Nauthiz -- Need -- We greet Nauthiz on a fairly regular basis in The Weekly Rune. Considering that we're perpetual works-in-progress, it makes sense that this middle stave of the second ǽtt's winter trio shows often to offer insight.
Situated between Hagalaz (harsh change) and Isa (processing outcomes), Nauthiz forces us to confront our limitations and what we're getting out of them. By that I mean, it highlights the things we say we don't want, yet hold fastest to. This stave is the niggling feeling that all is not well, without knowing what needs attention. However, often just honoring that something isn't right is enough to bring mild reprieve, perhaps even movement toward resolution.
When we meet resistance in fulfilling our needs, do we respond compulsively just to make the tension stop? Do we buckle down and address the core issue? Do we risk the reality of learning that our needs are really wants? How we deal with this kind of stress is the heart of Nauthiz, as in learning to move through that stress, the need is either released or met. It is transmuted into movement to the next place we need to be.
Find the places where you stand in your own way, and open dialogue between these two aspects. What parts of you benefit from where you are? What parts are deprived from not moving forward? There's no wrong answer, only two different perspectives on the present. How you nurture both is the solution.
--
Now available worldwide, Teen Spirit Guide to Modern Shamanism covers several more concerns about shamanic journeying, and how to resolve them.