Meet the Collectives- The Wunjoi

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To me, this collective has dark pink energy. The rune-drakes have dark pink scales and faces quite reminiscent of an otter.

Our resident wunjoi are Ruby and Rose.  Ruby has dark red hair, speaks with a Texas accent and reminds me a lot of the women in old Western movies that might be found in a bar or tavern. She represents the aspect of pleasure and ecstasy and uses the initials Ru. Rosie is a plump, motherly woman with honey-blonde hair and a ready smile. She represents the aspect of joy and happiness, especially of family, and the aspect that ties Gifu and Wunjo together.  She uses the initials Ro.

Ru-  All living things have the capacity for joy and ecstasy. Children and animals display this more readily than adult humans tend to. Adults lose the sheer pleasure and wonder of the simple joys of life, like chasing fireflies on a summer night or dancing in the snow under a diamond dust sky. Have you ever seen a dog running in a field, chasing a stick, or a cat basking in a sun patch? Take a look at them sometime. You'll find it hard to deny they are joyful. Beware, though, of falling into the trap of thinking only material things can bring you happiness. They may bring the illusion of it, but it is an empty shell of happiness that lacks the ability to sustain itself. Likewise, don't be fooled by the false sense of ecstasy that ingestion of certain drugs may bring about. Like the 'happiness' that comes from material things, the 'ecstasy' that comes from drugs is a hollow thing that cannot sustain itself. Instead, it leaves you craving more and more of the drug til one day, perhaps, it leads to an overdose and ultimately, to death. True joy comes from connection to yourself, to others and to the world around you. I would caution you as well to not be ashamed by what gives you joy, or by what brings you to the edge of ecstasy. There are many people out there with proclivities considered 'unusual' by the majority. Some find pleasure in the giving or receiving of pain, in certain contexts, for example. There are as many possibilities as there are people and, as long as these proclivities are engaged in in a safe and consensual fashion, there's nothing wrong with them. Don't judge the things others find pleasure in. It'll only diminish the amount of joy you are able to draw to yourself.

Ro-  The potential for Wunjo can be found everywhere and in all things. Wunjo energy is quite often tied very closely to Gifu energy. The giving and receiving of gifts (generally) causes joy for both giver and recipient. Rites of gift-giving have been used in countless cultures to cement all manner of social ties, from those between family members to those between nations.  

Questions to consider when working with Wunjo energy- What brings you pleasure in life? Where can you find your ecstasy? What brings joy to your life? How do you, in turn, bring joy to others? How often are you happy? Do you find it easy to find contentment?

Meet the Collectives- The Chalci

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To me, this collective has a golden colour. The rune-drakes have golden scales.

Our resident chalci is called Yrena. She represents all aspects of her collective and usually presents in the rune-drake form, or else simply as a felt presences. Yrena uses the initials Yn.

Yn- Everyone…everything, really…. searches for something. Desire and necessity are tied closely together. In fact, necessity fuels desire. You do not go questing for something unless it will quench a deep-seated need. For most animals, the daily quest is for food and shelter. Humanity has far more time to contemplate things beyond the basic necessities. You dream, and many dream big!

But how many of you act upon those dreams? You desire to be a writer, an actor, a doctor, but never get beyond the dreaming stage. If you don’t act, that’s all those desires ever will be. Granted, you will have your own trials and tribulations in reaching your goal. It wouldn’t be a proper quest without them! Break your dreams down into smaller goals and it will seem much easier to reach.

Questions to consider when working with Chalc- What are your deepest desires? How about your deepest fears? What are your short-term and long-term goals? Have you ever been obsessed with something?

Meet the Collectives- The Inguzi

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To me, this collective has a warm, light brown energy. The rune-drakes have light brown scales.

Our resident inguzi are Iggy and Finch. Iggy presents as a young adult male, late twenties in appearance, with coffee colored skin and brown hair. He is often with Mama Mawu and he has a very child-like, innocent temperament. His province is latent potential and he uses the initials Ig. Finch presents as a middle aged woman with blue eyes and blond hair. She deals with all aspects of her collective and uses the initials Fn.

