This course will prepare the student for being an Initiate by giving them basic instruction in divinatory work, as well as an introduction to doing divination for ritual and others.

Key Concepts

1.    Local governments sometimes pass legislation against many activities such as witchcraft and fortune-telling. Research the laws for Seership in your country and locality (city, county, state, province or county, if applicable, provide copies of these laws). Discuss the impact of these laws (potential and actual) on an ADF Seer.

In Texas, fortune-telling laws are regulated by cities and counties, and tend to be extremely lax. Searching the legal codes in Denton County (where I reside) and the City of Denton didn’t actually turn up any laws against fortune-telling, which isn’t super surprising, as there are a good number of psychics and fortune-tellers advertising openly on Yelp and Google.

Income made through fortune-telling is taxable, in Texas, and though there are no laws against fortune-telling as a profession, it is illegal to rob someone through coercion, which is what a relatively high-stakes case in 2019 (where it went to the federal level for fraud) was in reference to (Banks). There are no other laws against fortune-telling as a profession, though a cursory google search turns up that some counties regulate what days businesses that do fortune-telling can be open (closing them on Sundays, much like blue laws in regards to businesses that sell alcohol).

These laws aren’t something I’m concerned about as a seer – both because I don’t usually take payment for fortune-telling unless I am doing tarot readings at a birthday party (or similar). In that case I consider myself an entertainer as much as a seer, and I treat them with the amount of sincerity you would expect to have at such an occasion. Otherwise, in my ministry, I will accept donations for the seership work that I do, but typically do not have a fixed fee unless it is for someone who is outside of my close circle in my Grove. Strangers online do not get readings for free, but I am not at all afraid of being in trouble with the authorities for $30 tarot readings or rune readings done at a coffee shop or over a Zoom call. Someone who was trying to be self-employed as a reader would need to be much more careful about income and taxation – and hopefully nobody in ADF is the type to swindle their divination clients out of millions of dollars to lift phony curses.

I would be remiss if I did not mention that it the charges against the woman in the Texas case were made long after she admitted that there was no curse – the problem in that case is not fortune-telling, it is fraud, and that is (of course) illegal anywhere in the United States.

2.    What is the difference between “open” and “closed” methods of divination?

Open divination methods are methods where there is a very large or even potentially infinite number of inputs to the seer. These methods might include scrying (fire or water or smoke), augury (the flight of birds), reading natural omens (wind, clouds), or other methods where a seer is looking to interpret an open system. Closed divination systems are those where a seer has a defined number of symbols to interpret, and those symbols are drawn in a way so as to produce symbols reliably in a particular way. This could include runes, ogham, tarot, and most oracle decks and symbol sets.

There are also some types of divination where they are sort of in-between. In particular, bibliomancy – the art of using a book and flipping through it randomly to a page and picking a sentence to use as a divinatory method – is a very large symbol set, but it’s not nearly as open as scrying would be. Depending on the size of the book, and how often it is used, it could be more or less open/closed based on those factors.

3.    Name and briefly describe one method of divination or seership technique common to three different historical Indo-European cultures.

While there are several different types of divination methods that could be discussed in response to this question (watching bird flight, for example, or dream interpretation, or the use of seers/oracles), the one that most intrigues me is the wrapping of a priest or seer in the hide of an animal and sleeping, to receive a vision in a dream (either from a God or from the Ancestors).

In the Aeneid, Latinus goes to the Oracle of Faunus for advice on the marriage of his daughter, especially in the light of several strange portents which had happened recently.  While at the oracle, Latinus performs divination by sleeping on the hides of a hundred sacrificed sheep. In response, he hears a voice from the grove of Faunus not to marry his daughter to a Latin suitor, but instead that she should be married to a man from abroad (Virgil 7.80). While this doesn’t speak much to the agency that Latinus grants to his daughter in her choice in a husband, it rather clearly shows this type of divination being successful.

In Peter Ellis’ The Druids, Ellis speaks of a ritual known in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland as the taghairm (a word he says has Irish cognates). In particular, a seer is to wrap himself in the hide of a newly slain bull and lie down at a waterfall or at the foot of a precipice and meditate. The spirits would visit him and tell him what he needed to know. (Ellis 222) This method includes both the sacrifice of an animal (in this case the bull, which seems to have been sacred throughout the Celtic cultures) and then the meditation on a desired question or outcome.  This particular iteration of this divination form says nothing about actually eating the ritual flesh of the bull, however. This is similar to the commonly told tale of an Irish seer wrapping himself in a bull’s hide, while Druids chant over him, so he may dream of the next king.

In the Chandogya Upanisad, there is a ritual to Savitr that a man should do if he desires to achieve greatness, which includes making offerings to a fire, reciting a Rg verse, and then going to sleep/rest on a skin by the fire, where if he sees a woman, he will know his rite is successful.  “When a man sees a woman in his dreams/During a rite to obtain a wish;/ He should recognize its success,/In that dream vision” (5.2). While the exact content of the dream is specific (seeing a woman as a way to divine the success of the ritual), it is still a form of divination similar to the others in that the dream comes after eating in a particular way and then laying down on an animal skin near a fire to sleep/meditate.

