Kari’s Voluspa

High Functioning Behavior

2011-11-23T08:46:00.000-08:00

In the last post I mentioned that we need to have good boundaries within the web of wyrd. Here are some great check-in resources to be certain we are in high functioning mode. They come from Ann Wilson Schaef, University of Minnesota. When you notice these things in your behavior, just stop. Be in Verthandi, the present moment, and begin to unwind the oorlag. Find the kinks and triggers and sort out your emotions around them. Do not move forward in anything until you have reached healing within your own being.
Frithfully yours,
Kari

Signs that may trigger a return to codependency and the addictive process
By Ann Wilson Schaef

1. When we find ourselves talking about others in a way we would never do in person and when we do this to build allies and justify ourselves. (kt Creating relationship based on mutual disdain for the other. I see this in American politics and especially on facebook)
2. Dishonesty – a trigger back to disease from recovery. (kt There is no such thing as a little white lie.)
3. Whenever we are obsessed with a person or situation.
4. Whenever we become controlling and/or manipulative.
5. Whenever we interpret others/guess at what they think, Assume we know more about him/her than he/she does.
6. Self-neglect (including not eating/sleeping/exercising regularly, over working, neglecting family/house/plants/pets).
7. Comparisons
8. Blaming others
9. Jealousy
10.Dualistic thinking (either/or, black/white, polarities)

Signs of Unhealthy Boundaries

Trusting no one – trusting anyone – black and white thinking (all or nothing)
Telling all
Talking at an intimate level on first meeting
Falling in love with a new acquaintance
Falling in love with anyone who reaches out
Being overwhelmed by a person – preoccupied (obsessing)
Acting on first sexual impulse
Being sexual for partner, not self
Going against personal values or rights to please other
Not noticing when someone else displays inappropriate boundaries
Not noticing when someone invades your boundaries
Accepting food, gifts, touch, sex that you don’t want
Touching a person without asking
Taking as much as you can get for the sake of getting
Giving as much as you can give for the sake of giving
Allowing someone to take as much as they can from you
Letting others direct your life
Letting others describe your reality
Letting others define you
Believing others can anticipate your needs
Expecting others to fill your needs automatically
Falling apart so someone will take care of you
Self abuse
Sexual and physical abuse
Food abuse (other addictions)

Questions from Students

2011-11-10T10:29:00.000-08:00

Thanks for asking such good questions everyone.

Q.
I have connected to the web and am managing to stay there most of the day. It’s wonderful to see the multi-faceted connections. But, now what? What should I do next?

A.
This question comes up very often. It's a good and important one.

Mostly the answer is - do nothing, keep sitting in Verthandi, observing and contemplating but do not take any action until you are guided by Skuld, necessity. When Need show’s its name we may do or go.

Being in Verthandi is both unusual and fun. If you perceive the whole web, you are sitting in the space of the void. Your three roots are aligned with the world tree and your brain is well balanced. The pineal gland is open.

Try this:
Summon up a deep breath and hold it for several seconds. Observe the thickness, level of vibration, and physical attachments of the web as it begins in your spine. As you let your breath out, be aware of how this changes the size, shape and vibration of the web. See how far out your breath reaches and take note of what changes occur.

There are many fine exercises in my Volva Stav Manual.

Q.
I found a “knot” or kink in my lines. What should I do?

A.
Isolate that line in your breath and send a tone down the line. See what happens. Take note of your emotions around this kink in a one word list. I feel (one word).

The emotional body extends from your core by an arms length. Try to catch the emotions as they first touch this circuit of your web. If you stay in the void, you will be able to do this without judging or intellectualizing your emotional responses. Imperative while in the void.

If you find yourself unable to hold the state of non-judgment, wind your energy back from the web and into your core through your breath. Remember to keep meticulous notes for yourself. It is your pilgrim’s progress!

Q.
Someone asked me to heal a kink in their web. What should I do?

A.
Teach them to do it themselves. That’s all we have time for these days. We must all be healed healers now.

What is a völva?

2011-10-31T12:49:00.000-07:00

The Historical Völva (more on my website)

The word völva, (also vǫlva, volu, volve and vala) is a gender specific word in Old Norse for "wand" or "staff" carrying woman. Related is the Proto-Germanic *walwōn, derived from a word for "wand." Sometimes the monikers seiðkona (magic woman) and spákona (prophet woman) were attached to them depending on what particular skill set they brought to the community. Men were referred to as viktis.

In Viking society, a Völva was a woman who had released herself from the strong family and community bonds that normally surrounded women in the Old Norse clan society. She traveled the land, sometimes accompanied by young people (students), and she was summoned in times of crisis. She had immense authority and was paid well for her services.

Old Norse sources present the Völva as highly professional, wise in lore and history, healers, rune users, wyrd energy workers and prophets. As the Viking era became more patriarchal and dangerous for women, a volva sometimes attached herself to an aristocratic household, giving her greater authority than the aristocratic lady. This often caused disruption and difficulty, but both were ultimately dependent on the benevolence of the warlord that they served. When they had been attached to a warlord, their authority depended on their personal competence and credibility.

Historical Accounts by Outside Observers
The earliest descriptions of such women appear in Roman accounts about the Germanic Cimbri whose priestesses were aged women dressed in white. They sacrificed the prisoners of war and sprinkled their blood, in order to prophesy coming events.

Julius Caesar in Commentarii de Bello Gallico (1, 50) under Ariovistus (58 BCE) writes that “ - among the Germans it was the custom for their matrons to pronounce from lots and divination whether it were expedient that the battle should be engaged in or not." This is most often interpreted as the use of runes in casting fate.

Tacitus also writes about female prophets among the Germanic peoples in his book Histories 4, 61 - notably a certain Veleda: “by ancient usage the Germans attributed to many of their women prophetic powers and, as the superstition grew in strength, even actual divinity”

Jordanes relates in his Getica (XXIV:121) of Gothic Völvas called Aliorumnas. They were driven into exile by King Filimer, when the Goths had settled in Oium (Ukraine). The name is probably a corruption of a Gothic Halju-runnos, meaning "hell-runners" or "runners to the realm of Hela”. Another interpretation of Aliorumnas is Alu-runnos, those who write the sacred runes. Alu is an epithet used after many sacred inscriptions.

Paulus Diaconus, the Lombard historian in the 790s, wrote how the Völva Gambara's good relations with the goddess Frea helped her people win in battle.

Harald Bluetooth, who was at war with the Holy Roman emperor kept a Völva at Fyrkat.

In Archeology
Archeologists in Scandinavian have discovered wands in about 40 female graves, usually rich graves with valuable grave offerings showing that Völvas belonged to the highest level of society.

In Fyrkat, Denmark, the richest grave in the area, a Völva had been buried in a wagon with the wheels removed. She wore a long, plain dress. Around her toes, she had toe rings. At her head, she had a Gotlandic buckle which may have been used as a box. She also owned objects from Finland and Russia. At her feet, she had a box which contained her magic tools: a pellet from an owl as well as small bones from birds and mammals, and in a pouch she had the seeds of henbane. If such seeds are thrown into a fire, they produce a hallucinogenic smoke which causes a sense of flying. In the grave there was also a small silver amulet that represented a chair made from a stump. When such small silver chairs are discovered in graves, they always belong to a woman, and it is possible that they represented objects such as the platform where the Völva performed her rituals and Hlidskjalf from which Odin watched across the world.

Around 1000 BCE, a Völva was buried with considerable splendour in Hagebyhöga in Östergötland, Sweden. In addition to being buried with her wand, she had received great riches which included horses, a wagon and an Arabian bronze pitcher. There was also a silver pendant which represents a woman with a broad necklace around her neck. This kind of necklace was only worn by the most prominent women during the Iron Age and some have interpreted it as Freyja's favourite necklace, the Brísingamen. The pendant may represent Freyja herself, the most prominent Völva of them all.

In Birka, a Völva and a warrior were once buried together. Above them, a spear was positioned in order to dedicate the dead couple to Odin. They had probably served Freyja and Odin, two gods of war, and he had done so with his spear and she with her wand

In Norway, the Oseberg ship burial in Norway revealed two women who had received a sumptuous burial. One of the women was a high-ranking lady who knew how to practice the seid, as she had been accompanied with a wand of wood. In the grave, there were also four seeds from the cannabis plant which probably had been in the pillows that supported the corpses. Moreover, additional cannabis seeds were discovered in a small leather pouch. While in Oslo participating in the reality show, “Alt for Norge” in 2009, I was able to visit the bones of this Norwegian völva. My entire experience in Norway as an American völva was profound, grounding my practice in the rocks and waters of my ancestral land.

In Myth and Saga
Historical and mythological depictions of völvas show that they were held in high esteem and they were held to possess great powers. In the Völuspá which translates to "prophecy of the völva,” Odin himself consults a völva, Heidr, to prophesy from his ørlög (Old Norse for something like karma). Even he must give her much gold for her labors.

In the prologue of the Prose Edda, related by a völva, the origin of Thor's wife Sif is detailed, where she is said to be a spákona. Snorri contextually correlates Sif with the oracular seeress Sibyl on this basis.

Groa in Skáldskaparmál performs magical healing for Thor and in Groagaldr in the Svipdagsmal council gods and ancestors from beyond the grave. Huld, in Ynglinga saga, shows a less savory reputation for the magical woman as Christianity and patriarchy begin to color women of power as evil doers and witches.

In Helgakviða Hundingsbana I, Norns arrive at the birth of Helgi Hundingsbane and twinned his fate as a hero through spinning and chanting. It is likely that these Norns were not divine beings but völvas.

In Flateyjarbók, toward the end of Norna-Gests þáttr, Norna-Gest details that "spákonur (Völvas) traveled around the country-side and fore-told the fates of men."

In Örvar-Odd's Saga, the seiðkona also wears a blue or black cloak and carries a distaff (a wand which allegedly has the power of causing forgetfulness in one who is tapped three times on the cheek by it). The colour of the cloak may be less significant than the fact that it was intended to signify the otherness of the seiðkona.

Perhaps the most detailed account of the wandering völva is from the Saga of Eric the Red where Thorbjörg the littlevolva’s visit is described. Her rich dress, special treatment, foods she ate, and methods of communicating with the other worlds is described. She practiced High Seat prophecy which has inspired the reconstruction of this practice in many corners of the world.

The Immigrant Era
The staff carrying women were not to be forgotten or eradicated through Christian persecution and the shift to patriarchy. They became known as “troll women” or witches who lived outside of the community. They lived on in the guise of the midwife (jordmor) and the “doctor gamle” and their methods of healing and seeing were preserved in the Svartebok (black books), recorded folk medicines and charms, and folk stories and songs passed down in families from mother to child. One such striking song is “Kjerringa med Staven,” commonly sung even today at language camps and the bygtedans. The “dear woman with a staff” describes the völva living outside of the community using magical chants to churn butter, talk with rabbits and fight mountain trolls.

While in Norway, I realized that the deep ties to the ancient völvas are “hanging by a thread” in the memory of the people. It is my mission to strengthen these threads, mend them to the Immigrant memory and spin a new thread that expresses our healed folk soul for my children to follow.

Seeing Methods
Women’s traditional work was transformational, taking one substance and transforming it to another. Spinning, weaving, churning, baking and brewing were tasks that were accompanied by chants and charms held over as children’s sayings. These mundane tasks were meditative and often, especially when accompanied by song or chant rhythm, created a trance state. Women who were gifted in seeing used these tasks to create such a state, endow their food or cloth with magical properties, or use the tasks to manipulate the energy of others. So powerful were these methods that Christian church law banned many of the songs and charms (which were then hidden in the guise of children’s verses).

Spinning
A distaff possessed magical powers, and in the world of the gods, the Norns twinned the threads of fate. Many of the wands that have been excavated have a basket-like shape in the top, and they are very similar to distaffs used for spinning linnen. One theory for the origin of the word seiðr is "thread spun with a distaff", and according to this theory, practicing magic was to send out spiritual threads. Since the Norsemen believed that the Norns controlled people's fate by spinning, it is very likely that they considered individual fates to be controllable with the same method. I use the drop spindle in magical work quite often.

Weaving
In theory, invisible fetters and bonds could be controlled from a loom, and if a lady loosened a knot in the woof, she could liberate the leg of her hero. But if she tied a knot, she could stop the enemy from moving. The men may have fought on the battle field in sweat and blood, but in a spiritual way, their women took part. It is not by coincidence that archaeologists find weaving tools and weapons side by side.

The Battle Song of the Valkyries is perhaps the most detailed and gruesome account of the use of weaving in the control of war.

Runes
The use of runes for charms and amulets dates as far back as 100 CE, long before they were used as an alphabet. The closest thing we have to “rune readings” are the accounts of “drawing lots” and “divination with sticks,” most often thought to have been rune markings etched on small stavs. Runes were inscribed on stones, tools and weapons as well. There is a medieval account of a girl who visits a “troll woman” to get a rune charm for protection. Runes were put under the heads of children to keep them safe.

The widest use of runes was in galder, the “singing” or howling of runes in verse called galderlag. Galder was sung to confuse the minds of the enemy in personal relationships or in battle. It was used to banish evil spirits from a sick person and to call helpful spirits and deities in to heal.

Lokkr is a style of singing that lures or entices. Lokkr may include words of endearment or compelling runes. Perhaps the most famous account of singing vardlokker (warding calls) comes from Gudrid, the Christian in Eric the Red’s Saga, who sang for Thorbjorg’s ceremony. It was reportedly the most beautiful and alluring singing that anyone had ever heard.

Key Terms

Völva – (Old Norse) staff or wand carrier. A holy woman of Northern European pre-Christian spiritual tradition. Proficient in seidr, galdr, healing, journey and work on the web of wyrd, ceremonial officiant, and wise woman, she is different than a village witch or shamman. The völva has a political position as liaison between tribes, clans, and communities.

Stav – (Norwegian, pron. stahv) staff, any vertical line, rods in the eyes, ski poles.

Staving – (coined by Kari Tauring, 2003) the act of using the staff for rhythm in song, ceremony and to attain a seidr state. Stavers are those who do staving.

Tein - (Norwegian, pron. taayn) a sucker from a tree, a wand or switch, the stick end of a drop spindle, a cross stick for use in rhythm for Volva Stav.

Seiðr – (seidr or seith, Old Norse) a state of heightened consciousness where unity of being is achieved and where the web of wyrd (the web of unity of all things) is perceived.

