Othala -- property -- I don't generally draw reversed Runes, so working with them has seldom been a concern for The Weekly Rune. However, this week's Othala did, indeed, present murk-stave, and I feel it's worth exploring the Rune as such. Note that the image presents Othala upright, or bright-stave.
Othala reminds us of what is most important. Where Fehu brings awareness to wealth that must be tended -- assets and investments -- Othala focuses on that which we own that in many ways tends us -- our property, that which we inherit, then pass on. Spiritually speaking, it calls our attention to the wisdom of our ancestors, and calls us to own ourselves as part of that wise legacy. In other words, Othala makes us deal with our crap.
When I see it reversed, what comes to mind are the places that we have become out of sync with how our legacy must move forward. What does it mean for that wisdom not to be dispersed? What if we're not getting needed memos from our ancestors? How, then, do we know what should be pass on? Without that awareness, how can we step into our role as elders of our lines?
In my Thursday Betwixt series I will discuss this more in-depth over the coming weeks, though offer condensed insight here. In the west, we generally don't focus our lives on spiritual healing, by which I specifically mean alleviating that which obscures our joy, our connection to all things, the way that indigenous cultures do.
The result of this omission is that we take our traumas and hurts into our deathwalk, which means that when our consciousness releases from the body, that distress remains. It has to go somewhere, which is to the successors of that line. Because we don't focus on peaceful life, thus transition, instead of gaining the wisdom of our elders, we take on their pain.
Othala indicates that we are carrying a weight greater than a single life can bear. It's telling us that before we can seat into the role of elder in our lines, we must bless those who came before us. We must relieve them.
Go into this week with the awareness that your ancestors need and deserve delivery from their pain, and that by giving it, you gift yourself their fortitude, their timelessness and the wisdom of ages.
Originally published at Soul Intent Arts.