#we have Urd and Skuld already so why not Verdandi

[mcalhenwrites]

what if her name is Verdandi

[ihaveforgortoomany]

Alright theory for 2.2 and the 2.0 story: "harbinger theory" (i guess calling it that just to organise the brainrot building up here)

This is building on a previous post on *that* person but more on the Storm and such

(Feel free to discuss)

Summary: Urd is the creator of the Storm, created in desperation to end whatever conflict arose before 1999 involving Zeno that backfired so badly that the whole world is being reversed piece by piece throwing time out of wack. Vertin's immunity potentially is just a byproduct of the creation of the Storm, and with new information on what happens to reverse people its possible that Urd might not be entirely immune like Vertin since in 2.2 she seems unaware of who Igor his but he definitely knows her.

Going into name meanings:

Urd - a part of the three Norns in Norse Mythology, Urd in particular referring to the past. The three Norns are known for deciding the people's fate (the other two being Verdandi meaning 'present' and skuld meaning 'future'). While Book 6 proves that the Storm reverses backwards and forwards in time it prevents time ultimately moving forward from the past.

Bessmert - immortal (correct me if im wrong)

Marta - does translate in Hebrew to "my lady" or in Roman "dedicated to Mars"

Dolores from 2.2 - the latin root translates to "pain" and "sorrow", and is commonly refers to the Virgin Mary.

I think it should be safe to assume that Vertin's mother's name is Urd (unless BP disapproves Urd being her mother but I would say its unlikely, Vertin is hunting down Urd on "gut instinct" so Im 90% sure they are related until proven wrong), since Igor knew Urd prior to the Storm as "old friends" therefore Urd is either her government name or her nickname.

The name Dolores having connotations to the Virgin Mary would fit nicely to the Messianic and Christ-like connotations already associated with Vertin.

In a previous post Ive stated Urd and Vertin share similarities especially seen in 2.2, Urd immediately giving herself her once she realised Vertin was in danger. Again giving up one's safety to protect the life of a stranger is not alien to Vertin. I theorise that Urd risked her life with whatever happened with the white marble chair on the belief it would save everyone however horribly backfiring (is this starting to sound like Carmen from Lobotomy Corp or something?).

All we know she pressed a button on the chair then walked into a white house from Igor which is a big jump to say she created the Storm. But if at the end of 2.2 Sophia says the next step for the Manus was to create Storms instead of accelerating them, why take Urd especially now? (Tbh idk why Anjo Nala as well, I assumed it was due to her powers as a succubus). This would make sense if she was the creator of the Storm for them to capture her to replicate it.

The most elusive group in R1999 is the White Marble House, seemingly the highest authority in the Foundation that even Constantine and Lucy as head of Laplace only communicated through doves. I think we meet a member when Sonetto held a trial over the Chicago Branch (props to Sonetto still being the only uncensored fuck in the series lol). It does seem Constantine and the president of the committee might make more of an appearance in 2.0 since Book 4.

Why was Urd given the chair then? This suggests potentially she was a member of the house prior to the Storm and potentially confirming which branch of the Foundation created the Storm (rule out Zeno and Laplace, SPDM and Pax Committee and the group we have not much of as the only contender here).

Let's go back to Vertin's memory, she only recalls that she saw her mother on a hospital bed and that whatever happened after led to everyone denying her mother's existence.

This is mostly speculation from here:

Urd states after she pressed the button nothing happened, so anything that did occurred in the white house. I have a feeling Vertin's recollection happened in that white house, and ofc she cannot check where since no one knows the location of the white marble house (Foundation headquarters? Where exactly?).

Now comes to why cause the Storm? I don't think Urd necessarily wanted to create the current iteration of the Storm but as a doctor or war medic of sorts sought a collective goal with Igor which led to her creating what would become the Storm. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Maybe she wanted some way to prevent the conflict she fought in from happening entirely, or her fears that created the Storm serve as the allegory to the anxiety globally people had at the time that the world would cease to exist after 2000?

(This would imply all the root of suffering for Vertin could all be traced back to her mother)

As for Urd now, what if its just Vertin that is completely immune? Marta was actually reversed and like Mr Duncan/ Mr Karson was reversed to Sao Paulo?

