Plans for 2019

First of all, happy new year!

I didn't make any new years' resolutions/goals this year (a break from a long personal tradition of mine). I wanted to try something different. Deep down inside though, I still have that urge to change, to be better than I was last year. To learn more, study harder, do more. But also to relax more, worry less, have more fun. Sometimes it seems impossible to do all of these things at once!

On my other blog, I talked about how, instead of setting goals for the year, I'm trying a different system. Instead, I have a cycle runs for 6 months, from equinox to equinox. The idea came to me after experiencing the semester system at the Grey School. The seasons are important to me, and there are many activities I only do in Summer or Winter, so I thought, why not try setting up my plans and goals around the seasons?

I divided up all the activities of my life (both fun/voluntary and obligations) into seven categories. Spirituality is a whole category to itself. At first I was surprised at myself for this, but instinctively I must have realised that my spirituality is a very important part of my life, and it deserves its own category!

For this cycle (which is already more than half over!), my spiritual goals are:

★ finish 2 classes at Grey School of Wizardry (1/2)
★ continue Rune studies
★ work 3 magicks (2/3)
★ do divination 4 times (2/4)
★ meditate 10 times (1/10)
★ Spring/Summer altar refresh (done)

Most of these goals are underway: I've already refreshed my altar, which I posted about here. I've also pledged to blog more, both here and my other blog. I'd like to write more about what I'm learning. I'd also like to do write-ups of spells I've done, but I don't like to do that until after the effects have become known, which can take several months. Look out for them in future.

Until then, a teaser:

New Year Divination: My First Rune Cast

I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year and you are looking forward to what 2018 holds. I know I am!

Every year at this time, I sit down and plan out my goals for the coming year. For the last 3 years, I've planned my goals around what I call my Life Square. This helps me to think about all the areas of my life and how I want to change or improve them:

This year, I decided to use divination to help me decide on my goals for the year. It struck me that the grid layout of the Life Square would be perfect for casting onto, so I decided to do a Rune cast, even though I've never done one before. I didn't have time to make up a proper surface with a lined grid large enough to do the cast, so I laid out a blanket on my bed (it has a board underneath for stability). I had a vague idea of where the grid lines were in my head, and hoped it would be enough to figure out which part of the grid the Runes corresponded to when they fell. I had already removed any Runes that landed upside down before I took the below photo.

Well, as you can see, most of them landed in the middle! They just fell straight down and didn't bounce at all. That was something I wasn't expecting. I wasn't sure what to expect, to be honest. Some were obviously meant to be in certain sections, but most of the others were clumped together. I separated them out a little bit and the grid formation became clearer. I decided to read all runes upright no matter what orientation they were in when they landed. Here is the casting after I clarified it:

As you can see, some of the sections have no Runes in them, which again was something I didn't anticipate. However, it makes sense as they fall randomly. The rest of the sections have between one and three Runes in them. My initial interpretations are as follows (I did take the time to think about them more deeply later):

CREATIVITY -- No message. Do whatever you like.

MENTAL HEALTH & WELLBEING -- Things will be out of your control, but there will be an unexpected gain or win.

RECREATION -- Do new things.

RELATIONSHIP -- Things will change, but in a good way: your relationship will be stronger.

SPIRITUALITY -- Be patient, develop your intuition, you will travel steadily.

FRIENDS, FAMILY & COMMUNITY -- You will be protected in your time of need ... or you will be called on to protect others.

HOME -- No message. You are on the right track already.

HEALTH -- There will be delays at times but you will win in the end.

JOB, FINANCIAL & ART BUSINESS -- You will be amazing at everything you do.

The most relevant goals for this blog are, of course, the spiritual ones. These are the three goals I chose for 2018:
✧ earn the Grey School of Wizardry Torch Award, Level 1 (I'll write a separate post explaining what this is later!)
✧ learn Rune casting
✧ meditate 3 times a week

It's exciting that I've already started on my goals by doing this Rune casting reading! If you'd like to see the goals I chose for the rest of the sections, check out my other blog here.