Favourite's Collection #310

This is the first of the Favourite's Collection in 2020, and I've chosen a fairly recent image taken on the Urambi Hills, Canberra of an Australian Raven. The photograph was taken back in November 2019; back before the terrible bush fires that flared up all over Australia. There were several fires burning back in November 2019, but nothing on the horrific scale that occurred weeks after this photo was taken.

Raven has been a personal power animal of mine for a number of years; I've respected Raven and Raven has respected and accepted me. Now, in January 2020, knowing what I know now about what befall Australia, with hindsight I should have realised this Raven, and the other Ravens, that were suddenly arriving around me when I was on one of the summits of the Urambi Hills, were actually warning me of something they knew about!!

Raven is a highly intelligent bird; it is telepathic and works in unison with all of its facets. Therefore, this Raven and the others would have been made aware of the fires that had started elsewhere in Australia! Plus, and it is a big power animal quality that Raven possesses, it is able to transcend time and space!

This is in keeping with the legends of the Norse god Wotan/Odin/Woden having two Ravens Hugin (Huginn) and Munin (Munnin) on his shoulders. Where Hugin is believed to represent ‘memory’, while Munin personifies ‘thought’. In Norse mythology, Huginn and Muninn  are a pair of ravens that fly all over the world, Midgard, and bring information to Odin.

It is therefore very possible I was being warned of the imminent disaster in Australia, but I was too busily focused on photography, and being back on the Urambi Hills, not to listen to the telepathic voice in my mind. 

Eolh - Rune Of Protection

EOLH (Algiz and Elhaz) is a rune of protection. It represents the divine might of the universe. It is linked to the White Elk which is the Nordic symbol of divine blessing.

Eolh is also called 'Elk Sedge' and offers the bearer protection, against harm, in battle and in life's twists and turns.

The bearer of Eolh is said to be impervious to harm in battle; the universe providing the bearer with all necessary invincibility to survive, to see another day.

Eolh appears 'to choose only its own' during rune castings. Showing a recognition of ancient nordic ancestry, and acknowledgement of previous battles where the spirit has survived to tell the tale, due solely to the divine will of the universe - Matthew James

Elder Futhark Rune Meanings

My personal favourite means of divination are the RUNES. I began using the runes around 32 years ago. I've now spent more years using the runes, and respecting the runes, than not ... ! They are a fantastic tool, in the right hands ... and have provided, and still provide, stunning insights and advice for clients. They are not a FORTUNE TELLING aid. They are not for prophecy or prediction. Anyone who uses them for this are disrespecting the runes intention. They can only deal with future events in the format of offering advice on what path lies ahead as it stands at the moment the runes are cast. The Norn sisters do not weave a solid definable pathway from the now to the future ... they can only provide roads of possibility that a mortal can wonder using freewill. They cannot force the human to use freewill in the way they wish the human to.

Odin Discovers the Runes

The Elder Edda is a book of mythological stories of the Norse gods and goddesses and it is in here where we first see Odin learn about the runes. A story called Havamal1 or “Sayings of the High One2” tells us just how Odin first learned the runes.

Odin said:
I know that I hung on a high windy tree
for nine long nights;
pierced by a spear -Odin’s pledge-
given myself to myself.
No one can tell about that tree,
from what deep roots it rises.

They brought me no bread, no horn to drink from,
I gazed toward the ground.
Crying aloud, I caught up the runes;
finally I fell.

We see that Odin, in a shaman-like self-sacrificing ritual, deprives himself of food and drink as he hangs upside down on a tree. In some translations we are told that this tree is Yggdrasil, the Norse World Tree. As the days drag out longer and longer for him, nine nights pass and it is then when Odin sees the shapes of the runes. Crying out, he catches up the runes and falls from the tree.

The poem goes on talking about the runes and how Odin knows how to carve them for magickal uses. There are a total of eighteen runes that are listed but we never are told the names nor hinted at what they may look like. However if you believe the stories and tales of Guido List then you would tend to accept the Armanen Runes to be the runes that Odin discovered. Of course there is no evidence to even come close to supporting List’s claim as his rune set being the very first and original rune set.

If you are looking for the section in the Hávamál where it talks about Odin and the runes, it starts on the 138th stanza in the poem. Or if your poem doesn’t tell you the stanza number look for the section “The Lay of Loaddfafnir” (which starts on the 111th stanza). Skim a little ahead and you should see it....read more>>>....

Natural Born Shamanic Initiation

The concept of a true Shamanic initiation is probably the hardest spiritual process to be understood fully. The recent influx of New Age ideology that Shamans can be created by courses and workshops is poppy cock! True Shamans are born, not created by day or week workshops. A Shaman cannot initiate other Shamans, instead a fellow Shaman will recognise that another has been chosen or has been born a Shaman, and then will assist with the spiritual unfolding.

The primary teaching happens through the spirits of the ancestors with spirit provides a commentary for enhanced understanding. My initiation and choosing began when I was 4 years old, with an Odin/Merlin/Thoth like spirit beginning my training with night after night of astral travels.

A serious part of my shamanic training was coming to terms with a full blown Kundalini firing at the tender age of 12! Believe me my initiation has not been an easy pathway, with the looming figure of death standing behind me at every pitch and turn. For true born initiated Shamans, the figure of death shows up as an ever present spirit teacher-guide whom the initiate has to get to know, and eventually integrate with. It is an ongoing relationship.

The definition of a true Shaman Initiation is a simple one: “if the initiatory spirit who has claimed you does not do its best to take you over to the other side with a severe, life threatening sickness shortly after you meet, then you are not a Shaman!" My most recent experience was in October 2013 with my life threatening Necrotising Acute Pancreatitis which was complicated with pneumonia, hypothermia and septicaemia!!! A connection with Odin had occurred two weeks prior to this experience!

The first contact with the Odin/Merlin/Thoth spirit, took the form of a series of psychic experiences where the entity appeared in solid form; plus an actual interrogation by the spirit many years later. My interrogation took place when I was in hospital at 36 having had a serious bowel operation. The spirit appeared in the form of a farmer with two ferocious dogs. One of the dogs attacked me and I ended up having a heart attack followed by delirium and hallucinations brought on by a high dose of opiate pain killers. A classic case of continued shamanic initiation I feel. Which has taken place all the way through my life. Thus I can claim to be a chosen Shaman, not that I truly want this title!

The Rune "Wunjo"

This rune represents the balance between all things even in this chaotic world. It is commonly a rune of joy and good tidings and when it appears in a casting, regardless of all other runes, Wunjo represents a positive outcome in the long run. It provides hope and optimism when all good fortune appears to be lost - Matthew James

Odinic Vision

It has been accepted by many practitioners of Asatru, Heathenism, and Odinism that Odin, All Father of the Folk sacrificed his eye at some point in Mimir’s well. However, is it a more plausible thought that Odin did not sacrifice his eye but in fact gained vision through the opening of his “third” eye? Maybe this can help find something of a different view of Odinic Vision?

Voluspa is often one of the first quoted sources to support the idea that Odin sacrificed his eye into Mimir’s well. Consider closely the chosen language of the stanza as it is held over various translations:

“I know where Othin’s eye is hidden,
Deep in the wide-famed well of Mimir;
Mead from the pledge of Othin each morn
Does Mimir drink: would you know yet more?

Odin’s eye is hidden – not sacrificed “Deep in the wide-famed well of Mimir”? Mímir (Old Norse “The rememberer, the wise one”). We can interpret the symbolic nature of the Lore that Mimir’s Well is a representation of the mind! ... read more>>>...