The Moon

The Moon is the tarot card I drew today. This card isn't as familiar to me as some cards are as I have rarely come across it in my readings.
Bare with me while I stumble my way through, or sail my way through if the card is willing to speak to me today.
For the sake or remaining consistent, I will continue with the usage of The Original Rider Waite deck that I started with. The Moon is depicted in bright fullness with drops of dew raining down upon what appears to be a somewhat marshy area. There is water in the foreground with a crayfish crawling out of it, headed towards the land. In the mid ground of the card stand what appears to be a wolf and a dog. Both are howling at the moon. In the rear of the card stand two towers, one on either side of the card. They are featureless except for a single window. No doors are visible.Just beyond the towers are some hills or low mountains. Stretching from the waters edge and extending into invisibility is a path. It disappears over the hills/mts.
It has been felt by some that the reflected light of the sun that the moon shines out is special and that it provides nourishment for plants and animals, along with the evening dew that falls. I do not have an opinion on this so I am going to drop that part there and move on.
As I look at the Moon card, it imparts to me a feeling of confusion. It gives me more questions than answers. The moon has a face in it. I would suppose it is a female face though that is not obvious. The face is tilted down but the eyes are not open. What can be seen of the face implies that it is frowning down upon the scene below. Is this card calling for us to rise out of the mire and follow the path that travels between chaos and sanity? Possibly if you consider that life supposedly originated in the ocean/water. The crayfish could represent the emergence. The wolf and the dog could be sanity and chaos. The whole card on some level speaks of dream time and choices to be made. I think the towers represent inaccessibility to our own inner thoughts during waking hours,as in the conscious and subconscious mind. The towers have no access but for one very tiny window up high. The windows offer hope of a chance to enter our deepest thoughts and find the answers we seek. The path clearly leads away from the current chaos but it is unsure where the path ends. It does however rises up, perhaps indicating a need for us to rise up to our higher selves.
Please keep in mind that card interpretation is very personal to the person doing it. The Moon may tell an entirely different tale to you.

Choosing The Runes

"I didn't choose the runes, the runes chose me."

This is something I have come to realize over the years. I can't speak for everyone else, however I have found that more often than not we are 'chosen'. Well... that's all very vague and mysterious sounding. Let me get to the point. Whether it's I Ching, the Runes or Tarot we are chosen by our tools. There is one voice that speaks clearly to our hearts and minds. It calls us, and hopefully we answer. I was chosen by the Runes. I can read the Tarot, but it has never spoken to me as the Runes do. With my Mother, it's the exact opposite.

The Runes make themselves known to me in every day life. They've gone beyond a 'simple' divination tool. They have become my life. The Runes are my triumphs and my sorrows. I am destined to live out the Elder Futhark. Honestly I didn't know this would happen. I knew at 13 that I must possess the Runes, no matter how many times I got yelled at. You see, at age 13 (circa. 1992) a set of Runes had been brought into the house by my Mother. She thought they were interesting, and had never seen any before. I didn't really know or understand the concept of being naturally drawn to them. The only thing I knew was that I always felt the need to steal them from her. I would spend hours and hours conversing with them. I would hold them and listen to the sounds as they shifted in my hands. At 30, I can tell you that I was drawn to them. I risked being yelled at every time I took them. In the end, it was worth it. I suspect that at times I have a touch of Loki in my system; but that's another story.

Previously I mentioned that the Runes made themselves known to me in every day life. I wish to elaborate further. I'll skip ahead in my life story to the year 1999. The place was a chat server running the Spiritualitea chatrooms. In 1999 I met Sandra Posey (the web mistress.) One thing led to another and I was given a book to review. Actually it wasn't just a book, it was also a card set. I was asked to make comparisons, but I had no basis. To review, I had to research. The set was Silver Ravenwolf's "The Witche's Runes". By this time, I had been communing with the Runes for seven years. I use the term 'communing' because my better understanding and research hadn't started yet. I was told to make comparisons to traditional experts on the subject (people like Edred Thorsson and Freya Aswynn.) I needed to research. I was lucky actually, fate delivered the proper books to my eager little paws. I now could take things in a different direction. In the end it was Sandra's review work that caused me to take the next step with the Runes. They had chosen their time and I was going to listen damnit! In the year that followed, I met Odin and Tyr. I saw Runes in road salt. The Runes were speaking loudly to me. How could I not listen? Eventually I became a member of the Rune Gild (the organization run by Edred Thorsson.) My life became one big study session.The Runes are often obscure, but fail to be subtle. They will allow you to beat youself in the head until you get the message. They are merciless and often do not have much patience. Perhaps that's why they call to me? Who knows?

I began living out the lessons of the Runes in 2004 when I joined the Rune Gild. My awareness of the Runes changed upon reading Edred Thorsson's literature that he had sent to the Gild members. Like everyone's word; I took it with a grain of salt. He did however say things that made me think. In thinking, I started to 'become'. I would live out the Runes. Anyone who knows about the Runes will know this is both a blessing and a curse. I have seen the birth of inspiration to the violent destruction of my old ways. I would have preferred visions; thank you kindly. The Gods are funny that way. Despite all the highs and lows I really can't complain. The Runes are showing me things more than ever. I willingly make sacrifices for this knowledge. It is my path. These lessons are not for the faint of heart. Each one is a test that I feel I must pass. In the end, I will hopefully be stronger and perhaps a bit wiser. I will have to be, because learning is a life long endeavor. It's for this reason that the Runes have become my life. They define me, motivate me and encourage me along my spiritual path. They teach me strength, courage, wisdom and most important: humility. A warrior can be all those things, and that's what I choose to be.

