#othala

[redacted-metallum]

I love when characters are immortal but very much can be killed. It just doesn't stick. It sucks the whole time though.

[gifts-of-heimdall-runes]

[tenebris-metallum]

Othala doodles. Decided to draw her nakey for no reason.

(Mature label applied by me)

[lokavisi]

Rune Meditation - Othala

For a moment I couldn't tell if Othala (their guide persona) was actually Odin, but he was a distinctly different and grumpy old man (who also happened to be wearing the stereotypical grey wizards outfit I frequently see Odin wear). He was sitting, slouched at a desk in a classroom, where he was looking at Nazi symbols laid over a world map. Like they were places where their ideology had taken hold. He was angry with how he's been treated and misused and how that's affected the rest of the runes as well.*

I asked him what he's really all about. He stood up from his seat and showed me a family tree that morphed into a person. He said he (othala) is a reminder of the ancestors, of all who live within me (us/humanity), and the ørlög they collected and passed down to me. It is my decision to pick up my family's mantle and continue it or take it in a completely different direction. He said all lineages pass down great love and some great messes that must be dealt with. But it is not about manifest destiny or anyone being greater than anyone else. Claiming one's birthright is about accepting the line that cultivated the ørlög you possess and making it your own. And remembering that you are an ancestor of those yet to be (even if you're not a biological ancestor to them).

It was a truly deep, meaningful energy and message, and there is extremely good reason to be upset about how this meaning has been corrupted by white supremacists. There's something so beautiful and important about remembering our connection to what was, is, and will be. It's so unlike any sort of supremacy culture that intentionally severs connections and seeks to eliminate so many lives that we are/can be connected with.

As I was writing this in my journal, I got the sense that Odin sees the runes themselves as a birthright.** Something to be passed down. Something that he sacrificed himself for that they might be passed down to others (like ørlög for humanity) so their power and magic can be claimed. Not just the Elder Futhark alphabet, but all language - written, spoken, or signed. It is our birthright to use words and communicate, to express ourselves and affect change. It feels quite fitting to end these meditations with this message from Othala and Odin - a reminder of this birth right of expression and connection, and to appreciate the runes (and all languages) that came before us.

*He was referring to multiple runes, not just othala, being seen as hate symbols. Also worth noting that if you see othala with little "feet" on it like this in relation to any person or group, you are absolutely dealing with Nazis and should run the other way.

**I followed this meditation up by talking with Odin, and he very much confirmed this. He reminded me that the tools of all languages are always here for us to utilize.

[panjackdaw]

Prayer to Odin and the Reversed Othala

Allfather Odin, Wanderer on the winds, Keeper of wisdom bought with sacrifice, I call to You in this hour of unmooring.

The rune Othala lies reversed in my hand— ancestral walls turned inside out, foundations shifting, inheritance questioned. It is the letting go of soil I cannot till, the bloodline burdens I no longer bear, the walls of home that keep spirit captive.

Bless me, One-Eyed God, with Your seeing that pierces veils. Let what is not mine to hold slip from my grasp without bitterness. Grant me the courage to step beyond the fences of the familiar, to claim freedom even in rootlessness.

Teach me that true inheritance is not stone nor soil, nor even name, but the breath of spirit, the fire of will, and the path I carve in wyrd.

Odin, Father of Runes, guide me with this fallen Othala, that I may break chains wisely, walk as exile yet not lost, and find in the wide unbounded world the greater hall of my becoming.

Hail Odin, Hail the Rune, Hail the blessing in the breaking.

[machinespirited]

Othala has a lot of "leftover" "Krieger instincts" that make her a nightmare for anyone she doesn't like to deal with. They range from all of her strategy ideas being "have you tried a suicidal charge?" to her constantly stealing shit and storing it in her coat.

[dreamiesgrimoire]

Othala

[forestwitchnika]

A little known fact about Beowulf

a single Ēðel (Othala) rune is used three times in the original manuscript.

First, after the term swæsne (OE: beloved), second, before the name of the Scyldingas tribe, and finally, before the term -weard (OE: guardian), when Hrōðgār refers to Beowulf as he returns victorious from Grendel’s lair.

In all three contexts, the rune attests to the sacred connection between the tribe and their land; the beloved homeland of the Scyldingas, with Beowulf as its protector.

ᛟ

The Othala is one of the few runes that was historically used singularly.

A stone with a single Othala rune stood over a 7th Century Alemannic burial ground in Kaiseraugst, Switzerland, along the Rhine. A powerful reminder of the ancestors who came before us, and all they gave so that we may be here today. ᛟ