These three examples are also very similar to Norse practice of outsitting (utiseta) – wrapping in a blanket or fur skin and sitting on an ancestral mound or crossroads to receive guidance from the ancestors (Sagas of the Icelanders 764).  This is particularly noted in the conversion of Iceland to Christianity, where Thorgeirr stays on a mound under a skin for a day and a night to determine the fate of Iceland’s religious future. According to Ceisiwr Serith, “the seer, identified with the dead animal, goes where it goes – to the ancestors. From them the seer acquires knowledge to benefit the community” (Serith 262). While not all of the original texts make clear that it is from the ancestors that the seer receives the knowledge (and in fact, in the Aeneid it is Faunus who gives the information), the three (or four, if you count utiseta) different ritual forms all have enough in common to be counted as one form of divination.

4.    Within the context of a single historical Indo-European culture (your hearth culture if possible), discuss three different forms of divination or seership, and give an example of each.

Working from Tacitus, the Sagas, and the Poetic Edda, I’ve found three different forms of divination used by the Germanic culture group, which includes the Scandinavian and Icelandic cultures. While it could be argued that these three cultures are separated by both time and geography, their similar language, alphabet, cosmology and mythology is more than enough for me to be comfortable talking about them as a group together.

First, there’s a documented form of trance-like seership called seidhr. In Leif Eiriksson’s Saga (ch. 4) a seeress named Thorbjorg is featured who is highly honored by the farm she visits. She is brought there during a difficult time for the farm, and she spends a night there, honored by the various guests and given special food (milk porridge and animal hearts). After some reluctance (ostensibly due to being Christian) the women of the farm come and form a circle around her, and sing the ward songs, and she is visited by the spirits, who tell her that the hardship will last no longer. As well, she sees great reward for the woman who sang the ward songs. This type of divination is also seen in the Voluspa, and is perhaps the most formal and ritualistic type of seership among the Germanic and Norse cultures.

In Tacitus Germania, there is a reference to divination by something which sounds a great deal like it would be runecasting. A little bough is chopped off of a tree and cut into small pieces, which are given certain markings. They are thrown at random over a cloth, and then either the priest (or the head of the family) chooses three of them and finds meaning according to the marks. This is extremely similar to most modern practices of runecasting (Germania 10). Also, later sources (Egil’s Saga, Ch 44) show runes being used for magic, and Thorsson believes that runes were “born from a magical tradition, not a purely linguistic one” (5). Between the rune’s associations with magic, their predating Tacitus’ encountering them among the Germanic tribes (Thorsson states as early as 200 BCE (12)), I am comfortable considering runic divination, at least in terms of the casting of lots inscribed with magically meaningful marks, a divination tradition among the Germanic and related cultures.

In Svipdagsmal (Poetic Edda, Hollander) young Svipdag is given a terrible task by his evil step-mother (proving that Evil Stepmothers existed from quite a ways back). In order to get help and learn how he can complete his task, he goes and sits outside on his mother Groa’s grave, a practice called utiseta or “outsitting”. Groa comes through for Svipdag, and he not only learns how to complete his terrible task, but also is granted nine magical spells. This practice was also used in the conversion of Iceland to Christianity, when Thorgeirr (who was chosen to moderate the conflict between the Pagan Icelanders and the Christian forces from Norway) sits out for a day and a night under a skin in order to determine the fate of religion in Iceland. This practice of outsitting is a way of getting information and help, often specifically from the ancestors, and divining the future with their aid.

5.    Discuss the role of seers in general within your hearth culture.

The implication in Scandinavian and Germanic societies is that seership is a woman’s art (born out by other references to seership, and by Loki’s calling Odin “unmanly” for practicing seidhr), and that even in the age of Christianity, women still knew and practiced the art of seeing. Leif Eriksson’s Saga (ch. 4) states that Thorbjorg was one of 10 sisters, all of whom had the gift of prophecy, and she traveled from farm to farm, looking into the spirit world and into the future for people. Clearly she is held in great esteem, and her position puts her “above” the rest – she sits on a high seat to see into the spirit world.

In other stories, seers get brought back from the dead in order to continue their work of seership (Odin with Baldr’s Dream, Odr’s Saga), which implies that they are valued for their gifts, and also that they are valued for being “outside” of society. If the best way to get a good seer is not to go to the one down the street, but to raise one from the dead, they are clearly a specialized group. (This does not take into account the possibility of them receiving greater knowledge from having passed into the Otherworld, or that their “otherworldliness” is part of what sets them apart as talented seeresses.)

According to Tacitus, divination of a more mundane sort (by casting of lots) was done by a priest or the father of the household (Germania 10), so there may be a division in the society by gender (or perhaps Tacitus’ bias is showing).

6.    Discuss the relationship of seers to other members of the society within your hearth culture, including in that discussion how seers or visionaries would have supported themselves or how they would have been supported by their people.

