After dedicating myself to Christ in April 2020, I stopped using all divinatory tools for about six months. Gradually, I conquered my resistance to using the Tarot. The Tarot is a tool developed into a system mainly by people belonging to Masonry and other occult secret societies. Some of these people, like A.E. Waite were also (metaphysical) Christians.
From viewing the Tarot as ‘satanic’ (gasp!) for a while after my metanoia moment, I stopped overcorrecting. I realised that the cards are just a neutral tool. What this tool enables us to do is to translate universal symbols into a language that our left brain can understand, so that we can act on guidance from Spirit.
Divination and the Bible
The passages in Scripture against divination are against the kind of divination that leads to spiritual adultery, not against divination altogether. If there were a blanket prohibition against divination, there would be no such thing as the Urim and Thummim. Many of the main characters in the Bible who are considered ‘righteous’ have been described as using various forms of divination.
However, I’m not going to go into detail about why I’ve come to the conclusion that divination, in general, is okay for me as a Follower of the Way. This post is where I tackle my relationship with the Runes.
For any Christian wanting to explore divination, I recommend a little book called Divination in the Bible – A Practical Guide to Talking to God. You can get this on your Kindle for a few bob.
Runes in My Blood
First off, I’m Swedish. I literally have the runes in my blood as part of my ancestral heritage. They call to me, even when I’m not asking for it.
A few years ago, I did a series on Holistic Runes called Runes of Light that turned out to be quite popular. They are still some of my most viewed posts. Yet even after concluding the series with a total of 50 posts, I continued to doubt and question my right to offer my own, modern views and rune meanings. Should I be sticking with the Norse tradition of my ancestors instead?
Because of my ardent love for the runes, this line of questioning lead me down the path of Heathenry for a while in 2019-2020. I suppose you could say I was revisiting this path because about ten years ago, I was a devout follower of the Norse goddess of the Underworld, Hel.
This was the right thing to do at the time and I don’t regret it. To be perfectly honest, if I were not called by the Good Shepherd from before I was born, I would be a Heathen. It’s on my DNA, just like the runes.
The Dark Mother
Yesterday, I found a 60-page document about Hel, of which about half is channeled material. I had totally forgotten about it and it randomly showed up in a folder while I was searching for something unrelated. 30,000 words about and from Hel… Wow!
So let’s talk about Hel from a Christian point of view… Can we even do that? When I was reading the channelled material yesterday, I felt the Black Madonna speak to me. There is no division. They are both cultural expressions of the Dark Mother. Hagalaz is still the rune of Her in the aspect of our guide in the underworld, as far as I am concerned.
But does She belong with the Christian God? In the Catholic tradition, she most definitely does. I don’t feel I have to justify or defend her presence there… or anywhere, for that matter. If anybody should be justifying anything, it’s those who perpetuate her absence in their religious teachings. It makes for a very sterile faith.
She is the blackness of the fertile soil and dark matter. Without her, there would be no new life.
A New Thing
There are 24 runes in the Elder Futhark. The word ‘futhark’ is an acronym of the first six runes in the first rune row: Fehu, Uruz, Thurisaz I see Ansuz as the Logos in the sense of Christ’s presence in all of creation before it all began. The three preceding runes are the trinity of Mater/dark matter: Fehu, Uruz and Thurisaz – primordial forces that sprang from Dark Matter.
Though Fehu is often seen as abundance (the word means ‘cattle’), it can also be seen as Audhumbla, the primordial cow and original matter. Uruz is raw energy and Thurisaz is the tension/electricity that brings about life from the first two… but without Ansuz (The Word/Christ consciousness), chaos would still reign.
And so, as I begin another journey around the runes, I invite Ansuz/the Logos to guide me.
He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.
Ephesians 4:10
The Runes
Comments 6
Would you say the Dark Mother is the same as Hekate and Hathor ? Since Audhumbla, is the primordial cow ?
This may make no sense but in my belief system, I try to forge together different faiths to see the unity in all.
Author
Hi Tara, you’ll have to feel into that for yourself. I’ve never worked with Hathor but Hel and Hekate often felt like different cultural aspects of the same Divine Mother to me. I’m wondering if all triple goddesses somehow are an expression of the first three letters of the Elder Futhark (may sound weird, I dunno). The common themes are definitely there on all spiritual paths. A Christian theologian might argue that this is due to the Logos Spermatikus, the infusion of Christ Consciousness into all of creation since He created it all. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” The Word mentioned in the Gospel of John is the Logos/Christ consciousness
Yes. That makes sense. The Logos Spermatikus. Perfect sense. That’s why my original “teacher” ( when I was studying the occult) said a person’s name is so important. Because of the word. It may be because I’m an Italian American but the Angel/Jesus/Mary /Saint theme(?) resonates best for me. I’m just a really bad Christian. Otherwise I’d go full in. lol.
I do like working with animal spirits as well but I think that’s shamanistic .
Author
There is no dichotomy between believing in the Judeo-Christian pantheon and working with animal spirits. I’ve recently started again myself.
Author
PS. Jesus worked as a shaman. There are so many clues even in the Bible but more in the Gnostic texts.
Yes he was.
Thanks. That makes me feel a lot better.