January 15, 2012

  • Affirming self

    Affirming self

    #Armanen #Futhork Entry 9: #Is

    "The ninth song I know is when there is danger at sea. To protect my good ship, I conjure the winds onto the billowing floods, singing into slumber the sea"

    This is a continuation of a series of writings on the rune song of Odin as was presented in the Havemal.

    The ninth rune IS is the rune of self preservation, self identity and self consciousness. The sea represents a volatile environment and/or even more important a violent storm of emotions within as a result of external perturbation. This is about developing emotional intelligence to bring peace, stability and clarity within. Some people call it grounding but Is goes a bit further than grounding. Is creates a connection between the divine and the world and establish the self as the link between the two. The emotional strive is on the human domain...the Earth is stable and the Heavens is creative and by drawing on both a stable creativity is created within. Where previous runes had a notion of others build in it this rune is primarily about isolating the self into a stable creative existence or being. Disciplines connected with Is would be isolation and times of silence. In other runic traditions Is is associated with a sheet of Ice that is spaced between the water and the air....cold and hard...yet allowing people to cross a river or lake safely. Finding the self is important on a daily basis. Gurdjieff taught about the many I's that we portray...the various roles we play and the necessity to establish the observer as the single authoritative "I". Rather than playing multiple roles Is commands from us to become still and link to the master within, the central I that is core to our being. The I or self that is connected to our experience of the divine.  

    When focusing on Is the runemaster brings clarity to his thoughts and lifts his emotions to a higher plane of positive expression. Gurdieff taught that one way of balancing the emotional center is to stop expressing negativity. When singing IS  the rune master knows that when one expresses negativity, one lowers the image of self and loose the creative energy within. The winds here can be referenced as the thoughts that must be contained...the mind must first be silenced and ordered before the emotions can be brought under control. The term conjure is interesting because it implies making use of a super natural power. Is is drawing from the knowledge of the divine to clarify the mind. It is not seen as a pure process of self will because such a process will be driven by thought itself. Is talks about when one uplifts the thoughts to a higher authority like in a prayer. In the Bible we read David write in a psalm..."I lift my eyes to the mountains...where will my help come from" (I translate direct from Afrikaans and not from the Bible itself). IS is the same expression we see here in Is, namely a lifting of the spirit to the heavenly sphere but keeping your feet firmly on the ground. Then something happens and a song starts to vibrate within a song that brings all our negative emotions to rest... a song that restore within us the joy we find in the safety of knowing who we truly are. The rune master uses IS to clarify thoughts and restore peace and joyful emotions within....and that is how we travel safely through the world despite is peril and danger. 

     

    The rune Is illustrated through posture as per the younger futhark in stav.

     

    Entry 8: Nod of the Armanen Futhork series can be seen here: Getting involved

Comments (7)

Comments are closed.

Post a Comment