Ørlög - (oorlog, Old Norse) the accumulated core of ancestral “karma”, DNA, inherited conditions plus the accumulation of each individual’s actions, words, and intentions in their present life time.

Web of Wyrd – the inter-connected energy of life through time and space. Something like “chi lines” and “ley lines” combined. The accumulation of individual strands of oorlog in a perceivable pattern of connectivity.

A Brief Bio of my work:
I am an American Völva (Old Norse for Staff Carrier). Having spent the past 20 years studying, reconstructing and practicing my indigenous Northern European spiritual traditions, I am in great demand across the United States to educate and perform. As with the Völvas of old, I take my staff from village to village as an honored guest to “see” for the community.

In an event setting, whether a “Viking re-enactment,” Asatru/Heathen gatherings, or Lutheran church basements, I include an educational performance along with sitting at an information table or tent. Performances include stories that tell the history of the staff carriers, songs and lokkr in Old Norse, Norwegian, and galder (rune song/poems). I may also perform the High Seat ceremony (such as described in Eric the Red’s Saga) or lead a blot (sacrificial ceremony).

At a tent or table I use a more intimate style of consultation which includes the Elder Futhark runes, staff rhythm and song, and spinning. Villagers and visitors come to a tent prepared for me where I bless oaths, animals and children and read the ørlög of individuals or the community as a whole. I consecrate and name weapons or other tools and create rune charms for objects. I am a healer and will create rune galder and recommend herbs for ailments. My book “The Runes: A Human Journey,” and two CDs are available during the festival and on-line.

Work shops on runes and Völva Stav techniques (including my new Völva Stav Manual, pub. 2010) is also available. Please email me for fee information.

My Spae for 09-09-09

2011-04-01T11:58:00.001-07:00

On 09-09-09 I did a rune pull during ritual – one for each of the 9 worlds to indicate “what is the re-set button for the next phase of this world on the tree.”

The runes, from the roots up, are:

Helheim – Manaz
Nifhel – Ehwaz
Musphel – Isa
Midgard – Wunjo
Svartalfheim – Othelo
Ljosalfheim – Dagaz
Jotunheim – Thurisaz
Vanheim – Fehu
Asgard – Tyr

As the core of the tree has shifted by over 3 degrees, the well of Urd is now over Nifhel which is warming up (melting). Musphel is cooling and the eye of Odin that was cooking is now done and ready to be consumed. Hvergalmir is Hel’s cauldron and all the humans are in there, ready to come out in Joy when the transition is complete.

The dark elves are re-bonding with the light elves, finding a new homeland in the air. The light elves continue to rise and fall in an orderly fashion. Thor is in balance with Thurses as he attains the compassionate state. He will embrace Jormungander, they will embrace and become one as the new equator is formed. They will be like Sisistul of this continent – two faces of polarity in union. The Vanir will go on as they have always done, as people of the horn, teachers and guides. Asgard’s new model will be the Tyr and Tiza model – Male and Female in balance, one holding up the North Pole with his spear, the other holding up the South Pole with her spindle.

This is how the tree looks to this volvakona. This is how it feels. I am using my arms and heart space to embrace myself. I am lining up my pineal gland with my perineum. I am creating joy where ever I am. When I am sad I release my sadness until it purifies to the joy of that release. This is how I manage in a Fimbulvinter so that I may greet the new world with impeccable joy.

Summer Thing

2010-09-28T10:58:00.000-07:00

If you have been following my facebook status or visiting my website karitauring.com you will know that I am still on Vandrestav! I have just returned from Kansas City and will be in Minneapolis teaching most of October. Then at the end of October and into November I am traveling again!

But the Merlins Rest Second and Fourth Tuesdays of the month are still active so if you are in Minneapolis, come down and say hello.

Last year I tried to merge my three blogs, Kari's Voluspa, huldre and runakari blogs. It didn't really work. So I may just have to start posting on all of them again...there is so much to post but more places to post things than ever!

Well, I just wrote a new post for this one, so enjoy.
http://huldre.blogspot.com/

I will try to post on http://runakari.blogspot.com/ soon. Perhaps this will be a random rune pull space...uff da.

Kari

Summer Thing travels - June and July 2010

2010-07-19T18:28:00.000-07:00

The summer thing-tour started with Troth Moot at Hinkley, then Swedish Festival in Cambridge, then Viking Village at Hjemkomst Center, and now for family time.

The three gigs were pretty amazing. Different, yet equally as profound. It was a great joy to sing and do workshops for the Troth. Volkshof kindred hosted and they really know my skills and talents so it was easy to be my best for them! Teaching and creating Pageantry with Heathen-raised children is a true joy. The have many threads of learning and experiencing the myths already alive in them. The Jotun's Bane children were voracious, like their parents, eager to learn and grow. There were smart and good children from all over the place! I look forward to seeing them at future gatherings and teaching them more stories, songs, and dances.

Then at Cambridge Swedish Lutheran Church I was able to share my mission with some of my most favorite and dear to my heart people...Elders in the Scandinavian Lutheran community. There are women and men in their 60's and 70's who have an amazing depth. Their folk soul was kept alive through strong traditions passed from parents and grandparents new to this land. In the words of one student, a 76 year old retired pastor and amazing woman, "your work is re-connecting us to nature, to our eldest ancestors, and it's an important mission you are on." There were many tears of joy to share as we soaked up our deep root traditions through the message of the volva kona.

Viking Village - the Hjemkomst Center is a place dedicated to preserving and expressing the folk soul. Sharing the volva kona from the Bronze Age to the Immigrant Era was like putting honey over butter on really warm bread. Hjemkomst means home coming. They have somehow grown a vortex of home-coming energy. All my various blood seems to vibrate at this special place. Deeply Scandinavian and truly native to this place, there is a blend of here and now, then and there, us and them making we...an amazing example of community flowing.

Now, I am dedicating the next few weeks to my own family. My parents will celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary and my sisters and our families will camp and play music and take walks on our ancestral farm land in Wisconsin. This will rejuvenate me so that the next leg of my Summer volva travels will be fresh and amazing.
Enjoy your summer journeys!

Best,

Kari

June is a Thing-month

2010-06-29T12:29:00.000-07:00

In the way of the Norse tradition, I have been traveling for most of this month. What a joy it is to meet with so many good and wise people!
My birthday is coming up - 44 on the 4th...double golden!!
I have a very special bottle of liquid to consume and I am so happy in my life that I imagine it will be a very good birthday!
Best to all of you who read this blog.
Kari

Farvel gammle Norge!

2010-05-06T15:57:00.000-07:00

It was my last episode of Alt for Norge today, May 6, 2010.

Being in Norway was amazing. Being part of a Reality show was bizarre but very educational. Here is a link to my farewell video at tvnorge

Best,
Kari

Alt for Norge!

2010-04-14T08:30:00.000-07:00

Hurrah! the show is a big hit!
We all worked so hard, the crew did an amazing job. I am so proud of Monster for the beautiful filming and editing. It must have been so difficult to choose from all that footage and narrow it down to 45 min episodes.

It's wonderful to receive so many kind emails from Norwegian fans. I have put up a fan page to share more of my photos and experiences on the show - FanPage

I am also very proud of the article written by Kristin Tillotson in Thursday April 8th Star Tribune. Her writing is beautiful and describes me, my work and mission so well.

Stav Session at Merlins-April 27th.

Kari in April 2010

2010-04-01T07:18:00.000-07:00

Second and Fourth Tuesdays at Merlins Rest.

Volva Stav Intensive at the Eye of Horus.

April 8th - Look for an article about me in the Minneapolis Star Tribune and if you are in Norway, watch the premiere of "Alt for Norge!".

Classes at Ingebretsen's - Animals of the gard and utgard too! - April 12 and 19 - 10:30 - Noon.

Full moon Monday

2010-03-29T12:34:00.000-07:00

Pick up your stav
Find your water source
Go to the Well and Find the Tree
Become the Tree
Plant Yourself
Drink
Hail the Land
Hail the Ancestors
Hail the Folk

Beste Hilsen!
Kari

Easter Rituals/Equinox Rituals

2010-03-02T07:58:00.000-08:00

The pre-Christian origins of Spring Rituals in Scandinavian tradition have been preserved in so many interesting ways. The week of Easter, named for the Germanic Goddess Ostara, is filled with practical ritual that any good farmstead would want to follow.
The Monday before Easter is "black Monday". On this day we sweep our chimneys. The wood stove has been used continuously in our home for heating, cooking, ritual, and as a center for entertainment through the dark half of the year. Telling stories by the fire, roasting marshmallows, or just sitting and watching the flames dance while snuggling the cat have been our Winter past times. Our ancestors called the fire by name, still a goddess in the Baltic - Gabija. In our home we use birch bark to write our New Years resolutions or Juletide wishes on. We send them up the chimney in the care of the fire goddess to the ears of angels in the smoke.

Now it is time to shut the chimney down for a time and clean it out. In Sweden they still use different herbs and woods to cleanse the chimney so that the Paaskaring (Easter Witch) doesn't sneak down into the house.

The Easter witch may be Ostara herself, often pictured as a goddess flying through the air with a stav or wand. During Christian times, witches gained power through the betrayal of Jesus on Maundy Thursday when Judas the Iscariot gave him up to the Romans.

Spring Equinox is certainly a time to seek balance in all things. Fasting to clean out our bodies, cleaning our chimneys and homes, and balancing our thoughts through prayer or meditation prepares us for the frenzy of Spring activity. It is especially a time for women to check the balance of their menses. Sometimes our bodies may shift ovulation times in the spring and fall. It is vital that women have balance now as the season of May is full of fertility ritual for the land. Our ancestors didn't practice birth control so much as conscious conception. This too is part of Spring ritual.

Cleaning our bodies is the likely basis for the paaskris, the birch twig decoration still carried on in Sweden. Ritual sauna with birch switches to stimulate the blood and cold dousing between rounds of sweat are remembered in songs and are still practiced in Finland and the Americas where immigrants have kept the old ways. As bathing became suspect during the oppressive years of early Chritianity, the birch switches were instead used for flagellation and scourging, to remember Christ's pain on the cross. Today in Sweden you will see birch branches hung with colored feathers and little eggs, chicks, and witches as decoration.

Decorating eggs is a Spring ritual across all of Europe and the Americas. I didn't realize fully why until I began to keep three heirloom breed chickens of my own. Chickens ovulate on the sun cycle. They stop laying around Fall Equinox and begin laying again around Imbolc or Groundhog's day. By Spring Equinox there are enough eggs to color. The use of fake eggs to stimulate them to lay more is a time honored tradition going back to the beginning of humans relationship to chickens. The shell is the womb of the Earth, the yolk is the golden sun being born. In the Christian era, the shell is the tomb and the chick bursts out of death as Jesus did.

In my house, we celebrate Ostara on Equinox. It used to be frustrating to me because then Easter would come around and it would seem like we were doing the rituals over again. My children didn't mind, after all, two celebrations are nice! As they have gotten older now, I have settled back into my own personal seasonal ritual routine and teaching others the why and how of our modern rituals so they too may find the deeper connection of the ancestral folkway.

iphone application is ready!

2010-01-20T08:25:00.000-08:00

I am so excited to announce that my complete book, The Runes: A Human Journey, is now available for iphone with the additional features of allowing you to cast runes, create rune charms, and hear my never before released version of the Medieval Norwegian Runarvise, a'capella.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-runes-a-human-journey/id351058852?mt=8

Try this link if you don't have itunes or iphone to view the app:
http://appshopper.com/lifestyle/the-runes-a-human-journey

Enjoy!
Kari

Monthly Events in the Twin Cities

2010-01-20T07:27:00.000-08:00

Community Stav and Song at

Merlin's Rest

Second and Fourth Tuesdays - 7-8pm

All ages welcomed, bring a broom handle and wooden spoon.

Come early for dinner, join in when the spirit moves you!

Rune intensive for beginner to advanced, March at the Eye of Horus

Happy 2010!

2010-01-01T11:28:00.000-08:00

There are many opportunities to see me in 2010:

January 9 - Second Saturday Stav at the Eye - 1-3 (Volva Stav Intensive)

Second and Fourth Tuesdays - 7-8pm Community Stav and Song at Merlin's Rest

Classes at Ingebretsen's including Runes on January 18th and children's Norse Myth and Pageantry

Coming up in Norway during March is "Alt for Norge!" tvnorge. Kari's adventures in the homeland.
Here is another photo from the show!
http://www.dolen.no/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=967&Itemid=26

Keep checking back at the website for updates and archive links!
Best for the New Year!
Kari

Kari in December 2009!

2009-12-09T07:53:00.000-08:00

Globally - "A Yuletide Celebration" cd, 1999, 10th Anniversary of the Discovering Origins Project!
Download or purchase at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kari
Other cds on cdbaby include Volva Songs (2008) and a 1997 release "Faith in Me" of original folk rock songs. (read below for Norway show!)

Twin Cities Area:
Rune Readings every Wednesday Night 6:30 - 8:30 at the Eye of Horus

December 12 - Second Saturday Stav at the Eye - 1-3 (Volva Stav Intensive)

December 13 - 10:30 Service "Gifting in Norse Tradition" at Lake Harriet Spiritual Community

December 22 - 7-8pm Community Stav and Song at Merlin's Rest

In January 2010:

Norway Only! Jan 4th, premier of "Alt for Norge!" tvnorge. Kari's adventures in the homeland.
Here is another photo from the show!
http://www.dolen.no/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=967&Itemid=26

Twin Cities Area:
Classes at Ingebretsen's including Runes and childrens Norse Myth and Puppetry

Rune readings at the Eye, Merlins Stav and Song, and Second Saturday Stav!

Kari Tauring hosts

2009-11-17T11:23:00.000-08:00

free and open to the public - all ages

Merlins Rest Pub - 36th and Lake
Minneapolis, MN USA
7-8pm on 2nd and 4th Tuesdays
Next events December 8 and 22.

Bring a broom handle and a wooden spoon and join us for stick rhythm and folk songs from the Northern Hemisphere!

Come early for dinner, join in when the spirit moves you!

More about Stav - http://karitauring.com/teach-volvastav.html

Live at the Capri

2009-11-04T09:50:00.000-08:00

The above video is from our recent gig at the Capri Theater under a City of Minneapolis Great Sreets art grant and in collaboration with the Northside Arts Council.

The live cd "Kari Tauring and Huldre-Live at the Capri" is available on line at: http://nacarts.org/news/great-streets-performance-series/

A head's up for iphone users - look for a new "The Runes: A Human Journey" iphone application available by this Yule!

