Hidden in Plain Sight

Important things often are hidden in plain sight. When we have those moments of enlightenment and we realize it, we learn to see the world around us in new ways. We are awakened to a new way of seeing, feeling and getting things done.

Example 1. We all see the night sky. But those who have studied the constellations and know the mythology, astrology and folklore associated with them see different things in the sky than we do, or than astronomers do. Two people look at the sky and they see very different things.

Example 2. When people come to visit and see a deck of playing cards, they think that we just like to play card games. But for a person who knows how to read them, this same deck can open portals for communication that no one else sees. And there is a long history of people using playing cards to do readings. After all, playing cards and tarot share the same origin.

Example 3. Being happy is a choice we make every day. The most important thing we control is our own mind. Where our thoughts go, our energy goes. The way we look at the world has everything to do with how our life goes. We do not have to wait for someone or something to make us happy. We can simply decide to be happy.

Example 4. Many of us can walk through a yard, field or forest and perhaps may admire the simple beauty of various plants, but a person who is familiar with plants can show us how to harvest and use them to help with healing as well as flavor our food, make a delicious cup of tea or make other useful household and magical items out of them.

Example 5. When I was a kid, I collected rocks and stones. I simply appreciated the beauty and the feel of them. As I studied, I knew which ones were formed by fire, water, movements of the earth, and which fragments may have been shaped by hand. I displayed them in science fairs. Later in life, others showed me how stones can be used for healing and divination. Suddenly there was a whole new way of seeing the rocks and stones I had enjoyed since childhood. And to this day, I feel that found objects make just as good a set of tools as buying polished stones.

Below you will notice that I am teaching a course in meditation and a course in runes. The meditation course is for a family in their home, so it is not open to the public. So maybe this is something you would like to do. If you and a few others would like to learn, I would travel to you. There are a variety of forms of meditation, and the desires and needs of the students can shape the content.

Now the runes are a whole different story. I have loved working with and studying the runes for decades. One of the things that really impresses me about them is that hundreds or thousands of artists have designed new card decks in recent decades. Quite a number are only sold on the artist's own website, so if you do not find that, you would never see them. Others that you may have seen on a website may be out of print and the only way to get one would be to buy from or trade with a collector.

Now the runes are a thousand years older than cards and yet every artist coming down the pike does not try to remodel them. There are only a couple of variant sets, which are also very ancient, and that speaks volumes to me about their intrinsic power.

There is an elegance and power to the runes that belies their simple appearance. Consider this. Only some of us are talented enough to make their own set of cards, but anyone can make their own set of runes.

The runes are always on my table when I go out to read, but most people choose cards. I think that the reason is simple. The runes are all symbols made of staves and chevrons because they were created before cursive writing. Since the art on cards is so visually stimulating people even glancing at them casually might say that one looks like their spouse or sibling, someone they work with or a friend and their mind starts traveling in that direction. Because the runes are so abstract, I feel that they propel me out there deeper and faster.

There are things that you can do with the runes that you cannot do with the cards. For example, you can channel their energies through your body. A martial arts master also showed me how martial arts are also encoded into the runes. In learning about them, you learn about mythology and folklore in addition to using them as a powerful tool to help you get more of what you want out of life. The runes can be put to work hidden in plain sight. For example, have you ever wondered why houses built of stucco and beams frequently have certain common designs on them? You know how ranchers make brands to mark their herds? There is a powerful way to combine runes that bear a resemblance to that, and these symbols can help us keep focused on our goals.

A person can pull one a day to meditate on. And the method of reading with them is called casting. It is not like shuffling a deck of cards and them picking a few. You take the entire set in your hands, activate them by shaking and mixing them and then you read the pattern in how they fall on the table. That pattern is as much part of the reading as the actual signs that are showing face up. They are tactile as well as visual.

Every once in a while someone expresses a real interest in them, so I decided to offer a course and see who is interested in learning how to use this beautiful, powerful set of tools.

Whenever we learn to see those things that are hidden in plain sight, we are awakened to a new way of being in the world.