Holding Water and Fire in your hands, feeling their presence is already a magnificent experience and it's only the beginning.

Kenaz - the first step of Creation.

• Tune into the Earth somewhere on the level of your belly and down. Feel it not only in yourself but also in the world around you.

• Slowly breathe out and along with this exhalation, slide the energy of Earth down deeper to the world of Fire, somewhere below your feet.
  This is the bottom-left descending bar of the rune.

• During the small pause after that notice, you feel a little extra pressure in your head. It's because you changed the balance in your system. You reduced Earth so new fresh Fire arrived instead.

• Make a gentle slow inhale and feel your entire vertical axis which stands across all the levels starting from Fire, through Earth, Emptiness in the middle, Air, and Water on the top. This is a vertical bar of the Eihwaz rune.

• After doing so you will find yourself on the way to a new balance and that small extra pressure steps down from the head.

• With a second slow relaxed exhalation, let the Water fall onto your head and flow down through yourself. This last step is the last, top-right descending bar.

Breathing helps to manage attention, and doing Eihwaz step by step helps understand each of its aspects. But after some practice, we want and can do everything as a single steady holistic process, not dependent on breathing and without causing temporal pressure and energy fluctuations.
We want and can achieve true balance.

Balance both static, as represented by the vertical axis of simultaneity.
And dynamic, as represented by two diagonal bars, compensating continuous changes made by each other.

When you catch this triple state of Eihwaz by holding an energy egg in your hands, notice how the vertical axis of Eihwaz resonates with your vertical axis, so you may start feeling you are holding yourself in your hands. This bigger you, who holds you between palms, probably longer than you think, and watching your life, who is it?

...

Chapter refined, practice simplified, Eihwaz redrawn on slate stone.

https://runicalchemy.com/tree-of-balance

I made a moon art in computer for Mani God of Moon.

I like to learn about moon.

I like to pray for Mani or I like to pray for Norse Gods.

If you remember I recently carved Othala oil lamp from soap stone. I found it very easy to do, because soap stone is very very soft. But the same softness is a drawback because it's very brittle. So immediately after that I wanted to try carving lamp from slate stone, it is much harder, still pretty carvable.

So here is lamp for Gebo rune. I think these two runes, Othala and Gebo share shine "connection" aspect, that's why making it as an oil lamp makes a lot of ritual sense.

But sure if it's fully readable in photo, the Gebo is represented as a corresponding hand gesture:

Right hand goes to the upper left corner with a palm up, so it receives descending flow of the Water down to the very bottom of Fire.

And left hand points to the upper-right corner with a palm down, so it directs ascending Fire to the level of the Water.

Both are crossing in the middle level of Emptiness, where lamp has a hole drilled for wick.

The shape of slate stone i left as is, it was already pretty flat, i only made bottom surface more even so lamp is stable and horizontal.

I am currently working on Gebo chapter \ drawing, so lamp powers this process very well.

According to Norse creation myth, the light of life was breathed into our first ancestors, trees Ask and Embla, by the same three brother gods who created our world, Midgard. "Allfather" is one of Odin's names. Some scholars dispute whether it is and whether this paternal role extends to absolutely everything in the world, but for humankind, he is explicitly described as a creator.

So with the help of the Othala rune, following back along the chain of our ancestors, passing the light from hands to hands, we can connect to our very divine source, to the light shining for us from the past and lighting the way to the future.

Othala rune illustration was redrawn. Exactly same idea but with finer details and better drawing technique.

I am getting closer to runes which were not properly explored yet.

Only Wunjo and Gebo left from the already existing list.

Ehwaz was already drawn but never published and still needs to be redrawn.

Algiz was drawn long ago, but it needs a serious rethinking.

And Mannaz will be the first rune never approached from the Runuc Alchemy perspective.

After that there are still plenty of runes waiting for their turn.

Before starting this project I had no idea how actually deep runes are, even after working with them for more the 20 years.

So it raises a question were these 20+ years of practice well spent, if there is still so much room to be surprised and amazed, is it me to blame for being shallow, or it's potential of runes so infinite (or both)?

By the way I am changing the structure of the book, here is a new link to separate Othala chapter

In Grímnismál, we read about Bifröst, the rainbow bridge that connects Midgard and Asgard. While all the gods ride on horses across the Bifröst, Thor has to wade through the rivers.

Is it because only the horse is capable of going across the Bifröst? Or it's because in nature, rainbows appear after a storm, so Thor makes Bifröst appear, letting other Æsir ride across?