Seership was clearly highly valuable in Germanic society, as the seeress was treated with great respect and given a place of honor at the farm.  As well, Odin himself consults a seer (a volva) to find out what the fate of the Gods will be in the Voluspa. Most of these seeresses seem to be older women who are somewhat outside the bounds of society – they are no longer raising children or helping husbands – but the women who help them can be of any age. Freyja, who is said to be the one who teaches Odin the art of seidhr, is similarly a woman outside of society – her husband is gone, and she is clearly mistress of her own affairs. While the majority of women probably had mundane jobs and only occasionally helped with seeing, at least in Thorbjorg’s case she seems to spend a lot of time traveling from farm to farm, exchanging food and shelter for her skills in prophecy. This may be a purely practical concern (it would be hard for a woman with a house full of small children to devote any time to a practice that required trance work or substantial travel), and it makes some amount of sense that any woman who was devoted to spending a large amount of time on seership would need to be supported by her community, or she would quickly starve.

Application of Skills

7.    Discuss your view of the purpose of divination.

Divination serves two interconnected purposes – to divine the will or opinion of the Kindreds, and to divine greater guidance about mundane situations. In the first instance, it is used to determine if offerings have been accepted, if gifts need to be given, and if a situation is seen as favorable or unfavorable. In the second, divination gives a human seer the ability to look beyond the obvious elements of a situation, to “see beneath the surface” and bring forth greater insights into how to act or respond to a situation. Obviously the second method, while not directly asking the will of the gods, can involve the intercession of one or more of the Kindreds, especially the ancestors. Both methods can be used in a religious sense, though I do not think divination is, itself, inherently religious. Religions whose practice involves direct communication with gods will be greatly enhanced by a divinatory practice of some form.

8.    Identify and describe one method of divination to which you find yourself attracted and discuss its relationship to the historical divination within your hearth culture.

I have a fairly long relationship with divination, having been given my first set of runes when I turned approximately 12, by an uncle. (My parents did not know what they were, or I would not have been allowed to keep them, and they included the infamous “blank rune”.) I turned to tarot quickly though, finding that I couldn’t make heads or tails of my rune readings. This may or may not have been due to my using entirely New Age meanings for them, but we shall see how my relationship deepens now that I’m using more historically minded source material. Since joining ADF, I have rekindled my interest in runes, specifically in the Anglo-Saxon rune set, as part of my Anglo-Saxon hearth culture. While there are only very brief and vague mentions of runes being used for divination in Paleo-Pagan times, they are very clearly a Paleo-Pagan alphabet, and there is some (if scant) historical evidence of using alphabets as sortilege type divination throughout the Indo-European language group.

As an alphabet, the runes started in the northern part of the Germanic lands (probably Denmark-ish), and spread quickly. The Elder Futhark, with 24 symbols, was adapted for different languages and areas, which included Iceland and England (Angle-land), where the Anglo-Saxon rune poem dates from. While it contains elements that have been Christianized, the essential flavor of the runes remains, and (of course) the more overtly Christian elements can be translated out.

While there is no direct paleo-pagan source for using runes as a divination method, there is attested use of runes for magic and for writing, and in Tacitus Germania, there is a reference to divination by something which sounds a great deal like it would be runecasting. Small pieces of wood are carved with symbols and cast upon a cloth, where a seer chooses among them and reads them to divine the future (Germania 10). This sort of divination, at least in terms of the casting of lots inscribed with magically meaningful marks, is incredibly similar to the process I use for rune readings.

I am attracted to the runes as a source of wisdom and knowledge, both from a mythological standpoint and from a love of language and poetry. Woden is said to have sacrificed himself on the world tree to gain the knowledge of the runes, and then chose to share that knowledge with humanity. As a seeker of wisdom, I think it’s fairly smart to study things that are known to bring wisdom and knowledge, but also I greatly appreciate the sheer magic that is writing. Though most Anglo-Saxons were illiterate, most modern English-speakers are not, and I think we forget the magic that is inherent in language. I can read words that were written down by people hundreds of years ago, and they make sense. I can push some buttons on my desk, which makes little electric marks on this imaginary page, and you (my reviewer) can read and understand them (hopefully). Language is powerful and using a language based divination system appeals to me greatly.

9.    Discuss your view and understanding of the function of the Seer and its value within ADF.

The function of a seer is to take omens and – most crucially – to interpret them, using a combination of knowledge, experience, and intuition. Divination rarely gives a clear-cut answer (unless you’re flipping coins for a yes/no question), and it is the function of the seer to take the symbols as drawn and turn them from esoteric symbols into something of meaning for the audience of the divination, whether that’s in a private consultation or a public ritual. A seer can be called upon whenever a querent has a difficult question on which they would like the spirits and Kindreds to weigh in, and as such they take on a consultory role within the community.

Divination within ADF is critical to the practice of our basic order of ritual, as it provides a method by which the Kindreds can express their pleasure (or displeasure) with our offerings. It lets us know whether we have done right by the spirits we set out to make offerings to, and it gives us feedback in the form of the omen to know what the spirits will offer us in return. Within a ritual, the seer’s job is extremely valuable, as their knowledge, experience, and intuition determine whether a ritual has been done properly or not (which may include signs or symbols other than just the omens that are drawn) and whether additional offerings need to be made or the ritual format changed before the next ritual takes place. Divination gives us the response we need from our Kindreds to know the specifics of the exchange of gifts that we are partaking in. A skilled seer takes an invaluable place in the ADF community as it is their job to interpret the omens given by the Kindreds in ritual, to determine if offerings have been accepted and what blessings have been given in return – and not just what the blessings are, but if any actions need to be taken as a result of those blessings.