Right now I think Igor would be the only person who can confirm if Vertin and Urd were related maybe.

[kyzveryown]

Observations — KHDR, Episode #3

KHDR hasfinally returned (after two months) with a lengthy and juicy update. There were a couple of things that stood out to me as I watched the newest episode – and some I didn’t pick up on until after. The biggest things in this update was the debut of Baldr and the not-so-subtle nod to Eraqus possibly being the descendant of another character we know. There was also more elaboration on the nature of darkness and how it manifests inside of people. KHDR is leaning more into the aspects and nature of darkness than the main series, which mainly focuses on light and the superficial idea the light is pure and superior. And darkness is a malevolent force, a poisonous disease, and an unholy sin. It’s likely that darkness will play a crucial role in the coming saga – though not in the way we’d expect.

Xehanort canfeel people’s emotions through the darkness. More specifically, he can feel their negative emotions. What’s more intriguing is that he can feel them across time. Being able to feel so much intense hatred and anger (and directed towards him at that) had to have weighed a ton on him. I wonder if that (among other things) contributed to him turning out the way he did?

The reason why this is so intriguing is because of the implications it could have on the story and characters going forward – mainly Sora. Sora has already been in this situation via Re:Mind. What will that mean for him going forward? Will he empathize with those who’ve given themselves to darkness? Or will he condemn them (*ahem, Eraqus) because they’ve sided with darkness? Excluding Riku, Sora and the others are trapped within this sanctimonious dogma that light is infallible. Hopefully being able to feel people’s negative emotions will lead to him understanding them and darkness as a whole. And to add on to that, I hope that he realizes that people who side with darkness aren’t necessarily evil.

Throughout the new episode we got to know and understand more about darkness. Darkness manifests from negative emotions such as anger and envy. It’s interesting that those emotions were highlighted because they’re deadly sins. The Foretellers are named after the seven deadly sins. There’s a stark contrast between the Foretellers and darkness. So, the seven deadly sins giving rise to darkness is strange. However, this isn’t surprising. At the end of KHIII, the Foretellers’ chess pieces are on the dark side of the chessboard. Now, what could that mean? The Foretellers aren’t aligned with darkness. They’re light. That is, unless something changes them. Or could it be that the chessboard isn’t displaying a game of light versus darkness, but a war of morality? It’s easy to see how darkness can flourish from that.

This is minor but when Xehanort talked about light casting shadows, and after the camera pans down from the sun, there’s an alarming focus on Urd’s shadow. This is more than likely a red herring (I still don’t think all of Xehanort’s friends are dead), but could this small moment be foreshadowing something? Urd is the Norn of fate. And fate often has a negative connotation often symbolizing death and misfortune. Side note: Skuld and Urd exist in different time periods. Is Verdandi (the last Norn) is in the present? It’s possible since she is the synonymous with the present. Maybe we’ll see her soon.

Baldr looks like Ravus from FFXV. Nomura is really shoving Versus XIII into Kingdom Hearts. It’s possible that Baldr’s story could play out the same as Ravus with Lunafreya (or Lauriam and Strelitzia). I won’t be surprised if it does. Verum Rex is basically a proxy for Versus XIII. If this is true, then could there be a connection between Baldr and Yozora? And his sister and the Nameless Star? I doubt it but it’s something to consider. Setting aside my disappointment in Nomura rehashing Strelitzia’s storyline, Baldr and Eraqus’s discussion about the Mark of Mastery exam caught my interest. It seems like (or rather to some degree implied) that the exam has been tampered with. If so, then who (or what) would do that? And no, I don’t think it’s Luxu or the Master of Masters. Could KHDR have its own antagonist?

And lastly, this is the third and fourth time familial connections have been brought forward in Kingdom Hearts. I’m seeing a trend here. For those that follow me and actually pay attention to my posts, you know I’ve been saying this for a long time and this episode is leaning more into it being true. Brain may actually be Eraqus’s ancestor (his grandfather). If that turned out to be true, then what awaits Brain is a grim fate since it’s highly likely that Eraqus’s grandfather is dead. This trend of familial connections could lead to Vor being revealed as Kairi’s grandmother. We’ll just have to wait and see.