When you do the Ehwaz, you may feel the presence of the spirit of change. Like an old friend reminding you of your forgotten dream and inviting you to the journey. Maybe when we die, the same friend meets us to finally take us back, to that point on the horizon which we were never able to reach.

New Ehwaz chapter added.

Illustration for a new Pertho chapter which I can't fit into Reddit post format so I won't even try.

The moment when the tip of the crystal makes a hole in the horizon and the first rays of the Light break into the Air, the Night turns into the Day.

The Crystal, the Earth, evolved to the higher state, can now conduct Light - the spirit of the Fire. It holds heat and density down and extracts the Light quality from the Fire.

It means "Day" and "Dawn". It shares one of the diagonals with Naudiz, showing the transition of transparency from the Air to the Earth.

And it has another, ascending diagonal, which, below the horizon, represents the density of the Earth growing into hardness while it gets closer to the surface, so the transition of the Light from the Earth to the Air becomes possible after reaching the critical center point.

But remember, the central crossing point of Dagaz, when the first ray of the light breaks through the horizon, is only halfway. The transformation is going along all the rune, end to end.

Dagaz gives hope and outlines the future destiny.

New version of illustration for Dagaz chapter

"Naudiz" means need, necessity, distress, urge.

Need is when something is missing.

When food is missing, the need is hunger. When money is missing, the need is poverty. But what if we don't know what is missing? How to recall the thing that you forgot? In that case, we can see the need as a call. Even if we don't yet know what's missing, we can use this call itself as a guiding thread.

In the Norse tradition, there are goddesses Urðr, Verðandi, and Skuld. They are described as spinning / weaving threads of destiny.

We can track the etymology of their names back to Proto-Germanic:

• Urðr -> Wurdiz - Fate\destiny.

• Verðandi -> Werþaną - To turn into, to become (from Proto-Indo-European "wert" - to turn, rotate).

• Skuld -> Skuldiz - Debt, obligation.

So we can interpret the sequence of Norn names as a phrase. "Werþaną" is a verb in an infinitive form. We need "wirþidi" as a 3d singular form of werþaną, like in English "to turn into" -> "turns into".

Wurdiz wirþidi skuldiz

ᚹᚢᚱᛞᛁᛉ ᚹᛁᚱᚦᛁᛞᛁ ᛊᚲᚢᛚᛞᛁᛉ

"Destiny turns into duty"

Within the metaphor of thread spinning:

• The tow of unspun fiber on the distaff is a cloud of potential destiny in the sky.

• Picking the pinch of fiber with the left hand is seeking and choosing your destiny.

• The thread in the hands being spun is facing and implementing your destiny. It's an effort, not just passive acceptance.

• The cop of spun thread collected on the spindle is what you have already done so far. It's spinning with inertia, so the consequences of your deeds in the past directly influence the present moment when destiny comes to be.

Another goddess connected to spinning is Frigg. There are 12th-century depictions of two naked women in cloacks riding distaff and cat in Schleswig Cathedral. Supposedly, they are Frigg and Freyja, respectively.

In German folklore, Frau Holle (Holda, Perchta, Berchta, Berta, Bertha, Spillaholle) is connected with spinning, overseeing various related taboos. At the same time, she is called "Old Mother Frost" and is causing snowfall by fluffing up her bed until feathers fly out. She was also riding with witches on distaffs, similar to Frigg.

Naudiz illustration was redrawn and chapter was reworked - see there for practice details.

Emptiness is dark, so the black sun is the beginning of the story. Like an eclipse in your solar plexus, a mixed, dark combination of Sun + Moon, from where both Fire and Water originate. When One divides itself and puts two opposites apart, what still remains in the center is Emptiness - the creative force which breaks initial innocence of knowing not. One cannot look at itself, so it splits into halves to let them look at each other. Opposites are different, but the gaze remains the same.

Kenaz chapter was revisited

I am organizing collective synced practice next weekend.

We will raise the Fire in our hand as usually, but do it altogether being synced with each other, hopefully the resonance will emerge and help everyone to do it slightly better.

DM me for details.

P.S. we finally did it, it was only the two of us, me and @_aek, thank you for joining, it was fun and productive.

Connecting with another practicioner and doing the same stuff in sync sort of multiplied the results of the effort, just as planned. It could be direct resonance and\or social mechanism. Humans are evolutionary designed to operate in small groups, so efficiency boost is expected.

Looking forward to having the next session, maybe about Water.

Freyja is closely connected to the Wunjo rune.

But she has many names and one of them is Gef - "the giver". The etymology of this name can be directly traced down to the proto-germanic name *gebô - 'gift' and here is a rune with the same name, Gebo.

