Dagaz Rune Divination for Samhain, 2021

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Since I was a little girl, it always felt to me that the new year should begin on Halloween, or at least the day after. Growing up in a culturally traditional family, I had no idea at that time that pagans and witches celebrated the new year during Samhain (All Hallow’s Eve). And although I knew witches existed because I fancied myself to be one of the magickally inclined, it would take until my high school years for me to know about pagans. I was convinced, however, that October was my month, with my birthday on the 13th, and that Halloween was my holiday. It meant more to me than Christmas or any other holiday we would celebrate.

I have always felt the shifting of the seasons and with the end of October, summer was over, fall was in full swing, with the beginning of winter right around the corner. Given that I was living in Alaska at that time, that shift was somewhat fluid since snow often fell in October. But it was clear that one period was ending and a new one was beginning.

The rune, Dagaz, the twenty-third rune of the Elder Futhark, represents the transition from one phase to another, and signals that a new day is beginning, making it a wonderful significator for a rune divination that reflects both the past and the future. So, that’s where I placed Dagaz, in the center of the spread where it could draw one year to a close and begin another. From there, I’m using three runes on each side to describe the overall focus of each year.

Perthro, Ehwaz, and Kenaz are the runes that represent the prior year while Sowilo, Jera, and Isa describe what the new year may bring. But before the actual interpretation begins, let’s look at the meaning of each rune.

Left side (past):

• Perthro – the cup from which the runes are cast, fate, the womb, chance, childbirth, the Well of Wyrd, cauldron, synchronicity, understanding cause and effect
• Ehwaz – change, momentum, intuitive bond, self/other side of self, binding toward mutual end, Merkaba, astral travel, relationships, partnerships
• Kenaz – the torch, light, illumination, clarity, healing, revelation, well-being, intuition, purification, creativity, transformation, cleansing, disease process

Right side (future):

• Sowilo – the will, energy, self-confidence, healing, Higher Self, illumination
• Jera – year, transformation, balance, give and take, cycles, herbalism, unfolding awareness, energetic alignment, fertility
• Isa – ice, becoming, Norn rune of the present (Verdandi), stillness, contraction, will development, consciousness, freezes unwanted behavior or situations, alignment in higher consciousness, stability, blockage

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Over the past year, collectively we’ve been dealing with the effect of Perthro’s notion of fate. Externally, our fate has been determined not only by the impact of the COVID pandemic but it also involved dealing with the us versus them dichotomy imposed and politicized by those wishing to destroy democratic values in our country. Internally, each one of us has had to contend with deception surrounding both the pandemic and the outcome of the last presidential election, all pushed by an allegedly corrupt former president and the people who stand to benefit from the chaos they’ve all fomented. Cause and effect, once viewed in a reasonable manner, has now been turned upside down, replaced by propaganda and deception that is self-serving.

Interpersonal bonds described by Ehwaz have been challenged and in some cases destroyed, whether they be familial, or within the community at large. A near-religious conspiracy-minded fervor has replaced both common sense and a shared set of values and principles. It’s not that individual differences didn’t exist, but that anything we thought we could count on was torn apart by cravenness and greed. Believing that our government would protect us became a thing of the past with a president who sowed deception at the expense of facts. In the end, though, he lost reelection and ultimately over 740,000 people have died to date from the virus in the US alone. And I wonder, had we all been on the same path, how many would still be alive today? But the sadism of a president replaced love and here we are, standing on the precipice of an unknown future.

Clarity and healing suggested by Kenaz have been replaced by vitriol, and the ensuing violence has replaced integrity and a shared responsibility to each other. Parents scream at and accost other parents for protecting their children, insisting the schools reopen without a mask mandate or other protective measures. Adults standing outside schools in protest, forcing their own kids to enter maskless against school policy, threatening staff, with the well-being of other students be damned. People refusing to get vaccinated or to follow CDC guidelines, or state policies, have only increased the virus, instead of giving it nowhere to go, let alone mutate. All for some distorted sense of freedom at the cost of everyone else’s safety and security.

When the former president lost the election, he spewed lies to his supporters while holding out his hand for more donations, ultimately stirring up an insurrection on January 6 that essentially continues to this day. And as more comes out about his own role in what happened, as well as what others did in support, we all face the impact of trying to sort out a level of conspiracy that was akin to mind-control.

So, where do we go from here? Incorporated in Dagaz is the idea of a new day dawning and the light returning. Visually, Kenaz is contained within Dagaz, as well as in each of the runes influencing the new year, suggesting that the light is spiritual in nature with achieving higher awareness the outcome. And depending upon one’s mindset, the coming year could be quite transformative.

Sowilo suggests that as truth is revealed, we may experience the self-confidence necessary to replace conspiracy-based thought patterns with provable truth. It suggests that the dark forces that have been attempting to control the narrative will be replaced by a collective awakening invoked by soul-awareness. Ideally, Sowilo, an as above so below rune, allows us to transmute ego into Spirit so that the lower vibration of the ego finds no purchase in our present reality.

Jera, or year, provides us with a feeling of balanced give and take with others, something that’s been sorely lacking over the last year. Going forward, Jera indicates that as new awareness unfolds, a higher level of energetic balance may be achieved as relationships that have been strained for so long begin to heal. The new year may indeed prove to be quite transformative as long as truth continues to be our focus.

Isa, as the Norn rune of the present moment, indicates that overall it will take a collective alignment in unity consciousness to invoke the inner change required to bring to an end the extreme animosity and violence that has been building over the last few years. Those individuals who believe they’re merely expressing their freedom need to reevaluate just exactly what freedom truly means. Invoking Isa into their awareness brings them back to the effect of Perthro and who actually controls fate. Will they continue to give control of their fate over to the corrupt agenda of others who desire to control the country and possibly the world? Or will they finally understand fate to be collective in nature, and how their own choices impact the lives, or fate, of others?

Time will tell just how the new year unfolds, but irrespective of the outcome, it promises to be an eventful journey.

Samhain Blessings to All!