(Loving) friendships provide us with a space to experience the joy .....

Full Moon Rune Draw, December 2020

(Loving) friendships provide us with a space to experience the joy of community in a relationship where we learn to process all our issues, to cope with differences and conflict while staying connected. - Bell Hooks

The image at the top of this email is the image of the runes pulled for this new moon period. For those of you new to the rune readings, I use what is called the Fourfold Wheel Spread. You can learn more about the Fourfold Wheel here.

At the center of the reading is "the matter at hand" and the rune Wunjo, representing one's capacity for joy. As this arduous year ends, how wonderful the runes are asking us to focus on our potential for pleasure. The rune in the shadow position (bottom of the wheel) is Ehwaz.In this wheel's shadow position, Ehwaz reminds us how we can rob ourselves of real joy when we forget that relationships are collaborations. What are the things we find most challenging to change about ourselves even when they hurt our relationships over and over again? Where do we avoid conflict and create distance instead of meeting discomfort head on to really get closer to someone? The shadow character of Ehwaz is rigid, expects others to bend to its will, and is intolerant of discomfort and conflict. It is a refusal to take responsibility for what we co-create. At the higher self is Kenaz. Kenaz means "torch" and represents your higher purpose and the light you are here to shine on the world. Kenaz is all about higher learning and personal development, and it is where we learn how to tap into creative fire energy and direct it with intention and purpose. Opposite Ehwaz, Kenaz tells us that no one reaches their higher purpose alone. Kenaz reminds us that so much of our spiritual development comes through our relationships with others. Whether it is through the people we choose (friends, lovers, and other collaborators) or the people to who we are "assigned" (family, co-workers, and other wanderers who find us), we learn about more our unique gifts through the challenges and opportunities that relationships provide.

In the past is Tiwaz, a rune that keeps appearing for this group. Tiwaz is our warrior of truth. It is an embodiment of our integrity and our willingness, where necessary, to sacrifice ourselves for the greater good. It is a reminder that you are always in service of something bigger than you when you live in your own truth. This brings us to the future and Mannaz. You'll note that Mannaz looks like a Wunjo reflecting upon itself. It is a rune devoted to the well-being of the clan through constant and shared intellectual development. While genius can provide flashes of innovation every now and again, most advancements come from average minds' coming together with diverse perspectives. Mannaz reinforces the importance of bringing our ideas to the collective to be shared and turned into something altogether bigger than our individual potential through input from and collaboration with others.

At its core, Mannaz is about seeking mutual intellectual understanding and, therefore, collaborative development. We live in a society where people do not seek to understand each other anymore. We look for news and data sources that reinforce and validate our own thinking. We strive to convert each other, and when we cannot, we lose connection or, even worse, "agree to disagree" and end all discourse. As a result, our society is intellectually stuck.

We are not meant to disagree and then walk away from each other. When we disagree, we should strive to stay engaged and challenge each other intellectually, sharpening our ideas and seeking not to win but to find a place of understanding from which we can move together. Only then can we evolve individual ideologies into advanced communal thinking, where diversity of thought and perspective is valued for its contribution to healthy evolution. At the same time, no one individual can benefit at the expense of the whole.

You can see then how Tiwaz, that fine balance between living wholly in your own truth while being wise enough to know when you must be willing to sacrifice for the whole is essential to embodying the spirit of Mannaz at a communal level. This reading intends to enforce to us that joy comes from what we learn with and from others. Spiritually, we cannot bring the fullness of our light into the world without cultivating the way we relate to others. Intellectually, by seeking perspectives outside of our own, we grow and help others grow in ways that no individual can achieve on their own. May 2021 connect you with beautiful souls you already know and have yet to meet with whom you will learn, grow and co-create.