I'm also making headway on my new book "Volva Stav." I hope to have it available Spring 2010 along with a cd to practice along with.

I'ts a busy time between now and 2010. I hope everyone is planting their "spring bulbs" so that May is full of new projects, well underway!

Best to all,
Kari

Hibernation Time?

2009-10-16T11:44:00.000-07:00

Oh the past few weeks here in Minnesota have been cold, snowy, just wonderful!

I am assessing my work from the beginning of May until now. Traveling to Norway changed my perspective on so many levels. Traveling around the country with my music and workshops on Volva Stav has been amazing. It has solidified both the direction I am going and the need for this path. Meeting so many people with Northern European heritage who didn't know they had a tribal root, an indigenous tradition, really kept my fire burning these past six months.

Since May we have released a new cd of brand new work. We have videos coming from live shows and I am almost finished with my new book "Volva Stav". That's a lot to bring out in 6 months time. I feel like the next three months will be the final incubation before the amazing birth.

2010 will be a crazy wonderful time. Lots of travel.
But now I will snuggle up in front of my fire and finish the details before the new year hits!

Many lovely posts to come.

October Flurry

2009-10-05T06:15:00.000-07:00

Last night I was finally in my garden. After a long and lovely Summer of travel with performances and work shops it feels like I have three months worth of garden time to make up for. When I returned from Fargo I had a surprise of two golden mounds of wood chips and by the light of the full moon I began to spread them around. When October comes I begin to shape the garden for a cross country ski run. My son and I walk the perimeter removing any stones or sticks that might catch on our skis.

The final public perfomances for 2009 are this week.
Tuesday Oct. 6th at Mindekirke, the Norwegian Lutheran Church at 11 am. I will be adding a stav and galdor to Krauka's short set. Then we will head to Ingebretsens for a meet and greet.

Highlight of the year: Cedar Cultural Center on Thursday Oct. 8th. When Drew Miller and David Stenshoel join me in this work it raises to a new and exciting level. Add Krauka and it's like you went into a time warp where the future and the deep past are touching hands.

If you live out of town and can't make it to this show, KFAI is recording it for broadcast later and I will keep you posted!

Best October ever,
Kari

Heading North

2009-09-30T08:51:00.001-07:00

Heading North while the geese fly south. Very typical Scandinavian.

I will be performing in Fargo area with the band Krauka from Denmark. I have been looking forward to meeting them for nearly two years. They play yearly at the Viking festival in Gudvangen, Norway, where my maternal line traces to the top of Nedberg Mountain. I had the pleasure to be there last May and my mother and aunts have just returned from visiting the Undredals and many other relations. Krauka - Festival

We will also be playing with Mandan-Hidatsa storyteller and musician, Keith Bear, who I had the pleasure of meeting this Summer at the Bush Fellows Reception. His performance is elegant and deep. I couldn't be more excited! Keith Bear

I will be performing in Minneapolis with Krauka at the Cedar Cultural Center on October 8th!
With me will be Huldu - Drew Miller and David Stenshoel from Boiled in Lead. A not-to-be-missed celebration of the Scandinavian Tap Root! - BIL

Lightening Across the Plains

2009-09-22T13:28:00.000-07:00

Sept. 24 through 27 - I am headed out again! I travel south to the Gaea Retreat Center, a place I have done ritual in the past. I was there in 2000 and 2001 with the collaboration "Daughters of Gaia" with Michelle Mays and Gina Citoli.
What a time.
This time I am heading down in a caravan with Volkshof Kindred to attend the first annual gathering, Lightening Across the Plains! I was invited to attend by Mark Stinton whose Jouten's Bane Kindred is sponsoring the big gathering. This is a gathering of people throughout the lower Midwest who are actively pursuing the culture, religion and spiritual traditions of their Indo-European ancestors. Through sharing our research, our unique perspectives, and our own family histories, we are creating a living opus of our ancestral folkways here in the United States, in the Midwest! It's a very exciting opportunity for me as a staff carrier to share work with Rod Landreth, Spaeman for Jouten's Bane and others who may be there doing deep spiritual work.

It's also an opportunity to sing the songs of my family, my Hamingja, my folkway. There will be many children to entertain and I am looking forward to teaching kulokk and other fun vocalizations.

Mange takk til Jouten's Bane for hosting such an important event!

See some of you there!!
Kari

The Capri Theater

2009-09-14T18:04:00.000-07:00

Thursday September 17th I will be singing and staving at the Capri Theater with Wendy Rule. The theater is in North Minneapolis. Through it's long life it has been everything from a Vaudeville theater to a porn theater to a regular movie theater. Now it is transformed again.

The theater has been gutted, re-wired and painted, and now spiritually cleansed by neighbors and friends who hope to see North Minneapolis flourish even as the theater will flourish.
North Minneapolis has had a rough time with crime and violence. But it too is in a renaissance.

It is my deep prayer that the art and beauty created in the Capri will seep into the entire community. That the prosperity of the place will increase and the neighbors and community members of all of North Minneapolis will be blessed four fold. May our songs on Thursday ring through the North Quarter of our great city of Minneapolis!

Midwest Shamanic Gathering

2009-09-04T07:59:00.000-07:00

As a staff carrier, I have been called to travel quite a lot. 2009 has been especially busy with trips to Chicago, Norway, New York, and all around the Midwest. In the old tradition of staff carrier, the Volva (old Norse) was not attached to a specific community in which she would live and work. Rather, she had several communities that she would visit in a circuit throughout the year. Sometimes she would travel quite far to do her work and to meet with colleagues in order to learn more, sharpen her skills etc.

This suites me well as I am not inclined to join groups such as churches, seeker communities, or political, intentional communities. I enjoy coming into a community as an outside perspective, detached from the politics and intricacies of the group. I can bring a fresh perspective to view the wyrd of the group dynamic, make recommendations and do readings or healings for the group and individuals in the group. I can strengthen the work of the resident spiritual leader of the group with some new tools learned abroad or by simply providing a colleague to learn from and to teach to (no better way to learn than to teach).

But to say I don't have a community of my own is not true. I was home most of August and neighbors stopped by to say hello, tell me how much they missed me this Summer, and ask about my adventures. I know that my six block radius is affected by me, absent or present, working and playing and talking and gardening...they miss me when I am gone.

So I am off again to the Midwest Shamanic Gathering to contribute to and learn from a dynamic and intentional community of spiritual workers. Then I will bring it back home to my six block radius where living spiritually affects everyone around me.

I am truly blessed!
K

Woodburning and Rune making

2009-08-26T09:13:00.000-07:00

I'm a busy squirrel. Cleaning, sanding, waxing up my kick sled. I will burn runes into it this year.
My name
a few other things.

It is my stage for staving, clogging, and singing.

Ur and Tyre

2009-08-20T14:48:00.000-07:00

The names of two ancient cities in the Middle East.

Dreamwork step two

2009-08-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

Print it out. Circle the symbols that occur most often. Body parts, animals, colors, settings, feelings all are symbols to consider.

on a separate sheet take the circled words one at a time. Draw legs off the word in the circle with random thoughts, relationships, rhyming words, anything that pops into your head. Refer back to the circled word each time.

If something seems important about one leg, free associate down that path and see what comes up.

This is the Karl Jung approach to dream interpretation and symbology.

The first step is writing it down to improve your memory of it.

Best first step for some is talking it out and orally diagraming it.

Sacred Harvest Festival

2009-08-05T08:43:00.001-07:00

For a chance to hear my new songs and take a workshop on Volva Stav, join me at the
Sacred Harvest Festival near Albert Lea.

Friday and Saturday August 14-15.

It's a wonderful festival to attend. Many fine workshops and a chance to meet and learn from Prudence Priest who comes from the West Coast. She is a great contributor to the ancestral folkways of our Indo-European traditions and I can't wait to meet her, share my work and learn from her.

Other than this, Drew and I continue to record and are gearing up for a Minneapolis debut of our new work September 17th at the Capri Theater in North Minneapolis. Mark your calendars!

Random Rune Pull for today - Othel. It just keeps popping up! As I create in the living tradition of my ancestral folkways, I am in constant awareness of the layers of ancestors who make up my being. I tip my horn to them and bless them with all the thanks and love in my heart.

Kari and Drew in the Studio!

2009-07-17T08:46:00.000-07:00

Hey folks,
What an exciting July it has been. Drew Miller and I have been working with the music and are creating new arrangements for our concert at the Starwood Festival in a week's time. No more guitar for me...alas. My beautiful Seagull has given me 20 plus years of dedicated service but now it wants to retire into the hands of my fine young sons. No more on the road risk and danger.

So what are my new instruments? Of course I use my stav, my voice, and then I wave my antler and feather fan over a little blue box and elves sing with me! Drew plays his computer, a key board, and the electric dulcimer....So Retro-Future, so Bronze Age revival!

As soon as there are mp3s I will share them with you all. Otherwise, come to Sherman, New York on Friday the 24th, midnight at the Pufferdome for the debut of Kari Tauring and Huldre's new set!

Blessings All!
Kari

Humanity's Cover Girl - photo

2009-06-17T08:14:00.000-07:00

My friend Jeanne gave me a chart.
In 75,000 BC there were only 2,000 humans alive in the world.

By 24,000 BC there were more and so some of them moved North.

This is the cover girl of The "French" in around 18,000 to 10,000 BC.

By that time the world population was around 1,000,000. Wow. Busy women!

Notice the horn (probably Aurouch - so Freyja with Uruz) has thirteen marks for the 13 moons in a solar year. Her left, yin hand is pulling energy from her own womb and delivering it out through the moons with her horn.

Hurrah for the Horn!

Lokking - (Calling)

2009-06-10T08:32:00.000-07:00

The above video are samples of different amimal calls ( - lokkr).
Can you tell who I am inviting into the circle?

There are runes called (runelokkr) in this piece.
Can you name which ones?

Starwood

2009-06-02T15:13:00.000-07:00

Fabulous Starwood!

I am excited to announce that Drew Miller and I will be heading to New York for the Starwood Festival this July. More

Friday night at midnight you will hear us at the Pufferdome!
Midnight Lokkr - Calling and Staving...

Saturday Kid's Lunch
Scandinavian Lokkr animal calls for farm and forest!

Learn Volva Stav throughout the week - Scandinavian Spiritual Traditions, Minnesota style.

Join us in New York for a week of amazing music, work shops, and community.

The Promise of May - KFAI.org Womonspeak

2009-05-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

I have slept the winter through, dreaming what can be done.
I have purged the winter's food and scoured out my soul.
I am planted, three roots to the earth, a May pole - my spine.

The sap rises slow and steady, spiraling to the crown.
Roots in deep and branches high.
Full moon of May on the rise!
Back to the tree, back is the tree, enlightenment is the promise of May.

Hurrah!

Listen to more on http://www.kfai.org/womenspeak

Rune pull for Spring Transitions

2009-04-21T06:37:00.000-07:00

Rad
Raidho
The journey is long and arduous but the horse is swift and sure. I am about to journey, so, yes, this is the correct rune. Off to Scandinavia I go to sing my Volva songs in the land of my ancestors. When I will return to Minnesota, no one really knows. It could be weeks, it could be months.

This rune is to me the journeyman stage of my process. Indeed I have learned my songs, practiced and considered and now it is time to hit the road and prove myself.

I will miss Minnesota in the Spring.
I will sing to you all from the fjords and valleys, a low kulokkr, a great wyrdlokkr, and learn new songs from the land spirits to bring home.

uff da mei

2009-04-13T09:33:00.000-07:00

A lovely weave before me
started long ago
some ends are frayed and winding
and I don't know where they go

Follow soft, not pulling
fingers always combing
seeing where they're going

singing as they're showing
winding like a fiddle
back into the middle

Strong ends now am I braiding, tying off and staying, straight and tight and holding
my weave so fine

Rune of the Month

2009-02-09T07:59:00.000-08:00

February. Cold but melting. Fire begins to stir...time to prune.
Thorn again...Gjalp's calling.
I'd better get outside!

Back on the Blog

2008-11-16T10:03:00.000-08:00

After a needed hiatus, I have been requested to continue my blogging. So here I am, back again!
New programs for 2009 and a new look to my website karitauring.com, a new cd and a book took some time to create!

So here is a rune pull for my blogging in 2009 - Dag and Thurs - interesting.
Thurs is the giant race, I have a patron from that race - Gjalp.
Dag is the day, it starts at sunset with dream time and ends with rest.

My blogging will be powerful and infrequent I predict.

Yours,
Kari

Runes at the Shanties

2008-02-25T13:15:00.000-08:00

Art Shanty Project
I came to the village on the frozen lake. The home of misfit toys hosted me. A good place to start blessings. Community blessing, Norse Shamanic style, it starts with kulning, cow calls and bells. Stavs struck on ice and cross sticks needed to balance and make our way. We dance svict and pols around a circle and sing to Austri, Vestri, Sudri, Nordri. We ask for blessings from the lost soul beneath the ice. We all cheer "skol paa fisken" hail to the fish.

Then from one home to the next I carried my runes. Each householder drawing for their home, their art shanty.

And then, I come across a plane crash. These guys are trying to find Nifelheim. I gave guidance where I could. Hela, be kind to them if they come your way.

Bless em. Bless em all!

Things I did today

2007-09-10T12:57:00.000-07:00

I stacked wood. Fresh cut balsa. It will dry and make me a nice cook fire in February.

I started whittling a bit of Sand Cherry that came off of Susu Jeffrey's tree. It sort of took shape into a bow. So I strung up some horse hair and played old Greg a tune.

I picked an apple and ate it in the sun while memorizing Swedish lyrics for the folks at Pilgrim Lutheran.

I was having such a good time, I thought I would just share it with you all.

Kari

May Poles and all that

2007-05-28T07:28:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone was able to direct their wonderful sap rising energy this Spring. We are headed to Summer Solstice, Sunstead, when the sun goes home.

It's a time for us to travel, meet new people, exchange ideas, seeds, crafts and goods we created over the long winter.

My troupe will be going to Eagle Cave, Wisconsin for a big gatherin' of the clans. If you wish to join us, see the details on my web site!

karitauring.com

New Site

2007-04-24T07:38:00.000-07:00

As we finish the tiny edits on the Rune book and hand over the design of the site to a Huldre this May, I find myself in a constant state of herding.

Cow calling is a tradition in my mother's family. Usually it's just "yooo hooo" like that. Starting on A for the yooo to F# for the hooo.

