וְהוֹקַע אוֹתָם לַיהוָה, נֶגֶד הַשָּׁמֶשׁ
and raise them up in the face of the sun ... Bamidbar 25:4
Thursday night before an important meeting Friday, with the word-locking warding power characteristic of Vardlokkur, I drew one magical rune out of my rune-pouch to reveal and draw out the energy which would characterize the meeting the next morning. (As always, as with every divination I do using magical alphabets, the act of drawing was made by putting one of my hands into the pouch and drawing out the rune to which my hand is drawn - I do not see any of the runes until after one is drawn and taken out of the pouch. In this particular drawing, I drew the rune out with my left hand, the hand of strength. In note, all of my runes are hand-crafted without electrical tools and hand-pyrographed into hand-cut circles of apple wood of equal size.) The rune I drew was Sowilo.“Sowilo guides and leads you to the doorway, then waits for your return.” ... rune poem, author unknown
Sowilo, the Sun rune, is also known as the victory rune - it guides to and brings up honor, victory, success, revelation and wholeness. Importantly, Sowilo is a life-giving force. It's driving energy is not one of destruction. It's driving energy is one which activates one's inner Divinity to mobilize action of one's highest values within the given situation to catalyze transmutation of one's highest will and thought into manifest reality. Sowilo makes enlightenment real.
This Shabbat Saturday morning, the day following the meeting Friday, and opposite in time to the Thursday night rune drawing, as Sowilo waited for my return to the runes, I returned, drawing a retroceding rune (such that the two rune drawings sandwiched the Friday meeting, both anteceding and retroceding it, with magical energy). As per my usual procedure as described above, yet this time with my right hand to provide balance, amazingly I drew Isa - the Ice rune force which expertly balances and focuses Sowilo.“Ice only appears to stop a river’s flow.” ... rune poem, author unknown
Isa wards, focuses and concentrates the success and enlightenment brought up by Sowilo onto and into the target situation and magical working. Isa restabilizes the natural instability surrounding the act of transmutation, brought up both through Sowilo and through the magical Hebrew word וְהוֹקַע in this week's parsha meaning "raise up." Isa freezes, brings to stillness and neutralizes other potential negative meanings (namely, "to condemn" or "to execute") of the word וְהוֹקַע to energetically focus, concentrate and bring into single-minded action the positive meaning of the word וְהוֹקַע - namely, "to raise up."
Isa is also the rune of satisfying, meditative quiet rest. Like Shabbat.
Together, Sowilo and Isa correspond to the elusive soul power of hishtavut (equanimity), the ability to live with harmony in the most profound reality of the Cosmos. One who is shown to possess such equanimity shows oneself to be One with the Cosmos.
The vardlokkur for this Shabbat morning is Cosmos. Oh, how beautifully the Cosmos speaks in me!
