My popular class The Runes Revealed is being offered for the first time as an online option.  One of the unique aspects of the work I do with the runes is my questioning of the commonly held beliefs about the runes and the misplaced focus on Odin.  This male-centric view of the runes and Norse mythology is blatantly evident in the Norse creation story.  
​Are you willing to explore this story, read against the grain so to speak, and view it through a different lens?
Here is the introduction to the course, The Runes Revealed - an (un) familiar journey.
Register for the class now.

Welcome.
You are about to embark on a journey with the runes.
This online course is divided into 11 sessions.  Each session focuses on 3 runes.
Traditionally, the runes appear in a sequence.  However, if you imagine them to be part of a circle, there is no beginning and no ending and what that means for you is that you can work with the sessions in whatever way you choose.
 
You may face challenges and obstacles along the way.  You may get discouraged, overwhelmed or frightened and consider giving it up before you finish.
You will be asked to question things you believe about the runes as well as things that are customarily taught about them.
You will be asked to question things you believe in general and then question whether these beliefs are truly yours or just an accident of your birth.
Some of the information here may feel controversial or confrontational. 
We need that.  We need to step away from the blinding light of higher consciousness in order to see the wisdom that is held in the darkness of the roots and well.
 
There is no right way or wrong way to do the course.
Do it at your own pace, fast or slow.
Do it when you feel like it.
Do it when you don’t feel like it.
Take time to answer the questions.
Take time to find new questions.
If you begin to see rune shapes that you don’t recognize, draw them as best you can and write them down.  Don’t ignore or discount them.  There are countless numbers of runes, not unlike the stars in the sky.  So far, we are familiar with only a few of them.  Trust that it is possible that new runes are being revealed to you.  When you see them or feel them, make note of when you see them, in what context, and observe what was happening around you.
Create altars for the runes as you work with them and come to know them.
 
Look for them. 
They will begin to show up in your life, in strange as well as familiar places.
Cracks in sidewalks.
Tree branches.
Shapes in clouds.
Scratches on the furniture.
Ice crystals that form on you windows.
 
Look at them through different eyes.  Take off the distorted lenses of patriarchal interpretation, in history, in academia, in archaeology.  Read between the lines and go against the grain.  Remove them from the grasping clutches of Odin and see what is missing.  What were they, where were they, before he came on the scene.  The runes were there, long before Odin came forth.
 
Imagine them as multi-faceted crystal shapes that hang suspended in the great void.  Draw them.  Make madalas with them. 
Create designs.  Try using graph paper.
See how they form and inform each other.
 
Don’t limit them by imagining they are a mere alphabet to be used to write your name.  See them instead as the signatures of primal, powerful, complex beings that have much to teach about life and creation and death and destruction.
 
Soften your gaze and see them as they were, woven into the Web of Wyrd by the great Nornir.
 
When you have a question or want to learn more, don’t go first to a book.  Take the time instead to sit in silence, and perhaps in darkness, with the runes and see what they have to show you, what they have to tell you. 
You can learn about someone by reading a book but to truly know someone, you must communicate with them yourself.
 
Create altars for the runes as well as for the multitude of beings who exist in relationship with them. 
Do rituals. 
If a certain rune is calling to you, consider marking it on your body and living with it for awhile.  Or make a piece of jewelry with the rune shape and wear it.
 
Create a set of rune flags, perhaps by painting their shapes on fabric and then hang them over your porch or doorway, or in your window instead of Tibetan prayer flags. 
Drum with them and the ancestors.  Create your own rune song.
Look for artists who make art that honors the Northern Traditions and buy from these artists.
Become conscious and aware of rune wisdom and look for ways to live in harmony with it in your daily life.
Live with them.  Live in relationship with them.
Invite them in.  Let them know they are welcome in you home.
Reclaim your heritage.
Heal the ancestral grief we all suffer from because we have forgotten the great spiritual traditions of Northern Europe.
 
I am available to work with individuals privately, either by phone or in person.  If you’d like to schedule time with me, send an email.
I will respond to your request, usually within 48 hours.
Ingrid, the Rune Woman
Changing Lives With Ancient Wisdom

For more information about the class and to Register, click here.
 

There is a tremendous amount of global earthquake activity happening right now, these last couple of weeks, as well as a volcano erupting in the ocean just off the coast of Oregon and plumes seen rising from many supposedly extinct volcanic craters.
There are some who would say that times of war, revolution, rioting, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc. are caused by Jormungund thrashing in the great ocean of Midgard.
Has this enormous serpent played a role in the past, perhaps triggering or causing massive destruction or even extinction events in the history of the earth?
Do we really think we can detonate nuclear bombs in the body of the Earth, pressure shot chemicals into her and gouge out enormous craters and not have repercussions?
Even the greatest forces of so-called order, religion, politics, society and science, are no match for the power of destruction that is unleashed when the great World Serpent thrashes in the waters of Midgard.  These are just a few of the points we discuss in the Nine Worlds class when talking about the realm of humans.
The live, completely unedited audio recordings of these nine classes are available for purchase.  Please contact me by Email if you're interested.
Ingrid, the Rune Woman
Changing Lives With Ancient Wisdom
Please help support my Journey to the Missing Grandmother
A Story That Needs To Be Told

