Alsia Soiset Artist, Photographer, Poet.

Spoilers. Spoilers everywhere. S p o i l e r s.

Alright let's dive in. So, it's even clearer in s2 that Crowley is the Jewish Representative in the Christian World ->

remember that Good Omens is essentially a world where Christianity is, with some modification, True. Classic Christianity. With the 7 days of creation and the hierarchy of angels and everything. (the exceptions are that its not patriarchal or queerphobic, but I digress)

in christianity, Jews are one of two things: - misguided fools (bc they don't realize Jesus is the messiah) - evil liars (bc they keep saying Jesus isn't the messiah)

-> making it obvious why the Jewish Rep, Crowley, is a demon. In Christianity, Jews and Judaism are at best treated like ignorant children, at worse treated like the agents of Satan.

All Crowley ever did was ask questions. Question the internal lack of logic within Christianity. Why make everything for it to end in 6k years? Why make people just to have them die in an apocalyptic battle? Etc. That is Crowley's Jewishness in action. Not only because he's asking questions, the Big Thing Jews Love Doing ->

-> but also Because Judaism is, essentially, a religion of celebrating life and humanity. Our books start with the creation of everything, not just Jewish people (which, at the time of writing, was extremely novel). We are a "nation of priests" in order to show the world a lifestyle of goodness we can all strive for. Not everyone has to be Jewish to have a good life or afterlife, we do not proselytize.

And, as such, Crowley - the token Jew - celebrates the world and humanity for what it is. His temptations are usually just encouraging humans to be human. He sees the beauty in the world they all created and he wants that beauty to continue.

Now, because Jews don't proselytize, he never really tries to get Aziraphale to join him in the questioning everything thing. He knows that asking questions would give Aziraphale the anxiety sweats. He doesn't really push him into do that.

All he does - throughout both seasons - is gently nudge Aziraphale into seeing how beautiful this world is. From the food and drink to appreciating humans, and then their art, and nature around them. Gentle nudges into realizing that this is a wonderful world worth preserving.

Which makes Aziraphale reject the Death Cult that is the Christian World (I'm reminded of the statement by Beezlebub "All my demons live for armageddon... if you can call that living") but not the hierarchy and fucked up toxic power structure that inevitably leads to that death cult

so Crowley thinks he's managed to persuade his Christian Friend to see the error of his ways, the error of Christianity. Aziraphale doesn't believe in the death cult anymore! perfect! now crowley and aziraphale can coexist and be a couple. Now they can be an "us".

That's where we leave off at the end of s1.

In s2, we see how still believing in that hierarchy (constantly referring to heaven as the "good guys" is a big key) holds Aziraphale back. Crowley, however, is blind to that, because he's singularly focused on making sure that his fragile peace with Aziraphale is protected.

He thinks that convincing Aziraphale that the death cult was bad would be enough for Aziraphale to realize that the Toxic Hierarchy is *also* bad.

But the Toxic Hierarchy keeps its hold on people the same way Christianity does in our world - by convincing people it has a monopoly on holiness, goodness, and right action. And Aziraphale is still convinced of that.

To those of us outside that system, its obvious that a Death Cult could not *possibly* have a monopoly on goodness/holiness/whatever. But inside of it, it's impossible to tell, because they've convinced you that they have that monopoly, and if you reject them you'll be doomed forever, and no one wants to risk being doomed.

This is where the Jewish Grief of Crowley comes in. Because Crowley, like many of us, is in a friendship with a Christian, who - because they are Christian, and you are Jewish - still thinks of you as a "demon", or a "foolish misguided". They're just polite about it.

(note, not all demons are Jewish in Good Omens - in fact, I'd argue that most of them are just as Christian as the angels, because they believe in the hierarchy and the death cult. I digress.)

When Jewish People are friends with Christians, we know that there is a potential bomb on the friendship. At any point, the Christian could reveal that the whole time, they were just trying to convert us to Christianity, because they see us as the "foolish misguided" Jew instead of the "demon" Jew. Yes, there are the isolated Christians in the real world who are able to see Jewish folks as something separate and worth preserving, but they are the minority; and in the world of Good Omens, they just can't exist, because the physical proof shows the Christian world as Real. At the very least, Aziraphale could never be that person.

Crowley was hoping he had managed to convince Aziraphale that Christianity is bogus, so they could remain friends without Aziraphale trying to turn him into something he's not. Aziraphale thinks that he's doomed, because he rejected the Hierarchy, and is constantly doubting himself and his own worth without his codependent relationship with the hierarchy

This brings us to the end of the season. When Crowley sees that Aziraphale never really left Christianity at all, that he was just waiting to come back to it, that is a grief that many Jewish people have felt in their life when a friendship with a Christian comes to a head. Aziraphale offering Crowley a second chance at angel-hood, and to be his "second in command", is essentially Aziraphale trying to convert Crowley to Christianity.