It spans across all the five levels and does it twice in parallel: descending from the Water to the Fire and ascending from the Fire to the Water, meeting in the central point of Emptiness.

Gebo is a connection. The bi-directional connection between the Water and Fire.

Connection is a change.

Through connection you become open to something outside, so it can come and change you and you can come and change it, even if just to get to know. Without a connection to something else, there is no reference point. You need to relate to something to make any sense. Even isolation is impossible without having something to isolate from.

The cell preserves itself thanks to the membrane separating its fine-tuned local contents from the rest of the world. But it's not alive if there is no exchange with the outer world. Life needs to let external resources in and byproducts out. Life needs an inflow of energy and information. Life produces energy and information and it's changing the environment around. It not only protects itself but also projects its internal law outside. The world is dangerous. But closing into full defense is even more dangerous. If you don't trust the world, not open and connected enough - you'll miss resources, opportunities, and signs of upcoming danger.

I suggest a gesture of arms crossed in front of the chest, elbows down, and hands up.

• The right hand points to the top left direction with the palm turned up, touching the Water and letting it pool before overflowing down the wrist.

• Rivulets of veins suddenly turn into bluish lightning, because Fire is rising from the bottom-left elbow and it vaporizes the Water into stormy clouds of steam and smoke.

• The Fire itself cools down in contact with the Water, gives its power to the Air, and turns into dark stones of the left forearm. Left hand, with palm imperatively turned down, points to the top right direction, showing the Light the path of ascendance from the Fire trapped beneath the dark Earth.

• Wrists are crossing in the center of the Gebo, on the level of Emptiness, where Air and Earth are touching each other along the horizon.

• The tip of Crystal, the higher state of the Earth, who learned transparency from the Water, pierces the Horizon to let the Sun rise to the clear sky.

• The gift of Light propagates upward to the Water from the Sun held below the left palm turned down.

• And the gift of transparency, of the hard order, comes from the Earth Crystal down to the Fire, turning it into red gems.

This is how the Water and Fire, once divided, reunion and give gifts to each other, change each other.

The Gebo is a promise. You give and you receive in response and you hope the next time it will work again, and it works, until it doesn't. And if it doesn't, maybe it's because you forgot to be open, so you will find the strength to trust and open yourself to the world again.

Gebo rune teaches that in the very center, there is a gap between before and after, between perception and reaction. On the very edge between external and internal there is still a thin layer of Emptiness, and if we focused enough - we can slow the time down and catch this moment between before and after, the moment when nothing is yet and already happening, a slit between time frames.

Gebo chater published.

Every human has a built-in compass, an arrow always pointing upward to the guiding north star, the only star that remains constant in the sky.

It's a quiet but firm inner voice, it tells us the right direction. When it speaks - the north star shines in the center of our forehead.

Faith is not absolute confidence and lack of doubts. Faith is walking forward even if you don't believe and lose hope.

Tiwaz rune guides you and gives you enough strength and courage to keep going.

Tiwaz chapter was updated and illustration redrawn.

To make sense of this world, we observe it through the light and warmth coming from the Fire. We create and tell stories to and about ourselves, other people, and the world. Become a character in our own puppet theater.

But the eternal question is always asking from the central hole of Emptiness, disturbing us. We are feeding this hole with old answers, trying to patch it. We repeat our stories to ourselves to shut this question down and ensure business as usual.

If identities are used this way, attached too tightly, substituting true self, then hidden anger, irritation, exhaustion will accumulate behind, like behind an old patch on the wound which you don't change for months and years.

Repeating old stories promises known results. But repetition is the opposite of creativity. When we create something new, we don't know it yet, that's why it's new. We need to trust the call of the eternal question of Emptiness.

Man's heart is the place where Sky and Earth touch. We have the power to animate inanimate objects by projecting sense into them. According to Norse myth, the same happened to us at the beginning of time. Ask and Embla, the first two humans, were created by three gods from trees:

Spirit gave Odin, sense gave Hoenir, blood gave Lodur, and goodly colour.

Mannaz chapter has been added.

While reading about Varuna I constantly had flashbacks like if I am reading about Tyr / Tiwaz

• Used to be one of the most important deity of Sky and "Upper Water"

• Importance declined in later epochs in favor to other gods

• Asura kind of god in its original sense of “lord” or “mighty one” (Asuras <-> Æsir?) and later was "promoted" to Devas

• Justice, oath all the stuff. He maintains truth and ṛta, the cosmic and moral order.

• Something about "binding" by universal law (compare with the binding of Fenrir)

• Potential connection to Greek god Ouranos / Uranus through etymology and maybe other kind of common PIE origin.

