Last November, I went on a date that ended in disaster because the girl’s husband I was seeing was a communist/ Christian who deemed me a trump supporter. But, through all the chaos, she introduced me to deviation runes that foretold my pregnancy. This girl is still on my mind ten months later and maybe what I have left from our encounter is a new fascination with runes.
This unnamed woman and I had gone out a few times before. This time we wanted to include her husband to develop a relationship within the boundaries of their marriage. Unfortunately, I don’t fit in most people’s boundaries, even when I try to respect those lines. Regardless, my friend was visiting from San Diego, and after a few drinks at the bar, we decided to go to their apartment.
For what it was, things started okay. The woman I was seeing showed me her home, and we sat in the living room and talked about her and her husbands lives. He showed me his communist bible, and she showed me her deviation runes. I was far more interested in the runes (maybe this is where I went wrong.) I had never used them before.
She told me a little about them; an ancient Germanic language scripted on stones that Vikings and later Europeans would use for future telling. A set of 24 ruins, this set of small stones are carved and inlaid in gold. I mixed them up in a small tote bag and poured them onto the carpet. She directed me to remove all the runes that were facing upside down. I took the remainders and placed them in a circle, softly pushing them to the closest position. In the end, it looked like this.
I asked the runes what my future would hold. The centerpiece being a foundation rune; Tehraz meaning victory. My story would tell of new beginnings possibly driven by impulsive behavior. Starting from the one o’clock position, I began to read my tale. Feliu, wealth, the first symbol of the set and in my circle. I would interrupt this stone as Love, my meaning of wealth and something I was focused on improving at the time. Rather it be with myself or my family. The second stone is Jers, the rune that means years, cycles, and success. I found myself starting a new practice in San Diego, where I connected with my ancestors in a monthly pagan ceremony that would quickly lead me to moving to Humboldt county.
Isa, correlates to a standstill, and after our move, I reflect on a time when things were so content that it drove me to find excitement- something new. With my partner’s consent, I began to look on Okcupid for a female companion—someone to enjoy my free time with. Mannaz, the following stone revealed a female in my life, the one that would give me these stones I had used to do this reading. When I met her, a fire lit within my heart. She got along with my husband and daughter, and we were able to get away for dinners and walks on the strand. I enjoyed her company so much; her dialect would echo in my mind still to this day.
The runes would predict events that would happen as quickly as that same night, for by the end of the evening, her husband would show distrust in me and what I would perceive as jealousy. The rune Gebo, marriage, is paired with Nauthiz, constraint. I want to say that we live in a world where polyamory is as easy as its imagined. When I read this in the stones, I foresaw trouble in my relationship with the woman, and later on, I would do a tarot reading for her that also foreshadowed trouble. Her husband wasn’t open to my point of view and had no intention of discussing any side besides his own. The night ended in a hot debate that resulted in him asking me to leave.
We could have ended there, but we didn’t. We continued to see each other, and maybe that’s where I went wrong. I didn’t confront her husband but ignored him. The next rune stone is Dagaz, meaning home, breakthrough, and twilight. So much was happening at the time; I was graduating from my bachelor’s program, my husband and I were getting along, and he was supportive of my relationship with my lady friend. His family came to visit, and we were settling into our new home nicely. I was able to ignore the turmoil with her partner and was back to being content and sharing my life with this woman. The next rune is Ingwaz, Fertility. I didn’t know it at the time of this reading, but I would remind her of what the runes had told me a month later when I found out I was pregnant. At first, she thought my partner was trying to separate us by asserting his seed, but I reassured her it was planned, even though I wasn’t sure if I would conceive so quickly. She told me she wanted to work through it. It was a fantastic feeling to know she cared about me so deeply that she would work through such a life-changing event. We shared a romantic night at an Airbnb to celebrate my graduation, but afterward, her husband demanded I apologize to him. When I came over and did so, he did not accept my apology, and I saw no other choice but to break it off.
The last rune is Othala, meaning prosperity but also hard work and family. I was blessed nine months later with a baby boy. Even though the struggle of meeting someone I connected so well with and losing her would take a toll on my heart, the amazement of having a child and a new member of our family filled me with joy. Do I believe in deviation runes? Yes. This reading I did in November was very relevant to my life and forecasted some unknown events. I wish I listened closer and tried harder to keep this lady friend in my life so that we could share the excitement of a newborn and explore witchcraft further together. Perhaps it’s time for another reading. The runes may have something new to reveal.
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Little Lost Forest 