You will hear me doing this at Powderhorn Park on May 6th. Someone may record it!

I will also be moving my blog to my site using wordpress. Lovely!

Until later,

Kari

More on the book!

2007-04-01T12:18:00.000-07:00

Well, just a few more weeks and our book, "The Runes; A Human Journey" will be released for public consumption. I couldn't be more proud!

My mother's sisters, brothers, cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends have all seen the editor's copy and have given me the most amazing thumbs up! Thank you all.

Of course, I am constantly creating and a second book begins to manifest out of my Staving work.

Right now it's a potential performance art piece surrounding the Brissengammen. That's all I'm saying for now...

I hope your Vernal Equinox saw you to your balance. If you need more help, join my staving session at the Eye of Horus on Saturday April 7th, or the next First Saturday of the Month!

Yours,
Kari

Karl Jones Winter Solstice Runecast

2006-12-20T07:02:00.000-08:00

It is Winter Solstice 2006. I am working on my main two projects right now. "The Runes, a human journey" by Kari Tauring, ed. David de Young. We are close to publishing it on line, details to follow. The other major project is a Website Overhaul. Time to get a fresh perspective for the next decade of work. Thanks to the enthusiasm of Karl Jones, I may have the new site completed by 12th night.
As part of the re-design we are making the rune pages more accessible, more informative and easy to use. We have decided to use this set of runes I created for this purpose.

Now, Karl is a shaman, like most of my friends. So he wouldn't think to just scan the runes in order. He cast them ritually onto the face of his scanner...a most incredible connexion of the deep past and far future. The one that kept jumping out of his hand is Sigel, the one you see on the top. Obvious to Karl, this rune, what ever it's name, should be the "guiding star", as he put it. Well, Karl, it's Sigel - the sun rune you have there. Happy begining to a great Solstice!

The process of reading a full 24 rune layout is arduous. I will start from the North and move down then left, down, then right. I will also read the relationships between runes that touch, cluster, and stand far alone. Reversals are not negative in my readings though they ask us to look more than once at the meanings (serve as a double take) and may be reminders or warnings of potential areas of neglect.

This reading was cast for the world wide web and will be interpreted in a very general way for the entire community.

However, I find that reading without individuation (in unity), you will likely find that individuation reveals itself to you!

Keep checking in as I post the reading! Kari and Karl

Muses led me here

2006-11-28T10:27:00.000-08:00

I am at a crossroads. My muses led me here.
They told me to be patient while the road signs re-appear.

I know just where I need to go but can not see the way.
It's like the rune called Daeg, the dark before the day.

Winter comes and I go deep inside my snowy cave.
My dreams are clear, in them I hear the music that I made.

I'm waiting for the snow to end and frost to freeze the lake.
Then I can glide on skis and songs where muses will me take.

I love the ease of Winter, the crystals piled high.
Much easier to wait when I know Winter is close by.

My fiddle player finds me, he sings in tennor sweet.
And in the crossroads waiting, who else might I meet?

Sweet voices in my head, sweet singing in my ear.
I have a choir of angels, muses led me here.

Huldre in Transition

2006-11-28T10:19:00.000-08:00

So much happens in the Fall. The shift from Summer and sunshine to Winter and darkness is always so transitional.

My Huldre project was defined fully in my Bush Fellowship which you can read on my web site at this link.

Maren Amdal has left the group to begin her own journey as a singer in Minneapolis. Ken Sherman and I are up to our eyes in December Gigss. You can read about them here.

Finally, my site re-design means I will be posting blogs directly onto my site. No more ping-pong ball from site to site to read my work. The transition will happen by 12th Night, 2007 (that's January 6th).

Yours in the mist of the change,
Kari

Rune book

2006-11-28T10:09:00.000-08:00

An update:
we are working on getting it published on the web for you by Yule!

Join my email list at karitauring.com to get the news right away.

I am performing a lot throughout December, check my calendar on my site. I have written a new rockin' rune chant called "Runes of Winterfinding" which we will play, yes, in the Mall of America.

Everyone should be able to feel this shift!

Your random rune for December is Gifu.

Gifu is the X
The gift of humans in relationship, the relationship in gifting. In Norwegian the word for marriage is the same as the word for gift.
Why?
Gifting entails relationship, a giver and a receiver.
It creates ritual.
It creates community - the very essence of survival as humans.

So when you are gifting this year, make it intentional, ritual, meaningful, and void of attachments and expectations.

The Wiccan saying "what ever you put out comes back to you three fold" has been proven true in my life. So giving/gifting without attachment has meant so many blessings that have come my way unexpectedly.

Love is the best gift of all!

Yours,
RunaKari

Rune Readings at the Market

2006-09-25T12:32:00.000-07:00

Saturday September 23, 2006 9 am

It was cool but not raining, overcast but not dark as I set up my Ingebretsen's Nordic Roots Education table at the Midtown Public Market off Lake Street and Hiawatha.

A couple was making lefse and the smell was warm and comforting. People were drawn to it throughout the day and at least one full jar of Lingonberry Jam was polished off. The ladies behind me were knitting away and beside me was the "bird man." He carves and paints the most lovely birds out of fairy light wood.

I set up to answer questions about Nordic myth and history. On display were my Bronze Age Scandinavian String Skirt, Rune Necklaces and sets, and lots of maps and books. I also provided opportunities for customers to experience a Nordic "Rune Reading".

Huldre Lokk was heard (cow calling and bell ringing) and a series of talented musicians played.

My group, Huldre, warmed up the Swedish Girls Choir!
What a great day.
And what interest in readings and Indo-European History there was!

Kari

Huldre Cross the Rivers All the Time

2006-09-12T10:18:00.000-07:00

Huldre will perform the "Sibilen Voluspa" at the Bryant Lake Bowl as part of the Kari Tauring and Friends Harvest show - Crossing the River 2006.

To hear it click this!

Mannaz

2006-08-11T10:04:00.000-07:00

The Shape of Mannaz is:
Gift , the x, bracketed by the specific bounds of ice, straight lines like stilts holding gifu high. Ice holds gifting within the boundaries of a specific community or tribe. This free will economy and the rituals of gifting is what creates specific community relationships. This is Mannheim.

The products of this system of gifting economy in my family are: Recipies passed from parents to children and cousins to one another. My mother's rice pudding, my fathers Spekkugen, the Lefse making are examples of Manneheim in action. Bowls, the footed bowl that the rice pudding is traditionally served in, the jelly roll pans that bake the Spekkugen best, the griddle my grandmother left behind, these are also products of Manneheim in action.

Seed Savers is a Farm and Institution in Decorah, Iowa whose mission is to save and reproduce heirloom seeds. This sanctuary is a huge example of Manneheim. People from around the world find seed varieties and freely send them to Decorah where they are grown, multiplied, and sent to others to grow. Here humans are gifting one another and supporting an economy for many in the community.

The most important thing about Mannaz as a rune is to ask yourself: How do I fit into my community? What is my gift and how can I best apply it to the total economy of my tribe where it will surely come back around in support of me?

I like this rune a lot.

Othelo - Homeland

2006-08-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

Today is Lughnasaad, the first day of Autumn and the begining of the harvest cycle. I am heading to a wedding near Chicago this weekend, a gal I knew in High School. I'm meeting a friend I first got to really know in the sixth grade. And the rune Othelo came bounding out of a pile of papers at me.

It landed on the floor. It must be a stray from a set I was working on. So, the homeland and the roots are the thing. Yes, I can see this.

These two friends of mine were instrumental in many of the experiences that make me who I am today.

In Nordic Tradition, a person who has died will want to visit every place they had been on Earth during their lifetime. They want to visit all those who created that life with them and take the lessons of this life into the next world with them.

I turned fourty in July. It seems I am on a bit of a walk about this summer. I have visited my Grandmother's Farm, our ancestoral lands. I have talked to my people on both my side and my partner's side, the father of my children, his ancestors. I have gone to the ancient grounds, the sacred grounds of Decorah where as a child I pretended to be a Norwegian girl, where I became friends with some real Norwegians, where I grew so much and to the place I can call an Alma Mater.

Now I head to meet up with childhood friends.

What are my questions, observations, and lessons.

As I prepare for my death, the little death we all take at the Fall Equinox, I am grateful to have been connected to those people and places that so influenced who I am today.

Othelo, is the rune for me right now.

Kari

To the Lake we go

2006-07-25T12:22:00.000-07:00

In July I have been doing a lot of writing and reading by the lake shores of my ancestoral lands. It's amazing to watch children play in the lake. The games they invent are so clever. And the way the lake changes from the morning cricket sounds to the hot quiet of the day to the evenings croaking of frogs.

Laguz, the rune, is a shifting and changing thing. It wants me to be quietly observant as a mother watching her children. Cautious that they neither get too far out nor too rough and court danger, I decide to join them. I feel the heat on my head and the cool of the water to the core of my body as we pretend to be snakes and fish and frogs.

The dog by the lake caught a frog. My nieces and I gave it a good viking funeral. We built it a raft and provided it with bugs to eat on the journey and little "swords" in case she meets her foe on the other side...she died with her eyes wide open, staring the black retriever in the face, staring death down. She will surely know her enemy's face on the other side. Oh yes.
Our frog will be fine.

The lake has her now.

We've been recording

2006-07-25T12:19:00.000-07:00

Take a listen to the new versions of Dromte, the Voluspa etc.
http://www.karitauring.com/HuldreMp3s.htm

More and more to come as Kari writes for the study and travel grant that would expose new material both here in Minnesota and in Norway!

Five Crones, One Garage

2006-07-11T13:56:00.000-07:00

I was honored to present/perform the Huldre Project to my mother and her two sisters, one cousin, and a deep roots friend of the family on Saturday, July 8th, 2006.

June's musings were un-bloggable! I was so busy with recording, writing, and editing that there was really no room for new musings at all.

But, oh! The love and excitement in sharing this past few month's work with the matriarchs of my family, when all my work has been about them, really, my roots. Well, I will tell you. I am so full of joy at the response they gave.

I think Joy is a really delicate balance between pride and humility. I think that could be part of it's definition, anyhow.

I love my muses and my mothers and their mothers before them for all the deep roots material they have provided me. A sense of nourishment and security comes from all of this and it is bound to grow some more lovely fruits than even I can imagine.

Tak fer alt, bestemors!

Kari

Summer Solstice

2006-06-23T14:22:00.000-07:00

I think it appropriate here to talk about how confusing it can be, thinking of June 20 -21 as the begining of Summer. The weather reporters are making such a big deal out of it being the begining of Summer all the time and it's really not.

In Scandinavia they celebrate Medsommersdag...mid summers day. It is the Middle of Summer. The pagan calender considered May Day, the mid point between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice as the begining of Summer. As an agricultural concept (most pagan traditions are based on agricultural timing), May Eve was the burning off of the fields. Things should be growing and in full swing by the Summer Solstice. It is time to celebrate the hard work we have done for 1/4 of the growing season now.

We light bonfires, pull runes, stay up all night and dance...

We travel. The allthing happens in June. We can take a break from the work and go to the public meeting of all the clans, create new partnerships and do some trading.

Then, it's back on task by mid July so that the first harvest celebration, August 2nd which starts the Autumn season, is successful.

Fall runs from August 2 to October 31...then, you guessed it, October 31 is the first day of Winter. That is why old songs refer to Winter Solstice as Mid-Winter's day.

It's hard to live in this "modern" culture...so off the cycle. I guess it irritates me more this year than others for some reason.

I pull a rune for midSommersdag...UR!!
Ah, the fire of creation.
Ur is the wild ox, crazy passionate, artistic and sexual. That's why I am irritated by the ignorance of the accepted and unquestioned paradigms being promoted by this culture. I know better, sure, but I FEEL it more.

Ur is a great way to apex my Summer's work which is mostly Huldre related!

Also, the rune book is in its final edits. Wow! Yeay!!

Have a great rest of the Summer...I will write again in July.

RunaKari

Farming in the City

2006-06-12T09:58:00.001-07:00

So many people have asked me how I can follow the ways of the Huldre here in the city. Huldre like woods and mountains and fjords and streams. Huldre like cows and crops and butter and berries...

Well, I have said it before and I will say it again, Minneapolis/St. Paul is a fine place for Huldre. With the river, the parks, Minnehaha Falls and creek we have lots of places to hide from mere mortals.

And with all the Urban Greening/Gardening/Farming going on in the Twin Cities, there are many places that Huldre can sprinkle their magic.

Sanford Middle School is one place where some wonderful gardening is about to ensue!

Here is a link to the greening projects in my neighborhood. If you are a Huldre type you will want to be involved in some of these things:
http://karitauring.com/sustainableurbanenvironments.htm

Yours in June,
Kari

Farming in the City

2006-06-12T09:58:00.000-07:00

The Weight of Oppression/the Joy of Abundance

2006-05-10T09:24:00.000-07:00

The Weight of Oppression Fell on me today.

The subtle opression of capitalism...What do I mean?

The way a capitalist society creates needs for the population which are based on product and control the options available to the individual citizen in order to advance sales of product.

My example:
I do not have a cell phone. My long distance bill from +++ is small if I do not make a long distance call. Last month I phoned my mother in law in Tennessee. She picked up and called me right back on her cell phone which has unlimited long distance. It was less than a minute and it cost nearly $7.

My Options:
A. Get a Cell Phone

B. Pay insane rates

C. Use email

D. Shop around for a better phone company.

I eliminate option D because I do not pay the regular phone bill and it is satisfactory to the policy holder.
B always makes me feel ripped off and abused.

A is not great because right now I personally get free local and internet access. A cell phone is an expense that would incur un-necessary monthly debt.

C is tough because my TN relatives have super slow internet access up in the mountains and also there is no way to really express myself to my sisters without my voice...Not really.

Question:
Why is long distance so expensive on a land line now? It didn't use to be. What is the reason? That call should have cost me .50 or a dollar at the most! For less than a minute?

Answers:

These need to come from the telephone company I suppose. I suppose they will try to sell me on a cell phone because I think that's the biggest share of their market.

I feel cheated, coerced and sad.

I feel like I really don't have options but to buy up, spend more...Participate in capitalism gone extreme like a good consumer, I mean, citizen.

Wow - I have a phone and a computer and hot running water right into my own house that only has my mate and two kids and me in it and there are no bombs going off in my kids school and my kids get to go to school and I am the luckiest woman in the world. And I guess I will have to talk to you when I see you or when you call me. And I love you.

Cold Huldre

2006-05-08T10:56:00.000-07:00

Just a funny thought about Huldre in May, we never forget how cold we used to be.

