Fix the Ladder

This week I'll be using the Tarot of Timeless Truth, a book and deck set created and self-published by Leila Vey. The oracle I'll be using is the Rune Cards, created by Tony Linsell and Brian Partridge and published by Anglo-Saxon Books. Today's draws are the Four of Wands and "Haegl/Hagalaz:"

          Instead of people dancing around four decorated staffs, here's a guy who just landed on a beach. I imagine him to have left his homeland in search of a more peaceful place with more opportunities. He literally has nothing but the shirt on his back, but the fact that he's made the long journey across the ocean in one piece is reason enough for celebration. Yet he'll have to find food and shelter soon, especially with the next card, Hagalaz. The Anglo-Saxon poem for this rune reads:

Hail is the whitest of grains.

It descends from heaven's air

and swirls in the wind.

Soon it returns to water.

Right in the middle of your happy dance comes a jolt that even the Weather Channel couldn't predict. Indeed the rune itself looks like a ladder whose rungs have broken. And that's what it feels like - climbing the ladder to success only to find yourself sliding back to the ground. But the last part of the poem is important - "soon it returns to water." This is only a setback, not the end. Unless I give up, sit on the beach and fill my boots with tears. No, I think I'd rather find some nails and fix that ladder.