One of the things I’ve been working to find and focus on for the past couple of years is my spiritual calling/path. Throughout the past year I started to build my toolkit and open myself to the many paths out there, and then try to narrow things down rather than exploring and discarding paths one by one.
After taking the Way of the Shaman intro course and realizing that divination is one of the tools I both enjoy and seem to have some level of skill in, I started working on rune readings. I’ve been doing weekly readings, getting familiar with the feel of my set and the meanings they bring out. I’ve been drawing one rune per week as a focus. I generally post them on Instagram.
At the same time, I started to explore various aspects of witchcraft and magick and to define these things for myself. I asked my spirit guides for some clarification and the reply came in part through a rune. Reading, research, and reaching out to those following both similar and divergent paths has helped too.
Last night I attended a gathering that included an Imbloc circle in which we toasted things for which we gave thanks, and for the first time I stated aloud what had started to seem like the truth, that I have been called toward Odin — a God who is, as the kids say, a “problematic fave.” Honestly, I wasn’t even completely sure until after that gathering when I continued with research and found the following discussion of Odin’s ravens:
“Hugin and Munin (pronounced “HOO-gin” and “MOO-nin”; Old Norse Huginn, “Thought” and Muninn, “Desire”) are two ravens in Norse mythology who are shamanic helping spirits of the god Odin.“
— norse-mythology.org
It was defintely one of those aHa moments for me. I posted my realization on Tumblr last night, “So to summarize: ravens – creatures to which I have been drawn since I was tiny – representing thought and desire – two forces which are equally strong within me, each vying for more of my attention – and who are shamanic spirits (hellll-oooo!).”
On my paternal side of things, my ancestry is Norse. Both runes and ravens have given me comfort since long before I even considered any kind of connection. As Gods go, Odin can be pretty demanding — I love this take on why:
No one can say to him, You did not work hard enough
For that wisdom. He, instead, can look you in the eye
And say, I would not expect anything of you
That I would not expect of myself. And then you are
In trouble.
— excerpted from Shaman King by Seawalker
So now I have more research to do but also a much crisper focus, and for that I am thankful.