6 months from now we will be back into the show season. It's hard to believe, but Huldrefolk love these strange and crazy extremes!

Now it is summer, we will mend and fix all our winter gear, we will bake our bones in the sun, and we will sing songs for the growing things that sleep in the Winter's Dark Hours.

Perdh - Random Rune For May!

2006-05-08T08:23:00.000-07:00

Perd- Perth - Pherdro
Look at the shape of it. It's a vessel, a cup or a cave. This rune is hotly debated as to it's meaning in the world of runes. Some say it has linguistic corrolations to fruit tree.

Fruit trees are all blossoming in May. This is the ideal time to nourish the roots of your fruit trees. Give yourself what you need to grow too. Afterall, you are your own tree with a spine trunk and feet that dip into the wells of the worlds. Nourishment is a key issue in May.

Fruit trees are a sacred source of nourishment to us as well as magic. I learned my first "spell" from my grandmother while peeling apples.
Try to get the whole peel in one long spiral. If you are successful, throw the peel over your left shoulder and ask your question (as girls it was always just, "What are the initials of the man I will marry?" ) but this works for other questions as well.

Some think this rune means "Dice Cup". The symbol of gaming, luck, fun, and risk taking. This is also a May sort of thing. Here we are at the very begining of our growing season and it is time to commit to our crops. What will we plant? Take a risk, plant something unusual for yourself. May is a month of magic, new loves, new hopes, and a lot of fun and risk taking goes on. This is the perfect rune to assist you in your new path!

Some think this rune relates to the womb, the cave of life. Here again we have the concept of nurturing the beginings of a new life, a new project or a new relationship. The ultimate center of creation, the womb, relates to fruit trees and the strange combination of luck and risk taking when it comes to generating fertility.

Ultimately, this rune says, it's May. We are at the begining of a new path for the growing season. Take the one you have always dreamed of, the road less travelled, the one that's not so safe because it causes new growth, transition, change. Be prepared for a very magical May!

RunaKari

New Songs for Huldre

2006-04-10T08:30:00.000-07:00

I wrote one based on Dromte mig i drom en natt.
Maren wrote one on the Volspusa.
Ken was dubbed Spellman and we wrestle with this song.
We all learned Kjerringa med Staven (Old Woman with a Stav) from "Mike and Elsies" book of Norwegian folk songs that my mother let me borrow.

We rehearse on Monday Nights.

Our next performance is on May 1st at the Bryant Lake Bowl Theater opening up for "How the Sap Does Rise"

Here's the link for the show.

Ha det bra,
Kari

Laguz the Broken Reed

2006-04-10T08:24:00.000-07:00

Laguz the broken reed
a warning to us all

Women's work goes on here.

Be quiet, walk carefully, or go out to the field and run around.

This is the Field of Water, the well of women's work.

This is the Laguz lake of my ancestors.

Gitchigumi in my State, for me. Medicine Lake of my child hood.
Sommers lake and the Peterson's lake out there in Hopkins.

These are the days we sit Siva by our moon time blood and washing.
These are the days we walk on the water with our Friends.

These are the days of the broken reed, laguz days, so be careful.

Laguz.

Kari Tauring

Eggs at Equinox

2006-03-31T16:25:00.000-08:00

My Old English Bantam hens began their laying on or near Equinox. They ovulate on the sun cycle and are not lit or heated unnaturally during the dark Minnesota winter.

So we are supposed to celebrate the balance of light and dark with egg dying and the March Hare mythology. Having to wait until nearly May Day to do my egg balancing ritual (as Easter was designed to never fall on Equinox) really messes up my psyche!

Eostre (the Goddess of Spring) was to be celebrated at Equinox because our menstrual cycles and those of the other ovulating creatures of Earth need balancing in Spring and Fall. It's no good going into the May Season without having a cleanse, a fast and purge of Winter's fatty and dying foods.

The liver, kidneys, lungs, large intestine, and the skin need refreshing in the Spring and Fall.

If we wait too long for this ritual, we adversely affect our bio-rythmic cycles. This is especially important for women of child bearing age. Often our cycles will reverse themselves at the Equinoxes. One half of the year we may bleed on the full moon and then it will switch.

So in the old, old days when women's bodies were worshipped as vessels of the Goddess, we knew exactly when we were fertile and when not. This made certain May and June rituals safer in terms of planned pregnancies.

But, alas. Women's bodies were vilified and treated as vessels of Satan's power. Pariarchal religions wanted women to be weak and in the dark about how our bodies work. In this way they could control women and therefore, the goddess. Destroy them together.

This is why I don't like Easter time. It screws everyone up. Too bad.

I still dye my Eostar Eggs at Equinox. Sigh.
Kari

How Equinox Balances all parts of our selves

2006-03-20T09:27:00.000-08:00

It's one of the two most important holy days, the other being Fall Equinox.

Look, if we take the time to think about our dark selves, the roots of our trees, how to nourish the roots, then we can expect great juicy buds, fragrant blossoms, and nutritious fruits for the light half of the year. If we don't take this time to balance, we plunge ahead into the summer time with too many "yes's" on our lips and too much sap in our brains. Then when Fall comes, our balance is more difficult. So it's time to fast, clean out our innards and our brains, and get ready for the sap rising.

If we balance in the Fall, get our bodies ready to hibernate and slow way down, prepare for the dark half of the year, we may not be quite as depressed over the winter. We have to take back our natural rythms as humans. This society we live in is without rythm, without connection to the seasons, the cycles, the changes ...but the changes happen whether we are connected to them or not.

So my muses tell me to take time at Equinox - get clear headed, clean in body and spirit. So when it's time to dance circles around the May Pole, I am ready for the buzz!

Happy Equinox!
Kari

My Space Page for Huldre!

2006-03-17T12:17:00.000-08:00

Hello All,

Huldre (the band) now has a page at my space. Here is the link: http://myspace.com/huldre

We are going into the studio in May to begin our first CD together. We are very excited. In the meantime, listen to some of our Mp3s.

Maren and Kari have recieved the most beautiful Scandinavian Bronze Age String Skirts made by Terri Allen just for Huldre. View and read more at my Runakari blog.
We will be working with photographer, Stella, from Emella for CD cover etc.

The next time you can hear us live is at the May 1st show at the Bryant Lake Bowl Theater in Minneapolis. More info.

See you soon,
Kari, Maren and Ken

Scandinavian Bronze Age String Skirt

2006-03-16T12:25:00.000-08:00

I am pleased to announce that I have recieved a most beautiful String Skirt from Terri Allen. Modelled after the Egtved Girl's garment (see link below).

I have finished hanging the weights of bone, shell, rock, seed, wood and resin on the hem. An updated photo will appear here soon.

The Bronze Age in Scandinavia was roughly 1400 BCE. On the coast of Jutland/Denmark, there were settlements and up into the Norwegian coastline as far as present day Oslo, as far as we know.

Anyhow, the weather was milder then. Citrus grew on the coastlines. The line of Lilith, which was the migration out of Phonecia that took the Matriarchy of Babylos on the move. The runes, the SunGoddess, Herding and fine textiles, water craft, and smithwork followed these Mothers into Crete, Etruruia (Modern Day Northern Italy), Hungary, North West to Scandinavia and North East to Siberia.

This would have been the begining of the Vanir mythology, the MotherGoddess and the Twin God/Goddess pair. Lilith, the first woman God sent to Adam in the Garden of Eden, did not hang around very long. She got fed up with Adam pretty quickly and moved on. Her children by him and by many other kinds of beings, like the ones she met coming North, became the Huldre, Tomte, Nissen, Side, Yetti, ...all sorts of creatures who humans are all part kin to through Adam. (Adam's second wife, Eve, was the mother of the patriarchal migration to follow).

The String Skirt used by young women in athletic ritual are depicted in many variant forms from Crete to the Balkans.

The Runic Alphabet, mythologies and fashions combine to make a compellingly lovely picture of this migration. The philosophies of this culture can only be described propperly by women as the culture itself was propelled and sustained by the Mother's teachings in work, song, and life process.

Here is some great reading:
http://www.smith.edu/hsc/museum/ancient_inventions/stringskirt2.html

http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/EgtvedGirl.shtml

http://www.shanmonster.com/belly/gallery/strippers/belly387.html

This last one I think is especially important to read from the perspective of the Amazonian Belly Dancers and Warrior tribes of Sheba and Troy. Women celebrated their skills as warriors, athletes, and in virility of all natures. Sexual conduct was considered a natural human and divine connection and treated as holy with rituals and institutions overseen by various dieties and patron energies.

While sexuality and femininity were later seen viewed as evil and worthy of slaughtering out of our human condition, today we understand the importance of our sexuality and our female side. Both men and women are encouraged to find balance with their yin and yang or female and male selves.

Happy Equinox
Kari

The Nine Worlds of Yggdrasil

2006-02-27T09:36:00.000-08:00

To understand the runes more fully, a full working knowlege of Norse mythology is essential. At the heart of the mythology is Yggdrasil, the world tree. The world tree is the pillar of what holds our cosmos together. There are nine worlds which hang on the roots and branches of this tree.

Think of the stav, the staff of our spines, how all our bodies (physical, astral, auric, etherial, emotional, mental etc.) hang on our spines. Think how we are like the microcosm of the cosmic model.

Odin hung on the world tree in a sacrifice of pain, a vision quest of suffering, for nine days. One day for each world he hung and at the end he grasped 18 runes. Two runes for each world. Think how these symbols, sounds, meanings, became for him the intersections of the grid work that holds the cosmos together. Yggdrasil has been called "the terrible one's horse." Odin is now able to ride the tree, the hobby horse, from one world to the other collecting knowlege and power objects to further strengthen his being as the Allfather.

We can find these points of intersection within ourselves, what holds us together. The nine worlds become metaphores for our own psyche's being...and then more than that. Through the unification of our own gridwork, our own cosmological being, we gain the strength to move ourselves through the rest of the cosmology.

So knowing the nine worlds is first knowing ourselves, all of our parts and beings. Rejecting nothing of our total being we integrate. And in integration and unity we gain strength to move through the cosmos, healing, helping, and gaining the knowlege we need for smooth transitions from life to death and back again.

Jesus hung on the cross and endured. Through his pain he gained the ability to move through all the worlds of the cosmos, Sheol or Hel's domain, he visited first. Helping, healing, and saving where he could. Heaven, Earth, and all the worlds are blessed by his presence.

So what does it mean for us? Knowing and learning and going...sacrificing and gaining are all parts of the rune work we can do.

The Voices of My Mothers

2006-02-26T08:53:00.000-08:00

One of my 2006 goals is establishing the foundation for a thorough family tree. The Native American and Eastern ideas that my life affects and is effected by seven generations back and seven generations forward gives me another reason beyond simple curiosity and fascination to learn about my physical lineage. Fascinating it is, and curious I am, however there is a part of my past that defines my present and predicts my future. So I've finally gotten some written documents about my family lineage from my closest branches: my parents.

I spent an enjoyable several hours the other evening reading stories written by distant relatives that I have either never met, or not seen in years, recalling their memories of their parents or grandparents; recalling stories of lives lived during times of war, struggle and change. Listening to their voices on the paper, I felt a connection with past, differently than I have while reading history texts in college, or biographies of historic persons. There are historic persons in my lineage, and there are stories set in times I've read about in history texts. However, in the everyday language of my own family, I see a personal side of "history": the side that is "his story" and "her story". Because while the events in those books we study are important to know, so too are the events in our ancestors' lives. Crossing oceans and continents, settling and moving, building and tearing down, establishing order and rebelling against it; with out pomp and no mind to prestige, the words of my family communicate the essence of another time and of a spirit that is mine as well - that past that is a part of me and my present.

I see the patterns in my life that reflect the patterns of history. Why study history? "Not to repeat our mistakes" they say. "To learn from the past" we are told. And so too is it with our own history. 50% my mother and 50% my father. A quarter of each of my grandparents, and eighth of each of my great grandparents. And thus is my deck dealt. The tools I come with, the knowledge I start with, the foundation my first foot falls upon. Now it is up to me to choose how to play those cards, and when to add new ones to the deck.

At 2:30am, I finally put away the files. I turned off my bedside lamp, and curled up on my side. I adjusted my pillows, and closed my eyes. And there in the darkness, I heard their voices. Whispers of their lives, like wind in the woods. Softly floating through my mind, I heard their songs. Norse, Celtic, Gaelic, American, young, aged, new, old. Like the voices of the Huldre calling from within the mountain of the past.

~Maren

All the parts of our selves

2006-02-24T07:37:00.000-08:00

In the last few weeks I have had so many conversations with people who are searching for their own unified being. Many people recognize that who they percieve themselves to be in their work-a-day world is not the only person they are.

Do you feel stuck? Do you feel incomplete? Does it seem like there is something missing in your life and you can't quite put your finger on it? Are there personality traits of yours that you fight to keep down, want to deny, or are ashamed of?

These are symptoms of a shattered being. Those personality traits we would deny or hide are important to explore. Where do they come from? That is the first real question we need to ask ourselves.

Some of these personality traits, habitual reactions, or thought patterns might have been inherited from parents or grandparents. Some may come from conditioning by television shows, commercials or other media intrusions. Some may be left over from past life experiences. Some may be parts of our own shattered souls.

So the first thing we need to do to find completion of being is determine what is truly part of our being and what has inserted itself from the outside.

But in order to evaluate these things we start by listing them, acknowleging them, and bringing them into the light. So many that I have talked to want to hide, reject, or even destroy these parts of themselves. This, in my experience, always leads to those aspects of ourselves rebelling and asserting themselves in the most inappropriate ways. But if we bring these things forward, admit them and evaluate them, we may find that they dissapate on their own, never to return.

There are many ways to do this. Dream work is one of them. Vocal lessons with the right teacher can be a powerful tool. It's a wonderful and sometimes scary journey to look at and find love for all aspects of ourselves. This has been my life long goal.

Kari

Staving

2006-02-23T12:09:00.000-08:00

The rune is often referred to as a stave. A staff or a stick.

Staving is an old artform too. Learn about it here.

One thing is certain for me, they are all connected to my spine. If I don't get up and move my stick around, I get stuck and can't seem to function.

Here I go...I reccomend it to you. Move....

Groundhog Sees

2006-02-06T14:38:00.000-08:00

When in the new chill of Imbolc morning, the creatures wake and wander,
or stagger towards their morning's rest
a long night of prowling behind them,
we see the groundhog.

