Womanrunes: The Labyris

Womanrunes: The Labyris. Rune of Will. Power in the world. Mobility. Having one’s way. 

This is a stone of assertiveness. Of standing up for oneself. Of claiming unapologetically one’s place on the planet and in the stream of life. This is a strong stone, a steady stone, a stone you pull when the time has come to make decisions. When the time has come to say no. When the time has come to choose. It is a stone of action, determination, energy, sustenance, vitality, and truth. It reminds us that it is okay, necessary, to speak up. To do what must be done. To say yes and to say no, without explaining, justifying, rationalizing or apologizing. The Universe is made up of many wills. Many wills joining, bumping into one another, dominating, submitting, sharing, giving up, being stubborn. The Labyris rune is about a strong, steady, inner will. A sense of personal power and the ability to stand in that personal power. The ability to step forward with purpose. To speak up with firmness. It is not about dominating or oppressing or submerging the wills of others. It can remind us of the power in partnership, in collaboration. Of the power found in working together. Though in that context, still asserting one’s own self-responsibility and potency and personal power.

This rune turns up when it is time to make changes. The time has come to draw upon your flexibility and your ability to notice what needs to be different, what is calling out for action and change, and to dig deep for the courage and will that are necessary to enact those changes. Remember that mobility can sometimes involve knowing when to wait. When to be still and when to return to something later in one’s life course. This is a stubborn rune. It wants its own way. You want your own way. It isn’t wrong to want that. Have you been silent for too long? Have you squelched your own desires? Have you pretended to be something you are not? Have you expected others to read your mind and meet your needs for you, without needing to speak up? Have you been wanting to flee? Have you been wanting to quit or say no, but don’t know how? That’s where this double-headed axe comes in. It can cut both ways. What needs to be pruned away? Watch out. She’s chopping there. Be careful not to cut the ones you love, to cut off more than you bargained for or more than you want. Handle blades with care, for they can be dangerous. Is this what you worry about in asserting your own will? That you are dangerous? That people do not get what they need from you? That you are not enough? You are more than enough and sometimes that is scary. And, sometimes it scares others.

Slice cleanly and without apology. Slice carefully and without regret. Remember to keep enough room around you to swing the blade freely.

In an ironic twist, when I headed to the woods to make this recording, I thought to myself: I don’t have time to do this. Immediately, I strongly “heard”: you don’t have time NOT to do this. I started the memo recorder and got through the title of the rune before my kids were hollering out of the door to me that the noodles were boiling and I had to come back RIGHT NOW. I resisted and thought about not having time NOT to do it, but they kept yelling and so I surrendered my will to theirs and headed back inside. For the record, the noodles were not boiling yet and I could have stayed. And, I was annoyed that I didn’t get my own way… 😉

The small difference waiting to be noticed on the day I made this recording was this little snail on a leaf!

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Update: this project evolved into a real book!

The first post in my Womanrunes series is available here. The runes and the names of them come from Shekhinah Mountainwater’s Womanrunes system for which there are no written interpretations available other than the name and one word meanings. I’m engaging in a semi-daily practice of drawing one and then going down to the woods with it to see what it “tells” me–basically, creating what I wish I had, which is a more developed interpretation of the meaning of each womanrunestone.