As well as ritual divination work, seers providing their skills allows ADF members to have access to a skilled pool of diviners who can help assist with questions, hard decisions, and spirit work. While a priest may do the majority of their seership in ritual, the initiate will likely do a great deal more seership in one-on-one settings with querents from the ADF community.

10.           How does modern society view seers and how could you impact this view in your local community and/or grove?

Where I am (a small city in Texas) there’s a great variety of views on seers – some are curious, others very interested, while there remains a group of people who believe all forms of divination are “devil worship”. Sometimes there is overlap between the devil-worship folks and the interested folks, as though getting a tarot reading at a party is somehow dangerous or edgy, and it can be pretty entertaining to see people anxious and anticipatory of “secret knowledge”. I feel like a lot of this is enhanced by the way that fortunetelling is portrayed in the media, and it has been made more mainstream by the resurgence of the witchcraft aesthetic that we see so much of on Instagram. Especially regarding tarot, there are huge numbers of decks to choose from, from the traditional to the creative, from ornate to minimalist. Rune reading is still more the purview of pagan folks, and I get good responses to my ability to read runes in that community. In almost eight years of grove work, I’ve never had anyone respond negatively to taking an omen in public ritual, even among folks I know would never personally ask me for a reading.

11.           How has the role of the Seer changed from historical times to modern times?

I think that it is likely much easier to become a vaguely-competent Seer in the modern era, which is probably the biggest shift. Like ancient seers, modern seers are viewed as both necessary (in some circles) and as outcasts and weirdos (in others). But the prevalence of books, decks, rune sets, and reading circles on Facebook and Tumblr and Instagram and the internet as a whole has made it something that literally anyone can pick up. I’ve seen runes and ogham made with craft-store materials frequently, and those sets work just as well for their respective seers as expensive or long-crafted ones do. While dedicated seership is an art and a calling, and something that not everyone is going to aspire to (much like in the ancient world), in the modern world there’s just way more access to teaching, materials, and divination methods.

12.           Bearing in mind that ADF has based itself upon IE studies and thought, discuss the utility, or lack thereof, of using an historical system versus a modern system.

I’m of two minds about this question – as exemplified by the fact that I read both runes and tarot. Though we do not know the true history of runes as a divination tool, sortilege via symbols has been around since Tacitus at least, if not earlier. Using a historically-minded oracle like the runes seems to me to fit in better in an ADF ritual, if you have a seer who is familiar with those symbols. But tarot works just as well in ADF ritual in a pinch (as discovered by me, when in August 2019 I my rune bag went missing, and I only have the one set of Anglo-Saxon runes, so I used my favorite tarot deck for a handful of rituals with Nine Waves Grove until Spring 2020 when I found the rune bag (mysteriously behind the piano)). I think it’s most important that the seer for the ritual be familiar with seership and the headspace required to interpret omens, and only after that to be concerned with the historicity of the divination system. But I do think it’s nice to use a historically-minded system when possible.

13.           Should the symbol set being used in a ritual match the hearth culture of the ritual. Why or why not?

Yes, if possible, but it’s not critical to the ritual or the interpretation of the omen itself. ADF ritual I think works very well when the omen is taken in a manner consistent with the godden who are being honored. It may even be that those godden are more facile and easy to understand when they are being asked to respond in a way that is culturally significant to them. But if your group only has one seer, and that seer doesn’t know how to read, say, the Greek Alphabet Oracle, it will not ruin the ritual, nor will the omens not be as good, if that seer uses tarot or runes or ogham instead. This is personal experience speaking here, as well as my own opinions. While I have goals of being able to read GAO and Ogham eventually, right now I can read the Elder Futhark, the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc, and pretty much any tarot deck that has the Pamela Coleman Smith deck as an inspiration. That has served me well enough to get by in lots of ritual situations with Nine Waves Grove.

14.           Briefly describe each symbol’s meaning in a sentence or two within your chosen method of divination.

The runes are an alphabet, with each letter representing a sound in one of the Germanic languages. This particular set of runes is derived from the Anglo-Saxons and is slightly different than the typically seen Elder Futhark, which contains 24 runes. The Anglo-Saxon rune poem describes 29 runes, though the actual number of Anglo-Saxon runes can vary, up to a possible 33. The rune poems give a description of the “meaning” of each rune, whether as a source for divination or simply as a mnemonic device for memorizing them I do not know. (It is certainly more sophisticated than A is for Alligator, B is for Bear.) The translation I’ve quoted below of the Anglo-Saxon rune poem is from Runic and Heroic Poems, by Bruce Dickins (13-23).

Feoh – Cattle – Movable Wealth, Generosity, Money, Exchange of Goods

Feoh is about having enough wealth to share it freely, about not being miserly, and about recognizing the inherent instability of wealth (especially wealth in cow-form).
Wealth is a comfort to all men;
yet must every man bestow it freely,
if he wish to gain honour in the sight of the Lord.

 Ur – Aurochs – Strength, savagery, bravery, courage, fortitude

Ur is bull’s strength, both in the sense of great physical strength and in having a great deal of courage or intestinal fortitude/mettle.
The aurochs is proud and has great horns;
it is a very savage beast and fights with its horns;
a great ranger of the moors, it is a creature of mettle.