Sun shining rainbows on the icy threshold she comes. Peeking out and venturing forth, she comes.

Imbolc morning, Groundhog's Day, the sun shines on your face of fur and sleepy eyes, you turn.

In a panic you are taken, shaken, a shadow passes and it moves. Could it be eagle scouting breakfast? Could it be fox?

What does it matter?!

Groundhog sees and darts back beneath the snow encrusted den. She will not come again, until Equinox has claimed the morning, lengthened the days to equal, and assured dear Groundhog of her saftey in the mid-spring sun!

Winter's grip holds fast. Huldre waits with Groundhog.

Accomplishments and Goal

2006-02-06T14:14:00.000-08:00

I am so busily honing my video production skills again. It has been a while since I have had access to such fine gear. As I am editing past shows together for viewing on my site, I am also pursuing my goals for new work in 2006.

I realize my Bush Fellowship proposal, while not recieving funding this year, serves me well as a guide to what I want to accomplish in the next two years.

Here is what I wrote for the Fellowship, what the funding would have supported, bold and itallics are my recent commentary:

Individual subject matter of my pieces range from recent global events to my grandmother's experience with racism and education. I retell the creation stories explaining the trans-global experience of seasonal change with a dance presentation then explain the science of the brain process that creates fear with the comic character "Professor Corpus Callosum." (I will present this character more often in shows in 2006) I create ritual and unity with chants and songs of ancient Nordic herding women's music that echo in my roots and vibrate with myriad Earth centered traditions globally. (I am currently offering courses in this area as well as expanding my studies)

Guided by the theme and message that complete individuality leads to unity, I will increase my studies (I will be writing for a Jerome Study and Travel Grant to support my studies) and performance of Nordic roots music and culture through continued collaborations with Karen Solgard (Hardanger Fiddle) in Minneapolis, MN, Arna Rennan (medieval Norse Music) in Duluth, MN and do field studies and performance explorations in Alexandria, MN through the Kensington Rune Museum, Minot, ND (through contacts in the home of Hostfest) and in Decorah, Iowa through the Vesterheim Museum and Luther College.

This will include solo performances as well as collaborations by my groups Huldre and through the Discovering Origins/Building Traditions Project. Thereby I dig into my own roots, my own heritage and model the behavior of creating art from my complete self.

I will use the Fellowship to expand my artistic outreach especially within the Discovering Origins/Building Traditions Project. By furthering the goal of creating regional access to and participation in these shows throughout the mid-west I will be connecting with theaters and local artists and artisans. The global nature of these shows creates a perfect platform for cross-cultural sharing of these astronomical experiences. While I have done much by way of integrating mythologies and traditions of many cultures, I desire to do more! (I do not see this happening without outside funding, yet I am busy making past shows available through DVD and Webstreaming)

Also among the works I intend to pursue is a continuation of the "Art and Spirit Matters" documentary in the form of performance collaborations and dialogues. I look forward to working again with Marya Morstad, J. Otis Powell!, Miriam Yuseff, Hend Al Mansour, Felicitas Maria Sokec and others.

I am taking the reins of video production again. (expect a Huldre Music Video some time in 2006) Since upgrading my technology just months ago, I will re-visit myself as videographer. The last video I wrote, shot and produced was done in 1991. It was re-shown at the Revolutionary Women's Cabaret and warmly received as beautiful and relevant. This work adds to my pallet of performance media options as well as documents and records my process towards unity.

I plan a more extensive internet presence as well via collaboration with Kristin Van Loon and the Bryant Lake Bowl Theater. I wish to create the global access and collaborative process that I have been desiring since 1999 when I created my first live internet performance show (before the technology caught up with my imagination!) (most likely to happen Yule 06)

-------------------------
Well, these are my goals. As I said, they will not be supported with Bush Foundation money this year, but I think in 2008, when my category comes up again, there will be a new list as these things will have been accomplished by then!

On top of all these things, you will also see my book, Random Rune Process, published. I'm a busy gal...that's how I am!

A symbol, a sound, a word

2006-01-30T08:16:00.000-08:00

The power of our words is so vast like the ocean.

My words speak power from a Godzilla movie.

My words they speak truth from a lab coat and glasses.

My words they speak worlds from the molecules that make me.

My words they speak spirit, wordlessly, in my breath.

Breathe in(om) ...Breathe out (mmmm)000

Breathe in 23,456, 2,3,4,5,6

Breathe out - Tsheuwwwwwwwwseee

HeeeeBreeetheimmmm......

Tap your feet in time with your breath.

This is how we begin staving.

Kari

An Ansuz sort of day

2006-01-27T12:06:00.000-08:00

Ansuz is the mouth of the river defined. The mouth of the river visual looks like this.

Today I am getting ready to host the parent volunteers for the Art Adventure Program. I am preparing what I will say and what the visuals to help teach will look like. It is creative time but I am also aware that this is information that will flow to at least 6 others. An artist from Brazil, a mother dentist from the Philipines, a mother artist from Mexico, a father artist from Guatemala, our PTO co-chair mom, and an active volunteer and community builder mom..I am going to archive this process so I want to be prepared to speak with wisdom and allow the other estuaries of knowlege contribute to the mouth we are creating in the sea of children who we serve.

Ansuz and isa,
Ice. A fast freeze and a cold snap are doom to speeders.

Kari

Ah, this part of the book is done!

2006-01-26T08:07:00.000-08:00

24 runes in 24 days, random rune pull and journal writing by Kari Tauring began after the Western New Year in 2006 and was finished by Imbolc, 2006.

Hmmm....what next? As my editor works with this portion of the great book (as opposed to the Little Rune Book, 2003) I have decided to go outside.

The unseasonably warm weather has Katie, our chicken, almost ready to lay. I told her not yet. I've been telling all the plants not yet and heaping chips on them where I can.

Budding out too soon is a danger
Frost comes in the Spring
What dies in the cold
Births the next thing

So, Beorc reversed I would say.

What I shall do now is commence my blogging with you.
I spent 24 and some solid days writing about what comes to me from the rune symbols I draw at random. So now I will ask:

What rune symbols are drawn to me out of what I am doing in the world?

Huggin and Muggin flew overhead. This is Saturnalian, lesson learning. They are thought and memory. What is in my thoughts? How is my memory holding?

Time to take in more Lecithin (a nutrient essential to propper brain function). Nied, I would say.

Kari

Huldre prepare for Spring

2006-01-18T12:38:00.000-08:00

What do the Huldre do after the rice pudding is gone and the cider is starting to go "hoopy hoppy" as my great grandmother would say?

Imbolc is the old Celtic name for the February 2nd holiday we sometimes call Groundhog's Day. It is the begining of Spring (where Winter Solstice is midwinter and Equinox is midspring) This is the time when we take the seeds out of the tins and dark cool cupboards to see how they survived the winter. What is viable and what is spoiled?

We take the best seeds saved from last fall's harvest and we bless them. Some of them we need to start soon such as tomatos and peppers. Some of them we keep an eye on so they don't mold as days grow lighter and warmer because they need to be sewn directly, such as corn, peas and beans. The Huldre were the folk that taught the early Nordic people the best practices for agriculture and animal husbandry. As children of the goddess Freya, Queen of the Vanir, the Huldre will celebrate the life that stirs slowly and deeply in their underground homes.

The legend of groundhog must have come from the early people of the hill. If we see our shadow, we may get frightened and stay in our homes beneath the earth for another 6 weeks (until Spring Equinox). Why would our shadow frighten us?

Winter is a time for shadow, deep reflection, hibernation, and the dream time. If we have not integrated our shadow self enough during this time, we need to do it some more. Only through integrating our shadow side do we become whole psychologically. We need to understand the darkness of humanity, the difficult side of things, the choices we have to do great good and great evil. If we do not understand this, we are not able to use our free will to choose the great goodness we are capable of. Huldre understand this.

So, at this cross quarter point between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, the Huldre are busy sorting their seeds, using the cider-gone-vinegar to cleanse and purge their systems, restoring balance to their bodies and to the Earth Mother from whom we all are born. They are starting to prepare the goats and cows for the trek up the mountain to the Summer pastures. They are finishing their spinning and mending using up the last of the previous year's wool and flax. They are finishing their songs and poems to be sung as the Spring draws near. As the last of winter's candles burn bright they prepare for change.

Ah...the Huldre are a busy lot!
More on Huldre

More on Seasonal Holidays

Finding my Muse - Again

2006-01-18T12:22:00.000-08:00

So, what is a muse anyhow?

The word comes from Greek mythology. They were the 9 daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne. They help to inspire artists, musicians, scientists etc. In Celtic myth, the muse of poets would be the goddess Brigid. A muse is someone or something outside of oneself that inspires them to do certain creative work.

My latest muse? John Faeth. He was a great bass player in the later days of Rose Absolute and the early days of Thorn (two of my first bands). He seemed always to sense a great work was about to come out of me. He encouraged, nurtured, provided resources and direction.

While compiling my discography for my site I was wondering what he was up to. So I Googled his name and what do you think, he works for the University of St. Thomas, my alma mater, right accross the river from where I live! So I emailed him and we had a great reunion lunch. I was telling him about all the performance art and music I am doing. Once again, he senses what I could do and provides me with resources and focus to get these things accomplished in a fraction of the time it would take to do it on my own.

Well, on account of John Faeth, you can hear songs from these old band projects and you can now purchase a copy of the 1998 release "Faith in Me" once only available on Mp3.com. And soon you will be able to see and hear my latest work with Huldre as we plunge into a video project together!

So, that's a muse to me. An energy outside myself that inspires me to create more art more deeply than I would ever be able to do on my own.

Thanks, Johnny.

Forthcoming book

2006-01-18T12:11:00.000-08:00

I am sorry I have not been publishing random rune pulls for you. I've been trying to write a rune book for David (who commented on the previous entry) for many years. I finally know what he wants and it has to do with random rune pulls. So I have been engaged in pulling a new rune each day and writing about it. This book should be completed and ready for publication before the end of 2006. But the bulk of my writing will be done within the next two weeks (before Imbolc).

So, until then, I will not be able to blog much for you but look forward to our continuing relationship as spring forces it's way to the surface of my world.

Until then, remember: Runes are all about relationships.

RunaKari

Nordic Roots Class Schedule

About my hand made runes (with pictures!)

Rice Pudding Rituals

2005-12-21T09:58:00.000-08:00

I have never gone a Solstice Season in all my life without the taste of Rice Pudding. A Christmas Tradition in Scandinavia.

There are so many recipes. My mother used a double boiler, and all my womenkinfolk treasure her recipe.

Hiding an almond in the pudding is a ritual of my people. The finder would gain their heart's desire in the coming year.

With 5 little girls and one big bowl, my mother did not make a habit of hiding hard objects the size of an esophagus in pudding so thick and creamy that trance inducement was likely.

In Scandinavia today people continue to put out plates of rice pudding to honor the folks who came before...ancestors, huldre or trolls - Freyas creatures, Loki the trickster - half Giant...who else?

How about Hanuman the monkeyGod. He enjoys a nice rice pudding. He will then be happy to bear away your burdens and karmic ruts like extra treats! Happy, shiney, monkey Hanuman.

Why should a Norwegian pay homage to an Indian God?

My Norwegian, Latvian, and German roots have deep familial connections to the first wave of immigrants from the Indus Valley Region. This is becoming more obvious as the studies of Bronze Age Scandinavian material continues to publish.

One thing that ties us together at this time of year is sharing the joy of unburdening our sorrows to the coming of light.

Here is yet another connection. In Vedic Astrology (and Hindu Mythology) this is the time of year when Rama and Sita return in unison from dark banishment to the light of their golden reign. Sita, the mother of all, must venture deeper into the underworld (like Persephone), collecting the wisdom of the deep dark female places (like Freya). Their male consorts are then transformed within this sacrifice and in interesting ways the male and female selves are joined in unity.

As Christians celebrate the coming of light with the advent of Christ to Earth, all cultures are celebrating the miracle of the Solstice. That this Earth will keep turning...how blessed are we! We should take care of Her like a treasure.

To read more about this time of the year, this page.

Happy Solstice...make your puddings!

Kari

Runes to Mark the Way

2005-12-19T20:03:00.000-08:00

In my excitement, seeing the Brisingamen Bridge today, I thought of ways to mark the place of this manifestation.

Yggdrasil is the name of the cosmological world tree in Norse Mythology. There are 9 worlds of humans, gods, elves, dwarves and giants and it has been understood by some that the runes (originally 18 were given to Odin) were markers of these worlds. Knowing them would allow the user to pass interdimentionally through the worlds, unlock the bridges that connect them like branches and roots.

Seeing all the worlds together is to become enlightened, all knowing, like the Allfather Odin.

If I had to give the rainbow I saw today a rune duo designation it would be Urz and Sigel.

The creative fire of the world ox and the sun, combining Earth and Sun. Freya and Freyr as a unified being. More later!
Kari

Today I saw the Brisingamen Bridge

2005-12-19T10:26:00.000-08:00

Today I saw Brisingamen Bridge while walking Jack to school.

The rising sun was hanging low above Duncan's house when I got to the crosswalk.

A constant sifting snow like powdered sugar, yet each crystal so distint, was reigning down the light of gold in a perfect full arch embrace. Centered by the Chestnut Trees the snow rainbow of gold held fast as I walked and watched the sun creep up the arch, the ark, the bridge.

"Jackie!" I called behind me, turning. "You have got to see this! In all my nearly 40 years of living in this climate, I have never seen such a thing. We are surely blessed." I remembered the teaching that the divine promise of unconditional love (love without judgement) comes in the form of a rainbow.

Science explains the breezes on an 8 below 0 day as upper atmospheric whisps picking up the prisms, the crystals of snow from the top of the school and parks flat roofs. The heavy orange gold winter sun is amplified by the prisms, the crystals. The thick crystals reflected red, orange, yellow, and only the hints of green and blue, indigo and violet were implied and consumed by the whitness of the thick snow sugar.

The arc or corona (crown) was, as I say, complete. And the left pillar as I approached it moved into the street where the young lady at crossing guard duty could see it and share in it's wonder. I pulled our own Grace Jaggers outside in the cold to verify it. (Alas that I had a camera. If anyone saw it and got a photo, please email a copy to me for publication).

I call this archway the Brisingamen Bridge for these reasons: In Nordic Mythology, the cosmos is held together by the world tree, Yggdrasil. There are bridges from the world of the humans and the worlds of the gods, the elves, the giants etc. The bridge between Manneheim (human home) and the Assir (where Odin lives) is called the Bifrost Bridge. It is created with light and crystals.