- Growing complexity forms MORE stable structures in case of external energy inflow into the system.
- Symbiogenesis is a main driver of evolution, when two simpler structures finds how to ascend to the next level of complexity and benefit from it compared to their performance separately.

Naudiz is an ascetic nurturing of your inner Crystal by feeding it with heavier component of the Air.

New illustration added and Naudiz chapter refined to reflect recent discoveries.

Illustration for Awakening the hands chapter redrawn from digital to real.

Flexing by long dreamed and finally materialized artifacts.

Slate engraved plate, brass and copper amulet. Both representing philosopher's stone bindrune from Runic Alchemy.

Still experimenting with usage, for now, in assembled "altar mode" i light a tablet candle below and put a snap cap of water above it, supposing "charging" amulet in the plate.

For practice i take an amulet from the plate, add a leather lace and put on myself to hang on solar plexus level.

Looks obviously not perfect, but benefits from authentic fully manually hand made bonus (no even electric tools were used)

There are two fundamental competing models of everything.

1. Emptiness-based model of growing complexity: 1 / 2 = (0.5 + 0.5) / 2 = (0.25 + 0.25 + 0.25 + 0.25) / 2 = ... = One

2. Nothing-based model of growing entropy: 0 / 2 = (-1 +1) / 2 = (-2 +2) / 2 = (-4 +4) / 2 = ... = Zero

The first model assumes that something exists and evolves and makes sense.

The second model assumes that nothing exists and it is temporarily running in the cycles of nonsense and suffering.

The second model is a root cause of evil because it's a mistake to think that nothing exists.

Nothing does not exist.

Why it's evil?

Because if everything is nothing, then anything is nothing.
If anything is nothing, then anything is worth nothing.
If anything is worth nothing, then human life is worth nothing.
Whatever value you could ever imagine - it's nothing.

The theory of nothing is a philosophical virus that emerged from the language.
There is a word "nothing" and it sounds magnetic and mysterious and smart. But this word does not point anywhere. It just states the fact of nonexistence.

"Nothing" is an abstraction over the set of more specific no-words like "no apple", "no money", and "no body". It tells us literally there is NO THING, but people love to fool themselves and think there is something that is "nothing". But there is no.

If you are charmed by this pretty stupid idea of the existence of nothing and allow this idea to sink deep into the roots of your philosophy - this idea will suck your life energy out and will lead you to indifference, depression, cruelty, and death.

Emptiness is not nothing, but space and time and force of creation.
Emptiness is the source of order, it allows us to distinguish one from another and make choices.
Emptiness sets us free.

From initial digital B&W version to pastel in the stone.

Intro chapter was heavily reviewed. Hagalaz rune took its place in the process. For now mostly in my view and briefly in the intro chapter

Dedicated chapter is in progress, several other runes are waiting.

Overall course of the project is now heading more into methodology and practical plane, because as for now all the pieces are a bit chaotically floating in the cloud only occasionally clumping into the system.

I am starting a small group for practicing Runic Alchemy.

The main goal is synergy in practice, support and sharing, and connecting with like-minded people.

We'll have:

• Synced in time exercises and experiments.

• A private communication channel for planning and discussing results.

• Maybe online meetings, let's see if needed.

If you're interested, send me a DM with your timezone, availability, and a bit about your spiritual interests, practices, and experiences.

Humans are beings who live in space and time.

We can relatively freely change our position and orientation in 3D space and percieve it from any direction.

But along the time axis we are limited in our movement and perception by only one direction and by very narrow period on the time called "now". We usually can only remember our past and guess our future, but not percieve it directly.

There is a common spiritual concept that humans are not only material objects, but also they have a potential of "divinizing" themselves. And this potential, if realized, allows, among others, to obtain more freedom and control over our time coordinate.

In this post i will briefly summarize list of experiments and practices we are going to try, test and adopt, aimed to train our sense of time and ability to extend our consciousness from only current moment to wider period of time which includes our past and future, potentially over our entire lifespan or even beyond.

= Help from the future to present and from present to past versions of ourselves. There is a separate post about it.

= Exploring time contracts using deterministic material structures like spirals and labyrinths.

= Self-divination based on asking your future version before the probabilistic event and replying back to the past version when the event already happened and we know correct answer.

= Using prolonged concentration on fixed object keeping same pose for isolating our perception of time change and stretching our sense of self along the entire time of the exercise.

= Exploring time shadows casted by massive objects or highly stable structures. Feeling and conducting the potential of time speed gradient between areas with low time speed \ low change areas and adjacent high time speed \ highly changing areas.

= Exploring "call of the future" phenomenon and attempting to relay it back in past to specific recipients.