 Thorn – Thorn – A warning, caution, impending danger, potential hazard

Thorn is a prickly warning, a hazard coming your way, and it can be seen as particularly bad luck (especially if, as in the rune poem, you sit on one, yowch).
The thorn is exceedingly sharp,
an evil thing for any knight to touch,
uncommonly severe on all who sit among them.

  Os – Woden – Language, wit, cunning, communication, inspiration, guidance, wisdom

Os is often translated as Woden, but I see it also as being about beginnings (the source) and wit and wisdom. Like Woden, that can come in many forms. I very often interpret this rune as being about wise and cunning speech.
The mouth is the source of all language,
a pillar of wisdom and a comfort to wise men,
a blessing and a joy to every knight.

 Rad – Journey – A journey, movement from place to place

Rad is a journey, and not necessarily an easy one – it might look easy from the outside, but when you’re traveling it, it can be pretty challenging, even with a stout horse.
Riding seems easy to every warrior while he is indoors
and very courageous to him who traverses the high-roads
on the back of a stout horse.

 Cen – Torch – Light, fire, creation or, if uncontrolled, destruction

Torches light halls, and are the ancient equivalent of “We’ll keep the light on for you” – but they also represent fire which, if mishandled, can cause great destruction. (In the Icelandic poem, Kenaz is ‘ulcer’, which is distinctly more negative, so I try to read this rune with nuance. It should not be confused with “ken” or knowledge.)
The torch is known to every living man by its pale, bright flame;
it always burns where princes sit within.

 Gyfu – Gift – Reciprocity, partnerships, friendships, social obligations

Gyfu is a gift, though whether it’s a gift that is coming to you, or a gift that you owe someone else will come out of the reading and context. In general, it’s a favorable rune.
Generosity brings credit and honour, which support one’s dignity;
it furnishes help and subsistence
to all broken men who are devoid of aught else.

 Wynn – Joy – Delight, Contentment, Having enough, Having what you need

Wynn is contentment, in the sense of having enough of what you need to get by. To the Anglo-Saxons, this was true bliss – not knowing need.
Bliss he enjoys who knows not suffering, sorrow nor anxiety,
and has prosperity and happiness and a good enough house.

 Haegl – Hail – Destruction, transformation, a problem that might turn out to be beneficial in the end (but is definitely currently a problem)

Haegl is extremely destructive, and while something good might come out of it in the end, it takes the work of transformation (for it to be beneficial, it has to become water, instead of being ice), and in the here and now, it’s almost always negative. It does not, however, represent the end of a situation, merely the destruction of what is there now and the possibility of transformation into something different in the future.
Hail is the whitest of grain;
it is whirled from the vault of heaven
and is tossed about by gusts of wind
and then it melts into water.

 Nyd – Need – Hardship, Loss, Difficulty, Strife, Struggle, A need unmet, A problem that might be avoided with proper planning, a warning

Nyd is the experience of hardship and loss but can be avoided or mitigated with quick action. This rune should always be examined closely.
Trouble is oppressive to the heart;
yet often it proves a source of help and salvation
to the children of men, to everyone who heeds it betimes.

 Is – Ice – All is not as it seems, A warning, Caution – tread carefully, lest you slip

Is is very beautiful, but also very dangerous; it is the personification of things not being as easy or as nice as they look. Take careful action.
Ice is very cold and immeasurably slippery;
it glistens as clear as glass and most like to gems;
it is a floor wrought by the frost, fair to look upon.

 Ger – Year – Fulfillment, Reward for hard work or actions, Plenty, Right Order

Ger is the time of plenty at the end of the year, when the harvest is fully in, and nobody is hungry. It represents all being right with the world, and the order of sowing and reaping.
Summer is a joy to men, when God, the holy King of Heaven,
suffers the earth to bring forth shining fruits
for rich and poor alike.

 Eoh – Yew – Reliability, Something overlooked, “All that is gold does not glitter”

Eoh’s bark is rough, and it might not be particularly beautiful, but it is strong, well rooted, and reliable. The yew is a very slow-growing tree and, due to its ability to live for literally thousands of years, can be seen as connected to the ancestors.
The yew is a tree with rough bark,
hard and fast in the earth, supported by its roots,
a guardian of flame and a joy upon an estate.

 Peordh – Dice cup – Friendly competition, games of chance, an unpredictable outcome

Peordh is about the games of chance played frequently by idle warriors; as an outcome, it is as unpredictable as a game of dice.
Peorth is a source of recreation and amusement to the great,
where warriors sit blithely together in the banqueting-hall.

 Eolh – Elk-sedge – Protection, Defense, Careful action in the face of danger, Warning

Eolh is found in the liminal marshes and can dish out a nasty wound to someone who treads there without being careful. It is defensive, only wounding when touched, but may also represent a warning about the dangers of the marsh.
The Eolh-sedge is mostly to be found in a marsh;
it grows in the water and makes a ghastly wound,
covering with blood every warrior who touches it.

 Sigel – Sun – Guidance, Good advice, Good fortune

The sun was used as a source of navigation, and thus represents a sunny outcome and good advice or good bearings in difficult waters.
The sun is ever a joy in the hopes of seafarers
when they journey away over the fishes’ bath,
until the courser of the deep bears them to land.