The Brissengammen is the necklace of gold worn by Freya of the Vanir. This bridge looked like that very necklace, all red and gold and showering her Sungold on my Mannehiem. So I call this the Brissengammen Bridge. Wow. To have one right in my neighorhood. Surely Huldre (Freya's own children) will be about this Yule! (I hope you are all putting out bowls of rice pudding!)

After cleaning up the cocoa making supplies for our hard working crossing guard 4th and 5th graders, I quickly bundled up and ran outside. Sure enough, the sun's arc had already moved to the apex of the bridge, but the pillars remained to assure me of what I had witnessed.

In telling Adreinne she commented hopes it would return. "I think it's still there," I said, "if only we will see it!"

"Ahh" She said. "Aren't we lucky to live here and now?"

"Yes," I replied. "We are truly blessed."

Gud Yule til alt!

RunaKari

So near the Solstice

2005-12-19T08:12:00.000-08:00

So near the Solstice (Yuletide December 20 - Jan 6), my mother and I, at her round kitchen/hearth table reading old cook books last night after the carrolling concert at Peace Lutheran Church of Plymouth. It was lovely. And today! Read the Monday Huldreblog!

Norwegians clean their homes spotlessly before the rays of Solstice or Christmas hit. They bake and clean, practice their instruments, wrap gifts for their friends and family, bless them all.

This we read in the tourism guide, I think. Bibliography possible later.

I am half Norwegian on my mother's side so I like cleaning quite a lot. I like the ritual of clearing my home for the health of the children and the elderly. I like to see my 8 year old son wash china in the golden rays of the low winter sun. He notices how it gleams. And how when I wipe it, it squeaks.

Publicity for the 7 th Annual Discovering Origins/Building Traditions Project has been word of mouth and internet mostly. The press have listed the event but wow, there are just so many events!

Relaxing into the Yule season we have happily smoked the Trout, merrily we are cleaning the house, lovingly I am composing and rehearsing my songs. Songs of loneliness and dispairing in the darkness. Songs of the sign, a golden rainbow in the sky, the full belly of the Earth and the generocity of the South Pole...bringing us the sun back again.

I thank you and I am blessed. See you all a-wassiling on Thursday or on-line at KFAI on Christmas Day Eve!!!

Love,
Kari

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

2005-12-12T09:08:00.000-08:00

Nied, Nauthiz, Need...the need fire.
This rune is shaped like a cross. The pillar is striaght up and down, like isa! So it tells us to Stop where we are and have a look.

The cross piece has been written at a slant, high on the left as you look at it, slanting down to the right. If it were placed on the Lakota Medicine Wheel, it would be North (the Creator and ideas) to South (the Warrior and protector of the central fire of the community, called the children's fire and the grandparents who sit on either side of it) and Northwest (tribal chief who is responsible for the whole tribe) to Southeast (tradition, why we do things the way we do them).

Why do I add this information from a different culture?

Because it relates to the same tribal concept that all cultures follow. We must take care of our children who are our future and our elders who are our past, and the fire which is our central tool of survival. To do this we will draw a circle around them and set up protection around them. It is a physical, social, and spiritual duty to do this.

As recently as my mother's generation, the hearth fire was essential to survival. If you let the woodstove die, so might you. She grew up on a farm in Wisconsin. In the 1950's they were starting to get more modern. Still, the fire taking care of the needs of all the people in the household and taking in the elderly and children (even those who may have been institutionalized for their health issues), was not only in place as a concept but a daily practice. The old rune Nied was secure in the system as the center of the culture and the center of the individual's drive to improve the conditions of the cultural system (which, as a true system, considered all the parts as integral).

What is significant about the idea of Need - the need fire - in today's society?

At a gig inMinneapolis this Saturday I witnessed a most disturbing thing. I am a story teller and musician, I have been working with children for over a decade. The children are usually engaged and participatory in my work and full of fire in their bellies. The need fire that makes them feel secure also feeds their desire to know, question, laugh.

There was no fire in the bellies of the children sitting before me this weekend. It was sad, eerie, and disturbing. There were no parents with them, they clung to the liters of soda pop they had been winning at the carnival games as though someone might steal this precious substance. They would not engage or look me in the eye. They would not accept the gift of free evergreen sprigs wrapped in ribbons from my son whose role was to hand them out. They would not take their hands away from these liter bottles of pop. They cradled the pop and it will be poured into their bellies - and may even be the only thing in their bellies. It will douse their fires more and more and more. They will grow up with no concept of the Need Fire and they will fill the jails our government has focussed funding to build more of.

Strange thing is, though, these children were not wholly limp and lifeless. They were full of a different kind of fire I can only describe as an "Entitlement Energy." When pushed to point at my piggy bank globe of where our state Minnesota is (a common and effective teaching tool filled with coins from around the world which I have been using for years) they not only could not point to our state but their aspects shifted to lip licking greed as they discovered there might be money in the globe. They quickly lost all fire when told that the globe contained money from other countries, unusable here in Minnesota...where ever that is.

In contrast, there were three children who had fire in their bellies. They want to see the money from other cultures because it's so interesting, so cool! All three were accompanied by caring adults, mothers, grandmothers. All three were well fed and nurtured in every Need Fire way!

There is a sickness I am finding all over the place, in men and women, children and the elderly. It's just that usually there is a "buffer" of regular citizens that keeps this "element" in check. Not so this weekend. It is a sickness that was once the downfall of a pampered people, like gout. A sickness that comes from a combination of spoiled entitlement and a lack of true needs being met. A lack of understanding about what our needs really are, how they are being met, and the gratitude that comes from this understanding are pervasive in the America of 2005.

How many of us feel gratitude every time we have hot, clean bathwater pumped right into our house?

I know I do. Not many others around the globe get this luxury.

What has created this?

1. We have stopped putting all effort into protecting and preserving children and the elderly.
2. We have not defined the hearth fire of our culture...is it oil, is it an industry? is it sustainable?
3. We have allowed television and subsequent media to define who we are, what we "need" and what our goals in life should be. Media has become the need fire for so many, it is addictive, passive, and ultimately oppressive.

Why don't people see this?

Even the least monied has all kinds of "stuff" to make it seem as though they have no needs except what they are told they need by television etc. Our motto is "more for me" and recently in the Fox adds for the Simpsons, "my life is oppressed and dysfunctional but I have The Simpsons to medicate this for me.

Our "entertainment" is cheap and mindless and we are a people whose Need Fire is being doused every day in every way. We are no longer the creators and sustainers of our lives, our culture, the tribe. The need fire is going out. It shows up in the bad nutrition of food, thought, and spirit. Refined sugar and nutra sweet have become our rotting, death dealing agents. Dumb, numb, ignorant, and wasted are so many of our tribe. This is accross all cultural, socio-economic, and racial lines.

So, what is the remedy for the Need Fire?

The rune teaches us to:
1. Make a list of needs and wants...define what is essential and we will get at the essence.
2. Look at our daily lives and see how much we have and be grateful.
3. Seek out the children and the elderly who live within walking distance of our homes and make sure their true needs are being met. Not just a "meals on wheels" kind of thing. Are they being respected, are they lonely, are they being educated, are they being ignored.

When we ignore anything it dies. The children, the elders, the fire, it all dies and so do we.

4. We are all driven to a false sense of "survival mode" by those who would control us and douse our needfires. Stop, like isa said. And start creating your own lives, dip into the fire of creation and get into your bellies. Find out that the true human needs are not being met! Let that feed the fire and be the mother of your inventions...You!

That is the essence of the Rune Nied. Wake up and get aware!

Why can't you see the back of a Huldre?

2005-12-06T13:38:00.000-08:00

There are many references in the Eventyr, the stories of the Huldre that talk about how beautiful they are to look at from the front. But often when you see the back of them, it is hollow, not there.

I believe that to be a perception of 3rd dimensional beings, like humans, who are not used to living on so many levels. It is as though the Huldre are between worlds, as Maren made comment about in the last huldreblog. In my (Kari's) experience, I have felt "half here/half there" when the dream time has been active and full of real life lessons. I have carried those lessons with me from the dream time to the awake time and it has sometimes felt as though I have had "one foot in each world."

I imagine that with all the practice of interdimensional living that the Huldre, and the other fine folk of the folk have, and with all the new ways of being and percieving that humans have, Huldre might seem more solid to us today than they did to our ancestors!

Let's keep looking,
Kari

Jack's Pull

2005-11-28T18:25:00.000-08:00

Jack reached inside the bag and pulled the one that felt the warmest. Funny, it turns out to be isa, the ice rune.

Now, we had that one last time so you are familiar with it. One line from top to bottom. Ice.

We continue to go slowly, move slowly, quietly so as to hear the subtlest crack. We are expecting an ice storm tonight here in Minneapolis. As the rain turns to snow we will all have intimate experiences with going slowly in the morning.

What does it mean to Jack? At age 8 with all the energy of an Aries/Leo it could be about waiting for things to be ready before moving ahead. Wait for the cookies to cool, wait until your chores are done before playing, wait for mom to be ready to tuck you in. He's not the best waiting around guy in many ways. So I will help him be still and quiet, to do without doing!

Kari

Wizard Women of Winter

2005-11-27T11:45:00.000-08:00

As Huldre live cozy inside the mountains and woods, so we live cozy inside our homes. This Thanksgiving weekend brought the first real accumulation of snow here in MN, and with it a lot of thankfulness for the new windows I had installed in my 100 year old home this year. Huldre don't probably have to worry too much about drafty windows, but I, having my feet in two worlds, am finding the balance between flicking a little magic around and practically meeting my physical needs with heavy new drapes.

The universe has confirmed yet again its support of my cross-world existence, encouraging me to continue exercising balance, with an unexpected and relatively large check in the mail. I think it was delivered by one of my sisters-under-the-hill… Whomever brought it, it allows me to proceed into winter with my needs met. This is one Wizard Women of Winter who is finding cross-world living an ever awe-inspiring magical, if sometimes emotionally challenging, way of living.

Until next time…

Maren

Huldre Eventyr - Tales of the Nordic Earth Folk

2005-11-19T15:51:00.000-08:00

Huldre, I imagine, spent many long hours crafting stories as the churned butter, or kneaded dough, or stitched their cloth. I imagine that Huldre had as many stories about the "Over-landers" as the Scandinavian people did about the "Fair-Folk in the Mountainside". Unfortunately I have not found a true Huldre tale, but rather I have unearthed many human tales - stories about the Huldre.

So here it is mid-November, and all of my neices and nephews will shortly be recieving the newest installments of my interpretations of scandinavian fairy tales... Oh wait, I have yet to finish writting them! I've got three complete, out of twelve which I comitted to retelling in this chap book style. (You can see them at http://www.karitauring.com/HuldreEventyr.htm ) They will make fine gifts for my neices and nephews this Holiday.

Christmas presents are always a wonder for me. It has become so material, so needlessly complicated, this winter giftgiving holiday. What happened to brown paper packages tied up with string? Now we have purple and gold foil paper printed with images of other packages tied up with shimmering rafia! Very fancy, and yet it still winds up in the same place - a large (often black) garbage bag. I much prefer home made gifts to store bought ones... Something about the gift of the givers time, energy, creativity and love seems much more fulfilling. And this season, in particular, is one where I'm finding it to be more financially prudent to create gifts rather than purchase them! I'm sure my four neices and two nephews will enjoy reading stories retold by their very own Auntie Maren, perhaps even as much as the new video game or fashion doll they receive from someone else.

I wonder how the "Fair folk under the Mountainside" would have dealt with Holiday marketing... Perhaps that is another reason we see them so rarely these days... Maybe I'll have further insights next time. For now...

~Maren

Heads in the Ice

2005-11-17T08:49:00.000-08:00

The seeds of creation are in the ice, the more we are water, the more we are everything. Huldre genetic code is readable through intermingling with Neandrathol...Ah...Lilith's daughters are everywhere. The Plieades...seven sisters, Mave the one we all call Mama, Ma Mer, Ma, Ave and M-ave...

Look for her in the ice.

Beaver Moon - November's Winter Moon

2005-11-17T08:29:00.000-08:00

Rune pulls. Having just written the muses of the muse blog, I got out my little travel set and two runes came out.

Daeg was facing me and one was facing my hand. The day...a good rune for a very cold November day. Lap up the sun because as sure as it will return, it will be gone. Seek the day light hours. Work hard...a day's work. The rest that follows real work is complete.

Its an x with a line on each end forming a bow tie shape. X is called gifu, the gift. It is a true gift to be able to greet another day. Many creatures die in the cold we are having today and I have sun coming strong and low through my south window, barely able to skirt my neighbor's roof. I have a wood fire to heat my cider on and a lap top to warm my legs here and there. What is in a day?

What is in a day's work? For this day here it is:

7am get fire going again. Make oatmeal and coffee. Feed the cat. Katie the chicken is up early. Go feed her and bring freeable water to her and the other creatures in our gardens.

8:30 walk child to school and pick up gear for editing video on the way

9:30 Realize I don't have the right chords to edit the video so move to other work

10:30 Sit down to update blogs

Flip over other rune in my hand

Fehu - the cow, the rune looks like an F but with the lower line longer than the top line and both lines facin up to the sky like expectant baby birds reaching for the nourishment they just know will be coming.

Faith in that our needs are met, domesticated in this way we are all cows. We are all herders too. We are the careful husbands of our flocks, herds, resources...

What is in a day? A good day's work and the rewards of faith in the work we do to nourish and flourish our lives and our children's lives.

Faith in the day!

Kari pa haugen

words of a crone

2005-11-17T08:13:00.000-08:00

I was describing my feelings evoked by my learning curve technologically as well as my aparent lack of the cooperating resources to one of my favorite wise women. I see my feelings mirrored in my son's behavior at his feelings about learning curve and apparent lack of resources to solve math word problems.

I feel stupid, like I want to give up or be rescued. I get annoyed at a process that seems a Catch-22. I an asssent to what "seems" with the intelectually miffed Kari and I give whiney Kari a little cuddle then press on. My son, well, he gets to approach it again when he is ready as well.

"The key is not to let it defeat you. Sometimes it's easier to give up than to press ahead," she said.

Thank you for those words. That really is the ticket. It may seem like a small defeat to give into a whiney or pissy attitude here or there. And it may well be...but take a year or more of giving up because you can't be bothered and your life is forfeit...you may as well give up the ghost (as they say).

