Thurisaz – Meditation III

Date: 03. 09. 2014.

Time of waking up: 12:30 PM

Weather: Rainy

Health: Good

Mood: Irritable

 

Stadha (12:35 PM)

– Ok, getting easier to visualize.

Rune Meditation (23:30 PM)

– Technical

It wasn’t good. I was tired and fidgeting and my concentration was low.

– Content

Old, old and old associations. Needle, hook, precision, tool, conquest!

Also got a new insight that Thurisaz could be a path between Jotunheim and Asgard because of its association with both Thurses(Jotuns) and Thor, who is a good. Since the Thor often travels to Jotunheim in the myths, and Jotuns are frequently trying to overtake Asgard this seems as a reasonable attribution.

Mudra (00:30 AM)

– Ok, but there was no feeling.

Galdr (01:05 AM )

– My concentration was bad, I rushed through the exercise and did it mechanicaly.

Thurisaz – Meditation II

Date: 02. 09. 2014.

Time of waking up: near 09:00 AM

Weather: Cloudy, Rainy

Health: Good

Mood: Good

 

Stadha ( 09:05 AM )

– My performance was ok, but I didn’t feel anything.

Rune Meditation (22:15 PM)

– Technical

Great. Stayed steady throughout the whole Asana and my concentration was strong during the whole time. I looked at the clocked only once.

– Content

Mostly I was thinking about Thurisaz’s standard meanings, associating them with the things in my daily life but I also analyzed its association with Thor and Lightning. No new insights.

Mudra ( )

– Skipped the exercise cause I forgot it till it was to late.

Galdr (01:05 AM )

– Ok, getting the feel for what is the best way to sing this Rune. Thurisaz has nothing to do with falsetto! 🙂

Thurisaz – Meditation I

Date: 01. 09. 2014.

Time of waking up: 12:30 PM (I’ll fix this tomorrow by waking up at 8:00 AM no matter what, and that will also be my default waking time from now on.. 05:00 AM isn’t convenient for me anymore because of the several reasons)

Weather: Cloudy, rainy

Health: Mostly good, even though my tooth hurts a little. Gotta get that fixed.

Mood: Good, though a little more anxious than I was yesterday.

 

Stadha (18:00 PM)

– It was ok, but I think that the pose of it isn’t good since I use it everyday as a part of my body language. I don’t want to make association between my standard dominant pose(arm on hip, legs relaxed) and Thurisaz rune(which is a ”problem” almost by definition, literally).

I found another way to make my stance resemble Thurisaz and I’ll be using that from now on.

Rune Meditation (22:20 PM)

– Technical

Great! I’ve sat through till the end and I only moved my hands and checked the clock once and that was 09:00 minutes before the meditation ended.

My concentration was awesome the whole time and I rarely lost the sight of the Rune or got lost in thoughts.

– Content

Well mostly I was remembering what this Rune is all about and going through my mind with the associations. Keep in mind that I already meditated on this Rune for 21 time in the past so I’ll really be suprised if I get any new insights.

It doesn’t mind anyway, since I’m more interested in how will my daily life start to mirror it.

Mudra (23:30 PM)

– Good, really liking this one!

Galdr (00:30 AM )

– It was ok, though I was experimenting a lot. Seems like the falsetto mode isn’t the right choice for this one.

Uruz – Meditation VII

Date: 31. 08. 2014.

Time of waking up: 11:30 AM

Weather: Cloudy, but no rain or wind.

Health: Good

Mood: Great, very calm through out the day and only very mild anxiety.

 

Stadha (11:45 AM)

– Relieved that this is my final practice of the Uruz stance. Proud to say that I haven’t learned nothing by practicing this for the last 7 days! 😀

Rune Meditation (00:05 AM)

– Technical

Again, late but at least I had enough energy to think and sit still even though my concentration could have been better.

– Content

Mostly I was thinking about how Uruz is all about size and about being big. Auroch was not a small animal, mind you.

I realized that Uruz represents all the great things which scare us. I mean things like the Pyramids, or the 7 world wonders in general. The grand achievements of humanity. More abstract things shouldn’t be forgotten either, like personal achievements, novels, scientific breakthroughs and all that. James Joyce’s Ulysses comes to mind.

All these things are so great that its easy to get scared that we can’t top them and that is Uruz right there: fear that can be harnessed as motivation.

We can try to top them!

Mudra (00:55 AM)

– Ok, nothing special to notice.

Galdr (01:03 AM)

– Same as the above.

Uruz – Meditation VI

Date: 30. 08. 2014.