 Tir/Tiw – The North Star – Order and Truth, Justice, Fairness, Keeping faith

Tiw is both the North Star and the God of Justice; as such, it represents order, truth, and fairness in all things, as well as keeping good faith and giving good guidance.
Tiw is a guiding star; well does it keep faith with princes;
it is ever on its course over the mists of night and never fails.

 Beorc – Birch – An unexpected (but probably positive) outcome, creativity

Beorc trees reproduce in an unexpected way – they are internally strong and creative, and very beautiful.
The poplar bears no fruit; yet without seed it brings forth suckers,
for it is generated from its leaves.
Splendid are its branches and gloriously adorned
its lofty crown which reaches to the skies.

 Eh – Horse – A strong ally, empowerment, strength

Eh is a great blessing and a strong ally, both to warriors and to rich men.
The horse is a joy to princes in the presence of warriors.
A steed in the pride of its hoofs,
when rich men on horseback bandy words about it;
and it is ever a source of comfort to the restless.

 Mann – Man/Mankind – Relationships, community, tribe (Positive or negative interactions)

Man can be both kind and cruel to his fellow man. The social relationships will define how those interactions go, but ultimately ones wyrd determines the outcome.
The joyous man is dear to his kinsmen;
yet every man is doomed to fail his fellow,
since the Lord by his decree will commit the vile carrion to the earth.

 Lagu – Water, The Sea – Imbalance, Instability, Lack of preparation, Unreliability

Lagu is an unpredictable thing and must be treated with respect. While I instinctively want to read a “water” rune as overflowing and carrying blessings (because as a modern human, I have a deep love for the ocean), in the rune poem it is clearly much less positive. I have also had this rune mean, quite literally “it is going to rain a lot” (it’s predicted major spring storms for me).
The ocean seems interminable to men,
if they venture on the rolling bark
and the waves of the sea terrify them
and the courser of the deep heed not its bridle.

 Ing – Ing Frea – Ancestor worship, Fertility, Divine connection

Ing was the progenitor of kings, and thus one of the mighty ancestors. He is also a god of fertility, and one who goes among men. This rune is also often interpreted as the seed, or of new beginnings.
Ing was first seen by men among the East-Danes,
till, followed by his chariot,
he departed eastwards over the waves.
So the Heardingas named the hero.

 Ethel – Estate, Home – Inherited wealth, Home, Family, Prosperity

Ethel is the kind of wealth you can count on – your estate. It represents true prosperity, possibly due to the value placed on owning land in ancient times.
An estate is very dear to every man,
if he can enjoy there in his house
whatever is right and proper in constant prosperity.

 Dæg – Day – Blessings, Good fortune, Hope, Happiness

Daeg brings the rising sun, which shines upon both the fortunate and the unfortunate. It is a source of hope and happiness in a very real sense.
Day, the glorious light of the Creator, is sent by the Lord;
it is beloved of men, a source of hope and happiness to rich and poor,
and of service to all.

 Ac – Oak – Adequate resources, A potential challenge

Ac feeds livestock (with acorns) and provides the wood for ships – where it’s good faith is tested by the sea. It is an extremely useful tree.
The oak fattens the flesh of pigs for the children of men.
Often it traverses the gannet’s bath,
and the ocean proves whether the oak keeps faith
in honourable fashion.

 Æsc – Ash – Stability, Reliability, Defense, Stubbornness, Strength against Odds

Aesc is often used to make spears and tools as it’s extremely hard and durable wood.  It sustains a beating against the odds and is stubborn in its resistance.
The ash is exceedingly high and precious to men.
With its sturdy trunk it offers a stubborn resistance,
though attacked by many a man.

 Yr – Longbow – Skill, Ability, Success, Craftsmanship, A practiced art

Yr represents the skill and craftsmanship of the longbow, and the art that is practiced by an archer. It is a positive rune, though it comes with hard work, and it represents a skill that is reliable.
Yr is a source of joy and honour to every prince and knight;
it looks well on a horse and is a reliable equipment for a journey.

 Ior – Beaver or Eel – Adaptability, Flexibility

Depending on the translation, Ior is either Beaver (which makes sense in the poem) or Eel (which makes less sense, as eels do not eat on land). However, both are good representations of adaptability and flexibility, and I think that is well expressed in the rune poem.
Iar is a river fish and yet it always feeds on land;
it has a fair abode encompassed by water, where it lives in happiness.

 Ear – Grave – Endings, Death, Sadness, Loss

Ear is the grave that will take us all and represents endings – not in the transformative sense (which is more to be seen with Haegl), but in the sense of finality, mortality, and loss. All things pass away, and though this loss is not necessarily catastrophic, it is still sad.
The grave is horrible to every knight,
when the corpse quickly begins to cool
and is laid in the bosom of the dark earth.
Prosperity declines, happiness passes away
and covenants are broken.

 

15.           How do you see confidentiality in relation to your seership practice?

Readings are strictly confidential if I am reading in a one-on-one context, unless the person specifically states that I can share the details of the reading with someone(s) else. I consider seership for someone as looking deeply at their life and examining the details as well as consulting the godden and spirits for them, and that’s something I take very seriously. While I might do “public” readings for a chat room, especially if I am doing so in a way that might be educational or help other readers see my reading style, I typically otherwise am very careful to file off the details even when I am sharing them for coursework.

