By Keri Kruspe
Author of Otherworldy Romantic Adventures
Recently I’ve taken the plunge and jumped into the
Instagram pool.
Hey, that’s no small feat for me.
Social media and I have forged a tentative
relationship since I’ve become a published author. I resisted adding yet
another quiver in my communication arsenal, but at the urging of many of my
(younger) friends, I decided to look into the matter.
Earlier in the year, I
paid for a training program that included how to set up Instagram for authors
and what was best to post (and when to post). So, I took an afternoon off and
immersed myself into the hows and whys of this social beast.
One of the main suggestions the training
gave was to have specific tropes to share – things that
might be of interest to others instead of advertising my books all the time
(boring!).
Instantly I thought of sharing one of my favorite meditative
techniques – consulting an ancient tool handed down to me by my favorite aunt
about twenty years ago. In order to explain why the runes mean so much to me,
I’d like to share a little bit about the woman who taught them to me.
My Aunt Jeanette was a formidable woman.
Someone who
was way ahead of her time. She was my father’s older sister by eighteen months
and ended up taking care of him when their mother deserted the family when he
was a young preteen. Then, at the ripe old age of fifteen, she entered into her
first marriage. I say first because the woman was married eleven times. The
funny thing was she only had one child…out of wedlock…by a married man…in the
1940s.
Even though she married so often, I
barely remember her in a relationship with anyone. She was one of those women
from the sixties who was dressed to the teeth…bouffant hairdo, nails polished
and manicured, her make-up model perfect. Living in Nevada, my family worked in
the casino business, and she proudly told me that she was one of the first
female pit bosses in Las Vegas – probably around the 1960s.
Then, around when she turned forty-nine, she took a 180-degree
turn in her life. She quit her job, her house, her perfect image, and left
Nevada and her family to live in Hawaii. There she lived for the next
twenty-five years. To make a living, she took various jobs – from being a
greeter at the airport (complete with leis), to a metaphysical minister.
As a metaphysical minister, she made a living by
reading tarot cards and would draw a rune at the end of her card reading. The
purpose, she informed me, was to aid the Spiritual Warrior…the one whose goal
was self-change.
The
Runes
The runes are a tool to keep one on course, on track
for strengthening your intuition.
You see, the runes are
used as in instrument for getting in touch with a part of yourself that knows
everything. It’s a method of guidance and self-counseling used to assist us in
navigating the unfamiliar waters we find ourselves in.
Using
the runes is like consulting an Oracle.
An Oracle does not give you instruction as what to do
next, nor does it predict the future. It points your attention to those hidden
fears and motivations that shape where you are headed in your life.
Once you acknowledge what those might be,
it directs your attention to inner choices that may be the most important
elements in deciding what you choose
your future to be.
When she taught me how to use these aids, I really
needed the help.
I was going through a rough divorce and
found myself a single parent with a toddler, a tweenie and a
fourteen-year-old. Being able to get in touch with that part of myself that had
been buried for years was a godsend. I firmly believe my ability to go into
silence and contemplate the suggestions the readings gave helped to ground me
and keep me sane.
A brief
history lesson on the runes…
Legend has it the runes are a gift from Odin, the
principal divinity in the pantheon of the Norse Gods.
Believed to be even older than the New
Testament, they are akin to the Tarot and the Chinese Book of
Changes. The runes were commonly used in Iceland during the late Middle Ages.
Unfortunately, the wisdom of those rune
masters died, never having written their divination's
down nor did they pass their experiences orally. Little is left of the original
Viking practice except rune stones, sagas, and far-flung runic lore. What we do
know is to those who created the runes, the earth and all created things were
alive.
To celebrate that fact,
runes were carved into pieces of hardwood, incised on metal or cut into leather
stained with pigment. There are twenty-four runes, plus one later innovation –
the blank rune – the Unknowable. It is the rune of total trust and can be
interpreted as an exciting evidence of life’s progression.
How I
Use the Runes
The rune cards I use on Instagram belonged to my aunt.
She preferred the cards while I have always felt a kinship to the actual
stones. I keep the stones loose in a pouch and every morning, I let my mind go
blank to open myself to receive what I should meditate on for the day.
I reach into the pouch, and a stone will
let itself be known - hard to explain…it gets warm and my
fingers automatically reach for it. I will then consult the book, The Book of Runes by Ralph H. Blum. The
interpretations in his book are laid out clearly and in a loving manner. Easy
enough to use and understand.
My aunt has been gone for several years now. Not a day
goes by that I don’t miss telling her what was going on in my life.
I know she’d be thrilled I’ve finally realized
my dream of becoming a published author…something she encouraged
me to do since I was twelve. To celebrate her life as well as the teachings she
gave, I proudly include her cards with my stones on my Daily Rune on Instagram that I post every other day. Want in on the fun? Click here and follow me!
See, Auntie, I did listen. Thank you.