Time of waking up: around 11:00 AM (my sleep schedule is getting more and more fucked up)

Weather: Nice, Sunny

Health: Ok

Mood: Good

 

Stadha (11:10 AM)

– Ok, I’m KINDA getting used to the position. But the energy flow is almost non-existent, even in my imagination.

Rune Meditation (23:10 PM)

– Technical

Good actually. Even though I again waited for the late hours to perform it, I wasn’t that tired and my concentration was stable and I was generally calm and could stay in Asana till the end with occasional change of my hand positions.

– Content

I was thinking about Uruz as a mentor that teaches you by pushing you into the fire or to use a water metaphor – by sink or swim method of learning. This Rune is about the feeling of uncertainty and having the courage to act despite it.

I also thought a lot about my personal life, where does Uruz fits into that, etc.

Mudra (00:20 PM)

– This mudra is easier to form than the Fehu one. Its also extremely easy to visualize and feel that tingly feeling of the Rune between my fingers.

Galdr (00:30 PM)

– Really concentrated. I’m getting better.

Uruz – Meditation V

Date: 29. 08. 2014.

Time of waking up: 10:45 AM

Weather: Sunny

Health: Good

Mood: Good

 

Stadha (10:50 AM)

– It was ok.

Rune Meditation (23:50 PM)

– Technical

Nah, it wasn’t good but atleast I did it unlike yesterday. I’ve sat for the first 15 minutes(of the Rune part) and then I lied down because my back hurt and I was tired.

– Content

Concentration far from great, but I’ve managed to realized few things:

1. Insecurity as a source of motivation

2. Haron as initiator, thus can be associated with this Rune.

3. The Uruz is that moment when we start leaving the Plato’s cave. We don’t know what waits for us in the outside, but we are choosing freedom over safety.

4. I thought about the Uruz in the content of the movie Fight Club, which is full of initatory moments. Uruz is when Tyler sips acid on the hand of the narator(raindeer, endurance – can you endure the pain, the hard times?). Uruz is when they crash cars.(auroch, face the bull and learn to let go) and also – Uruz is when all the buildings colapse at the end of the movie – shower.

Mudra (00:45 AM)

– Ok, easy to visualise really.

Galdr (00: 55 AM)

– Ok, I’m loving the falsetto mode.

Uruz – Meditation IV(failed)

Date: 28. 08. 2014.

Time of waking up: around 10:00 AM

Weather: Sunnny

Health: Ok

Mood: Depressed

 

Stadha (10:15 AM)

Still haven’t come to grips with the position

Rune Meditation

– Skipped it! I actually skipped the whole day except for Stadha, because I was really badly organized, in somewhat low energy state and when I finally stopped procrastinating I was too tired do meditate. So today was a failure.

I won’t be repeating this day, I’ll just move on and try to do better tomorrow.

Uruz – Meditation III

Date: 27. 08. 2014.

Time of waking up: Somewhere around 10:15 AM. Seems like it will take me a whole week to get back to getting up at 05:00 AM

Weather: Rain, cloudy.

Health: Ok

Mood: I felt really weak and tired throughout the day, even though my mood was good. Probably because of the weather, the other people I talked with during the day reported the same feeling.

 

Stadha (10:30 AM)

– I couldn’t concentrate because I find this pose hard to maintain even if its just for a few seconds.

Rune Meditation (11:50 PM)

– Technical

Worst meditation ever. I was super tired, I couldn’t concentrate and my back hurt so I didn’t have enough willpower to stay in Asana therefore I just laid down on the ground. I mustn’t meditate this late in the evening again.

– Content

Since I was tired, my concentation was extremelly bad. The only ideas I had about Uruz is that it represents the prehistoric period and that it can also be seen as the force of our ancestors, but I’m not sure about that.

I also had the idea that Uruz is a path between Muspellheim and Jotunheim but I’m not yet sure about that either.

Mudra (19:15 PM)

– Ok, nothing out of ordinary.

Galdr (00:50 AM)

– I was first vibrating the Rune in a deep voice like I usually do but then I tried switching to falsetto while singing as deeply as I could. Immediatly the wind started blewing harder and it felt like I was singing while the spirits were running around me(I didn’t figure out its the wind at the first) and my hearth started beating faster.

When I vibrate, ceremonial like – I don’t feel anything special but when I change it to falsetto I feel like I entered a magical world and what I’m doing has some kind of a meaning. Strange really, but I’ll experiment with both ways in the future.

Uruz – Meditation II

Date: 26. 08. 2014.

Time of waking up: 09:00 AM – I messed up my sleep schedule – I couldn’t fall asleep before 00:00 AM last night.

