Mouth is the chieftain of all speech
mainstay of wisdom, comfort to wise ones,
for every noble earl hope and happiness.
Continuing our series examining modern pagan practice via the Elder Futhark, we move on to the fourth rune, Ansuz. As always, the rune-poem above provides a starting place.
The themes of this rune focus on speech and words, and more specifically the use of words to teach and inspire. This rune also has a specific association with Odin, who among many other roles inspires artful speech including poetry and song. This suggests a modern interpretation centered around the role of performing arts, not so much as entertainment but as divine inspiration and wisdom reforged into something that can be communicated. We can also look at rhetorical technique and its value in making sure ideas stick in the minds of those who encounter them.
The modern image of how poetry fits into our lives often looks a lot like this:
And what we see here is poetry as performance, a single special person divulging their special wisdom on a contemplative crowd. And this is indeed one place poetry has always fit in, from back in the days when the Iliad was chanted from memory to the strum of the lyre. This model of poetry fits wonderfully into a way of thinking where poets are coming not just from human creativity but from a more nebulous inspiration that the arts can only hope to vaguely imply.
But that isn't the only place poetry and artful phrasing can matter. The techniques of poetry find their way into all sorts of other contexts, like:
In all cases, the purpose is to make the idea more memorable and the writing more formal by choosing to express it with rhythm, rhyme, and metaphor. And this presents a real lesson here: If you wish to give your life meaning, it is not just the ideas you are expressing but the words you are using to express them that will make an impact.
Artistically minded folks often get the question "Where do you get your inspiration?" The problem with this question is that it suggests that getting inspiration is the hard part of making great works of art, when it is in fact incredibly easy to come by. One can find inspiration in life experiences as common as falling in love, lusting after somebody, injuries, illnesses, enjoying the weather, hating the weather, working, listening to birds, or listening to people. Or, if that is not enough, one can look at the news, or other works of art, or even academic research, and get more than enough ideas to start another work of art percolating.
What is actually challenging about the arts is not the inspiration at all, but knowing the technique of how to turn idea into art, and the discipline to both learn and apply the technique. And with writing, there are basically three parts to technique:
All of these ideas can be learned in books and courses. If you wish to improve your writing, it is well worth your time, even if you do not expect to make writing a professional focus.
Writing and speaking do go together, of course, but embracing the power of language can do a great deal for your conversational skills as well. Some specific things to notice:
Embracing those few basic ideas will help the way you talk, even about everyday life, come across as more interesting and intelligent.
Speaking and writing well may seem like a fairly frivolous exercise. After all, why would you really care, so long as the ideas are good?
But there is real value to this work. As you elevate your technique of communicating, you can express the ideas and inspirations you have more clearly, and thus others can better understand them. And your increasing enlightenment is infectious: It can turn what could be just mindless chatter into a deep exchange of ideas, where philosophy and spirituality and curiosity can be explored and satisfied. It turns the ordinary into the extraordinary. If we as pagans wish to be representing a great intellectual as well as visceral tradition, we should embrace the force of fantastic fluency as represented by the power of Ansuz.
Share on Twitter Share on Facebook
Comments
There are currently no comments
New Comment