Examining Isa in 2022
Last year I was talking a bit about Rune Hjarno Rasmussen’s Runic Animist Calendar and the companion book the Runic Animist Year. The rune for 2020 was Hail, and the rune for 2021 was Need. I talked about them here.
Moving forward the Golden Number rune for 2022 is ice (Isa). This is the rune that represents where the New Moon falls on the Runic Animist Calendar and it is also linked with the Swedish Rune poem, which makes a sort of prediction for how the year will go.
Is bro bredast.
Ice is the broadest bridge.
Isköld, Winteråhr.
Ice-cold winter year.
This suggests a harsh winter this year but also the bridge out of the harshness that we experienced in the previous two years.
We can compare it to the Norwegian Runic poem to gain more insights:
Ís ko, llum brú bræiða;
blindan þarf at læiða.
Ice we call the broad bridge;
the blind man must be led.
Again we see the reference to the bridge but this time with a caution; an ice bridge is still slippery and dangerous. We must proceed carefully.
There are also the Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon rune poems, which are a bit different in words.
In the Anglo- Saxon poem it reads:
Is byþ oferceald, ungemetum slidor,
glisnaþ glæshluttur gimmum gelicust,
flor forste geƿoruht, fæger ansyne.
Ice is very cold and immeasurably slippery;
It glistens as clear as glass and most like to gems;
It is a floor wrought by the frost, fair to look upon.
Again we see cautions in this one, that ice is building a “floor” but is “fair to look upon” but also “immeasurably slippery.” There is a way ahead, but it is an arduous one.
The Icelandic rune poem reads:
Íss er árbörkr
ok unnar þak
ok feigra manna fár.
glacies jöfurr.
Ice is bark of rivers
and roof of the wave
and destruction of the doomed. (and to doomed men ice reigns calamity)
The Icelandic poem is less cheery. It also suggests a way forward, crossing the river. This time on the “bark” rather than a bridge, but it is “the destruction of the doomed,” so we must be wary.
We can look back at the headlines of 2003, to see how an Isa year might pan out.
The major news story was the US and Britain declaring war on Iraq, which was the escalation resulting from the 9-11 attack on twin towers in 2001. As you can see the 3 year pattern of 2001-2003 with a significant event, that lead to recession and then war
Looking at our own 3 year event pattern, we are thinking about opening up things as the 2 year long lockdowns from covid slowly lift. We also see recession patterns and … surprise… war as well.
If we look at crops from 2003,
Canadian crops increased production from the previous year.
I, however, also like to look at how crops did in Scandinavia to line up the rune poems with their geographic regions. Southern Europe had a heatwave in 2003, but Sweden reported cooler summer temperatures than the year before, with good crop yield. Only the very south of Sweden was negatively affected.
This seems to suggest for us a promising year for agriculture. We will have plenty of opportunities opening up to us as the cycle of the past 3 years comes to a close. The wide ice bridge opens up for us if we act carefully. We can expect progress, not stagnance, as long as we exercise caution.
Further Reading:
“The Norwegian Rune Poem” https://hellopoetry.com/poem/658226/the-norwegian-rune-poem/
“Bark of rivers and roof of the wave” https://some-landscapes.blogspot.com/2015/03/bark-of-rivers-and-roof-of-wave.html
“Production of principal field crops” https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/031205/dq031205b-eng.htm
“2003 European heat wave" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_European_heat_wave
The Nordic Animist Year by Rune Rasmussen
