Goodbye to the Familiar

From the Victorian Fairy Tarot, the Six of Winter (Swords); from the Haindl Rune Cards, Uruz:

The world is full of people who have never, since childhood, met an open doorway with an open mind.

―E. B. White

These fairies have grown tired of the quarreling and sniping among their community. It can be hard to be a part of a group where no one listens to anyone but themselves and thinks their ideas and experiences are the only legitimate ones. It can be even harder to leave behind that association when one has a long history there. Here in the U.S., churches affiliated with the Southern Baptists are leaving because of their refusal to allow women as pastors. The United Methodists have fundamentalist groups splintering off because they disagree with their compassionate LGBT views. Uruz represents the aurochs, an extinct species of wild oxen that stood six feet tall at the shoulder, weighed more than 3,000 pounds, and had horns that measured 4.5 feet from tip to tip. It is easy to see why this rune is associated with strength, endurance and courage. As Raymond Lindquist wrote, "Courage is the power to let go of the familiar." Sometimes it's the only way to find or create something different and better.