That’s about it. I’ll be waiting for Episode 4 if it drops next month. And now, time for Melody of Memory.

[bluerosesburnblue]

Now that we’ve got Skuld and Urd, it’s almost inevitable that there’s going to be someone named after the third norn, Verdandi. And a lot of people have suggested that we've already met her under a different name, so I’m gonna throw my hat in and say that if anyone we already know is Verdandi, it’s probably Ava

Every translation that I’ve seen, including the official one, states that the Master of Masters gave his apprentices their names, which suggests that we don’t know their true names

So Ava’s true name isn’t Ava. Skuld has been compared to Ava more than once in-universe. Gula does so when he meets her before the war starts, Brain after it ends when the Union Leaders meet for the first time. No one else gets compared to another Foreteller, which seems to highlight the Skuld/Ava connection

One thing that we know about Skuld and Urd is that both have light brown/gold eyes. Urd’s are a bit lighter, but they’re very similar. As are their hairstyles; long hair with bangs and longer bits at the sides of their faces

It’s more of a lack of evidence than anything so it’s not conclusive by any means, but we’ve never seen Ava’s face, so we have no way to verify if any of these design elements hold true for her or not. Just something to keep in mind

Anyway, this isn’t meant to be persuasive or anything, especially since we don’t know if Skuld and Urd are even connected, just the fact that they’re both named after norns and that Urd’s character profile calls her “calm and reliable,” which can also fit Skuld (and Ava, but it’s also generic enough that it could fit anyone). It’s just something I’ve been considering as a possibility. And, if true, it could be a hint as to why Ava’s missing in the present

[adalheidismimisbrunnr]

Defining öorlog and wyrd

Posted on

June 17, 2014

Öorlog in Old Norse means primal law. Like other concepts in Old Norse metaphysics, it has a deep root in Sanskrit. Öorlog is akin to to the Sanskrit concept dharma, “a derivation from the root dhṛ, which has a meaning of “to hold, maintain, keep”, and takes a meaning of “what is established or firm”, and hence “law” (Wikipedia). In the Voluspa Edda (Prophecy of the Staff Carrying Woman), the Norns Urd, Verdandi and Skuld write down the laws and choose the lives of all who are born. At birth they speak the öorlog of the new baby who is, in Norse tradition, an ancestor re-born into the lineage.

Their names translate to that which is, that which is becoming and that which by necessity aught to become. Their names carry the concepts of dharma and karma or öorlog and wyrd.

Öorlog is the summation of an individual human inheritance (physical, spiritual, ancestral, environmental and cultural). It includes genetic codes, epi-genetic markers, meta genetic material, memories stored in the brain stem and passed on consciously or unconsciously from one generation to the next. It is “past precedence”. Modern healing communities understand these connections as patients fill out a “family of origin” intake survey answering questions about who in the lineage had heart disease, diabetes, et cetera. In mental health and chemical dependency healing, an even more fleshed out intake survey is done answering questions such as: Who in your family was the communicator? Who avoided communication? Who suffered the loss of a spouse, child, or sibling? Who lived through the Great Depression or the Holocaust? The things our ancestors lived through and the coping mechanisms they developed and the belief systems they held are all part of our öorlog, our own past precedence, the laws our family of origin have come to live by…that which holds our lineage together. Karma relates to this process by describing the act of Skuld, duty, that which by necessity aught to become. Again from Wikipedia, “Karma is related to verbal proto-Indo-European root *kwer- “to make, form”…Karma is the executed “deed”, “work”, “action”, or “act”, and it is also the “object”, the “intent”…” Karma is the action of creating öorlog which you and your decedents, community members, and humanity itself will have to serve. See Inherited Cultural Grief

I describe it by using a spindle. Each of us is born with a spindle of thread spun by parents, grandparents, great grandparents ad infinitum. This thread is our öorlog. We can not un-spin it, but we can look into it, review it, learn about it, and have memories that surface to help explain why some of the spin is strong and some is thin, lumpy, or even broken and tied back in. We can also choose to spin our strand differently. In Old Norse there is no future tense. As with spinning, we are constantly creating past precedence for ourselves and others with whom we are connected. The choices we make can either increase our luck and strengthen our wyrd or decrease it, not just for ourselves but for our descendents, community members, and humanity.

