Runelore

Elder Futhark

The image on the left spells out my name, Janis. The individual rune names are Jera, Ansuz, Nauthiz, Isa, Sowilo. Notice how a few are very close to our alphabet. Regular disclaimer: There are many variations in names, shapes, direct meanings, and magical meanings.

I’m using the Elder Futhark which is a combination of those symbols most often seen in northern Europe. So, if you’ve seen other symbols or names, I believe you!

Don’t worry, this is not a scholarly piece on runelore. I became interested in runes many years ago because I had a friend who read Tarot cards. I felt that since the reader dealt the cards, it was easy to manipulate which ones were drawn.

When reading runes, the person with the question draws the runic tiles from a bag, which meant the interpreter had nothing to do with the selection of symbols in the spread. I read runes for co-workers at social functions and really enjoyed the experience. A couple of moves later and I lost track of my set.

Last year, I found my precious rune bag in one of those boxes that yield treasures after collecting dust in your garage for years. I knew I wanted to study runelore to relearn the interpretations. Since I look at everything as a writer now, I’m amazed that I missed the language aspects of runelore. Anyone who has read my blogs knows I have a passion for language and how it developed.

Our current language uses letters to form words that create meaning. A letter by itself means nothing.

Runic symbols have meanings in themselves, which leads to rune casting. How rich a language it is! The ISA symbol means ice which binds with fire. A balance is created. When the pattern goes out of balance, the destructive force of fire and ice are unleashed.

Think how the early civilizations made sense of their world. First, they used storytelling to explain phenomena and take comfort in the story. Then, they created a written language that gave them the power to communicate with each other and the modern world that found their etchings all over the world.

With 24 runic symbols, you can imagine how hard it is to become proficient in interpreting casts. I’m studying because I’d like to interpret some castings in a month at a writing retreat. I don’t know if I’ll be ready, because there is so much material, but the subject is fascinating.

As for the similarity of the symbols with our alphabet, linguists call the Elder Futhark alphabet proto-Germanic, which stems from proto-Indo-European.

The thirst to decipher our daily lives continues to astound me. Language is an ever-evolving way to communicate. The more I learn, the more I appreciate even the shortcuts of texting language. And I never thought that would happen.

* Runelore: The Magic, History, and Hidden Codes of the Runes, Edred Thorsson, 2012.

 

Spring

Spring is sprung

The grass is ris

I wonder where the flowers is?

Last week, Lynn shared the crazy that comes in her workplace when in May. That got me thinking about spring. With our temperamental weather of April days ranging from 51 degrees – 91 degrees in the daytime and our lowest overnight temp of 28 degrees, even Boise natives were shaking their heads in wonder. What the heck was going on with Spring 2012?

April showers bring May flowers.

We’re going to have a heck of a lot of flowers! Boise is in a valley surrounded by desert. In April, 13 days out of 30, we had rain of varying amounts. At the end of April, over an inch fell in one day. That’s extremely rare in Idaho.

Don’t plant your garden until the snow is off Shafer Butte.

The weather isn’t a fascinating topic for a writing blog. What interested me was that I immediately remembered these old poems/sayings without even consciously thinking about it. How cool is that? They are simple, humorous, and they won’t ever win any writing prizes.

But, they lasted.

Why? I know that we all have sayings from our parents and grandparents, but some are just…there.

For the profound writing, we know that Christopher Vogler writes about the hero’s journey and posits that all of us share a collective conscious that responds to the steps in such a journey. There are many more books on how to achieve greatness in writing, and many different theories.

But, what about the not-so-profound? What about “Spring has sprung…”

Do you have any favorite bon mots about the weather or spring that pops into your mind without any help or deep thinking? Let’s take time off from deep thoughts and have some fun with it.

 

Sense Sense

As writers, we strive to use the five senses to enhance all aspects of our stories (I know, there are more than five). Let’s agree to be purists today. Fair warning, this is actually about the evolution of our language.

In different environments, language evolves because there are proprietary meanings associated with that particular business. Sometimes, this is necessary and appropriate. Acronyms are a popular form of language that business uses and I’m sure you’ve seen comedy bits of dialogue made up almost entirely of those abbreviations. It seems like you’re hearing a foreign language, and you are.

One phrase that has become standard bugs me. Not an eloquent way to say it, but true. It doesn’t make sense.

Reaching out used to mean touching. I reached out my hand and touched someone/something. Touch is one of the primary five senses. Easy to understand.

In many fields, it now means to contact. I first heard it in cop shows. The tough cop or detective would say, “I’ll reach out to my snitch. See if he knows anything.”

Okay, it’s television. Maybe the show consultant told them that phrase is used in the field. But then…my vendors (I’m a tech reseller) started saying, “Janis, just thought I’d reach out and see if you need anything. We have some great new products.”

I thought, no, you’re calling me. Don’t say you’re reaching out, because you’ll have a heck of a time getting to me through the phone lines. The use of “reach out” as meaning to contact is widespread now. I hear it in meetings at work (a university) and on almost any movie or television show involving dialogue where someone has to contact another person.

I ran across an article called “The 25 Most Annoying Phrases Business Managers Use” and, sure enough, there it was. Click on the link to see the rest. I’m sure you’ll recognize most of the 25. Here’s the entry on “reaching out.”

Reaching Out – This phrase is probably most annoying because it seems no one calls or emails anymore, they just reach out – its usage has certainly exploded. The image of someone reaching out to us is more than a little creepy, and yet more and more of our colleagues tell us they are “reaching out” to us – we’d prefer they just email. The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Contact.

