The new year is well underway. If you have set goals that you hope to accomplish over the next ten months, how do you plan to do it? All too often, people set goals or make resolutions without any real plan to address them. For some, it may seem silly to turn to Runes for practical advice, but the wisdom they provided when I asked them about achieving goals may pleasantly surprise you. I drew three Runes in relation to this question and received an insightful perspective.
Our Runes are Ehwaz (Ehol) the Rune of the horse, Hagalaz (Hagl) the Rune of hail, and Raido (Reiðr) the Rune of riding. But, how do a horse, hail, and riding assist with goals? While the immediate response may be to attach the horse and riding to each other, I resist that temptation, because Hagalaz appears between them. Instead, let’s consider this – Ehwaz represents the goals we’ve set, success with the goals is represented by Raido, but what Hagalaz tells us is that the road from horse to riding is not straight or smooth. This is good preparation for accomplishing the goals we set; a reminder that just laying out our goals does not mean we will succeed.
If we look at Hagalaz in more detail, we can think of hail’s full cycle. When it hits, it can have devastating effects, ruin crops, damage property. Hail, though, is moisture, a required nutrient. Following this line of thought, when we hit a bump in the road on our way to achieving a goal, we must assess the damage and learn from it. This lesson and how we frame or reframe our position once we gain this knowledge can have profound impact on our success. In essence, learn the lesson from the challenges you face and turn that knowledge into an effective tool toward accomplishing your goal.
Drawing Ehwaz in the first position provides certain strengths as this journey begins. A horse implies many important characteristics, such as an innate strength and beauty, reliability, and easier travel. Going forward, summoning these same features in ourselves will help us achieve our goals. We all possess inner strength and beauty; we must simply believe in it and rely on it to carry us toward our goal. When we face challenges, think about how differently things look when you are sitting on a horse. Think of it as a change of perspective. What would you see from a different vantage point? The bottom line is not to give up on the qualities you possess naturally and don’t be afraid to consider different perspectives.
After accepting your own qualities and resigning yourself to the fact that you will face challenges to your goals and learn the lessons of those challenges, you are on your way. To understand the final component, the ride offered by Raido, I’d like to draw directly from the Rune poem on which all Rune meanings are derived. What the poem says about Raido is that life’s adventures are easy for those who choose to sit inside and theorize about them, whereas hard times await those who sit on a powerful horse and ride for miles. However, recognizing that sitting on that horse and riding it through life is not so hard, when you realize the wisdom of Ehwaz and Hagalaz have prepared you for this journey.
Karen Paquin
About the Author
Karen has worked with the Runes for several years and has been writing a weekly blog about them, called The Wonder of Runes for the last two. Her blog offers guidance from the Runes and a variety of series, such as the Runes in history and mythology, book reviews, interviews, and Rune rituals. She is also making her own set of wooden Runes. Karen offers complimentary Rune readings.
