I spent the last week chasing healing for a severely arthritic knee. I learned I need to slow down and be patient. However, the doctors didn’t tell me that, the Runes did. The treatment process will be ongoing for the next season, or three. I’ll likely need surgery down the road, but regardless of surgery timeframe, I need to get stronger.
To get stronger, I first needed to completely rearrange my home to facilitate better flow for my mobility, a physical therapy spot, and an ergonomic tune-up in all my work spaces. Little did I know the Runes were following me through the whole thing.
This new normal and journey to healing has brought up a lot of feels for me. Not surprising, since fighting against capitalism has been a key foundation in the Craft work that I do. But what a reminder this week has been. There has been a lot of dialogue this week in my world about production, worth, abilities, new disabilities, and a general berating of my unchecked to-do list. I felt underwater, as if Laguz (ᛚ) had swallowed me.
Number one on my to-do list is assisting people in living their most magical life. Capitalism is the antithesis of magic. My creative consulting business focuses on how what I’ve learned living a life in the Craft can help others to live one, too. However, much of my time right now must be spent on healing, while balancing the demands of life. I expect I will have to remind myself that prioritizing self-care is magic. Bringing my Practice along whilst I do the things necessary to heal brought out renewed energy towards disrupting systems that are unhealthy for the Earth, people, and ourselves. This journey began with me turning to the tools of my Craft to help boost my resolve to get better and do so without internalizing capitalism’s judgment of how I live. I did this by spending extra time with the Elder Futhark.
I took a bag of Runes along with an ice pack and heating pad and did all the hot/cold sessions that my medical team wanted me to complete in a day, to stave off the nastiest of the inflammation in my poor knee. And then I started divining while healing. I jumped into digital communities where other mystics and seekers hang out and I gifted readings to others. An exercise in maybe feeling productive, but also as I did it more and more, I recognized I was able to partner with these ancient symbols as another layer of healing. It morphed into a spell for healing as I put out that complimentary witchy energy to others. The beacon of hope that is Kenaz (<) gifted me with inspiration when I didn’t even know I was looking for it.
As I sat with the Runes, meditating on the symbols between Odin Pulls for others, they brought other things deep into focus. Raidho (ᚱ) came in with its over-arching perspective: Capitalism doesn’t just organize economies. It organizes nervous systems. When productivity becomes worth, rest feels like guilt. When survival depends on output, burnout becomes normal. That isn’t a personal failure. That’s structural trauma. Under capitalism, self-neglect is reframed as drive. Overwork is ambition. Exhaustion is hustle. We learn to override hunger, fatigue, grief, and the witch’s most important tool: intuition. Then we wonder why we feel disconnected from ourselves.
A system that rewards constant production trains us to abandon our bodies. We ignore pain. We silence intuition. We distrust rest. Imagine! We don’t feel trusting enough to take a minute to breath, take a nap, or make our sleep schedule sacred. Self-care in the eyes of capitalism becomes another task to optimize instead of a relationship with ourselves, especially in the care of our physical bodies. Ehwaz (ᛖ) reminded that self-trust is the key to harmony.
Trauma isn’t only catastrophic events. It’s non-stop pressure. It’s economic precarity. It’s never feeling safe enough to slow down. When your survival feels conditional, your nervous system never fully recovers. Add chronic illness into the mix and you have another are of your life that capitalism makes you feel less than. This is where spiritual practices can become radical, as my Craft has done for me over the years. It’s not as escapism, or aesthetic. It is reclamation. My time. My body. My mind. My Practice. Take divination for example: Rune divination invites slowness, reflection and listening. That is the opposite of the constant output demanded by capitalism. Isa (I) provided the on-time message of Rest Is Doing.
Casting Runes isn’t about predicting the future. It’s about interrupting the grind long enough to ask: What am I ignoring? What truth am I avoiding? Where am I out of alignment? It’s structured pause in a system that profits from your exhaustion. Runes require presence. You breathe. You focus. You feel (sometimes I hear, too). That moment alone challenges a culture that wants your attention fragmented and monetized. Attention is power. Reclaiming it is healing. Much like the Seed Rune (ᛜ), Ingwaz’s energy let’s us lean on that self-focus.
Capitalism says: Be productive. Divination asks: Be honest. Capitalism says: Do more. The Elder Futhark asks: What matters. One measures value in output. The other measures value in awareness. When you sit with the Runes, you’re practicing listening instead of reacting, reflection instead of performance, and meaning instead of metrics. That’s nervous system repair. That’s self-trust rebuilding.
Taking care of yourself in a system that benefits from your depletion is not indulgent. It’s resistance. If Runes help you slow down, reconnect, and remember your inner authority. That’s not fallacy, that’s reclamation.
What messages do the Runes have for you? The Creative Crone Shop features Rune Castings for a quick questions or long-detailed year-ahead readings. What guidance does the Elder Futhark have for you? Book a casting with Runa today.