No strand of öorlog stands on its own. Every individual strand is connected to the other strands within the family, community, and culture and to the Earth itself which is a deified being in Norse tradition, Jord. Earth/Jord also has öorlog which can be read in the core sample of a glacier. Humanity is intimately connected to the historical precedence of Jord and of one another. These connections create the web of wyrd.

Wikipedia again: Wyrd is a feminine noun and its Norse cognate urðr, besides meaning “fate”, is the name of one of the Norns; urðr is literally “that which has come to pass”, verðandi is “what is in the process of happening” (the present participle of the verb cognate to weorþan) and skuld “debt, guilt” (from a Germanic root *skul- “to owe”, also found in English shall).

The concept of fate in an Old Norse mindset is not the same as in a post-Christian mindset. Without a future tense, fate is still firmly rooted in that which has already come to pass. So if there is a family history of heart disease, you are fated to carry that potential. It is part of your öorlog and in the web of your wyrd. However, if you make choices with that understanding (food, exercise, regular monitoring) you are not “fated” to have a heart attack yourself. Many of the Saga stories indicate an adherence to a kind of fate that is pre-destined. Written in a post-Christian world, these stories try to explain öorlog and wyrd as a linear rather than circular event. Yet these are stories of heros who come to understand that they are the manifestation of their own öorlog, they are the reincarnations of themselves through their lineage and it is their own Skuld, debt, that they must pay. The concept of reincarnation into our family or aett can not be separated from the concepts of öorlog and wyrd any more than it can from dharma and karma.

We can be said to be fated towards Alcoholism by the precedence of it in our lineage. And indeed we are fated to deal with the dysfunctions passed down by the behaviors of the alcoholic. Yet we can choose not to drink and choose to heal these dysfunctions in our own lives and for future generations. In chemical dependency literature it has been argued that it takes seven generations of consciously healing these dysfunctions to “clean up” the lineage. In healing our own öorlog we heal down the root and form new wyrd. We heal for our ancestors as we are them!

Many Heathens believe that Ragnarok is the fate of Odin and the Aesir. Indeed the volva in the Voluspa uses this poem to describe the past, the deeds of Odin, and the potential of the outcome of these deeds, His öorlog and wyrd. Modern Heathens fear Ragnarok as an unmovable and unavoidable point on a future timeline. This, in my understanding, comes out of a post-Christian mindset, not from a culture with no future tense and a firm grasp on the malleable nature of wyrd through personal responsibility. Heathens also claim Odin as an elder ancestor. In this way, Ragnarok is their wyrd as well as Odin’s. However, if we believe, as in the pre-Christian Heathen mindset, that we are born back into our lineage, then we are Odin on some level. He is born and reborn through us. We can therefore cease avoiding Ragnarok and the deeds that led up to this potential by healing the öorlog and our emotional response to that öorlog, and spin new threads that release Baldr from Hel’s hall in a different and less violent way. This is what, to me, makes Heathenry a living spiritual system rather than one that is dead through adherence to written word and the narrow interpretation of the same. Perhaps this is what he whispered in Baldr’s ear as he placed the unending circle of gold on the funeral pyre.

The gods can not escape their wyrd, the deeds they have done and the repercussions of those thoughts, words, and actions. Neither can humans escape the consequences of our actions in the world, or the debt we owe due to the actions of our ancestors. This is a great gift to us because our pathway of right action, Skuld, that which by necessity aught to happen, is a clear pathway to follow. Things like the Nine Noble Virtues and other great tools for right living are there to help us create öorlog for our decedents that is clean, clear, honest, and respectful right here and now, in the moment of Verdandi. We create the past, not the future. There is no future, only that which was and is becoming.