It's a big deal. Encouraging one another to embrace the feelings that learning requires: failure, stupidity, fear, risk taking anxiety...what is on the other side is called owning knowledge and the feelings here range from victorious to enlightened!

Thanks to my supporters!

Kari

Huldre in the woods

2005-11-11T08:19:00.000-08:00

When at the Turf club, herding at David de Young's birthday party, someone asked "Do you really live in the woods?"

"Yes," I said. Actually I do.

Yep, right here in the Middle of Minneapolis.

As a wizard woman of the North, I am compelled to walk and work in nature. So far, Minneapolis has been a city that understands this. May gentrification of our parks and riverways cease...

Why do Huldre and all folk of the faerie need the woods?

Fairview Riverside Chemical Dependency Clinic has a hand out that explains.
There are only two ways for the human body to create the necessary chemicals that relieve depression - crying and communing with nature. That's it!

Do Huldre get depressed?

Extra-sensory folk are ones who feel the great joys of the world and share this with others. They feel the great burdens and griefs as well. This can create a tendency towards depression and bi-polarism in an unbalanced brain.

So to keep balanced, you will find wizard women of the north crying in the rain, or while sitting in a tree, tears shed for others pain and grounded into the earth by the knowlege that the deeper the well of grief, the more resounding the echos of joyus laughter.

You will find Huldre in the woods, by the rivers, on the hills, dancing through the fields, in their gardens, feeding their in-town chickens, cats, dogs, birds, squirrels, racoons and even a few deer. They are the ones who grow a forest around them no matter where they are in the world. Laughing and crying and feeling the totality of nature and all their relations.

Again Today

2005-11-10T11:05:00.000-08:00

When I found my travel set I pulled Jera...it's shape is that of greater than and less than signs eating one another...it's name is said to mean Harvest.

So, ice...go slow and be careful

of the seeds you plant out there.

Jera you reap what you sew.

Next I found my hearth bag of maple. Sitting before the banked birch embers with the winter sun full in my face I closed my eyes/
I was so warm.
A rune slipped up and out of the bag as I began to open it. It pirched lightly on my arm.

Sun full in my face I smiled and thought, how fortunate am I. I ground and center with no legs. I am still whole within myself and connected to the sun.

"All the saints and angels!" I smiled and saw, printed on the back of my eyelids, a map of Casseopia!!

I got a great idea about communicating with the hard of sight and tactile crowd.

Then I looked at the rune in my hand.

It was Thurisaz - Thorn - it's shape is that of Oddins legs as he hung upside down from Yggdrasil the World Tree. A line like isa and second leg like a stork creating the right angle.

I just learned a pose like this at the Women's Retreat in Villa Maria last weekend. Gina, a yoga goddess, shared the poses and sanskrit names with us. This one was called the tree pose and was done standing...but I'll bet they do it on their heads too.

Anyhoo...
It's a rune that supports my going really slowly and carefully just now. Concentrate on the seed in your hand. Until it has been let go of, nothing new should come in just now. Create a boundary with your thorns, your hammer of Thor, your balance.

This is my reading for today! (so far anyway)

Karitauring.com

Runepull for Today

2005-11-10T08:23:00.000-08:00

Well, I was going to do one then couldn't locate a set so I went outside and fed Katie the Chicken Lady and the crows and gave water to White Ears and Ratatosk's nephew. I thought I would clean the porch up a bit...see if anyone is unwisely harboring a lair of Halloween candy. Nothing.
Not even a mistreated wrapper.

Anyhoo so I was putting Oskar's golf clubs away when I spied some stavs that didn't sell in the last year. They are all going to be firewood if they don't sell. I have told them this. They don't seem to mind either way, being comfortable in their beings.

So that brought me back to my runepull for today.

I will just say, most stavs are isa shaped...ice...one long straight line going from earth to heaven.

There are bowed stavs in nature but forever there is a perpendicular line.

There may be juttings out of the top or bottom...forming such runes as fehu, eohl, laguz etc.

But like the cosmos itself, things start with a point in space, wanting to know itself, the point reaches out to another point. This relationship is called a line.

Add a third point and boom...you have a plane!

Anyhoo...ice tells us to be careful. Go slowly and listen carefully. You may not be able to trust your eyes.

How many of you readers have crossed a lake of ice?

It's pretty cool!

Isa
Kari

Hey Black Tom

2005-11-08T09:39:00.000-08:00

In reference to September 22

"I was just thinking about my colon and how cold it is and why I crave meat in the fall. Our colons are designed like the rocky mountains. They are pockets of land fill.

In my base brain I know that there is an ice age coming. I remember it in the lower quelle of my reptilian brain. This sends a signal to my taste buds and they remember to crave the taste of fat. The nose kicks in when lots of wood smoke is present. For me (Kari), I also crave the liquids of my ancestors. Clean water and certain brews.

So, but I've got to be careful to remember with my upper brains what it is I love to taste in this season of darkness and changes.

So that is why I now think on you, Black Tom. Your menue is my greatest wish. If I filled my rocky mountain colon up with food you have chosen to feed your loved ones with, this is how my mountain range looks.

It is a rich loam that holds my colon together. It is green and colorful with beets and squash and little red peppers here and there. There are clouds of gas floating above the gentle peaks. There is a very tall peak that seems happy way up there. It's like it got some exotic treat...coconut or ginger? There is a lake of cool meadey cidery brew..."a lake of beer for the king of kings" as St. Bridgt prayed. Ahhh...my colon is the garden of Eden...and gods live in there.

Thank you, T.J.Grant for your diety of dining, Black Tom!"

HuldreBlog

2005-11-02T16:30:00.000-08:00

So many questions about the Huldre. So many perceptions and family histories of stories. Were they scary to you? Do you look like one too?

So I thought, good then. We will start a posting site for this. Maren or Kari or Ken or Matt may be making entries. These are the Huldre (the out ones) in Minneapolis.

Ok then. Here goes.

There is a CD which I think I must begin with. The Wizard Women of the North. Well it was released by Northside in Minneapolis in 1999, the year I began the Discovering Origins/Building Traditions shows.

Seven years later I am also doing this music and have finally gotten a chance to buy the cd. Here is the definition of Huldre on the CD Jacket:

"The Wizard woman of the North can be found at a cafe, but pay attention to her shoes, they are usually the type that she can easily kick off. Because the wizard woman of the North has to have air between her toes so she can feel the earth she walks on and belongs to. These feet with the well ventilated toes are used for dancing or for marking the rythm when she plays or sings. ..."
Perneille Anker

Let me just stop there and say. This I find to be true.

Kari

Here's an emotional response question:

2005-11-01T12:30:00.000-08:00

What is the first emotional response that comes up when one discovers that another artist one loves to work with is applying for the same grant at the same time?

For me it was about 1.3 seconds of fear.

I discovered rivalry at the root of it in about .4 seconds. I don't do rivalries so the next feeling was excitement and pride, a sense of sharing and community. That's my process for this instance of emotional responding.

Then I moved on to what work could I do with the artists in the room right now that will linger in the universe.

Why my emotional path took this route - a brief summary:
Love and pride in work are what guides me as an artist. I identify the "would be rival" as having a quality in her work that equals my own, or "I believe she would be a brilliant fellow." A fear of lack often accompanies this feeling. In an undeveloped psyche, my reptilian brain response may be "take out the rival" as though we were fighting for food.

But since love and excellence guide my thoughts, I identified this lower thought form quickly and, giving it a moment to love itself fully, moved on to a more universal understanding of the emotional triggers.

Being in the company, as I was, with artists who create from and support one another in their abundance and personal majesty, the universal emotional triggers of love and support were immediately supported.

The amygdala can only function if the body is allowed to respond with dialated pupils, sweaty palms...basically a rush of addrenelyn (sp? or Addrienne and Lynn?). Fight or flight can not engage if one is relaxed, happy, feels well nurtured, is well exercised/exersized...has been dancing...

So my lasting and lingering emotion is pride. If we all dance on the same hoop then your success is my success, if this this artist gets it, I get it too! This artist's work is doing the same creating that I am! So, my way will be made easier by the advancement of this artist through the fellowship.

I call this a "proud of my sister" moment. It lingers. I am used to having this feeling because I grew up in a household of six women who loved one another, took pride in one another, supported each other...this is the behavior I have come to expect and cherish in the sisters on my hoop.

Applying for funding of who you are is, to me, an interesting emotional experience.

Kari
Buen Dio de los Muertos.
Adios Lucy and Lissetta, wyrd sisters on the wheel. Katie is fine. She acts like a puppy. Mamma Chick chik

Adios Padre Mio, tu erres muy hamable. Gracias para todo los jakettas y el pescadore gear. Thanks also for your grandsons to inherit your best lessons. Husker Du! Kari

Dia de los Muertos Rune Pull

2005-11-01T11:43:00.000-08:00

In this time of ancestor passings I like to pull a rune for general lessons I may be needing to learn before the ghosts are gone.

I sat down at the wood stove and shook my bag of maple runes. I noticed a lot of dust come from it. I kept patting and shaking it and the dust billowed into the rays of mid morning sun. I snorted out my nose and mouth to clear a place for me to breathe. Wow. I wonder when the last time I used this set was!?

When I opened the bag, the first rune I saw was Othel, the last rune of the 24 letter FUTHARK alphabet. It means roots, homeland, family and tribal karma, returning your bones to the land of your birth.

But the rune that came out in my hand was Beorc, Birch.

Birch is the bond that binds me to this place in Minnesota. It is the bark that binds me to my ancestors in Norway. The Lur calls to me, the oil ignites with the slightest spark.
It is the birth of me and the death of me. As birch is used to carry coals in the wintertime, so is it used to pre-sage the spring. The sugar maples and the birch and the oak and the willow are such a part of my heritage in this life and through my ancestory.

Perhaps I will be buried afloat a flaming canoe of birch...my goddess rocks surrounding me...in a summer mini skirt like the Iron Age Danes who were my ancestors when they lived in the Baltic Region.

My eldest son knows how to bury me. He discussed it with me after saying bed time prayers one night. He guessed at what I would want. And he was right! Boy I raised a good son.

Anyhow. That's my personal rune pull for this, the Day of the Dead!

Tak fer alt,
RunaKari

PS If you want me to pull a rune for you for this day, email me at karitauring@yahoo.com
or go to my website karitauring.com and get my phone number and office hours.

Working with Wood

2005-10-27T18:43:00.000-07:00

Today I cut down the plum tree. It was into the neighbors garage foundation. The branches rubbed on the roof tiles and it didn't make too many plums. The city (Minneapolis) asked us to keep the branches out of the alley...well, it was quite a big tree. A couple of years ago I started three of it's babies to growing. So to make room for grandpa's fishing boat I took the plum down. I will make runes of some of it, stavs of some of it. Some of it will go to our neighbor boy for his smoker...he's a saucier extraordinaire at age 15. The main part I saved for myself was the fehu that the young branches made off the main stem. I will make a Yule candle holder out of that part and honor the life of that poor tree. I counted about 18 rings.

The twin plums that I left will have lots of sunlight now. We took out the outside chicken pen. Katie never hangs out in there anyhow. So we moved our firewood storage, chopping, and sawing opperation to the otherside of the shed.

The squirrels chatted and scolded me about that tree for around two hours.

Ratatosk the world tree squirrel will spread the news that another tree is down but the ones under it's canopy are being well cared for. And that Grandpa Cliff's boat will have a good home. He is sailing accross the veils now. We will miss him.

In this way, I work runes all day long, every day.

Why a RuneBlog?

2005-10-25T09:41:00.000-07:00

Some of you have requested that I concentrate some comments on the runes. So this is a great format for this concept.

Let's start by drawing at random a rune from one of my sets (www.karitauring.com)

R
Rad
Wheel

The journey is long and arduous but the horse is swift and sure. The horse is the process and relationship by which you are able to move these great streaches of world. Take care of the process. That is your task.

The journeyman's rune. So you wrote your songs, learned your instrument and are ready to go out and share your work. That is the image of this rune for me (Kari). It signals a chance to perform. I see the arduous task...perhaps a better translation would be, it will take diligence to get there with all the lessons learned so you must take your time and enjoy the journey because it is a life's work!

Wheels in sanskrit are chakras. From our common indo-european roots, the wheels of chakras and energy centers would have been understood by the Nordic peoples of 2 - 8 thousand years ago. It is evidenced in their artwork.

At any rate, the wheels of the chakras must turn at a certain rate and in certain relationships to one another based on the work the physical body is doing. This rune indicates a time when attention must be paid to the intention of the physical body and the variant speeds and relationships of the chakras must stay in allignment with that.

There is a journey. Think if the charriot wheels are out of allignment and the goal for the moment is a watering hole and your horse takes off at full gallop...yikes!

More on Grants

2005-10-25T07:08:00.000-07:00

One of the main reasons people don't get grants...they don't apply. Now, why wouldn't they? Fears get in the way. Fears of rejection, not being good enough, the feeling that we have to justify what we are doing makes us mad, possibly fear of success...if we get a grant our level of excellence is raised! I often hear people say "they are never looking for what I do...or...I'm not enough of a minority, they will never accept my application..." hmmmm. Much of this, I think, is a fear of speaking one's own truth. A fear that who you are as an individual will somehow go unvalidated or even chastised. Pretty human.

I've been told that if I don't get a grant the first time to keep applying. They just might be keeping an eye out for me!

Friday my 10 year old son and I drove down to the Bush Fellowship office in St. Paul to deliver the work he had seen me pondering over for the last week or so. We had a lot of fun. What did I teach him at age ten? That writing grants is fun and not at all scary. That the process itself has lessons and the outcome, while variable never takes away from the lessons of the process.

There are other grants sitting on my desk now. One other main reason that folks may not apply for things is that it really does take some time to write them. Yet again, time spent pondering my work is time well invested!

So to you, dear readers, I would say: If there is something you want to go for and are being held back by fears or apparent lack of time, just dig in and go for it!

Yours,
Kari

Bush Artist Fellowship

2005-10-17T11:53:00.000-07:00

Glorious autumn days are spent with sun shine and my computer. Looking through all the photos of the past two years of performances with Maren placing them in Powerpoint...digging up audio files from since 1999!

One thing that writing a grant proposal does is lets me see and appreciate the massive ammount of work I have done in the last year or two. The website lets me see all the work I have done but putting it together in a grant makes me think about the future as well.

More shows, more collaborations, more costumes!

I love this work.

Thanks to everyone who helps make it happen!

Kari