Isa – ice– Isa visited almost exactly a month ago. At that time, it brought the challenging message of finding comfort where it seems there is none. This week, it’s emphasis is intentional immobility.

We’ve talked about how this stave presents a ‘ring pass not’ component–the idea that we all have our limits, through which we cannot move until we find the momentum to do so from our deepest reserves. That’s still true at this time, though the emphasis isn’t so much that we can’t move, as we shouldn’t.

Times have been rather uncomfortable, lately. Collectively and personally, our stories have merged into a long narrative of constant, turbulent change, discomfort if not despair and grief, tinged with moments of elated bliss and quiet reckoning. What these all have in common is deep passion. We’re not living superficially, right now. We aren’t feeling superficially, right now. Everything is vital. Every moment counts. This is the nature of passion, which is of course, recognizing the connection to All Things.

Understand that upheaval forces us to be present, and this is where Isa steps in, with cool, calm support. It’s urging us to just sit tight. Don’t rush; don’t even move. Just allow whatever awareness needs to sink in.

The thing is, we always have the right to say no to greater awareness, enlightenment, or whatever you want to call it. Historically, we’ve been told that when it visits, it’s uncomfortable, if not flat-out painful, that it makes us crazy if not sick, that we can’t say no to it, and that we can never go back to our lives the same. In reality, only the latter of those has to be true. We can’t go back to our lives the same. But we can say, “Reveal this to me in a way that I can readily work with.” “I allow this to come, gently.” We have the ability and the freedom to set boundaries around how we become awakened, and Isa reminds us of that fact. It reminds us to be part of our awakening process, not just the one that awakening happens to.

Yes, this Rune brings reprieve, but that doesn’t have to mean inaction. It doesn’t have to mean subjugation. Use this aside to clarify the parameters under which we become more aware. Maybe that’s the awareness that needs to come–that we have some control over it, how it affects us, how we go forward with it.

I generally think of Isa as bringing a staycation of the soul–the sense of wanting wonder, yet being forced to find it in our own backyard. This time it’s more of a retreat, and we’re its leaders, as well as attendees. —

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