Grove readings, however, and public ritual omens, are not confidential at all. I share them widely on our Facebook page when they come up and get a lot of good feedback from doing so. Those feel different than personal readings, and so I am less concerned that they be kept confidential.

Practicum & Reflection

16.           Discuss the importance and effect of divination within your personal practice.

In my personal spiritual practice, I use divination on a fairly regular basis. I try to do weekly readings when I make offerings, out of a desire to see what elements of my life or work I should be focused on (or perhaps warned about). I also do divination for my study group when we do rituals, to determine the blessings we receive in return for our offerings. As well, I do divination before I attempt any magical working, to determine the probable outcome. While it was not a runic divination, I have called off magical workings in the past if a tarot reading was decidedly unfavorable to the work I was intending to do. For me, divination is a way to check in with my gods and spirits to see what they think is important for me to pay attention to, so I try to do it whenever I am doing anything of religious significance.

17.           Describe what you have done to connect with your symbol set on a spiritual level, where your ideas came from, and how it has affected your method of learning this set. (Some examples might include (but are not limited to) carving or sacrificing for your runes, gathering each kind of tree for a set of ogham, or doing volunteer service at your local zoo to get more closely acquainted with the behaviors of animals.)

My symbol set was made for me many years ago by Rev. Michael J Dangler of The Magical Druid store. I asked for a set of cedar runes, of the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc, and he responded that he would make me a custom set, as the store only stocks Elder Futhark as a rule. I had to compromise on the wood – choosing a cedar dowel instead of more polished-looking set, because of price. I then have used that set exclusively for the last almost-eight years. I painted them with red ink (Noodler’s Tiannenmen, which is appropriately blood-looking), and otherwise have simply used them devotedly as a tool for many readings and many adventures. I feel very connected to these runes and, unlike with other tools of mine, would feel very strange letting someone else use them for a reading. They are a huge part of my practice.

In 2016 I purchased an engraving bit for my Dremel rotary tool and a set of moose-antler discs to make a new set of runes… and somehow never got around to it. I still have both in a box in the closet, unused, and still go to my old cedar runes whenever I need a rune set.

I have MUCH less loyalty to tarot decks, which I do use extensively but which I am not usually squeamish about letting people touch or shuffle. My favorite deck right now is a brand new one – The This Might Hurt Tarot – a deck that is a modern remake of the RWS traditional deck. It has diverse representation and reads very easily, but if I find a deck I like better, I won’t hesitate to switch. Tarot for me is much less personal than my relationship with the runes.

18.           Write one prayer asking for assistance with divinatory work within your hearth culture.

Seeresses of my ancestors, wise women who told fates of past and future, be with me as I work. Sing for me the songs of blessing while I sit on my high seat, that I too may see the fates and runes of the future. Lend me your sight, lend me your voices, lend me your knowledge from the otherworld, that I may speak with a voice that is true and faithful.

19.           Describe the results of three divinations using the symbol set you described in this course for three different people, performed by you. These divinations may be text assisted.

5/5/2014, 7pm – Question from a friend

“My 90 days at Job2 is going to be up soon, and I’ll have health insurance. Should I turn in my 2 weeks today at Job1, or work both jobs for an extra 2 weeks and save up some extra money?”

Peorth – an unpredictable outcome, a gamble
Gyfu – a gift, reciprocity
Eoh – yew tree, reliability, overlooked resources
Rad – the journey

I’d say for sure you are supposed to stick it out at Job1 for another two weeks. There’s some risk to doing so, probably to your health (nobody likes working 2 jobs), but you’re doing your due diligence there and proving to be a reliable asset. And you shouldn’t overlook the resources that are an extra two week’s pay! You’re still on the journey to your new home with Job2, but you haven’t arrived yet.

5/2/2014, 8pm – Beltane Ritual, Clear Lake Study Group (not text assisted)

What blessings do the Ancestors offer us? Daeg – The Day, blessings that shine upon the poor and the wealthy alike. We are favored by the ancestors at this time, though it may not be for anything special that we are doing.

What blessings do the Nature Spirits offer us? Ear – The grave, finality, endings, sadness. This is a challenging blessing, but I see it representing the end of our study group as a separate entity. We will have growing pains as we integrate with the protogrove, and that may not be trivial, and will come with some amount of sadness.

What blessings do the Deities offer us? Rad – The journey. Even though there may be some challenges in front of us, the eventual outcome is that we’ll be where we’re needed most. And that place will become a home for us.

Note: After discussing the Omen, we decided to make additional offerings, as Ear seemed ill suited as a blessing. We drew an additional rune afterward, to see if those offerings were enough, and drew Is – things are not as nice as they seem, take careful action, go no further. We determined that this was a “tentatively yes but get your stuff better organized next time” answer. (The ritual’s offerings were not well put together, and several had been left off of the organization list and got skipped during the ritual.)

5/9/14, 6pm – Reading for a friend

 

Can you give me some insight into how to build my relationship with the kindreds?

