The Runes
Part One: What Authors Won’t Publish
It would appear that everyone these days believes they know what the runes mean.
For a secret, it isn’t very…um, secret? Go into any decent bookstore and you will find books upon books written about them. The Norse faith is being reconstructed and reapproached by people from all over the globe.
Every soul that touches a toe into the occult waters knows what they look like. Many have a set of runes themselves. They are stashed in a drawer or box with a book or two.
But what if I told you that everything you think you know is a lie? The runes are still a mystery to be discovered. Read on if you want to learn the skeletons in every rune author’s closet.
Elder Futhark — The Beginning or Was It?
What are the runes? In case you don’t know, the word rune means secret. To claim “rune” is to say a symbol carries with it a mysterious or mystical meaning.
By mystical, I am referring to something that sacrifices self to join in union with the essence of its creation. Instead of being a few lines and curves, it becomes symbolic of something much more. A symbol breaks the barriers by representing a piece of existence beyond itself in an image that can be duplicated and utilized in limitless ways. In this way, it becomes more than just an image, but an accessible extension to the very thing it symbolizes.
But why is it a secret or mysterious?
Magic or the coined “magick,” due to its sacred nature, has always been carefully passed down from person to person and not shared so publicly until modern times.
Even now, we as individuals keep much of our personal magic practice secret and choose carefully who we share our knowledge with. In this same way, the runes were well known but not widely understood.
They didn’t call it magic because it was, to them, as natural as breathing. It was an unseen force viewed only by the observant through the physical senses, and by those gifted through heightened senses.
Unfortunately, the Norse people are one of those cultures whose ways have been lost. What we believe we know is deduced from tiny fragments of evidence scattered across the world. Scholars piece together information from their predecessors and descendants, as well as from outside observers.
The runes this article will focus on are the Elder Futhark of the ancient Norse people. It is an alphabet at it’s simplest definition, but beyond a writing system, it has much more evidence in its use within spiritual practice.
In fact, most believe it was originally used as symbols used for written magic as well as verbal formula and then it was later adapted into a regular writing system, not the other way around. But who really cares if the chicken or the egg came first? All we are concerned with is the magic, right?
The Elder Futhark is the oldest most complete form of the Norse runes known. It is also the form of the Futhark that was believed to be used solely for magic before it became an alphabet for common writing. Once utilized as an alphabet, it began changing as it spread and the spoken languages within the culture developed. Like this:
These runes (pictured above) were used solely to write information down. This particular segment was Skanske lov or Scanian law. Do you notice the changes in their appearance?
By the time it was used alongside Latin, the integrity of the entire system was gone. Many new characters were added to include additional sounds, some characters were entirely discarded, and those that remained were altered in form or function.
It became nothing more than characters representing an aspect of phonetics. Much like the English alphabet you’re reading right now, each symbol long since lost their deeper meaning in history.
This is why you will find many variations of the runes labeled “Younger Futhark”, “Danish Futhark”, “Swedish Futhark,” “Gothic Runes,” etc. They are a faint echo of what once was the Elder Futhark.
Would you rather use the runes closest to those created for magic purposes or the ones invented to fill in the gaps of a mundane alphabet? The Elder Futhark is the only runes I use. But you may make that decision on your own.
But where did they come from? Were they truly swept up by old Odin as he swung upside down on the tree of life?
Although the secrets behind the meaning and power of these symbols may have been discovered by ritual self-sacrifice, the characters themselves are far less mysterious.
Let’s take a look at the history of its linguistics.
It’s clear the runes were not “thought up” by the Norse people. They share similarities with the Euboean Greek alphabet and the better known Etruscan alphabet.
The Norse began using the runes around the same time the Germanic tribes were waging battle with the Romans, right around present-day Italy. The Roman historian Tacitus wrote extensively about them during the conflict. For those who are not keen on geography, the Etruscans became the Tuscans…Tuscany…you know, in Italy!
Where the Etruscans came from is up for debate, although recent DNA research has traced their origin to Western Asia, likely in and around Turkey. They moved to Italy a little over 1000 years before the Norse showed up and were a driving force in the culture until the Romans absorbed them.
If we reverse time through history a little further, before the Etruscans, past the Greeks, we find the Phoenicians.
The Greek alphabet has roots in the Phoenician alphabet, and here too, we see very familiar shapes — some of the very same shapes of the Futhark!
So then, how do we know anything about the origins of their mystical use?
For this, you must understand the nature of language and symbols. What can be certain is that each letter is meaningful. This is key.
The earliest alphabets progressed from ancient pictographs, much like the Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics or modern Chinese characters. Each letter, although it represented a sound, also represented something more. Within some languages, this symbolism is so precise that there is an entire system for it. One excellent example of this is the Hebrew language and the use of Gematria.
The idea of magic application to alphabets is quite common. The meaning within many characters of the Futhark is older than the ancient Norse people, but the details are nearly lost.
