Standstill – ND #49

My most recent copy of The Book of Runes* by Ralph Blum

Standstill

I love when I start a post having no idea where it’s going (indeed, if it’s going anywhere), only to have something quite unexpected spontaneously appear. That’s what happened last night, when I had the image and name of a rune – Isa – ‘Standstill’ – practically show up and do a tap dance on my laptop.

I yearned to write something interesting last night, or at least descriptive of the weird feelings I was having, yet none of my ‘go-to’ divinatory tools appealed to me. I tried a couple of different types of decks and as I sat holding them in my hands, I kept getting a clear, “No.”

And so I sort of wrote around my feelings (which haven’t abated much, yet, I’m sad to report) until – boom! – a very specific rune demanded my mind’s attention.

Runes

I haven’t gone back into my journals today to get specifics, but it is quite possible that Karl and I picked Runes on our walks even before we began choosing Medicine Cards*. I remember buying our first set of Runes (included with The Book of Runes* by Ralph Blum) back at Sagittarius Books. We probably ended up owning half the inventory of that gem of inner transformation tucked away in an alley in New Hope. I can honestly say that bookstore was the lifeline that fed my soul and opened me up to the life I knew I wanted and needed to live. I miss it.

Actually, I’m sure our consistent use of Runes pre-dated our work with the Medicine Cards* because I now recall picking a Rune – Hagalaz – on the day I took a huge tumble, face-first, into a local creek. I wrote about that experience and what unfolded in our lives afterward, in my book, Owl Medicine*.

I guess I’m mentioning all of this because I am fascinated by how I plucked the name of the Rune that appeared in my mind’s eye last night out of thin air – or at least the wisps of memory. It’s been years since I worked with them.

Last Night’s Runic Appearance

While I felt quite certain that just the acknowledgment of the keyword associated with this Rune, Standstill, hit the nail on the head of what I felt I’m experiencing (rather ungracefully), I almost gasped when I once again read the explanation of Isa in The Book of Runes by Ralph Blum. And I have to share it with you:

Isa – Standstill/That Which Impedes/Ice

“The winter of the spiritual life is upon you. You may find yourself entangled in a situation to whose implications you are, in effect, blind. You may be powerless to do anything except submit, surrender, even sacrifice some long-cherished desire. Be patient, for this is the period of gestation that precedes a birth.

Positive accomplishment is unlikely now. There is a freeze on useful activity, all your plans are on hold. You may be experiencing an unaccustomed drain on your energy and wonder why: A chill wind is reaching you over the ice floes of old outmoded habits.

Trying to hold on can result in shallowness of feeling, a sense of being out of touch with life. Seek to discover what it is you are holding onto that keeps this condition in effect, and let go. Shed, release, cleanse away the old. That will bring on the thaw.

Usually Isa requires a sacrifice of the personal, the ‘I.’ And yet there is no reason for anxiety. Submit and be still, for what you are experiencing is not necessarily the result of your actions or habits, but of the conditions of the time against which you can do nothing. What has been full must empty; what has increased must decrease. This is the way of Heaven and Earth. To surrender is to display courage and wisdom.

At such a time, do not hope to rely on help or friendly support. In your isolation, exercise caution and do not stubbornly persist in attempting to work your will. Remain mindful that the seed of the new is present in the shell of the old, the seed of unrealized potential, the seed of the good. Trust your own process, and watch for signs of spring.”

My Take

Whoa. Nailed it. Lots and lots to contemplate.

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(T+49)