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kari tauring

https://karitauring.com/oorlog-and-wyrd/

[septemberpoems]

Stiles, ravens and World of Warcraft

aka I think I know what the hell a Stiles is

I’m a huge subscriber to the idea that there is a trio of things to be in the supernatural world of teen wolf; essentially hunters, shifters and emissaries, for lack of a better word. I’ve explained it before, but basically:

-a human with human weapons, such as the hunters, noah and melissa -a shifter that themself is the supernatural weapon, such as werecoyotes, werewolves and kitsune  -a human with the ability to wield a supernatural weapon of some kind, like lydia, deaton or jennifer.

all three contain different variations on a theme. and stiles belongs to the third. I think most of us can agree that it looks like he’s part of the third category, but how?

the first clue, really, hit me way later than it should have, and that’s the remark about him playing an online game that battles mythical creatures. with how quick he was to take everything in, never doubting the facts in front of him, I believe that game was WoW. it’s also the most popular one, so in all likelyhood, that’s it. if jeff davis has known all along what stiles is, I think this was a small nod. but let’s talk about the other clues.

his name.  jeff talked about stiles and his humanity way back around season 2 (note! the season of the WoW comment) and said he was more like perseus with his sword. long story short perseus was given preternatural weapons to fight medusa. mieczyslaw means sword and glory, and I think that’s a nod to that inspiration. that also fits the emissary category.

his nickname. a stiles is a set of steps or a ladder or something that helps people cross over walls and fences without letting livestock or whatever might be inside the fence out. 

jeff has said very early on that stiles and lydia are two sides of the same coin. he’s been drawn to her from the beginning, and I have an idea why. it’s has less to do with a romantic relationship and more to do with bonds, which I’ll clear up later, but basically I believe her banshee status and what stiles really is is very closely connected. it’s also why she was chosen as his anchor, and why she keeps bringing him back.

stiles heals faster than humans should, especially from things like kanima poison. when him and derek were paralyzed on the sheriff station floor and derek stared at him after the “dude, I can move my toes” I don’t think it was because derek was healing slow. I think it was because stiles was healing fast. he was also the only one in the right place to affect the mountain ash to let tracy out from the clinic, because she couldn’t have broken the barrier herself. if she had, it wouldn’t have broken the way it did. he had no way of defending himself against her talons though, so instead of getting up, he feigned paralyzation and let her out. he also seemed to recuperate faster from being drugged during lydia’s party.

in fact, derek may be one of the only ones who’s truly figured out what stiles is- this because of the spark conversation with one of the twins (can’t remember which one), stiles kinetically affecting the mountain ash and repeatedly waking up those who should be dead or unwakeable. 

stiles keeps talking to people who shouldn’t be able to communicate. punching poisoned derek back to life, talking to jackson while he’s OD’d on ketamine, isaac he only goes under when stiles grabs his legs, he’ll only focus when stiles is holding them and when isaac stands up, he talks to stiles directly. it should be noted that immediately after he’s awake and the weather outside stops, deaton and stiles both say things related to thunder (stiles uses the word thunderdome instead of arena, deaton says “storm in there”), but we’ll get to that later. he brings back cora and derek from the brink of death again despite it being supernaturally induced by jennifer and just recently he woke people up in the train station that he didn’t have emotional connections to.

sparks. so many sparks. stiles got fucking electrocuted at the same time as kira to the point where his bat was magnetic and he still walked out of there. he connects lydia over a radio, there are lights flickering when he’s angry and when the nogitsune takes over.

stiles has died three times. the ice baths, the car crash and the nogitsune slicing his stomach open. 

I’m going to make an assumption for the last one, but it’s not a far reach: the nogitsune changes appearance and power, right? with rhys it has shiny teeth, with the yakuza boss it had white eyes and several rows of teeth and with stiles it had.. nothing, really. I believe it takes the strongest being, the one it can use the most. the bandaged nogitsune in stiles’ mind was a mix between the yakuza boss and rhys’ burnt body, given the teeth and the bandage. so whatever the nogitsune did in stiles’ body, stiles was already capable of. and when it sliced stiles open it did so knowing what a threefold death would do to stiles’ powers. as did noshiko, which is why she was so terrified. 

  now, let’s talk norse mytholgy, and parallels with teen wolf that you should know of.

