Divination 2, Question 8

Describe your method of taking an omen or doing divination in your private practice, from start to finish. Include any prayers said, deities invoked, or sacrifices made. (no minimum word count)

When I take an omen, I always begin with a full set of runes. I work only from my own, hand-carved runes (I don't touch anyone else's runes without permission, and even then I don't like to), because I feel that my runes have a familiarity with me that other runes simply will not have. I pick up the bag and begin to breathe, seeking a light change in consciousness that allows me to open to the Powers.

Once I feel I can open, I will often shake the bag or put a hand inside to mix up the tiles. As I do this, I either think or say out loud the following prayer:

Speak to me as you follow the wind,
tines of ash within my hand.
Follow perfectly the waves of the air-ocean,
making known to me their invisible pattern.
Out of the Well of the Wyrd they flow,
Carrying the wisdom that is their gift.
Carry it to me also, give to me, ash spirit,
the knowledge that you have,
the knowledge that we seek.¹

This prayer helps me focus on the connections in the runes and the cosmos. I do not generally invoke a specific deity, though I offer to Oðin each time I carve a set of runes. I have found that between us, there is no feeling of need to be in constant contact after the runes are carved, and our bargain is more or less one of, "You help me carve, I'll buy you a beer." To me, the runes are really a conversation between myself and the cosmos, not myself and a particular deity.

I will usually draw a single rune per question I ask, though I have taken to pulling three rune sets recently if the question is really deep or involved. I feel around in the bag until one feels right to me, and then pull it. I interpret them one at a time, and then try and see how they fit together, within this situation. When I have my interpretation, I will often set the runes aside if there is no further divination to be done, or put them back in the bag after writing them down if there is more to be asked.

I always spend time writing my omens and interpretations down.

¹ - Altered from Ceisiwr Serith's A Book of Pagan Prayer, under "Prayers for Divination", p. 227, to reflect runes instead of an oracle.

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