Runes in divination | INFJ Forum

Yugen

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Oct 1, 2018
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Hi there, I am quite new to divination despite practicing magic from some time. I need advice on how to read runes and their meanings in divination. If some of you witches and/or wiccans out there could help me I'd be grateful! I know the different methods but once you have your runes out how do you usually know what they mean applied to your specific situation? Sorry for the bad english
 
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Hi Yugen,
I'm not able to answer your question, but just wanted to respond with my curiosity about your request coupled with your screen name.

In so many words I'm understanding that you're wondering which runes or sigils will help to predict the future.

For your screen name, I was just recently listening to a recorded seminar by Alan Watts (I'll share link below) where he describes the Japanese concept of yugen:

"Somehow, you know, the poet has got the intuition -- the fact that things are always running out, that things are always disappearing, has some hidden marvel in it. The Japanese have a word, yugen, which has no English equivalent whatsoever. Yugen is, in a way, 'digging change'. It's described poetically; you have the feeling of yugen, when you see out in the distant water, some ships hidden behind a far off island. You have the feeling of yugen when you watch wild geese suddenly seen and then lost in the clouds. You have the feeling of yugen when you look across Mount Tamalpais, and you've never been to the other side, and you see the sky beyond; you don't go over there to see what's on the other side -- that wouldn't be yugen. You let the other side be the other side. And it evokes something in your imagination, but you don't attempt to define it, to pin it down. So, in the same way, the coming and going of things in the world is marvelous. They go. Where do they go? Don't answer! Because that would spoil the mystery. They vanish into the mystery. But if you try to pursue them, you've destroyed yugen...
Yugen: the mystery of change. Life is life because -- just because -- it's always disappearing."


Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki, in Zen and Japanese Culture wrote,
Yugen is a compound word, each part, yu and gen, meaning “cloudy impenetrability,” and the combination meaning “obscurity,” “unknowability,” “mystery,” “beyond intellectual calculability,” but not “utter darkness.” An object so designated is not subject to dialectical analysis or to a clear-cut definition. It is not at all presentable to our sense-intellect as this or that, but this does not mean that the object is altogether beyond the reach of human experience. In fact, it is experienced by us, and yet we cannot take it out into the broad daylight of objective publicity. It is something we feel within ourselves, and yet it is an object about which we can talk, it is an object of mutual communication only among those who have the feeling of it. It is hidden behind the clouds, but not entirely out of sight, for we feel its presence, its secret message being transmitted through the darkness however impenetrable to the intellect. The feeling is all in all. Cloudiness or obscurity or indefinability is indeed characteristic of the feeling. But it would be a great mistake if we took this cloudiness for something experientially valueless or devoid of significance to our daily life.


So, with all of this... wouldn't divination spoil the mystery? This is not to say that divination is "bad" -- it just seems to be out of resonance with yugen.

 
Firstly, I'm really pleased that you found interest in this and your question totally makes sense. Yes, Yugen is all that you mentioned above and it is also defined as "an awareness of the universe that triggers emotional responses too deep and powerful for words" which is what I mostly relate to. I feel like yugen will always be part of our lives since we are humans and therefore limited in terms of knowledge. Due to this I think that trying to preserve it is not really necessary as there will always be something unknown triggering our wonder. Besides I have always been a curious person who aims to know as much as possible and I believe that it does not contrast with yugen meaning that it will always be in my life. As to divination it doesn't predict the future, at least in my opinion, but it gives insight on the different possibilities and outcomes of a situation. Therefore the future is still a mistery as divination only gives me a hint when I feel that I need one
 
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Thanks, Yugen. I felt it was synchronistic to see your thread so recently after listening to Watts' seminar. I appreciate your explanation on divination and getting more insight. The opportunity for 'play' in the universe is very great :)
 
Thanks, Yugen. I felt it was synchronistic to see your thread so recently after listening to Watts' seminar. I appreciate your explanation on divination and getting more insight. The opportunity for 'play' in the universe is very great :)
I will listen to his seminar, it sounds interesting. Thanks to you!
 
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