the norns. the norns were called urd (what once was), verdandi (what’s coming to be) and skuld (what shall be). they lived under yggdrasil, the world tree, in a well, matching allison, stiles and scott sacrificing themselves in water to the nemeton. I think allison was what was, stiles was what was becoming and scott what would become later on.  around the beginnings of stiles’ nogitsune problem there were speculations that allison got out relatively free because her main fear, becoming kate, was something she’d already dealt with. she almost fell into it while hunting boyd and erica as while she grieved her mother, but she got out of it and she survived. there was also talk about scott never really dealing with his fear of becoming a monster alpha, something we saw shine through later on when he both dreamt of killing liam and when he shifted more fully during the fight with the assassin team. 

the three sacrifices and self-sacrifice to the world tree: odin is closely tied to sacrifice, partially for hanging himself for a couple of days to gain knowledge. the threefold death has been presented in a lot of ways; sometimes it’s through water and fire, other times being stoned, pierced by a stake and drowning, both in relation to merlin, but it’s also very present in old norse texts. the theme of stabbing, drowning and blunt force trauma is present in those, too. remember how stiles’ three deaths are different from those jennifer performed? drowning, blunt force trauma, slicing himself open.

odin has a shit-ton of names. I can’t even begin to list them all. stiles, mieczyslaw, mischief, stilinski, bilinski... yeah.

odin speaks with the dead. here’s a parallel to the ghost riders, actually, because odin gets to the underworld by riding sleipnir, which is a horse, as some of you might already know. it’s very heavily emphasized that this is something only odin and possibly sorceresses can do.

odin gets much of his knowledge through hugin and munin, two ravens that sit on his shoulders and tell him what they’ve discovered when they’ve flown around the world. this has sometimes been interpreted as the farseeing part of shamanism, and sometimes depicted as two actual birds, but they’re a part of odin that has been present for a very long time. 

odin practiced seid, a type of sorcery he was taught by freya. this is very, very female coded (most likely because of related fertility rites and the sexual components of them), and even if there were a small amount of male seid practitioners it was heavily frowned upon. stiles is one of the few younger male  characters on the show that hasn’t been presented as manly eyecandy in one way or another, and on top of that his queerness has been hinted at for years. odin being queer in one way or another tends to go untouched by media using him, but he was. 

 there are other norse parallels, like peter and the ones he’s turned paralleling loki and loki’s children:

-hel, ruler of the realm of (most of) the dead. peter bit lydia and she became a banshee.

-jörmungandr, the serpent. it has also been in the shape of a cat. remember when we talked about how scaly kate looked like, before the werejaguar thing was confirmed? (it’s also an ouroboros.)

-fenrir, the wolf. I think you can guess the parallel here.

peter’s also very close to loki in behaviour and consequence. usually when something’s up, it’s loki’s doing, but even when it’s not he’s called in to deal with the results of whatever’s going on. 

I also believe that lydia is largely drawn from freya, and that this is where the “two sides of the same coin” comes in for her and stiles. not only is freya a goddess of fertility and sorcery but she’s also a goddess of war and death. when you die in battle, you either go to freya or to odin.

so how does world of warcraft fit in, then? one of the most written about characters in wow is thrall, one of the most powerful shaman to ever have lived, whose parents died when he was young and whose birthname we didn’t know for years.

I believe stiles is a shaman, by it’s norse definition, and that this inspiration comes largely from odin himself. 

and herein lies the biggest kicker- I think stiles is what will not only defeat the wild hunt, but also mr alpha nazi. because if anyone can control a hound of the hunt, it would be odin. whip or no.

and I think that the gang will all either walk out the way lydia walked in, or they’ll defeat the riders and leave through the portal on their horses. and if I’m right, stiles and lydia will be the only ones left unscathed. 

[jen-10101-blog]

From the House ​Simple thoughts and words from Madame Leandra and our Team The Elder Futhark Runes Part 3: Runecasting

