Inside the Illustrated Book of Runes, Your Preview!
about 3 years ago – Tue, Feb 23, 2021 at 06:13:29 PM

I hope you're all ready for this! I think the inside exceeds expectations compared to the paintings alone, but I'll let you folks judge for yourself! Not much talking today, just showing you what you all helped me to create! Please note that there is one more round of revision to go, so these pages may not be exactly what you find in the final copy. 

Timeline

This week: last round of revision of book layout

Next couple weeks: send first round to printer

Shortly after: receive proof copy 

6-8 weeks later (Early May estimated): your books arrive and I begin shipping! 

Your Peek Inside

It starts here:

This should give you an idea of what all my writing has been about:

Each aett greets you with a god or goddess:

Each rune has a lovely frame next to its description:

And then ends off with a nice little embellished rune:

You'll find some nice linework and poem stanzas 

And the final section takes you on a few of the many uses of the runes:

So I'm just going to leave you folks to digest that! I hope you are all as excited as I am! Thoughtweft Publishing has been lovely to work with and I am beyond happy that I got to create this book. 

With love and appreciation,

-Dawn

Small Update - Backerkit Charges are Made Out to DragonHeART
over 3 years ago – Fri, Feb 05, 2021 at 04:50:39 PM

Hello again everyone,

I was surprised last week by a few of you contacting me wondering why DragonHeART had charged your credit cards. This is my larger business that Ravenwind Illustration is a part of and what my accounts are under, and I apologize for any confusion! Both are me! I promise this was not fraud and that you did pledge these funds towards add-ons in Backerkit. Please review your Backerkit orders if you are still confused:

 https://bookofrunes.backerkit.com/ 

You can find my other website here:

 https://dragonheartart.com/ 

And just to remind those that ordered dicebags, I will lock your orders and charge cards Feb 15. 

Progress Update

I don't have the preview quite yet but it is almost done. I do expect that it will be finished and ready to go to print in the next couple of weeks. 

One surprise has come up though: what I thought was going to be a 100 page book turns out to be more like 150 pages! So you folks are getting a great deal, and an even bigger book than you had thought. Thank goodness for everyone who has pre-ordered and purchased add-ons, it looks like the additional pages are funded and everything should be good to move forward without removing any content. 

I'm still finishing the aetts! Their descriptions have been written and you saw Freya with the last update, so here is Heimdall in suit. I have portrayed the gleaming As with golden armor, fair hair, and otherworldly features that represent the heritage of his nine Jotun mothers. His eyes see far out over the Bifrost bridge, and the Gjallarhorn is on his shoulder, ready to herald the start of Ragnarok. 

Rune of the Day

Today I will pass on the rune Ansuz. Ansuz is about communication, words, music and inspiration from the gods. This is the rune of Odin, and the image is said to be that of his windswept cloak. Odin 'wears many hats' in that he plays many roles, and the one that is related to this rune is that of the wise wanderer who wears a wide brimmed hat. As he is also a magick user, this places him as something of a wizard and was likely the inspiration for Gandalf in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series.  Language is something of a magickal act in itself, being able to share ideas through words and sounds has been one of humanity's greatest achievements. Like the wise wanderer, a good conversation or a musical experience, this rune is fleeting and airy and cannot be held onto but leaves a lasting impression. 

I choose it today to aide in my communication issue, that hopefully now everyone understands where the credit card charge came from and is happy!

Thank you all again and forever!

-Dawn

Reminder of Backerkit Charges, Dicebags, and Progress Update
over 3 years ago – Sun, Jan 24, 2021 at 05:01:36 PM

Hello again everyone,

I thought you might like to know that editing is complete! Except for two small pages on Heimdall's and Tyr's aetts, the text is finished the back and forth process with my publisher. That means that the book layout is being worked on now, which is when things start to get exciting and we'll be able to see how the inside looks very soon. I will of course give you all a peek once I have it! 