Much of the old literature concerning the runes are believed to have their roots in oral tradition. So the runes themselves are the oldest and purest connection we have to the wisdom of the Norse people. If the Norse did write down their history, religious views, mythology, and magic practice, they were destroyed by the harsh elements or it has yet to be discovered.
The only ancient evidence that exists (of the runes) directly from the Germanic tribes is the few artifacts found carved from stone or metal. For instance, the oldest example of the order of the Elder Futhark can be found on the Kylver Stone, believed to be carved around 400AD.
In the sagas, it demonstrates why it is so rare to find such rune carvings. Most are said to have been carved onto organic material like bone and wood. Such material would have been ravaged by time, war, and nature.
Just like the alphabet itself, the information about the runes was influenced by cultural changes.
Christianity caused quite a bit of this influence, but not enough to completely ruin what was most valuable. The impression the Norse left on the people they embraced was an intensely strong one; one that was and still is, very stubborn to adaption. And that is a wonderful thing! Because it allowed what we know of the Norse to be known by us; although, it is far less knowledge than we have concerning many other ancient cultures. It is all we can use to understand what the runes mean.
What was passed down from generation to generation was the way some knowledge lived on — through the people of the land. And finally, a few brilliant individuals had the idea to write it down…after hundreds of years. Then it was preserved! When these bits and pieces were collected and translated, the final work was called the Elder Edda, also known as the Poetic Edda believed to be originated primarily by the lost writings of Saemund the Wise who lived in the late 11th century and into the early 12th century.
Modern Misconceptions
“I know this defies the law of gravity, but I never studied law.” ~Bugs Bunny
Divination
Be aware that I did not say they have historical use in divination! Indeed, there isn’t one shred of evidence that runes were used in divination.
The old texts merely translate that individuals “casted lots” but never mentions the runes. These “lots” could have been anything — bones, stones, shells, or sticks.
However, there is a multitude of references to the runes’ specific use in magic within these very same texts. If the runes were used within divination, why would the author specify utilization within magic so clearly yet forgo mentioning their use as “lots” cast? You can decide for yourself, but the general consensus is that the runes were used as a magic system and an alphabet — that’s it.
Divination with the runes is modern. Even though it is an entirely new way to use the runes, it does work well. I do not discourage the use of the runes within divination, but I do believe people should know it is not ancient, like so many claim.
A knife can be a wonderful multifunctional tool, but its main purpose is to cut. In the same way, the runes have the capability to be used in other ways. But that wasn’t their original function.
I digress, the ability to work within divination is due to their inherent versatility as symbols, not necessarily their ancient purpose and use. This goes back to the limitless use of images as sympathetic connections to the essence of what they represent.
The Blank Rune
With the trend of using runes for divination, another misconception has developed — the blank rune. It’s the silliest idea. A rune is a sigil, a symbol. It isn’t the material they are carved into but what is carved (or drawn) that is a rune. If there is nothing present to carve (or draw) then it isn’t a rune.
I could just imagine… a beginning rune worker displays a blank paper, stone, or stave and whispers “It’s one of my runes. Don’t you know about the power of the blank rune?! Well, it’s so mysterious, you can’t see it!”
The best use for a blank rune is the potential of carving an actual one into the space provided.
Stadha
Another recent development of runes in the occult is the notion of rune yoga or “stadha.” This is also modern.
The Ancients did not form their bodies into runes that we know of. There is no proof of this.
You never have to embrace the Village People and dance the way of the YMCA through your rune work. If you would like to do that, I certainly can’t stop you. But you should know, it isn’t necessary.
Continue reading
The Runes; Part Two: What You Should Know
Let’s break down the words of the High One.
Image citation in order of their appearance.
Image of Codex Runicus By Template:Asztalos Gyula — Den Arnamagnæanske Samling. Original at: http://www.hum.ku.dk/ami/am28.html[dead link]., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2794167
Image of Etruscan Alphabet by Dbachmann at en.wikipedia — Transferred from en.wikipedia by SreeBot, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17527796
Phonecian Alphabet taken from a book entitled Tarikh Lubnan al-’am (General history of Lebanon), 2nd edition, published in Lebanon in 1949.
The Kylver Stone taken from Agrell, Sigurd “Lapptrummor Och Runmagi” 1934.
References and Recommended Reading
Poetic Eddas
Prose Eddas
Norse Sagas
Merseburg Incantations
Galdrabok
Norse Mythology, a Guide to the God’s Heroes Rituals and Beliefs by John Lindow
A Dictionary of Northern Mythology by Rudolf Simek translated by Angela Hall
Magic Power Language Symbol: A Magicians Exploration of Linguistics by Patrick Dunn
About Me:
I’ve been studying and working with the runes for 19 years, over half of my life. I was introduced to the runes by a vitki that guided me through how to learn them, how to live them, and how to recognize them in the world around me. He never breathed a word about the ancient scripts nor quoted a single book. It was all about Nature and life. I was reeled in by his words but never once did I find their equal in literature. It took me nearly 10 years to figure out why. I hope I shortened that time frame for you. Let those 24 symbols captivate you and lead you to a better understanding of the world around you and beyond.