What significance is there in the telling of the tales that Freya, goddess of death, gets to chose first from among those warriors who have fallen in battle?  Does she not chose the best?  And how does their dwelling in the great hall of Folkvang compare to the drinking and rekilling that goes on in Valhalla?
Do Freya's warriors ride out with Odin at Yule, at the time of the Wild Hunt?  And what happens to those warriors who die at sea and are pulled down to the halls of Ran?
As usual, more questions than answers in the Nine Worlds class.
Why does there need to be a bridge between Midgard and Asgard?
How powerful are the Norns really?
This series of classes is 9 weeks long, 2 hours each week.  The audio recordings are available for purchase.  They are live and absolutely unedited.
Contact me if you're interested in purchasing them.
Ingrid, the Rune Woman
Changing Lives With Ancient Wisdom

Wiser than the Aesir of Asgard.  
Power over the weather, fertility and crops.  
Gods of natural abundance and fertility of the land.
The phallic god of nature's force.
The beauty, pleasure and sexuality of the female's sacred mound. 
Guardians of the wisdom of the Ingwaz rune.
These are the Vanir whose home is the realm of Vanaheim.  Of the Nine Worlds, only two use the word Gard, indicating either a fence or a fortification or boundary around them.  The others all end in the world Heim, the home of the Vanier included.  This seems to indicate realms that are more wild or natural, less domesticated and orderly.
Where did the Vanir come from?  Perhaps they sprung up from the earth.  The well-known Freya and her brother Frey are the off-spring of Nerthus and Njord , the goddess of the earth and the god of sea coast and sailors.
Even though the Vanir are often portrayed as being more gentle and peace-loving than the so-called warrior gods of the Aesir, it was the Vanir who cut off the head of the giant Mimir, uncle of Odin.
It was the Vanir who started the war with the Aesir.
According to the Poetic Edda it is Frey who at the doom of men 'will come back home among the wise Vanir.'
As always, the discussions in the classes of the Nine Worlds series leave us with more questions than answers.
In the photo above do we see the Vanir, turned to wood, standing guard over the grain storage bins?
Live, unedited audio recordings of the Nine Worlds classes are available for purchase.
Email me at Ingrid at IngridKincaid.com for information.
Ingrid the Rune Woman
Bringing Back The Wisdom Of The North
Please support my Journey to the Swedish Sami Reindeer Grandmother and the completion and publishing of my book:  The Lost Teachings of the North-The Runes, The Wheel and The Tree.
GoFundMe Campaign

As I've been teaching the Nine Worlds classes it's felt to me more and more that I move/float/ travel back and forth between the realms in ways that show up as slowing down and speeding up of time, and less importance being given to what day it is, often necessitating me to truly check my date book first thing in the morning to be sure and even then it doesn't always convince me.   Alfheim, Lichtalfheim, Ljossalfheim, home of the Light elf, alf in Norse mythology was the realm explored in Week 7 of the Nine Worlds Class Series and visiting it reminded me of how much lore and how many stories there are about time moving differently in the realm of alf and fairy.  What might seem to be a few moments spent in dancing can in fact be months or even years.  There are tales of people vanishing, only to return years later, confused and wandering.
Perhaps it is not a curse as so often portrayed but rather just the consequence of crossing the threshold into other realms.
Why are there warnings about dancing with them, following them, eating their food?
Why are the alfer so often associated with illness or as being the cause of physical ailments of humans?  Elf shot.  Elf locks.  Elf stroke and so on.
Why in Norse Mythology is the Vanier Freyr said to be lord over Alfheim?  And why is it said that Odin placed him in that position?
Even though the stories don't tell that Freyr and his Jotnir bride Gerda had any offspring, could it be possible that the light alfer are their children?  Are they also shape-shifters as the Jotnir are?
And what is the reason that these beings are so often mentioned alongside the Aesir?
In the Havamal, Dain is mentioned as being one of the lords of Alfheim and he received runes at the same time that Odin grabbed up the futhark and Dvalin and Asvid received theirs.  What are these runes?  Where are they?  How are they used?

"Runes you will find, and readable staves,
Very strong staves,
Very stout staves,
Staves that Bolthor stained,
Made by mighty powers,
Graven by the prophetic God.
For the Gods by Odin, for the Elves by Dain,
By Dvalin, too, for the Dwarves,
By Asvid for the hateful Giants,
And some I carved myself:
Thund, before man was made, scratched them,
Who rose first, fell thereafter."