Ig- Berkana is female fertility. Inguz is masculine fertility. We are the seeds in the earth, the acorn that has the potential to become a mighty oak. For our energy to really blossom, we need Berkana energy to nurture it. All things have potential and we represent that potential, but all seeds need a fertile field to grow in or they wither and die and the potential is lost or lies dormant until more nurturing earth becomes available.  You may wonder how things already established can have potential. Here is where it helps to see with the eyes of a child. It's easy to see a tree as the lumber it could become and as all the things that lumber could build. But what about an old tin-can? It could become a piggy bank, a buried treasure chest, a string phone..... the possibilities are endless. All it takes is a sense of wonder to see the potential in all things.

Fn- Inguz energy shows up in humans in a variety of ways. Each child is born with a whole host of latent talents, potential that may lie dormant until it is woken by a chance encounter. Or that latent potential may cry out for acknowledgment, manifesting as clear aptitudes and gifts at a very young age. It is always best to allow your young ones to develop the potential they have. Encourage them to try new things, but do not force them to continue in things they have no true aptitude for. Forcing a linguistically gifted child with a strong imagination to forgo developing artistic and writing skills in favor of math and science or trying to 'encourage' such a person to become a pharmacist, technician, physicist or engineer, instead of letting their gift for art and writing blossom, will leave them feeling discouraged and unworthy, as well as rather unhappy.

Inguz energy also manifests in ideas, little nuggets of insight that you can then mix with Berkana energy to make the most of that seed. Everything- every invention, every story, every movie, every medical innovation- it all starts as an idea in someone's head, as a sketch or outline on paper, that flourishes, or not, with how much attention you give it.

Our energy is also to be found in the parts of you that you repress, that you bury because you either fear those parts or because your life circumstances have told you those parts are 'not important.'  Not so!  All parts of you are equally important. Take some time to look deep inside and see the things you have buried within. Contemplate why you might have done so and what is stopping you from acting from those things now. This aspect is what some would call the Shadow Self. To better learn to deal with this aspect of our collective, find yourself some good books that deal with learning to work with your Shadow and let your full potential bloom!

Questions to consider when working with Inguz energy- Where does your potential lie? What 'seeds' do you have incubating at the moment?

Meet the Collectives- The Nauthizi

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To me, this collective has a bronze orange energy. The rune-drakes have bronze orange scales, catfish barbels and a black mane running along their neck.

Of all the collectives, we have the most representatives from this one. There are five of them now and it was a nauthizi that was actually one of the first runai I met, though I didn't know it at the time. During a journey completely unrelated to runes, I met a golden scaled dragon who bestowed upon me a personal symbol. It didn't even dawn on me at the time, because runes were not my focus, that this symbol was a variant of Nauthiz. A year and a half later, I met this being again, in a more 'proper' rune-drake form. His name was Nero and he was the first of four nauthizi to join us. Nero said I 'belong' to them... to the nauthizi. I'm still learning what this means, for me at least. Later you will have an opportunity to find if you, too, belong to a specific collective.

Nero, as I've said, was the first nauthizi to join us. He first chose a form that looked very much like Sherlock Holmes, in the newer movies. This drew playful teasing from both me and several of the other runics and he's since tweaked his appearance to look more like Tony Stark. He represents what it is to 'be' needed. His initial is simply N. Elodin has a personality that is often very child-like, a baby runic. As odd as it seems sometimes, he can be very easily hurt or frightened. He chose to look like a younger Nero. Elodin represents what it means to 'need'. He uses El as his initials, but has chosen not to participate here. Cassidy manifested around the same time as Elodin. She has black hair and brown eyes and certainly looks as if she is physically related to the more anthropomorphic appearances of Nero and Elodin. She represents the balance between needing and being needed and uses the initials Cs. Aldair is our final nauthizi and he chose to look like James Wilson, from the show House, M.D., which I find quite appropriate. I associate that show with this particular collective and Wilson certainly fits what it is to 'be needed', that aspect that Nero represents. He also represents what it is to 'need', as he is drawn to situations where he can fulfill that requirement of being needed. Aldair holds to no specific aspect of his collective. He uses the initials Ad.  Mycroft is our newest addition, joining us at Nero’s request. Nero is the one who chose his appearance- that of Mycroft from the BBC’s Sherlock. It’s a character I found intimidating….  and Nero wanted me to pay attention to my Nauthiz energy more than i was. Mycroft represents unbalanced Nauthiz energy, the end of the spectrum dealing with addiction. Nero was actually looking for one who represented the other end of that, a nauthizi who represented neglect. It was an attempt to bully me into paying closer attention to what I needed to be doing health-wise because I have several medical issues that require monitoring and proper attention. Nevertheless, Nero acquiesced and so Mycroft joined us. He has been able to help with what Nero wished, along with other things a little more pertinent to his particular end of the spectrum. He uses the initials My.

N- Everything that is, has some needs that must be met. Living organisms need food, shelter, water. Social creatures need physical affection to thrive. Inanimate things have needs too. Fire needs oxygen to survive. Buildings and cars require maintenance on a regular basis or they begin falling apart. Books require cool, dry environments to be preserved from mildew. An object's Nauthiz lies in what it takes to care properly for it.

Cs- Humans have even more complex Nauthiz energy. There are things that are required not just for physical care but for emotional and mental care as well. Some people need lots of physical affection to thrive properly. Others need lots of solitude to function ideally. Some people are labeled as needy and this can be seen as unbalanced Nauthiz energy. They are so overtaken by fear of not having their needs met that they ask for more than most are willing or capable of giving. Other people have a need to be needed. These people make excellent caretakers and do well in service oriented occupations. However..... while it might seem ideal..... it really is quite unhealthy for a person who needs to be needed to try to tend someone who is very needy. Really, it rarely, if ever, works out well.

Ad- As Cassy has pointed out, humans have needs beyond the mere physical. Emotional, spiritual and mental needs can be ascertained by looking at what brings true joy, peace or contentment to your life. What fulfills these needs will be different for everyone and each as valid as the last. So long as how you choose to have these needs met harms no other, there is no 'wrong' way to do so.

My- Addiction and neglect are the two ends of the spectrum of unbalanced Nauthiz energy and they can each be found in more ways than you might imagine. When a person seeks more than others are able to give, in terms of helping needs be met, that is a form of addiction. Ignoring your own needs or the needs of those you are responsible for, especially the needs of young ones, is neglect. As with the unbalanced aspects of the other collectives, addiction and neglect- unbalanced Nauthiz- does serve a function. Most likely, they were created to fulfill something a person needed and had no way of meeting otherwise. Either they did not know how to meet those needs, or perhaps they were/are not even aware of the underlying needs.

Take addiction, for example. Why does a person become addicted to drugs? What need might that be fulfilling? Perhaps it is a need to feel alive again and they don’t know how else to do so. Perhaps it is less and addiction to drugs and more an addiction to not being in pain. If you have ever had the misfortune to be assaulted by chronic pain, you know of what I speak. Addictions to dangerous and risky actions are often attempts to meet the need of feeling ‘alive’ that I mentioned before.

How about a seeming addiction to spending money? Well…. such an addiction is most often tied into the energy of Fehu as well. Many people who spend indiscriminately, they are actually trying to make themselves feel validated, feel worth something. The acquistion of ‘stuff’ can momentarily provide a false sense of what they really seek, which is strong self-worth. They simply don’t have the means or knowledge to achieve that. This sort of addiction is quite often formed very early in life, through neglect on the part of the caretakers who should be helping form a solid sense of self-worth in a child.

Neglect also serves a function of protection, often tied with Isa and Sigel energies. Neglect is not tending to needs, most often because doing so seems quite overwhelming. Being neglectful of a child is a said thing, but it most often arises out of feeling that you just can’t ( possibly shouldn’t) have to meet those needs. Neglect fostered by feelings of ‘shouldn’t’ tends to be formed by feelings of resentment. The parent who is completely unprepared to care for an unexpected child, especially if that child needs lots of care and attention often becomes neglectful of that child, whether purposefully or no. Neglect of oneself may be because a person feels unable to ask for necessary help.

Left to run rampant, addiction and neglect can be quite destructive. Addictions, handled properly, can be beneficial. Learning to work with them, should you be subjected to them, can help you learn more about yourself.  The same with neglectfulness. A person’s mind is an amazing thing. It put these things in place at some point, because they served a *necessary* fucntion at the time. Unfortunately, the mind can also be a little slow at times and doesn’t realize when these things need to be amended or discarded. This requires conscious introspection, brutal honesty and a willingness to work at changing these ingrained beliefs.

Questions to consider when working with Nauthiz energy- Where do your physical needs lie? Your emotional needs? Do you meet your needs effectively? If not, what blocks do you have that keep you from having your needs met? How do you meet the needs of others? Do you find yourself subjected to addictions or neglect, either self-imposed or by others? What do you think underlies these addictive or neglectful belief patterns? How can you begin changing them?

