I drew this picture for a dear friend. We had chatted about the shape of the universe. I had talked about one of my usual favourite shapes, where you take one point in the universe, one zero point, or one item, from the smallest possible particle, to any subset you like of the energy of all of the universe (and in fact, why not, up to and including the entirety of it all), and then you take its relationship with every other zero point, item/particle/subset, the entirety of it all, and you represent the original thing as the centre, and all these relationships with all these other things as lines heading out from that centre, and then you realise that it's like Indra's web or Indra's pearls, and all the things in everything each individually contain all the rest of it, and it's somehow like that thing of interconnectedness that Buddhists and other assorted enlightened and awakened folk tend to talk about the experience of (which really ultimately can only be experienced and not as easily spoken about or put into words or pictures, though we will continue to try), where all is one, and all that kind of thing. Which is quite beautiful really. But interestingly, there is one difference between these things, and that is a frame of reference, which is given by the point/thing/item/particle/subset/entirety in particular that is in the centre, in that particular arrangement.
Anyway, so then I had asked him what he thought about the shape of the universe and he said spirals and I thought "Oooh, yes, spirals…" Because I just really love spirals. And that also got me thinking once again of the shape of things and how there are these things that I like to think of as self-perpetuating evolving patterns, where basically, how anything comes to have any sense at all, is in its similarity to other things. Somehow there are these relationships of likeness, though at the same time some kind of separateness, and some kind of change, and that's where things appear, out of the picture that is the general randomness of everything, in all its possible arrangements. And then I started thinking about life, and how life is like that too, and how I'd thought about that some time before, that things repeat, you find yourself in the same place. But it's not the same place, it's different this time. But it's also alike.
And then I was thinking about my friend, about spirals, and about life. And I wanted to draw him a picture, and so I started. And it came out like this. And it just happened that way. And I really quite enjoy imagining it in more than the 2 dimensions of the page, up and down, above and below, forwards and backwards in time and space and around, and around, and around…
And I liked that an S happened, all by itself. Because my friend's name starts with S and that's cool. And I love that the S happened at the most beautiful, harmonious, glorious singing part of the picture, which to me tells a story of one of those times in life that just shines. When everything is beautiful and love is everywhere and your heart smiles like the sun at all of the world. And it swoops and dives and soars with joy, and it also travels carefully inwards and carefully outwards again, gathering power as it turns both inwards and outwards again, and on to continue…
And there are also some times where there are spirals down, spirals in chaos, spirals in darkness, spirals continuing around and around, seemingly stuck and not getting anywhere much at all, until, finally, the way up gathers momentum, the way out gathers momentum, the way on gathers momentum, and the momentum finally increases enough, and onwards and outwards and upwards you fly, once more, slowly at first, gathering height and gathering strength, and then the flow of creativity and movement and dance carries it on and on to the next story, the next episode, the next movement in the dance… Slow or fast, careful or reckless, constrained or free, still or animated, upwards downwards, inwards, outwards, and around again…
And always, from the beginning, there was going to be a background. I had some ideas. Completely different ideas as it happens, to what happened in the end. Which ended up being made up of use of a technique about shape and space, and tones. The colours also representing the clear blue clarity of the sky above the clouds, or with sun shining on a clear day, and also the deepest indigo insight of the night, moonlit introspection, and reflection.
And then from that intuitive drawing process, the spiral, the shape and the space, appeared the rune. I recognised it as a rune, and I thought this was lovely and so fitting, because for many years my friend has used runes. And I looked up the meaning of this one, that had manifested itself as my outlines closed in on it, and this is it. Oh so perfect…
(From http://nookofnames.com/2012/01/03/rune-names-wynn/)
Rune Names — Wynn
January 3, 2012 by Nook of Names
Another seasonally appropriate rune — by pure coincidence — Wynn.
It means “joy.”
Wynn is only found in two systems, the Eldar Futhark, and the Anglo-Frisian; it is missing from both the Younger and the Marcomannic:
- Eldar Futhark: *Wunjō
- Anglo-Frisian: Ƿynn (Wynn)
Predictably, with the meaning “joy,” it is all sunshine and light in the rune poems.
Modern rune interpreters see Wynn as symbolic of joy in all its aspects, from the wonder and delight of childhood, to the sexual pleasure of adulthood.
As such it is a rune that reminds us to embrace the Now; to live in and enjoy the moment, grasping life with both hands, and not dwelling always in the past or the future, a trap so many of us fall into all too readily.
…
And a story about stories that this drawing illustrates can be found here.
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