- Norse Divination: Illuminating your Path with the Wisdom of the Gods
- Gypsey Elaine Teague, Llewellyn November 2021
It’s always interesting to see a new book in a list of upcoming releases about Norse divination and other topics of Germanic Paganism and spirituality. So when I saw the cover of Norse Divination: Illuminating your Path with the Wisdom of the Gods by Gypsey Elaine Teague from Llewellyn, I was intrigued.
Being a person who uses a variety of divination forms, runes being the most prevalent, I thought (mistakenly) that this would be a different approach to working with the runes in a divinatory sense by integrating in the stories of the gods in a unique and modern way. I love to read about and see how people utilize runes in inspired ways, so I was thrilled when Llewellyn sent a copy to have a read through.
The Norse divination system that Gypsey presents in this book is a unique system of her own making which taps into her connection of the God/desses, beings, and items as part of Norse mythology. She notes that the system grew out of her rune work because she felt that there was just a bit more to achieve by connecting with the presence of the gods as well.
The divination meanings pull from the mythology surrounding the characters and items chosen as part of the system. It consists of 36 primary symbols followed by six additional entities to optionally include at your own preference. Examples of the primary symbols include: Feyja, Frig, Heimdall, Sif, Tyr, Odin, Valkyries, valknut, and Bifrost.
It is a layered system which utilizes a draw of three tokens bearing the symbols. The three tokens are selected for past, present, and future in regard to the question or topic. Each subject has nine possible meanings that represents it depending on which part of the reading it is pulled for and the direction of the image as it is drawn from the bag. Aspects of the story and characteristics of the entity or item are used to offer insights into how to interpret or view the reading.
To try the system for myself, I created my own set using wood discs and a marker. I decided to include the additional symbols to make a full set of 42 just to give the entire system the opportunity. In my readings, I found that the response of one of the positions generally made sense to my question, while the other two truly left me scratching my head on how to get something from it that could help guide me.
It will take some time to get used to this system to see how to interpret and use the responses. I find that for me, it seems a bit complicated and the messages confusing. I’m not sure if the phrasing of the question or topic is not connecting with tool or I’m asking the wrong types of questions for it. There is not much guidance on this in the book so it will take some time to work that out.
Overall, I enjoy the detail Gypsey provides about the entities and items selected for the symbols which makes it an excellent resource. Applying the divination itself will take some practice and time to get used to it. For me, it doesn’t open up easily and perhaps a little more detail in the “how to use” section would be helpful. But I’m looking forward to continue to work with it and give it an opportunity to sink in.
If you are looking for a divination system that is rooted in Norse spirituality, this is a system that might work for you. It’s not a redressed tarot or oracle deck, nor does it rely on the connection to the rune poems. Once you get into the groove of it, I think it can be a really interesting and valuable way to connect to the spiritual energies of the beings and their unique insights.
Book received from the publisher for review. Comments reflect my own opinions.
Gifts of the Wyrd 