WORLD TREE
The Yggdrasil
In Nordic mythology, the different aspects of the multiverse are mapped onto a cosmic Ash tree called the Yggdrasil which means Odin’s Steed. Odin’s self-imposed ordeal of hanging from the world tree enabled him to win the wisdom and knowledge of the runes and ‘ride’ these energies, comprehending the archetypal forces which populate reality as we know it. I find it apt that the Norse name for the Ash tree was the ‘Ask’, because by ASK-ing the runes a question we receive an answer. Surprisingly, ANSUR (known as Odin’s rune), which sounds like the English ‘answer’, signifies ‘signals received and omens heeded’.
The Big Bang
According to Nordic mythology, in the very beginning of time there were only two vast regions: A world of blazing fires, representing heat and electric energies (expansive ‘yang’-type forces), and a misty realm of ice, representing cold and magnetic energies (contracting ‘yin’-type forces).
Fiery sparks from the southerly realm of Musspellheim drifted across the Ginnungagap (the primal void), to meet with waves of frozen vapour and crystals from the Northerly region of Niflheim. There was a Big Bang as the energies connected in the Ginnungagap creating a vertical plane of proto-consciousness and a horizontal plane of materiality. From this wedding of FIRE and ICE, the void was charged with magical potential. Patterns of manifestation appeared in its mi(d)st! From the union of these two elements, the multiverse evolved in all its complexity.
All phenomena are seen to be produced by the delicate balance between fire and frost (creation/destruction; day/night; order/chaos). The harmonious balance between opposite energies lies at the heart of the runic philosophy. Dynamic equilibrium is required in the process of the cosmos and human beings alike. An excess of either brings imbalance or breakdown (The 3rd Law of Entropy), which ultimately is seen as provoking the end of the ages, known as Ragnarok, when the Fire and Ice Giants will break forth again and return the world to primordial chaos.
In this constant play of fire and frost, the mysteries of time, space and consciousness are born. The cosmic runes epitomise these secrets. The runes, therefore, are a series of descriptions of forces and their propagation. They mirror archetypal energies which are not exclusively Teutonic and may be perceived cross-culturally. The 24 runes of the Elder Futhark can express the qualities and dynamics of any moment within multiversal reality.
The Threads of the Wyrd
‘Runes can truly show us how to navigate across the shifting, elusive currents of the great sea of Wyrd, to avoid shipwreck and arrive at benign shores.’
At the highest and most mysterious level of runic shamanism lies the concept and mythology of the Wyrd (pronounced weird) – the power of ultimate destiny which underpins all existence and through which the fates of gods, humans and the multiverse are shaped.
Northern people saw Wyrd as the inexplicable force through which all things happen, from the smallest event to the passing ages of the cosmos. This great mystery is personified in the three spinning goddesses known as the Norns or the Sisters of the Wyrd.
According to mythology, they sit at the foot of the World Tree or Ygdrassil and weave the Wyrd in front of the Well of the Wyrd. Wyrd is the Nordic expression of the eastern law of Karma.
The Norn goddesses weave the Wyrd, a vast network of steel and gossamer threads which extends through all of time and space. Everything occurs within this web of power; the threads connect every event, object, thought, act. Everything we do reverberates along the threads of the Wyrd and affects everything else; all our actions return upon us to influence us powerfully in fortunate or unfortunate ways.
The patterns of Wyrd we have created in past lives are thought to shape our present circumstances and are the key to understanding many hidden secrets about ourselves. Likewise, our actions in this life will return to affect us in future incarnations.
Northern shamans saw the runes as patterns, shimmering in the threads of Wyrd, while the fabric of reality was continually woven. A runecast or runespread freezes Wyrd for a ‘psychic snap-shot’ of the forces pivotal in one’s life.
Through runic divination we find ways of living creatively within the flow of Wyrd and of successfully harmonising ourselves with conditions that have interceded in our lives. Working with runes enables us to penetrate the mysteries of fate, to escape from negative restrictions and to create patterns of good Wyrd in the present and future.