I love that our language is fluid and evolves. But, some changes bug me. It doesn’t make sense.

How about you? Are there phrases or words whose meaning has changed that push your button?

 

1953

My grandfather was an Appaloosa horse rancher in Ola, Idaho. Horses bred from his stud, Dark Warrior, were sold all over the country. Born in 1899 and a product of his generation, Grandpa didn’t talk much or show his feelings often. He worked hard, rode hard, and worshipped God. My mother was the eldest and the only daughter, followed by three sons.

Grandpa expected his children to work the ranch. Doing your part was expected. The third-born child (second-born son) didn’t like the ranch or the work. It happens. He left as soon as he could, rarely communicated, and was estranged the rest of their lives. It was much the same with his siblings. He seemed to resent them, according to Mom.

I heard about this uncle every now and then from Mom. He was in California and started his own church. He got married. He got divorced. He left California. As executrix of my grandparents’ estate, the next time Mom heard from him was when he accused her of cheating him out of his fair share. My mom was the type who would put a quarter or a dollar in with her children’s birthday presents if the total didn’t add up to the exact total of the other kids’ gifts. She was crushed that her brother would think that of her.

We heard he finally settled Boise in his later years. That was the last we heard until we read his death notice in late March.

Forgive the long intro, but I wanted to put in the backstory.

After Mom died, we were going through her things. We found a poem that Grandpa wrote about this wayward son. This rancher, this taciturn, stern man put down on paper what he couldn’t share with any of us. Hopefully, he was able to do so with Grandma. He died just shy of eight weeks after she did. He had no previous illness and was strong and agile for his age. The doctor said it was of a broken heart. Grandpa loved her so deeply that he couldn’t go on. Here is the poem.

1953

by Edwin Antonio Gardner

Many years we’d been together
Just our little family tree
Kay and Bud and Marvin, Lary
And of course there’s Ma and me.

Come Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year
Made no difference what the day
We’d be eating, joking, hopin’
It could always be that way.

Christmas day in fifty three
Turkey’s cookin’ shoppin’s done
Presents wrapped, we are waitin’
But there’s one who wouldn’t come.

If he only knew the feelin’
Of the parents he forsook
Or by magic he could peek in
See their silent, vacant look.

Then at night when all is still
And outside there is a chill
Ma and I will think it through
Of what it was we didn’t do.

Ma will read a bit of Bible
And we’ll have a silent prayer
Then we’ll finally seek our rest
Thinking of the one out there.

 

Civil Rejection

Unless you are one of the lucky few, you’ve gotten a rejection from a publisher or agent. You also know the best ways to deal with it. I never thought I’d say this, but even getting a rejection letter in this day’s publishing world is an affirmation.

Over the past few years, common civility in all things has taken a downturn of near mammoth proportions. Almost five years ago, my workplace had their employees read “Choosing Civility: The Twenty-Five Rules of Considerate Conduct” by P.M. Forni. I remember my bemusement that someone actually earned money for a book that said:

1. Pay Attention.
2. Acknowledge Others
3. Think the Best
4. Listen
5. Be Inclusive
6. Speak Kindly
7. Don’t Speak Ill
8. Accept and Give Praise
9. Respect Even a Subtle “No”
10. Respect Others’ Opinions

These are only the first ten Rules.

So simple. So obvious. I thought everyone knew this was how to behave.

And yet…

Civility appears to be less a priority these days. People don’t have TIME for it. It’s like people are hamsters running inside the wheel.

Regarding rejection letters, many publishers no longer send them. You send off your submission whether it’s ground mail or electronic and the editors don’t have TIME to notify you of their decision. The non-response rejects you. No feedback, no “this opinion is subjective, good luck” darkens your e-mail or mailbox. Your efforts are not only barely acknowledged, you might not get a letter even if you put a SASE in your snail mail submission. No TIME is an acceptable excuse for lack of civility.

How about electronic submissions? It should be easy to send a one-line rejection via e-mail. After all, they have an automatic message about having received it. Often, they have no TIME to send a rejection. I’m not writing this because I’m upset that I haven’t heard from an agent or editor, although now I long for a good old-fashioned rejection letter. They stung, but they were civil.

Just for fun, here is a brief rejection history of these writers and works:

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – 14 rejections

Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis – 17 rejections

Carrie by Stephen King – over 30 rejections

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell – 38 rejections

A Time to Kill by John Grisham – 45 rejections

Louis L’Amour, author of over 100 western novels – over 300 rejections before publishing his first book

Ray Bradbury, author of over 100 science fiction novels and stories – around 800 rejections before selling his first story

The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter – rejected so universally the author decided to self-publish the book

From rejection slip for George Orwell’s Animal Farm: “It is impossible to sell animal stories in the U.S.A.”

From rejection slip for Norman MacLean’s A River Runs Through It: “These stories have trees in them.”

From rejection slip for article sent to the San Francisco Examiner to Rudyard Kipling: “I’m sorry, Mr. Kipling, but you just don’t know how to use the English language.”

From rejection slip for The Diary of Anne Frank:  “The girl doesn’t, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the curiosity level.”

Rejection slip for Dr. Seuss’s And To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street:  “Too different from other juveniles on the market to warrant its selling.”

I’m all for change, but I miss civility. I miss it when I hear or observe how people treat others. I miss it when I listen to politicians. I miss it almost every day.

How about you?