— Lacking the Fire
and the steel of celestial Ice.
Lacking the view unshielded
from the height of the flight,
by the cold wind,
teach, Mother Bird of Prey.

— Upper-left is Water,
Lower-right is Fire,
In the middle, a bit of Void, Human,
Enough to set you free.

The initial separation process is represented by the rune Kenaz:

One of its names is "Torch," and the other is "Ulcer."

When you enter a dark cave, you see nothing. You can't distinguish anything in the darkness. If you bring your torch with you, the cave is lighted up, and now you can distinguish walls, obstacles, and the freeway ahead.

This separation process is the foundation of perception. It does not create anything but allows the distinguishing of one thing from another, so still, we can say perception creates the world of things.

Initially, the dark cave already has everything within, and it is holistic.

When we break down the incoming stream of universal perception into separate objects, it is a destructive process that causes pain and longing for lost integrity.

Another meaning of this rune can be compared with a wound left by a scalpel, dissecting a whole and introducing emptiness between two parts of something that once was one.

As we briefly discussed in the introduction chapter, we place each rune onto a grid of 5 horizontal lines representing different levels or realms where energy can be or go.

The rune Kenaz has two rays beaming from the center point, upward and downward.

Niflheim is described as being in the north. In a shamanic sense, it's the upper world. Muspelheim is in the south, and it's a lower world.

When we "play" this rune from left to right, we see how a single point in the center splits into two, moving up and down to the very top and very bottom levels. These two top and bottom levels we call the worlds of Water and Fire.

Both have their internal potential direction: Water "wants" to flow down, and Fire burns up.

The power of Kenaz keeps them apart, and you can feel this in a dualistic way:

• as the separation of the initial uniformity into two opposites,
• and as infinite zooming into the Kenaz tip, so the rays may feel static, but you, as an observer, are moving into the depths, closer and closer to the tip, but never reaching it. It’s like you are moving along these rays downward.

For the world of Fire, there is a direct analogy with Muspelheim in the Norse tradition. But for the world of Water, the analogy is not so straightforward.

Niflheim is not exclusively associated with Water. But we know primeval spring Hvergelmir is located there, the source of all rivers and Water from this spring is participating in the world's creation, being frozen and re-melted in the process.

In the creation myth, there is another mysterious substance mentioned, yeast venom "Eitrkvikja". At some point, it's described as "hardening as a slug running out of Fire". In runic alchemy, based on practice, we believe this "yeast venom" originates from the Fire of Muspelheim, and we will see later how Earth is condensed and solidified from the Fire when Fire is cooled down by Water.

Niflheim is associated with frost and Ice, and the role of Ice itself is much more complex than just being a source of Water; it is also a source of Order, as we will see later.

When we just begin the Creation, starting from Kenaz, we take Fire from the bottom and Water from the top. Water from the top flows down to the left hand, and Fire rises from the bottom to the right one.

Kenaz normally looks like this:

But from the practitioner's perspective, an upper Water ray of Kenaz matches the left hand and the lower ray matches the right, Fire hand, and the middle level of Emptiness appear as vertical, while you are sitting at the tip of the rune, so both rays start from your solar plexus and end in the centers of your palms:

Just as the universe was first separated, in this initial phase of the alchemical process, we want to be divided into two halves from our starting mixed and impure state, to be recreated at a higher level.

Emptiness is dark, so the black sun is the beginning of the story. Like an eclipse in your solar plexus, a mixed, dark combination of Sun + Moon, from where both Fire and Water originate. When One divides itself and puts two opposites apart, what still remains in the center is Emptiness - the creative force which breaks initial innocence of knowing not. One cannot look at itself, so it splits into halves to let them look at each other. Opposites are different, but the gaze remains the same.

We will learn later how Air will be born later from Water and Earth will be born from Fire, but even in a trinity state before opposites meet again to discover each other, the eye of the Water is the eye of an eagle, creature of the sky, and eye of the fire is the eye of snake, creature of the Earth. They are not born yet, but they are looking for it already.

We have already trained ourselves to feel both awakened hands in the meditation of Simultaneity. Let’s start now from this very good base point. Once you’re in balance, feel your right foot, which stands on the Fire. Don’t rush into Fire; you need a steady stream in your hand, but not more. Take your time to ensure you keep the Fire in your hand without much effort. It should only take a fraction of your attention to keep it burning through your hand.

Once you’re ready, invite Water to your left hand. It may sound easy, but it’s quite tricky to tune into Water and not lose your Fire, as they are quite the opposite. It’s okay if you’ve got Water but lost Fire — just try in the other direction. While having Water in your left hand, try to keep it and, in parallel, tune back to Fire and recover it in your right hand.

There is another nuance in the amount of both energies and how they're distributed in our body, and in our ability to run two focus points truly in parallel.

Our goal is not only to hold Water and Fire in our hands but to fill our entire body with them side by side.

It may help to let Fire or Water occupy more than just the hand — it's then easier to maintain a steady stream because, due to higher volume, it has better 'inertia' and can sustain itself.

On the other hand, it is easy to let it fill the entire body and wipe out the opposite energy, hence breaking the balance.

One of the key points here is your eyes.

When you tune into Fire, a specific subset of your personal properties resonates. Like an emotional profile and associated mindset.

The same goes for Water — you are a different person when you are Fire or Water.

You can't see your own eyes, and you don't need to, but eyes are connected to the very essence of a person’s being.

So when you are establishing this dynamic balance, let the Fire aspect of your person look through your right eye, and the Water aspect will start using the left one. You need to recognize your eyes' expression even if you don’t see them. This involves the expression of your eyes and, as a result, your facial expression. It's about the tactile sensations of your face muscles and skin, especially around the eyes.

You can first try to fully tune into Water, then separately do the same with Fire, and reflect on your eyes and facial expression, not visually, but based on how you feel it from inside.

Then, get back to our Kenaz practice and try to attach and maintain a steady state of Fire and Water on the right and left halves by reflecting on your right/left eye expression and right/left face halves. Remember, this connection is very subtle; try not to fake it physically, but only reflect on whatever authentic expression is there on its own.

When you succeed, it will be a good opportunity to feel how true you, as an essence, are looking through your eyes into this world. Both Fire of Muspelheim and Water of Niflheim are fundamental but they outline what is in the middle, the Emptiness Ginungagap.