 

Cen (face down) – Torch – light, fire, creation, if uncontrolled – destruction

Eoh (face down) – Yew – reliability, something overlooked, “all that is gold does not glitter”

Gear (face down) – Year – fulfillment, reward for hard work, plenty, right order

Eolh (face down) – Elk Sedge – protection, danger, careful action, warning

Ior – Beaver/Eel – Adaptability, Flexibility

 

Fire in the head, reliable offerings, reward for hard work, protection/careful action, adaptability.

 

BE FLEXIBLE. The only rune face up in this reading suggests that this is the biggest sticking point, though I think the others are important as well. Make offerings, be reliable, don’t rush the outcome, be careful not to rush in, and everything will work out in the end.

 

Altogether, these runes made a reverse Nyd rune based on their position when I threw them on the table – Don’t make it harder than it needs to be.

 

BE FLEXIBLE!

 

20.           Describe any practices you perform before and after a reading is complete. (Do you purify your set afterwards? Do you make additional offerings or prayers?)

I take a few minutes to ground and center both before and after readings, whether or not I am in ritual space or in a personal reading. Otherwise I don’t actually have any practices or rituals before and after a reading. I do, however, make sure that my set is thoroughly “jumbled” (whether by stirring/tossing the runes or by shuffling the deck) to ensure that I’m getting a clean slate for reading and not just pulling the cards on the top of the pile or the runes that are still left in the bag.

21.           Write one prayer asking for assistance with the omen for a ritual in your hearth culture.

Wisdom rising from well’s deep roots
Like sap flowing through the world tree
Glowing with the light of runic lore
Oh spirits, let the true sight be in me, let the true voice be mine,
What blessings do you offer in return for our gifts?

22.           Take an omen for a high day ritual using the symbol set used for this course and describe what questions were asked and answers received.

Here are the omens from the Nine Waves Grove (virtual) Spring Equinox Ritual 2020, held on March 27, 2020, in the comfort of all of our homes. I was the primary sacrificer, and my altar was the central fire for the rite, so the runes were placed on my own home altar.

Have our offerings been accepted – IOR – the beaver: flexibility, adaptability. This is literally the rune for adapting to new and challenging situations, and I cannot think of a stronger “YES” for our first telepresence ritual.

What blessings do the Ancestors have for us this night? – IS – ice, stillness: the ancestors offer us a time of stillness and isolation, frozen away from each other, which looks like a good thing on the surface, but which is truly a challenge to live with. Very apropos.

What blessings do the Nature Spirits have for us this night? – OS – wise speech, cunning speech: the good neighbors offer us wisdom and cunning speech that travels in new ways. In my interpretation, they offer us… the internet. A good omen in these challenging and isolated times.

What blessings do the Shining One have for us this night? – ING – the seed, new beginnings: a time which has never been seen before is beginning, the cycles are starting anew. As my last ritual as the senior druid of Nine Waves, this is the rune of my patron, Ing, a rune of new things starting and new seasons starting. A truly wonderful omen.

23.           Describe any practices you perform before and after the omen is complete. (Do you purify your set afterwards? Do you make additional offerings or prayers?)

Before the omen I use the prayer that was used for question 21 – something I have done for years as I toss the runes in their bag with my hand:

Wisdom rising from well’s deep roots
Like sap flowing through the world tree
Glowing with the light of runic lore
Oh spirits, let the true sight be in me, let the true voice be mine,
What blessings do you offer in return for our gifts?

I then ask if the offering has been received and (if yes) for the blessings. I particularly do this because it colors the way that I interpret a reading. If the omens are to be blessings, they should be read with that in mind, which is a more positive reading than I might otherwise typically use. After the omen is taken, I usually take a photo of it, for record-keeping, and then the runes go back into the bag so that I don’t lose any of them. I am actually very careful about this, as a 28 rune set is inherently incomplete, I feel, and without a full set of runes I am giving the spirits an incomplete set of tools to answer questions with.

Beyond that I do not do anything particularly special for preparing or cleansing my runes.

Works Consulted

Banks, Gabrielle. “’Psychic’ gets federal prison time after swindling Houston woman of $1.6M.” The Houston Chronicle. Web. 16 April 2020. < https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Psychic-gets-federal-prison-time-after-14425923.php .>

Dickins, Bruce. Runic and Heroic Poems. London: Cambridge University Press, 1915. Print.

Ellis, Peter Berresford. The Druids. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Pub., 1996. Print.

Paxson, Diana L. Taking up the Runes: A Complete Guide to Using Runes in Spells, Rituals, Divination, and Magic. Boston, MA: Weiser, 2005. Print.

The Poetic Edda. Trans. Carolyne Larrington. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Print.

The Poetic Edda. Trans. Lee M Hollander. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1990. Print.

The Sagas of the Icelanders. Ed. Ornolfur Thorsson. New York: Leifur Eiriksson Publishing Ltd., 1997. Print.

Serith, Ceisiwr. Deep Ancestors: Practicing the Religion of the Ancient Europeans. Tuscon, AZ: ADF Publishing, 2007. Print.

Tacitus. The Agricola and the Germania. Trans. H. Mattingly. New York: Penguin Books, 1970.

Thorsson, Edred. Futhark, a Handbook of Rune Magic. York Beach, Me.: S. Weiser, 1984. Print.

Upanisads. Trans. Patrick Olivelle. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Print.

Virgil. Aeneid. Trans. Robert Fitzgerald. New York: Vintage Books, 1990. Print.