely together in the banqueting-hall."

Rune of the Week: Eihwaz

This week's rune is Eihwaz. It means "yew" and is generally associated with the world tree.

The poems are:

Yew is on the outside
a rough tree
and hard, firm in the earth,
keeper of the fire,
supported by roots,
[it is a]joy on the estate.

Old Norse rune poem:
Yew is the greenest wood in winter;
there is usually, when it burns, singing.

Old Islandic rune poem:
bow, rainbow - "descendent of Yngvi"
Yew is a strong bow,
and brittle iron,
and Farbauti [a giant] of the arrow.

An interesting explanation of the rune comes to us from Barbelith poster, Cusm:
"The world tree. Motion along the vertical axis. Access to heaven and hel. The inner strength to change the self. Backbone. But change, we know from tarot, is just a nice way to re-label Death.

The Yew tree grows in cemetaries, and is sometimes said to contain the spirits of the dead below its roots. Its wood is made into bows, giving strength to hunt and being death to others. Its bark emits a hallucenigenic gas, a shaman tied to it may venture to the underworld. This rune is death, and every aspect drawn from death.

Consider the bow. In your enemies hands, it is death to you. In yours, the threat of death brings power of banishing and warding. The secret of this rune is in access to the powers of death, and communication through them. It is great strength to those who wield it, a bane to those it happens upon."

Thoth Tarot Tuesdays: Princess of Wands

This week's tarot is the Princess of Wands. The Princess of Wands is the earth of fire card. Which is to say it's the fuel. The princess is in some ways raw energy. She is naked because she is unimpeded in her access to and relationship with, the elements. Probably not surprisingly, she is quite moody, and prone to righteousness. When she has been wronged, it is not something she lets go unavenged. If it seems that way, it's because she is laying in wait to ambush.

The Princess of Wands is as Crowley says: "superficial and theatrical, completely shallow and false, yet without suspecting that she is anything of the sort, for she believes entirely in herself, even when it's apparent to the most ordinary observer she is merely in the spasm of mood. She is cruel, unreliable, faithless and domineering".

Her positive attributes is that she is all or nothing. When something enters her sphere she consumes it. Her love is total, as is her anger. In many ways she's quite the individual. Her beauty and energy can be inspiring and attracting. Even if at times she seems wholly irrational.

She's someone who will get her way regardless.