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BLOG ENTRIES

2022

Behind the Song: We Have Instructions [archive link] - March 10

Behind the Song: Portraits [archive link] - March 11

Am I Quitting Social Media? [archive link] - March 24

If You Died Tomorrow [archive link] - March 26

100 Things You Don’t Know About Me [archive link] - July 21

The First Thing You See When You Wake Up [archive link] - July 22

I’m In A New Relationship (With My Phone) [archive link] - July 24

I Don’t Know Why I’m Frightened [archive link] - July 27

Ask Me Anything (Well, Not Quite) - August 15 [removed from website June 2023]

2023

My Heart [archive link] - June 25

Vampire’s Daughter [archive link] - June 26

Biscuits [archive link] - June 29

Morning Pages: Fight Like A Girl [archive link] - June 30

New Painting: Queen [archive link] - June 30

Morning Pages that Lasted A Day [archive link] - July 2

I’m Prettier When I Smile [archive link] - July 3

Dopamine [archive link] - July 4

Keep Your Keys Between Your Knuckles [archive link] - July 6

An Introduction to Runes

Runes are an ancient Germanic alphabet, used for writing, divination and magick. They were used throughout northern Europe, Scandinavia, the British Isles, and Iceland from about 100 B.C.E. to 1600 C.E. Runes are an oracle from which one seeks advice, enlightenment, or knowledge of the future. However, "rune-casting" is not the same as "fortune-telling," where the future is actually predicted. Instead, runes illuminate a current path and a possible outcome, allowing the rune-caster to analyze and alter the path or outcome if desired. Since ancient times, runes have been used for writing, magic, and divination. In fact, the word "rune" translates into "magic," "secret," and "whisper." Each rune has its own properties and associations, dealing mainly with the forces of nature and of the human mind and spirit. The runes were made of straight lines to make the characters suitable for cutting into wood or stone. Some runes symbols are likely to have been acquired from other alphabets, such as the Greek, Etruscan, and the Early Roman.

The Old Germanic Runic alphabet or "Elder Futhark" contains 24 runes. The first six runes of the alphabet spell out the word "FUTHARK". The Runes are divided into three Aettir (aett/singular) or groups of eight. You are now the proud owner of the "Elder Futhark," the runic alphabet which is a composite of the runic symbols most commonly used in northern Europe.

Rune Names and Meanings

Additional Information about the Runes:

How To Use Your Runes and the Techniques of Runecasting

When one does a runic reading, one usually addresses a particular issue, and examines the past, the present and the "future, or rather "what will be if one follows the path one appears to be on". The future is always perceived as mutable, changeable. The runic reading is done as an evaluation process. Runecraft operates on an ancient form of psychology. Even back in Viking times, there was a remarkable understanding of the human psyche. When one does a runic reading, one usually addresses a particular issue, and examines the past, the present and the "future, or rather "what will be if one follows the path one appears to be on".

How To Do A Rune Casting

Find a comfortable place to sit and place a white cloth on the surface in front of you. This creates a boundry for your casting. Carefully form a question in your mind. Once you have the question firmly fixed in your mind begin to gently mix the runes in their bag. Continue to mix the runes until you feel compelled to take certain runes from the bag. Continue to stir and select runes until you have the correct number of runes in front of you for the layout you will be using. Keep track of the order in which the runes were pulled, laying them in their proper position in the layout as you choose them. You may use any of the casting methods described below, or one of your own design. Each rune can mean many different things. It is up to the runecaster to decide how these meanings apply to the question at hand. You may get even deeper interpretations through your own "gut" reactions to the rune's definition.

One Rune Draw

Concentrate on your question. Then reach into your rune pouch and draw ONE rune. Simply examine this rune and how it applies to your situation.

Three Rune Draw

Concentrate on your question, then reach into your rune pouch and draw out THREE runes. Lay them out like this:

Depending on the type of answer you are looking for, you can utilize any of the following methods.

A. If you want a simple YES or NO answer: Look at the runes to determine if there are more Upright or Reversed runes. If there are more Upright runes, the answer is YES. If there are more Reversed runes, the answer is NO

B. Another way to read a three rune cast is to look at the runes in the following way: Rune One s a look at the OVERVIEW of the situation. Rune Two is a look at the CHALLENGE that you are facing in this situation. Rune Three is a look at the ACTION that you should take OR avoid in this situation.