8/7/2017 Sorry this one took so long to write up, but here it is! Part 3 of The Elder Futhark Runes! Today, we will be exploring what it means to cast runes, methods of casting, and how to interpret a reading using 3 very basic formats.  If you haven’t had a chance, I suggest that you take a look at parts 1 and 2 of this series to familiarize yourself with The Elder Futhark if you are not already a rune-reader.  If you are and are just seeking a couple ways to expand upon your practice, then you have come to the right place! Firstly, what is runecasting?  The term “cast” in this sense comes from the Germanic root word kasta which literally translates to “to throw or overturn.”  Being one of the oldest and perhaps the least formal of all the divinatory arts, casting runes usually consists of dumping, dropping or tossing your runes from a container out onto a rune reading mat, a simple cloth, the ground, or a table.  In a way, this can be seen as the diviner’s way of allowing the universe or gods to choose how the runes will fall.  There is no real way to rig a rune reading if this method is used which is why it appeals to so many purists of the divinatory arts.  It’s also fairly simple to execute so long as you take care not to bludgeon someone or something with a runaway or ricochet stone.  In using this method, you will inevitably get stones that land face-down.  Many readers will either keep these in place or remove them from the reading to allow more space to read those runes that have fallen face-up.  Another, more elaborate form of rune-reading requires that you take your runes from their container and place them each face down in front of your querent or client and allow them to choose stones from the lineup.  Still another form would be to allow your client to reach into the container and select runes at random or to do so yourself and then place them on the surface in front of them.  As with all art forms, there is no wrong way to cast runes. Many rune-readers will use specialty mats for their readings as well.  While not required, they can certainly be useful in helping especially the novice reader to familiarize themselves with the positions in which runes fall in a reading.  Perhaps the most common type that I have personally encountered is the “Reading the Norns” mat that consists of three circles lined up horizontally with a slight overlap on each.  The three circles represent the three Norns from the Nordic tradition who are female archetypal figures that control fate and destiny with each one presiding over a specific aspect of the intrinsic or spiritual desitny of mankind.  They are said to live at the base of Ygdrassil, the Nordic World Tree that connects the 9 realms of life together. They are represented as three sisters: Urd "fate and past", Verdandi "necessity and present" and Skuld "being and future."  Where the runes land in relationship to each of the three circles is then interpreted by the reader to create and account of the course of events as they progress from the client’s past through to their future.  This format of reading can also be used to do a “problem, action, outcome” reading as one would do with tarot cards. Another commonly seen and used mat is the “Ygdrassil” or “World Tree” mat that is divided into 9 sections with each one representing the aspects of 1 of each of the 9 realms.  For example “Hel” represents death, rebirth, unconscious influences, stillness and release where “Midgard” represents the body, self, the physical realm, and practicality.   This is a generally good mat to use for more complex and intense readings that cover more than a simple question as it can give quite a great deal of insight to more nuanced aspects of a person’s life and personality.  I would use this particular mat in a general reading as it can take quite a bit longer to read than the “past, present, future” layout of the Norns mat. The third mat I have encountered, and probably one that is least used, is the “Vigvisir” mat.  It is inscribed with the Vigvisir symbol that is meant to protect a wanderer or traveler in their adventures away from home.  Perhaps one of the most commonly used and most recognizable symbols of the Nordic Tradition, this mat is used to determine the outcome of a client’s specific internal journey and personal progression.  I was taught that it is generally read in a spiraling format with the runes nearest the center of the mat representing latent or internal aspects of the journey where the outward runes relate more to relationships and forces external to the traveler and how they impact inward progress. No matter how you read your runes, remember that your relationship with your tools is what matters the most.  If you find a way that works for you outside the norm, don’t be bashful! Own that!  As with every other tool out there, the runes and method of your casting and reading are simple a way to manifest the intuitive information into a format that connect with you and your client.  Many rune-readers use simple or plain cloths and read their runes entirely based on their intuition.  There is no wrong answer.  Elaborate mats and hand-stitched leather pouches, gilded rune-stones or hand-carved and etched wood slices from a birch tree branch collected on the night of a full moon in yadda-yadda-yadda astrological event . . . none of that makes any difference to you unless you decide that it does.  I always highly suggest that you bless and cleanse your tools routinely, but even that is up to you.  As a practitioner of this ancient art, you will have to strike a balance within yourself about what genuinely works for you. So all you casters out there, what are your rune experiences?  Do you have a specific layout that you prefer?  Again, anything you would like to share is welcome on our Oracles Blog even if it contradicts something I’ve said.  I’m always open to discuss the greater nuances of any of our divinatory arts. Next time, we will be looking a little closer at one of the more contemporary divinatory arts as we explore Oracle Cards.  Until then, thank you for your support! Brightest blessings and happy readings to you all!