#northernpath

Halloween celebrations have resumed in Norway, to the annoyance and torment of many adults. We are constantly hearing that this is an imported tradition from America - of recent date. In fact, the night of November 1 is one of the oldest pagan traditions we have, and that night has been marked by our ancestors for probably tens of thousands of years. It was a festival for our dead ancestors.

Hild's Hall Rune a Day Project - November 2021

11/1: ᚷ Gebo

11/2: ᚱ Raidho

11/3: ᛞ Dagaz

11/4: ᛁ Isa

11/5: ᚢ Uruz

11/6: ᛃ Jera

11/7: ᚦ Thurisaz

11/8: ᚠ Fehu

11/9: ᛇ Eihwaz

11/10: ᛜ or ᛝ Ingwaz

11/11: ᛒ Berkano/Berkana

11/12: ᛊ or ᛋ Sowlio

11/13: ᚹ Wunjo

11/14: ᚲ Kenaz/Kauna

11/15: ᛚ Laguz

11/16: ᛏ Tiwaz

11/17: ᚺ or ᚻ Hagalaz

11/18: ᛈ Pertho

11/19: ᛖ Ehwaz

11/20: ᛗ Mannaz

11/21: ᚨ Ansuz

11/22: ᛟ Othala/Othila

11/23: ᚾ Nauthiz

11/24: ᛉ Algiz/Elgaz/Elhaz

12/27/21

When you are older, you wake up several times in the night, for a lot of reasons. When this happens, if you dream and remember anything about those dreams, they tend to be different ones, all unrelated to one another. At least, so it has been for me.

Last night (or rather, this morning) I had three very distinct, connected dreams in between waking up several times, all on a single topic.

That topic was Loki.

I am writing this down right now, first thing in the morning, because I believe Loki absolutely reached out to me, directly, and without question.

Note: I have never paid any special attention to Loki. I honor Loki along with the other deities and powers, but no more than that. I've never felt any kind of connection with him whatsoever.

I know Loki is popular, but he never appealed to me. Well, except for Tom Hiddleston's portrayal of the character of Loki in the Marvel movies, but I'll watch Tom Hiddleston in anything at all. He's a gifted actor and very easy on the eyes, after all.

But back to my dreams.

I do not remember the details the dreams. The theme, though, was on Loki having different faces (and yep, one was Marvel Loki). I was looking for the real Loki, as I moved through a ton of different situations and places. I really needed to find him.

Eventually, I did. Of all the faces of Loki I saw (and I want to say I saw dozens), only one stuck with me, and that one I can literally see when I close my eyes.

He appeared as a very tall man, dressed in modern clothes (think of the stereotypical movie-style "professor" clothes - browns and golds and blue, with several layers - he even wore a tie!), with a light colored overcoat (not sure if it was a trench coat or a lab coat, either way it was very long), towering over me behind my right shoulder, looking down at me with the most genuine smile. His hair was shoulder length, straight, and artificially blond (like he'd bleached it). He's thin and muscular, and when I say tall, think basketball player height, over 7 feet tall. SUPER tall.

I can still feel him standing over my right shoulder, hours after I woke up. I can see him there, in my mind's eye.

It is powerful and clear and might be the single most "supernatural" thing that has ever happened to me.

Look, I am not magical. Not one little bit. When something happens in my life that seems magical or supernatural, I always look for the mundane explanation first. Look, in "The X-Files", I identify with Scully, ok? If the mundane explanation works well, good enough for me.

So with this dream thing, it is absolutely possible it's just various things coming together in my mind and working themselves out, just like dreams typically are, and it means nothing more than that.

I just... don't FEEL like that's the case. I have a strange feeling like he's literally still standing there, and I can't shake it.

I've had two other dreams of this kind. One where I woke up with Bragi's name ringing in my ears, and one where I woke up thinking of the Berkano rune.

Those two were not as strong as this. This was incredibly clear.

The other thing I woke up thinking of, is the term "Age of Loki".

Is it that Loki is getting more powerful as more and more people discover him, learn about him and his stories, and he gains devotees? Maybe. Or maybe it's something else.

I don't know.

But what I do know, is that Loki has shown me his true face, and I'm going to have to do something about that.

Rune a Day Project - Day 24 - November 24, 2021 - Algiz (or Elgaz/Elhaz)

Day 24 of my rune a day project. Today I drew Algiz. Literally, it means "elk-sedge" (Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem) or "Yew" (reversed and found in the Younger Futhark). It represents protection, defense, the higher self, support patronage, care, guardian, reaching up to the divine, prayer, warding, hallowing, restraint, resistance, shield, Yggdrasil, guardian spirits, Hamingja, communication with spirits and the divine.