I'm hoping this means that the entire thing should be ready to be sent to the printers in a month or so, and I should hopefully have hard copies in hand 2-3 months following that. So pending all goes well, I may be able to start sending out rewards as early as May or June. Your books should all arrive this summer!

Issue With Dicebag Costs

I was reviewing orders to come up with a list of how many dicebags I need to make and unfortunately realized that all the dicebags, small, medium and large, were all priced at $30 (which is already a sale on the $35 retail price)! OOPS! So the prices have been fixed for size, at $30 ($5 discount), $40 ($10 discount) and $70 ($20 discount). If you already had an order for a large or medium bag but paid $30 for a small, I've messaged you directly to let you know that you won't be charged any additional fees and that I will provide you with a medium bag due to my error.

Credit Cards Charged Feb 1

This is your one week notice to let you know that any funds paid in Backerkit for add-ons or pre-orders will be charged Feb 1. Please ensure that your credit card information is correct before this!

If you had ordered a dicebag cards will be charged Feb 15 so you can review my error and make any changes you like. 

Freya's Aett

For unlocking the first stretch goal, one of my additions is a painting of each of the gods that represent each of the three aetts of runes. The first of these is the following painting of Freya. Freya's aett takes us on a journey from which we begin as undifferentiated matter in Fehu, to a joyful and functioning community of empowered individuals in Wunjo. This is a physical journey, about evolution and learning how to thrive in the physical realm. 

Freya herself is a goddess of many facets. She is a fertility goddess of the Vanir, who is the master of earthly shamanic seidr magick which she taught to Odin. She has a husband, Odr, with whom she has two daughters. Odr has left and Freya looks for him and mourns his loss, which is the romantic part of her love aspect. She also is very much about physical love, as she had sex with the four dwarves who gave her the Brisingamen pendant of beauty on her neck and is accused by Loki of having slept with all of the Aesir. Lastly, Freya is associated with war as she is a warrior goddess who claims half of the fallen in battlefields alongside Odin as her army. 

Rune of the Day

Today I will share with you Uruz, the second rune of Freya's aett. Uruz is the wild aurochs beast, an extinct megafauna related to a cow. The aurochs was a sign of vitality and strength, it was a solitary creature that thrived even in harsh environments and was a prized hunt. Invoking this rune allows the user to tap into and develop their strength. It is heart based, and used very often for healing purposes. It also is used in magick as a manifestation tool, as the direction and shape of the rune shows how energy is drawn from the source, sent in its intended direction and then released back into the earth. 

The world is pretty harsh and cold out there these days, and as we find ourselves on our solitary journeys I think we all need to keep Uruz in mind. The challenges of the aurochs environment are what gave him character and strength, compared to the pampered cattle that were lesser creatures than himself. The message here is that in these hard times you may find a unique character strength that defines you. The healing aspect of this rune may also aid you in recovery if you find yourself suffering from illness. 

Thank you all again for the patience and support on my journey in creating this book. I'm very excited I could turn 2020 into something beautiful and tangible that you will all get to enjoy!

With love,

-Dawn

A New Year, A New Book! Last Chance to Edit Surveys
over 3 years ago – Fri, Jan 08, 2021 at 01:16:06 AM

Hello again dear backers, 

I hope you all had safe, healthy and restful holidays. This update is primarily to remind you all of the following:

Backerkit will be locking your orders Jan 7

This means you will not be able to change your choices of questions after this point. You can continue to purchase add-ons through the pre-order store if you choose but you won't be able to change things like your choices of prints. So now, with orders locked, I can start production of any add-ons you may have ordered, order a final count of prints, and let Mimir's Tree know the count for the number of rune sets ordered.

Credit cards will be charged February 1 for all orders placed through Backerkit. 

You can still change your address at any time prior to the books being printed and shipped to you. Please let me know if you are having any issues as I am able to manually edit the information also. 

Thank you all for filling out your information, it makes things much smoother on my end!

New Year, New Book!