I love asking questions.  It's not always possible to find answers, nor should we want to.  The realm of all possibility lives in the questions.
If you're interested in participating in these classes, live, unedited recordings of each of them from the Nine Worlds Series are available to purchase.  Email me for more information.
Ingrid, the Rune Woman
Wise and Irreverent
Changing Lives With Ancient Wisdom
You can help support my journey to the Arctic Circle in Sweden and the completion of the book:  The Lost Teachings of the North.
Donate to my GoFundMe Campaign

The Nine Worlds
Dark forests and tops of mountains, rocky crags, the snow of the vast wilderness and the feared wildness of Nature, Utgard, outside the fence, the place of the self-willed beasts.
This is the realm of the giants.  This is Jotunheim.
Separated from the orderly, law-abiding, civilized, domestication of the high gods by Ifing, the river of Doubt.  Yet even the so-called high gods carry the bloodlines of the Jotnfolk.

Mimir’s well of wisdom is in Jotunheim, as is Gastropnir, the healing palace of the giantess Mengloth.
And deep in the heart of Jotunheim you will find the Myrkwood, home to Angrboda, Wolf Chieftess and ruler of the nine clans, mother of monstrosities who were fathered by Loki.

The word giant often conjures up images of stupid, lumbering, huge beings that are most often destructive.  Yet in ancient Norse and Germanic tales the Jotunfolk of Northern Traditions were keepers of ancient wisdom,  and the deep elemental knowledge of the forces of creation and destruction.  Even the gods sought them out to take counsel from them.

There are those who believe in a single god, creator of all things and who strive to communicate with him through various channels such as the angels, the saints and the resurrected son.
There are those who believe in the many gods, pantheons of divine powers indwelling in all life and perhaps it is not we who seek out these beings but rather they contact us.

These concepts expressed above opened up a grand and lively discussion in The Nine Worlds class and presented an opportunity to explore the river of Doubt and cross back and forth over its fast-moving waters that never freeze.

Such conversations are necessary and vital.  As Raven Kaldera states in Jotunbok - Working With The Giants Of The Northern Tradition:

“We are finding ourselves in a place and time where civilization has run out of balance...we are as menaced by the side-effects of progress as our ancestors were by the feral wolf pack, and we are finding that a new respect for and partnership with Nature is now necessary for our survival.”

It’s time for us to remember, reconnect with and honor the primal beings of Jotunheim.

Ingrid, the Rune Woman
Changing Lives With Ancient Wisdom

You can help support my journey to the missing grandmother and the writing and publishing of my next book, The Lost Teachings of the North.
Donate to my GoFundMe campaign.

“I don’t think there exists a people on Earth that have not been cut off from their core cultural values and indigenous spiritual traditions through war, oppression, and colonization.”  Kari Tauring-Nordic Roots author, educator and performer.
One could rightly say then that humans are a species that lives with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  And universally it’s the women who suffer the brunt of violence, degradation, humiliation and devastation.
Genetic information from our ancestors determines physical characteristics and at the same time this genetic information carries the energy of unhealed wounds, unfinished business and grief.


The majority of people who come to me for spiritual counseling and direction, as well as classes and workshops, are of Northern European descent.  Many of them carry some mixed lineage but the predominate line is European.  Over and over again what I see and feel is the presence of inherited ancestral grief, a grief that can be called Old Grief, old because it happened so long ago it has been all but forgotten and New Grief, because it is held in our genetic energy patterns and is born again and again.

People of Northern European descent have forgotten that their own ancestors were indigenous people who suffered violence, cultural destruction, and spiritual devastation in the name of religion and civilization.  The face of indigenous isn't always a face of color.

This topic of Inherited Ancestral Grief is tightly woven together with the purpose of my journey to Northern Sweden and my interest in the Missing Grandmothers.  I will be exploring it further in upcoming blogs.
I’m happy to answer questions via email.

Please take this opportunity to support my Go Fund Me Campaign, not only with donations but also by sharing the campaign with your friends and family on FaceBook or in any other way you wish.  Thank you.


Ingrid, the Rune Woman
Changing Lives With Ancient Wisdom
Awaken Your Hunger

 

These tiny little crocus bulbs are sending up shoots of color in tune with the vibrations of spring.  They're aware that something's happening even if most of us don't stop to pay attention.
February 2 marks the halfway point between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox.  You can be sure that our indigenous, Northern European ancestors paid attention.  Their lives depended on it.
Did they have enough food and fuel to last until the weather got warm enough for them to go outdoors and begin gathering greens and wild bird's eggs?
Would they be able to make it if winter lasted well into April or May?

In the documentary Rivers and Tides, artist Andy Goldsworthy, creates an outdoor piece of art that gives visible evidence to the fact that even the stalks of plants that died the winter before are affected by the quickening.  I highly recommend setting aside the time to watch this documentary.  It will change your perspective of and relationship with nature.  Rivers and Tides.
For any of you who live in the greater Portland, Oregon area, you are welcome to attend a ritual I'm leading Monday evening February 2, 2015, honoring Brigid, the Quickening, and the taking stock of whether or not we will make it to Spring.  Contact me personally for information.
Ingrid, the Rune Woman
Changing Lives With Ancient Wisdom
Awaken Your Hunger
I'm available to do private Rune readings and spiritual counseling either in person or by phone/Skype/Facetime.