C. Similar to the second type of casting is the NORNIC THREE RUNES. In this type of casting, you look at the three runes that you drew in the following way: Rune One is a look at the PAST INFLUENCES that helped bring the present siuation about. Rune Two is a look at the PRESENT INFLUENCES and ENERGY in the situation. Rune Three is a look at the PROBABLE OUTCOME (based on the first two RUNES).

Five Rune Draw

Concentrate on your question, then reach into your rune pouch and draw out five runes, laying them out like this:

Next, you will look at the runes that you have drawn and correlate them with the following: Rune One iIs a look at the PRESENT VIEW of the situation - what is occuring now. Rune Two is a look at the OBSTACLE or CHALLENGE that you are facing in this situation. Rune Three is a look at the GOAL that you should try to or wish to achieve in this situation. Rune Four is what your WORRY over the situation is. (This worry can be a conscious or unconscious worry.) Rune Five is what the FINAL RESULT of the question will be IF all of the previous steps were followed.

Welcome, Plague Rat! To start off, if anything here looks familiar, that’s because bits of this article first appeared in an Asylum Newsletter on 1/2/22, and I’m sharing it in this new blog space for those who never got to read it. Now! I am so incredibly delighted to share with you this never-before-heard song from the Asylum Musical, "We Have Instructions."

The song is now available worldwide for streaming/downloading, with several free options. A handy guide to just a few of the biggies:

YouTube

Spotify

Apple Music

Amazon Music

“Instructions…” is a wild one, to put it mildly. Just ask W14BB and Darjeeling—they were in the next room as I recorded it, and neither of them could look me in the eye for a week afterward. The song happens near(ish) the beginning of Act 1, wherein Emilie is admitted to the modern-day hospital and stripped of all her belongings except for her striped you-know-whats (that sounded smuttier than it was meant to). The vocals are sung by all of 8 characters (4 Guards, 2 Nurses, the Head Nurse, and, of course, Emilie). Readers of the Asylum Book will be very familiar with this scene, and many who have been admitted to a psych ward themselves have likely experienced something quite similar. What many know and even more do not is that nearly all of the roles in The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls musical are dual roles. Madam Mournington is, obviously, the Head Nurse, the Hospital Guards are also the Asylum Doctors and Chasers, and the Hospital Patients are also the Inmates. You surely know who Dr. Sharp and Emilie are;). You will do me the hono(u)r of recognizing the melody from the song "We Want Them Young," which will appear later in Act 2 (and which you know well from the FLAG album, most of which is part of the musical). I will let you guess which nasty character begins BOTH songs... What else can I tell you? Oh, I get to be topless in this song for a brief moment as the Guards strip away Emilie’s clothing, piece by piece. I’m quite looking forward to this as I do enjoy being topless, as an inordinate number of my past photoshoots will confirm. To bare a part of one’s physical self that is so forbidden but that in fact ought not to be forbidden at all because that’s just criminally absurd…well, I for one find it incredibly liberating, and a nice old “frick off” to anyone who can’t handle the sight of a female torso. So, tits out, I say. And lest you think I’m just being provocative, W14BB and I have been writing a film script to act in together, and this is an actual conversation we had during a brainstorming session. Me: “Is there any way in which my being full frontal in this would make any sense?” W14BB: “Um…I don’t really think so.” Me: “What about just topless? Is there any scene in which that could benefit the story?" W14BB: “No.” Let’s reel it in, shall we? Back to the song. I said “I” get to be topless, but I suppose this would apply to all of the actors who will go on to play this role. It’s very strange but also extremely exciting to think of other girls playing the part, especially in international productions…the Japanese Emilie/Emily is going to rule the world. And now, I am going to do something I've never done before...I'm going to share with you a page from the ACTUAL SCRIPT (a.k.a. the Book or Libretto) for the Asylum Musical, the page on which "We Have Instructions" is introduced, and which tells the actors what to do (or, more accurately, tells the director what to tell the actors to do). Have a peek:

You know what…I’m going to pop the YouTube posting of the song right here below so that you can read along. That should help make more sense of things, surely.

EMILIE AUTUMN - WE HAVE INSTRUCTIONS || VIDEO LINK

It occurred to me that I should make a lyric video for this song (because I’ve got so much time) so that you can read along to the whole thing, but then, how to write out all the parts going on simultaneously? I’m considered reasonably intelligent, and I can’t quite picture it. Any ideas? (EDIT: I kind of sort of maybe figured it out! The video above will show my efforts if you click on “Captions.” See what you think!)