Lots of references out there hone in on the "elk" part of "elk-sedge", but I wanted to learn more about the actual plant itself. Sedge has hundreds of varieties, but the one the Anglo-Saxon rune poem is referring to is claudium mariscus, called in modern times "sawtooth sedge", "swamp sawgrass", "great fen-sedge", or "saw sedge". It grows in boggy areas just as the poem describes and it is one of the grasses used in thatching houses (literally up to modern times). It can grow about 8 feet tall and is native to temperate areas of Europe and Asia. North America has several related subspecies. The edges of the leaves are sharp, hence the sense of defense and protection, because you can literally cut yourself on these plants.

Sedge as a species in all of its varieties is known to provide ground-cover and protection for small animals & pollinators. So yet again, there's that protection association.

I also see a roof support column in the shape of Algiz, which again connects that with protection from the outside world (the roof column supports the thatched roof, right?).

Many sources also related this to Yggdrasil and/or the Tree of Life, prayer, and communication to the spirit world and the divines. I think this is pretty obvious going by the shape - yep, looks like a tree, and yep, absolutely resembles a person with arms wide in prayer. Thus, if you want to draw deeper associations to this rune on those interpretations, I think that makes a lot of sense.

Upside down, this rune exists as "yr" in the Younger Futhark, representing the letter R and translated as "yew" (which in the Elder Futhark, is Eihwaz, ᛇ , which we talked about waaay back on day 9). In the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc it's "calc", representing and the letter K, and it could mean "chalice" or "chalk" maybe. For me, when I see this rune upside down, I think of the modern-day peace sign, ☮ . That was created by Gerald Holtom in 1958, and it stands for nuclear disarmament originally, but now is generally "peace".

Given that the "elk-sedge" interpretation of the rune seems to be *armed* self defense in some way, turning it upside down as an emblem of *disarming* seems appropriate, even if the symbol is not at all related to runes (it's a combo of the semaphore signals for "N" and "D").

Funny little coincidence, that.

Personally, martial artist and instructor, this rune REALLY speaks to me in terms of self defense. The idea that you learn, you arm yourself, but you only use it in defensive uses is the basic premise of all martial arts training that has any relationship to self defense. I really should be wearing this rune a lot as well as Tiwaz, the rune I wear all the time. I think I'll make it a point to include it on my person as much as possible going forward.

I don't usually ask for stuff from the Gods. Most of the time, my offerings are just recognition of all they do for us, and gratitude for it.

But I have had a bad, bad run of weeks, y'all. One of the hardest I've ever experienced, with major personal losses, grief, and stress.

So I made an offering and asked for a PAUSE. Just... please, give me a break. I need a BREAK!

And I went to light some alcohol like I often do, to transition that request to the other world.

It wouldn't light.

Huh, never had that happen before. Tried again. No fire.

I tried three times. Neg-a-tor-reeee.

I do believe I was just told NO. That my request isn't going to be granted and that I better just keep rolling with the punches.

Rune a Day Project - Day 17 - November 17, 2021 - Hagalaz

Day 17 of my rune a day project. Today I drew Hagalaz, meaning the "hail": (as in the icy chunks you get with thunderstorms sometimes). It represents completion, destruction, chaos, procrastination, misfortune, transformation, frustration, events out of your control, sudden and monumental change, fury, natural disasters, catastrophe, disruption, negative weather events, a "wake up call", death, the cycle of creation and destruction, setbacks, and loss.

Same rune can be found in different forms: ᚻ ᚼ

Most esoteric interpretations of this rune are negative, some more so than others. One source that suggested that this rune represents the need to learn from our mistakes and hardships, and I like that idea.

I live in a part of the world that gets hail - sometimes very destructive hail - several times a year (this is tornado country, and hail is often associated with tornadoes). I am very familiar with the danger - and the wonder and awe - of huge chunks of ice raining out of the sky when the temps are warm. And the impulse to run out, get a big hailstone, and take pictures of it next to everyday objects (to measure the size - "It's the size of a dime!" "It's the size of a quarter!" "It's the size of a golf ball!") and gawk at the image.

I was inspired to look closer into hail as a weather phenomenon, and discovered that hail does NOT form in winter (in winter, you can get freezing rain, snow, sleet, or graupel, aka "snow pellets" or "corn snow" or "soft hail", which I thought was an interesting term I hadn't heard before). I suspect, to our ancestors, graupel and hail were the same basic thing. However, graupel isn't typically destructive like hail is, because hail is harder and bigger, and hail tends to come in spring (when new crops are fragile) and fall (when crops are ready to harvest) in the northern hemisphere, and can be an outright disaster to crops.

One thing you learn if you live where you get a lot of hail - you can't stop it, but you can be prepared for it. I think this speaks to the need to always have a backup plan and always be prepared for an unexpected negative event. What that means, and how, is highly dependent upon your personal circumstances, but the warning remains.