So I Begin

I have decided to review one major arcana card a day chosen at random. When I am done with the major arcana, I will move on to the court cards.The first card I drew was of no surprise to me. It is the card that is the teacher for this year of my life, The Hermit.Lately the Hermit is everywhere I go, there is no escaping the lessons to be learned. It is up to me to figure out what these lessons are.For the sake of ease, I am using a Waite deck as most people are somewhat familiar with this deck. The Hermit is an elderly man with a long white beard and a gray cloak. He is hooded but his face remains in view. His face is at ease. He is not hiding from anyone or anything. He is perched on the top of a snow covered mountain. The background is the void. Nothing is visible beyond the light of the star filled lantern he is carrying in his hand. The other hand holds a staff to help him in his travels.The Hermit can be looked upon as a teacher as well as a seeker. The lantern holds a star. As I see it, the star represents wishes fulfilled as in wishing upon a star. The Hermit shines the light from the top of the mountain as a beacon of fulfillment and knowledge. He shows the path for others to join him in his travels.The Hermit is also alone and this represents the need to seek from within that which is needed for the spiritual self to grow and mature. There are no questions that the answer does not exists from within. That is our connection to the cosmos. All are one on the nonphysical planes.That is all I have to say today about the Hermit. It is a great card of change, mastery and spirituality.My interpretation of all tarot cards is intuitive. It is not to be found in a book, at least not in the whole. The tarot is a very personal thing. It speaks in different ways to each person, not unlike the Runes.
Posted by The Hermit 18 at 10:59 AM 0 comments

Tarot and I

I've been seriously considering how I want to go about blogging here and I've been thinking about simply drawing a tarot card each day and posting about it here. I don't know if that would be interesting to anyone else, but I would enjoy that.
Being who I am, subject to change without notice, I can't make any promise in regard to this and I haven't cast it in cement yet anyway.
The oddest thing happened a couple of nights ago. I had just gotten ready for bed and was laying there is the dark when an odd green light filled one end of the room. It appeared to be coming from the start button of the Xbox 360. It was even giving off the light in segments like the button is. It was rather bright. Before I could actually get out of bed the light went away. It hasn't been repeated since. I have no clue what to make of that. The 360 was shut off and we had no power surges. I'm not sure what I saw was even possible but I maintain it did happen.
A somewhat similar thing occured a few months ago but that involved a Wii. It woke me up in the middle of the night flashing a bright blue light from the slot where the games go. I did get up and eject a game that was in there and shut the system down. I'm not sure why it did that. It was always left with the game disk in it previously. It was almost as if it was trying to boot itself into the game in it. No one had been using it at all for a day or so. That hasn't happened again since.
Eh, odd things always occur when I am around. I should be used to it by now.

Lands With A Thud

Here I am , Wyrd one number 2, aka Hermit 18. I don't know where the third sister went, perhaps she was eaten in utero.
I haven't blogged about arcane or occult matters in a very long time and my brain is a bit fried from various events over the last 6 months, but I think I can take a shot at this and I am happy that I was invited to add to this blog.
My content will more than likely vary from 2 Bit Punk's but in the very least they will be in harmony with hers. We maintain a respect for each others beliefs.
I've landed with a thud, on my feet as I have want to do. I am the crone aspect of the moon. It is my magic source. The dark moon and all it's healing and recuperative energies are at my finger tips. I have but to make use of them.
I am a follower of Hecate, but not a worshipper, though Pagan I be. Hecate, the Queen of the Witches personifies the magic of the dark moon and represents the power of the crone.

Welcome to the Wyrd

Welcome to the Wyrd (pronounced like 'weird'.) For those who don't know what 'wyrd' is, wyrd quite simply put is: fate and how it works. I won't bother going into the origins of the word. I figure you can look it up if you really want to. I'm not interested in 'the origin' of the words. I'm only interested in their meaning and how it applys to the function in which I have chosen to use it. So... you won't find me saying how it's from Sumerian and means "To thunder with great enthusiasm". Those people drive me nuts. I've always prided myself on writing things in a way which people can understand and relate to better. Perhaps I've always been off-base. Who's to say? I ramble. Let's get back to the topic of wyrd.

I believe a bit in fate. I don't place 100% faith in the subject, as I believe that fate (in and of itself) is an ever changing thing. It's just like getting a divination reading. The cards, the Runes, the pokey sticks- they all show you one possibility as you travel forward. They show you the possibility of what will become. You can choose to either follow the reading or you can choose to deviate from it and make a new path. I believe we control our fates. There are some things that happen that we have very little control of when they happen, but they have more flexibility than one would first realize. Of course you'd have to believe as I do. I believe that we are masters of our own spheres of existence. What's true for you in not necessarily true for others. Sometimes we have something in common with one another and we find ourselves sharing a little bit of the same path. Each path is still unique to itself, and no two people will or even can follow the same path. Walk along behind someone some time and try to mimic everything they do. You cannot do it. First of all, you cannot mimic how hard they step down. Second, you can't drop your foot the same way. Third? Your body cannot occupy the same physical space and time as theirs. In the end, you can mimic, but you cannot 'become' them. Thus? Each person travels in their own existence. How does this apply to changing fate? Changing one's fate is like changing one's clothing. Learn to do it and you'll find that there is much that you can do. Besides, people look funny naked.

Welcome to the Well of Wyrd.