Trying to Erase Crowley the Jew.

In real life, when this happens, Jewish people become heartbroken regardless of the nature of the friendship. The person they thought was their friend was, this whole time, someone who saw them as foolish and misguided, someone who saw them as damned and thus lesser. It was never a friendship. It was a trap.

And for this to happen between Crowley and Aziraphale, not only leads to the deep grief of losing a friend, but the deep grief off realizing that friendship - and the love that Crowley so desperately wished to finally access - was all a lie. A trick. A trap.

It's not just that Aziraphale didn't understand, or that he went back to the toxic relationship. It's that all of Crowley's memories - all of his time with Aziraphale - is poisoned now. Because he can't see it as anything other than Aziraphale trying to turn Crowley into someone he's not.

They talk so much about temptation, but in the end, Aziraphale was the one trying to tempt Crowley into self-destruction, and not the other way around. And realizing that broke Crowley's heart more than anything else could.

The kiss? A last ditch attempt to try to get Aziraphale to realize what he was doing. What he was giving up by buying into the toxicity and the hierarchy. But toxic relationships brainwash you. It was never going to work.

The only way they can come back together now is for Aziraphale to realize that Crowley was right all along. He has a lot of growth to do. And Crowley has a lot of pain that is definitely going to get in the way. He spent 6k years thinking that Aziraphale saw him as an equal, when he never once did.

I figured one way to fight antisemitism is to just try being a friend to my local Jewish community, but I'd like to learn more before I go sticking my noise anywhere. And even if it'd be preferred I keep my distance, never hurts to know more about another culture.

If not, thanks anyway!

A Complete Guide to Runestones

Casting and reading the runes is a popular form of divination in modern new-age practice. It is based on an old Germanic and Norse practice linked with the practice of Heathenry and the worship of Odin and other northern European pagan gods.

Like many other forms of divination, the practice is designed to help you access your intuition or your spiritual senses to bring to the surface truths that you already know in your heart. Your subconscious mind is much more powerful than your conscious mind and has information you simply cannot take in consciously. Practices such as rune casting let you quiet the conscious mind so that your subconscious mind has space to speak and reveal.

You can read more about the underlying philosophy of divination in our post about using the Tarot.

In this article, we will take you through several methods for casting rune stones for divination and how to interpret the runes. At the end of the article, we will also take a closer look at the history of the runes from ancient times to modern practice.

How to Read the Runes

Since rune casting is all about tapping your intuition and divine spark, there is no single right way to use them. Many experienced rune readers have developed their own approaches and shared them, so look around for ideas and inspiration.

But any approach will involve holding a question in your mind and then casting, placing, or selecting stones that will guide you toward a response.

Before you start, there are a few steps that you should take.

Find a set of runestones that speaks to you spiritually – you can shop our runestone collection here.

Connect with your rune stones by spending time with them. This should be physical, holding them in your hands and examining them, and intellectual, reading your guidebook and taking in the meanings associated with the different runes.

Prepare yourself through meditation that helps you to quiet your active mind and let your subconscious mind flow to the surface.

Learn how to ask questions, which should be open-ended, since all things are possible, rather than yes or no questions.

Read our more detailed guide to preparing for a divination session here.

Before every individual casting, you should also cleanse your rune stones of energy other than your own. You can protect your rune stones by storing them with energy-cleansing crystals such as black obsidian, citrine, or amethyst. You can also cleanse your cards by leaving them under the light of the moon for a night or smudging them with incense. You should then hold the runestones in your hands for several minutes before a reading to make a connection between yourself and the runes.

Casting Patterns and Methods

There are many different ways to then use the runes to find answers, but we will go through some of the simplest and our favorites below.

The Three Norns

Hold your runestones while considering your question, and then retrieve the rune stones that seem right either from your hands or from a sack. Place three runestones in a row in a horizontal line. The first runestone will reveal the major causes of your current challenges. The middle stone will represent the reality of your current situation, which we are often blind to. The final runestone will indicate the best course of action going forward.

The Four Dwarves

This casting works in the same way, except that you will place four runestones in a circle, working clockwise from the top. The top rune indicates the main causal factors of your situation. The runestone on the right suggests that you are doing that is influencing the current situation, while the left indicates what others might be doing or feeling. The bottom runestone indicates the reality of what is happening that is currently hidden from you.

