Today 2001 years ago, on September 9, in the year 9 CE the Battle of the 

Teutoburg Forest began. This was led by the Cheruskan war-leader, Arminius 

against three Roman legions. Arminius was educated in Rome and was part of the 

very army he was to go to battle against this day, so many years ago. Later 

Tacitus would give Arminius the moniker: “the liberator of Germany.” This 

both is and is not true. Many historians are anxious to point out that the 

Germans had no sense of nationhood at this time— which is correct. Arminius 

was thinking only of his own tribe when taking his actions. However, this 

battle, and the devastating trauma its outcome caused to the Roman psyche, 

altered the course of not only Germanic history but that of the whole world as 

well. After this battle, the Romans would give up trying to colonize “Greater 

Germany.” If they had not been checked they probably would have conquered 

all of the Germanic world into Scandinavia. These regions would have been 

Romanized, as Gaul and Iberia had been, and the German language would not have 

survived as we have it today. Additionally, as the Anglo-Saxons were a 

Northern German group of tribes, these too would not have existed in 450 CE to 

create England. No England, no “British Empire.” 2001 years ago today a battle 

began that changed the face of history.

This is another in the series of observations of ritual patterns in the Edda. The next one we encounter is in Voluspa 20, where it is described how the Norns go to the tree (Yggdrasill) and there under its branches they are said to have done several things: they skaru a skidhi, “cut onto wooden staves,” log logdhu, “laid down laws,” lif kuru, “chose lives,” and all this was done orlog seggja, “to speak the fates.” Here clearly we see a pattern for the practice of divination: the practitioner goes to a sacred tree, symbolic of the link between the world and between the various generations of folk (the dead, the living and the yet-to-be-born) and certain techniques are applied to discover underlying or hidden truths. One of the man methods involves the scoring of pieces of wood with runes and reading them in various ways. Over the years the Gild has developed various methods of practicing runic divination, only some of which have ever been published. I use some of these methods in the Rune-Redings I am now doing for people.

Dear Setian X,

In answer to your query about the Polarian method.

The Polarian method is most similar philosophically to the Abductive Logic
of Charles S. Pierce.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/peirce/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abductive_reasoning


Dr. Flower's method relies on researching two poles.  The first pole is
Subjective -- following a hunch or a magical intuition.  For example I was
drawn to Greco-Egyptian magic.

Unlike the standard occultist who then just channel their inner guesses, the
Polarist looks at the other pole -- the Objective.  He or she researched the
scholarship of the matter.  He learned what valid sources are, and seeks
them out.

The process alternates from Pole to Pole.  The Subjective side is developed
by cultivating the Self -- in Setian terminology by Xeper.
The Objective pole requires increasing one's education and knowledge base.

The Objective does more than merely ground flights of fancy -- it can show
you where the most transformative material can be found.  The Subjective
does more than merely inspire your search -- it gives you a sense of
beauty -- it helps you recognize profitable lines of research.

Both processes can lead to life change.  I had to return to school to get my
degree to increase my objective research skills.  I had to become better at
magic to try some of the formulas I was discovering in the magical papyri.

The magical Law in Old Norse for this is "Reyn Til Runa!"  in Middle
Egyptian "Ir Shti Shta-tu!"

Xeper.

DWVI*

:RtR: