Fehu Rune Zentangle Meditaiton

For today's Rune Zentagle Meditation, I pulled the Rune, Fehu.

Fehu i s the rune of possessions won or earned, income, luck, abundance. It symbolizes financial strength in the present or near future. Pulling this rune, emphasis and supports my insights from yesterday.

Berkano Rune Zentagle

Interesting little story. Yesterday, I started doing Zentangle with my daily rune meditation. I had decided to keep a separate journal as I tangled my way through all 25 runes (I use the black rune in my Runemal... some people do not.) Due to the winter storm, I didn't get to the store to buy a journal/notebook, so I had to make due with what I had.

I found an old notebook that had been a than you gift for a "job well done" when I was an executive assistant. It was actually quite fancy. It had a hard cover, and thick lined pages, with a stretchy band that connected to the back that you pulled over the front to keep it closed. The problem was a big gaudy logo, and the department name in gold letters across the front of it.

I quickly flipped through it and it was empty. So, being the creative person that I am, I created a cover of white card stock that I glued over the front and around the sides. (I plan to eventually paint something nice on it.)

So I had my new journal. I pulled my rune Berkano. This is the Rune of Growth (both mental and physical personal growth) and Rebirth. It is the promise of new beginnings and the light of spring. (It also can mean the prospering of an enterprise or venture, but that was not what I was focusing on in my meditation.)

I was very pleased with the results, and posted my Zentangle on my blog here, and on my Facebook page.

Then pasted it into the first page of my new journal. I wrote a few lines that came to me while I was meditating/tangling, and then turned the page...

Apparently I had missed 3 pages that I had previously written in this notebook. But that wasn't the most interesting part.

The pages that I had written were 2 Rune casts from 6 years ago almost to the day when my husband and I were going through some very difficult circumstances. The economic crash hit hard, and we were in mountains of financial troubles. These readings were done at a point in my life when we had hit rock bottom. We were both unemployed and our home had been foreclosed after more than a year of jumping through hoops to get the bank to work with us.

We were exhausted and defeated and our only option was a plea for help from family. So, we moved cross country to a town I hadn't lived in for almost 20 years, and was completely unfamiliar to my husband, and thew ourselves at the mercy of a relative who had built up so much wealth over the last 50 years, that he didn't even acknowledge there was a recession.

Without going into the gory details, our only this person blamed our situation on our laziness, lack of financial planning, and irresponsibility - which was certainly not true - but, it really did a number on our self esteem.

It took a long time to claw our way out again. Along the way we fought "demons" who wanted to keep us down, and were befriended by some wonderful "guardian angels" who encouraged us to keep going.

Drawing Berkano at this exact day, tells me that we are heading for a new beginning of financial grown, and a new chapter of marriage. Starting this journal reminded me of how far we have come in 6 years, and how bright our future is becoming.

Rune Zentangle Meditation

A just over a week ago, I was invited to a Zentangle Workshop that a friend of mine was giving. I didn't know much about it. I heard the word before, but that was about it.

She explained that it was a form of meditative art. I thought... "Cool, I'm an artist, and I like to meditate. Let's do this!"

I had no idea it would be this addicting!

So, fast forward a week. I just presented my workshop on making your own set of Viking Runes. One of the things I like to do is pull a rune, read its meaning/interpretation from my favorite Rune Book, and meditate on how what I read relates to me and my present situation.

[Side Note]
In case you are wondering, my favorite Rune book is The Book Of Runes by Ralph Blum. I've had mine for many years, but you can get the 25th Anniversary Edition on Amazon.

Today I couldn't decide if I wanted to do a Zentagle square or pull a Rune for my morning meditation. Then, I thought, why should I have to choose. And I combined the two techniques!

My first (of many) Rune Zentagle Meditation projects is Berkano, Growth and Rebirth.

Viking Rune Workshop

Wow, what an exciting day! Today was my day to give a workshop on creating a rune set.

I was extremely nervous about speaking in public... who am I kidding? I have extreme glossophobia...(Fear of public speaking)! It was small group of about 14 people, but to me, the whole world was watching. Thank you, Scott, Nikki, Doug, Sallie, for giving me the encouragement to face my fear.

Runes and rune casting is something I get great pleasure from. To be able to share that with others was such a wonderful feeling that, it was almost fun to be the presenter.

In addition to making their own set of runes, the group learned a brief history of the Rune Alphabet, they heard the story of how the Norse God, Odin acquired the Knowledge of the Runes, and the tradition of Rune mal (casting the runes).

We used glass "dots" and paint pens to make our Runes, explaining that traditionally they were made out of small stones, twigs, animal bone, or antler.

I know there are some very strict traditionalists out there who will disagree with me, but I feel that your Runes are personal to YOU, and they can be made from whatever you have available or feel the urge to create a set from.

I have a few different sets, smooth river stone, cats eye crystal, and a set made from polymer clay. I even heard of people making a quick set from pieces of cardboard when the need arose. So, have fun with it.

We also played a "game" with our new sets where each person was asked to pull one rune from their bag, while thinking about the workshop. Most of the runes have several meanings. I had them read the interpretation of their rune from a handout and asked them how they thought that was related to our group.

It was thrilling to hear their insights and how spot-on many of their intuitions were. A few that stood out are Berchta and Anzuz.

Among other things, Berchta indicates personal growth and the prospering of a new venture. This was drawn by person new to our CUUPS group.

Anzuz represents the God Odin, who according to the legend, brought the Runes and their meaning back form the fathomless depths of Urd. I would have been shocked if that one DIDN'T show itself.

I will never say I like public speaking, but it was fun, and I met some wonderful and interesting people. I hope everyone that attended had a most excellent time!