Weather: Warm and windy

Health: Good, still small throath ache but its getting better.

Mood: Excellent

 

Stadha (09:15 AM)

– Ok, but I hate this pose.

Rune Meditation (22:45 PM)

– Technical

Once again, really good. Calm and steady in my Asana. I haven’t moved till it was 13 minute left, then I checked the clock. My lower body is getting used to sitting for a longer period of time.

– Content

Was thinking about one person I grew up with called “Bebe”. He was famous for his acrobatic jumps into the water. Every summer we would watch him do his jumps(bomb, head-bomb, triple salto-mortales etc) and during the meditation it occured to me that this was a way he proved himself worthy our small town. Water-jumps were his area of expertise and performing just normal salto-mortales required a tremendorous courage, let alone a triple one. He did it however and it seemed so easy when he did it.

Once I was talking about him and asked him whats the key? I tried few times to perform it but I failed everytime. He answered: There is no key. You just jump and let go. If you don’t block yourself, you will perform it. You just need to let yourself go and stop trying to control your movements – there isn’t enought time for that.

Remembering this while meditating had profound effect of me and I saw the virtue of courage in a somewhat new light. It isn’t about having that “zen” like calmness. Its about doing what needs to be done despite your mental state. Action takes the place of reflection.

I continued to ponder the Uruz, but this time I focused on its role as a force that tests us. I started to associate it with the Sphinx(remember the riddle myth?), Kerberus, Odin, Lucifer/Satan, 12 challanges of Hercules, Golum testing Bilbo in the cave etc.

“A horor of the shepard” turned into a “horor of the aspirant“. Uruz is about gaining power through facing our fears and resisting our temptation to go the easier way.. To go back to our comfort zone.

Mudra (23:40 PM)

– Easy to visualise.. But I don’t really feel anything.

Galdr (23:50 PM)

– Called the Rune for 5 mins, but my concentration was next to nothing. I shouldn’t do all these exercises at once.

Uruz – Meditation I

Date: 25. 08. 2014.

Time of waking up: near 10:00 AM. Slept badly last night, because of the damned dog.

Weather: Windy, otherwise ok.

Health: Good

Mood: Ok

 

Stadha (10:00 AM)

– It was ok. First time doing Uruz – the pose is extremely uncomfortable.

Rune Meditation (20:15 PM)

– Technical

Really good. I was very calm and stayed in the asana till the end. I did look at the clock though, two times.

– Content

I was thinking about the Rune-poems and their three main motives: an auroch, a raindeer and a drizzle, and so a question arised: What do all of these have in common?

This is my current reasoning:

Auroch is hard and strong.. From the viewpoint of a medieval hunter: its a challenging animal to kill and one that is frightening to confront. Auroch, thus, can be seen as some kind of a difficulty, something that is waiting for us to confront it.

The second verse tells us that “Slag comes from bad iron” and then in the line 2 mentions how “Raindeer oft runs through the hard snow”. Its like these two lines are presented as a contrast to each other.

Iron is all about strenght, isn’t it? So the first line could be interpreted as “You’ll produce slag(garbage) only if you aren’t strong enought” It could even be simply interpreted as “Bad produces bad”.

On the other hand, the second line is about virtue, and how it is aquired. Raindeer was a very respeceted animal in the Norse world and it still is. The hard snow can be seen as a trouble or once again – a difficulty. Thus honor is gained by facing whats difficult. If I gave myself more creative licence, I could easily translate this whole poem as:

“Bad produces bad,
Virtue is gained by doing what’s hard.”

It almost sounds like some of those “Tao Te King” verses.

The third motive also has a connotation of a difficulty. The shower is described as “a horror to the shepherd”. We can therefore deduce that Uruz(as a shower) is a force that destroys our plans and stripps us of everything we know(if we identify ourselves with the shepard that is to say). We have to start anew, from a clean state. (shower also has refreshing properties).

Uruz will either make us or break us, whether it comes in the form of Auroch and forces us to confront it, as a hard snow forcing us to overcome it, or as a shower stripping us bare and forcing us to leave the past behind us and look forward in the new directiona and find a new way.

Fear, Difficulty, Ferocity – Uruz presents those as initators that teach us the virtues of Courage, Endurance and Resolve. They also makes us stay in the present moment because facing the primal forces reqires focus if we are to gain power over them.

Mudra (19:15 PM)

– Ok, its really easy to visualise the Rune.

Galdr (23:15 PM)

– Nothing much, I was just sitting in the atmosphere of this Rune and calling it.