I hope you are all still excited. Editing is progressing along, though we are taking our time a bit to make sure we do a good job. I'm still expecting books to be done and arrive in the spring, which makes Aug 2021 a generous and achievable deadline. After a much needed break, I'm also going to be working on a few more illustrations I may share some peeks of so feel free to follow me on social media (@ravenwindillustration) if you haven't yet!

I'm going to share the Berkano/Berkana rune with you today. This is the rune of the divine earthly feminine, similar to the Empress of the tarot. The birch tree is known as the mother of the forest in northern traditions, as it is the first tree to recolonize soil after a disturbance such as fire. Its rotting wood is what provides the nutrients for succession as new species of tree, such as spruce and pine begin to grow in the forest. Berkano's message is that of new life, of fresh beginnings and growth out in the world. May 2021 be a new and better beginning for you than 2020 was for many of us. 

So, today's update was brief, but be assured I am still around and being productive! Your books and everything else are being worked on as you read this message. 

Looking forward to a new chapter,

-Dawn

Stretch Goal Reached, Survey Reminder and Timeline
over 3 years ago – Thu, Dec 17, 2020 at 01:21:55 PM

Thank you to everyone who has filled out the surveys so far! Pre-orders and add-ons have raised us over $1,500 CAD to date. This is excellent news, and it unlocks the first stretch goal of having a bigger book! So now, instead of the 60-80 page book that I had been budgetting for to begin with, we've managed to cover the funds for a book that is closer to 100 pages! I had written the extra parts in hopes that we would reach this stretch goal so the written work is done on my end. The extra artwork I will do after some discussion with the publisher on what and where he thinks will fit best. So thank you all, I am so very happy we funded my work and your book will be even bigger and better!

For the 10% of you that have not filled out your surveys, please do so! You may have entered your address into Kickstarter but Kickstarter does not provide me that address. You must fill out your survey or message me directly to give me your address. Preferably, fill out your survey so you can also pick your print! I will be messaging you all directly to remind you also if this update doesn't help move you into action. 

If you did not receive the survey email please message me and I will resend your invitation. You can also use this link below to access Backerkit to change your information or send friends to my pre-order store.

 https://bookofrunes.backerkit.com/ 

Timeline

Save these dates so you know when the deadlines are:

January 7 - Orders will be locked, you cannot change your choices of add-ons and prints after this point. Pre-order store will still be open if you decide you want to order more things. This is when I will start production of cuffs and dice bags.

February 1 - Credit cards will be charged. I will send a reminder through these updates one week before.

TBA - Addresses will be locked when I receive the copies of the book from the manufacturer. For hard copies, I expect this to be sometime around April. Paperback copies will be locked and shipped sooner via Amazon, possibly as early as February. 

Website Update

My website is finally complete. This means you can now access all of the write-ups while you wait in anticipation of the real thing coming to your bookshelves! There is also a handy reference table, and all of the artwork for each rune. Please use and share!

 http://ravenwindillustration.com/bookofrunes/ 

Rune of the Day

Today I will share Gebo with you. You have all been generous in giving to me, and my website and all of the work I have been putting in is my gift back to you. Gebo teaches us balance, and how a kindness should be repaid with kindness in like. This is the rune of the lovers, as each person gives something of themselves in a mutual fashion in the act of love making. 

Gebo is also very fitting for the holiday season! I thought about sharing Wunjo and community and celebration but we are all quite disjunct from that at this moment. So instead let's focus on the giving aspect, and being thankful for that which we have. Let's do what we can with the people that are closest to us. Family, lovers, friends and even pets are all gifts of joy so lets celebrate them. 

I'm not sure when my next update will be, probably once my publisher has a layout that I can very excitedly show you so you can preview the inside of the book! So, if I don't talk to you before then, have a merry Yule season, may it be filled with all of the things that bring you happiness. 

Many thanks,

-Dawn

PS. I will be emailing you in the next week or so if you don't fill out your survey or message me first.