Vé Branches

This is a more complex casting that uses seven runestones laid out in a V shape. Start with the bottom rune and work upwards, placing runes on the right and then the left. The rune at the bottom represents the truth of your current situation, and each line represents one of the most likely outcomes. The first rune represents your most likely action, the second your motivation for that action, and the third what the result is likely to be.

Rune Board

Other casters use a rune board. This can be designed in various ways but will have different areas that relate to different elements. It could be past-present-future, cause-affect-outcome, or different aspects of your personality. In this case, when you are ready to ask your question, you throw the runes over the board and make your reading based on where they land.

Individual Rune Meanings

There are many different rune designs, and each will come with its own guide with different meanings and interpretations. Also, as you become accustomed to the runes and grow close to them, you will start to develop your own meanings and associations.

Nevertheless, below are the most commonly accepted meaning for the Armanen runes, the runes most commonly used in rune casting.

Fa – Primal Fire – power of spirit, change, and creativity

Ur – Resurrection – physician’s rune for resurrection, eternity, and continuity

Dorn – Lightning and Thunder – targeting goals, activity, masculinity

Os – Mouth – spiritual power, voice, gaining power and respect

Rit – Ritual – orderliness, primal law, cynical events, rescue from an enemy

Ka – World Tree – power, generation, ability, and artfulness

Hagal – Hail – mother rune represents enclosure and contains potential for growth

Not – Necessity of Fate – karma, future existence

Is – Ego – self-control, personal power, obedience, compelling will

Ar – Leadership – beauty, fame, intelligence, virtue

Sig – Sun Power – success and victory

Tyr – Rebirth of the Sun God – turn a situation around, wisdom, spiritual understanding

Bar – Birth – creative power, becoming, song

Laf – A-rlog – defeat, laws or nature, water

Man – Manking – birth, health, increase, maleness

Yr – Bow – femaleness, nigh, death, instinct, anger, falsehood

Eh – Duality – love, trust, and marriage

Gibor – Gift of Life – cosmic consciousness and divine principle

Where do the Runes come from?

Various northern European peoples used runes as a system of writing. Probably the most widespread runic language was Futhark, used by the Norse people. They used a 24-character alphabet known as Elder Futhark between the 2nd and 8th centuries, which developed into a smaller 16-character alphabet known as Younger Futhark from the 8th century. At around the same time, the Anglo-Saxons and Frisians developed a related Runic alphabet known as Anglo-Saxon Futhorc.

Across all these groups, the runes became less popular with the rise of Christianity, and they were replaced by the Latin alphabet.

The Norse people believed that their runes were more than just a system of writing but rather a tool used to shape reality. The Norns, the fates in Norse mythology, write destiny into the bark of Yggdrasil using the runes. Odin, the most important Norse deity, saw the Norns at their work and was jealous of their knowledge. He hung himself from the World Tree, Yggdrasil, for nine days and nine nights while pierced by his own sword to learn the secrets of the runes, which he then shared with mankind.

In the Norse sagas, many heroes are described as runemasters who can use the runes to heal the sick and destroy their enemies. There are also many surviving archaeological examples of objects inscribed with runes seemingly meant to provide protection or ensure the quality of something stored. But, since the pagan Norsemen left no written records and our knowledge principally comes form later Christain texts, we do not know very much about how the Vikings used the runes.

We do know that centuries later, the Norse people of Iceland combined the runes to create runic staves believed to have magical properties. These are recorded in several magical grimoires surviving from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Some of the most famous runic staves in these magical texts include Aegishjalmur, also known as the Helm of Awe, a symbol of protection, and Vegvisir, also known as the Norse Compass, a powerful wayfinding symbol.

Ancient to Modern Runic Divination

We know that the Norsemen also engaged in divination. Volva were witch women highly respected in society that were often called upon to act as seeresses. That their practices may have included rune casting is indicated by a much older text.

The first-century Roman author Tacitus observed similar witches among the Germanic tribes of his day. He said that the runes were carved into small objects, such as sticks and bones, which would then be cast onto the ground. The seeress would make a reading based on how the runes fell.

But while runic divination seems to have existed in some form for at least 2,000 years, the modern practice dates to the 17th century. Johannes Bureus, a Swedish mystic, was inspired by the practices of his ancestors and made the modern system based on combining the Younger Futhark runes with the Kaballah, a Jewish mystical tradition.

His work was further developed in the 1900s by the Austral occultist Guido von List. This is the most common system used today and is known as the Armanen runes.