Meet the Collectives- The Eari

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To me, this collective has a dark iridescent black colour that reminds me of oil pooled on asphalt, with the hidden suggestion of rainbows in the depths of its darkness. The rune-drakes  have iridescent black scales and craggy horns. Like the isai, the eari tend to seem much slower than many of the other runai do.

Our resident eari is named Graal and she represents the natural erosion and letting go of mental and emotional blocks, issues, and beliefs. She has only ever presented herself in a rune-drake form. Graal uses the initials Grl.

Grl- Ours is the slow and natural decay of life into death. All things pass into something other. All physical forms, all mental and emotional energy. It is all from the One and each little form the energy of the One takes, from human to star, each little state of existence begins a countdown to inevitable decay, from the moment of its creation. This is a process, necessary for growth on many levels, for many beings. All things have a time and a place. All things are recycled back into the system, in turn, fostering new growth. There is always life from death, in any form. Energy cannot be destroyed, only changed, and we are the facilitators of natural change.

Season upon season, the trees, the plants, they grow, they thrive, and in the end, they fall to the isai and the eari. Plants wither and die, or go dormant for the winter, the vegetation decays, forming fodder for the plants of the next growing season. Likewise, a person’s internal energies are always in a state of decay and growth, even when they seem stuck and unmoving, even when a person may wish to hold on to those decaying energies. Working with our collective can be very difficult. I have seen few who could contemplate the inevitable, without some measure of fear. We can  help you find what is ready to be let go in your own life, to find the beliefs your spirit and body may be ready to let go of, yet the mind clings to.

Questions to consider when working with Ear energy- What are your feelings surrounding concepts of death? Do you have anything in your life that needs to be let go of, dying beliefs whose energetic resonance needs washing away?

Meet the Collectives- The Berkanai

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To me, this collective has warm brown energy. The rune-drakes are scaled in warm light brown.

Our resident berkanai is Mama Mawu. Her appearance changes with her moods, but she often appears with cocoa colored skin, a color reminiscent (to me) of her collective. Mama Mawu, as her  name suggests, exudes a very motherly air. She represents the aspect of her collective that deals with nurturance, be it of seeds, fragile health, budding self-worth or self-esteem or any other thing one might wish to nurture. Mawu uses the initials Mw.

Mw- Our collective has a distinctly 'feminine' feel to it, though the qualities of Berkana are to be found in all things. We represent the energy of nurturance, of caretaking and of the female aspects of creativity and fertility, the womb that incubates new 'life' in whatever form it may come, from an actual newborn baby to a completed book to a well established business. We share a duality with the inguzi, for neither energy can exist without the other. For there to be nurturing, there must be something to be nurtured.

Berkana energy can be found in manifestations of abundance, of fecundity and fertility. Fields full to bursting with produce, orchard trees heavy with fruit, an overflowing tip jar- these, like the examples listed above are tangible evidence of fertility. Berkana is manifest in these things, as well as in the capability of manifesting these things.

Questions to consider when working with Berkana energy- Where does your fertility lie? Where is your creativity to be found? How do you nurture yourself? How do you nurture others? What makes you feel cared for, makes you feel nurtured?

Meet the Collectives- The Mannazi

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To me, this collective has an energy comprised of yellows and browns. The rune-drakes are scaled in patchwork yellows and browns akin to the kennazis' grey and the dagazis' green.

Eliza and Krya are our resident mannazi. Both of them choose to present themselves in their rune-drake form. Eliza represents the identity aspect of Mannaz and uses the initials Ez. Krya represents the aspect that ties directly to humanity itself and uses the initials Kr.

Ez- Mannaz, first and foremost, lies in identity. This is the 'name' something is given, be it a common name, such as rune or runic, or something more particular, such as mannazi or Eliza. Names establish and convey identity. This can also be conveyed via common traits. Humans are identifiable by their unique, bipedal locomotion, cats are identifiable by their triangular ears, eyes with elliptical pupils, and claws that can be sheathed, velociraptors are marked by their sickle-shaped, retractable primary claws.  

Kr- Mannaz energy is also tied to all that which deals with mankind, with humans. Our rune-warden, Cala, likens us to being penultimate anthropologists, those people who study humans whenever and wherever they have existed. This is a fairly accurate assessment. We are the energy that governs the various branches of anthropology, just as our kindred runics, the ehwazi, govern the various branches of the study of sociology.

Questions to consider when working with Mannaz energy- 'Who' are you? Aside from your name, what other means do you use to identify yourself? Are you the person you want to be? How well do you interact with other people?