newyork_libra

Hi all,

I am new to this group. I've been reading for a while, but this is my
first post. I thought I would ask you for more information on Runes.
I'm not too familiar with them, but a friend passed on this website to
me and praised the artist:

http://www.marypompeo.com/art.htm#Rneck

I know I can look info up about Runes on the web, but I would like
your personal experiences and opinions. Are they healing? How do you
choose one for yourself? What are their history?

I like this group so much and appreciate your feedback!

Thanks for your time and energy,

Libby

dirk bruere at neopax

I suggest you also post this into alt.religion.asatru

--
Dirk

The Consensus:-
The political party for the new millennium
http://www.theconsensus.org

lorrie

Hi, and welcome to soc.religion.paganism!

You've asked some complicated questions on a well-debated topic.
And, well, unless alt.religion.asatru has calmed down considerably since
I last looked, they may not do very well by you (granted, that was a
couple years ago, but I digress).

When most people say, "Ooh! Runes!" and want to know more about
them, they've usually stumbled across... well, it used to be Tolkien,
or the Ultima games for you computer people out there, but these days
you probably saw a set, or one on a pendant, or whatever. I suppose one
good way to start would be to ask how you came across them in the
first place.

Anyway, there are several sets of letters that can reasonably
be defined as "runes" that have a genuine historical component, and
a few more sets that have a more modern derivation. The set most commonly
used today for magic and divinatory use is the Elder Futhark, so-named
because its first six letters have the sounds of F, U, TH, A, R, and K.
Yeah, TH is one letter -- and used to be one letter in the sundry
precursors to English until quite recently. There's also a Younger Futhark,
and an Anglo-Saxon Futhorc (the letters sounds shifted, hence the name
change), but let's keep things simple and go with the most common choice
for this post, the Elder Futhark.

On to the meat of your post!


Hm, history. Well, to greatly paraphrase, they were, once, plain
ordinary letters. Scandinavia is well-scattered with runestones that
pretty much say the medieval equivalent of "Sven was here." Archaeological
artifacts have runes on them that name items, or direct weapons to strike
enemies -- and this is all usually in very straightforward language, and
as such would be an obvious and easy example of animistic or magical
usage. As the runes' phonetic values are well-known, so this is a common
use even today.

I'm going to conveniently sweep a few centuries under the
carpet here. This should keep any other heathens on this group from
throwing *too* many brickbats at poor old me...

Modern use of runes didn't really take off until a book was
written by a fellow named Ralph Blum. Now, Blum is viewed with no little
disdain by modern heathens (for purposes of this discussion, heathens
are Germanic pagans, usually reconstructionist) because he chose his
order by pulling them out of a bag, and used the I Ching to decide what
meanings to use. Now, to many modern pagans, that might not seem like
so much, but, see, it completely ignored any previous work on the subject...

What we have remaining to us from pre-Christian times that
gives any suggestion on what the runes *mean* as magical sigils is
two main sources: one, some sets of poems that give literal meanings
to each rune (e.g., Hagalaz and Hail), and two, another poem where
Odin, chief god of several Germanic pantheons, goes on about how
he knows this charm, and that charm, and these other charms (and kept
the best one for himself; he's that kind of guy).

These were combined by several other authors, who partially
in response to Blum wrote their *own* books. Of these, the one that
really set the pace for everyone else is Edred Thorsson's _Futhark_,
which has come back into print recently, and I would recommend this
wholeheartedly to anyone starting a study of the runes who's interested
in their Germanic context. Also of note is Freya Aswynn's _Northern_
_Mysteries_and_Magic_, formerly known as _Leaves_of_Yggdrasil_. These
are both people who're operating from a heathen context, and I can
recomment either book wholeheartedly.

Another book that does mostly okay, but operates from a more
Wiccan perspective, would be _Nordic_Runes_, by Paul Rhys Mountfort,
which came out just a couple months ago. This will probably be the
easiest to find without a special order -- shoot, I just saw one at
a garden-variety Barnes and Noble in Louisville, Kentucky.

Oh, and Diana Paxson is working on final revisions of *her*
rune book, which contains the good bits of several previous runic
scholars, to be published by Weiser Press in Spring, 2005. The book,
which will probably have the title of _Taking Up the Runes_, will
describe a year-long course of study of the Elder Futhark, complete
with history, meanings, and rituals for each rune.


They're tools. What do you *intend*?

A knife can cut meat, can defend your home, can cut off a bit
of string. A knife is to cut, but it's where and when and how you
wield it that makes all the difference.

The runes are similar; they can be aimed for good or ill.


How do you mean this?

Some people make bindrunes (stacks and combinations of runes)
to use as monograms, but personally I came up with my own sigil for
use as a signature/tag/what-have-you.

If you mean something to wear around your neck as a pendant
or some such, then I would say find one whose meanings most reflect
and elicit that which you want to make manifest. I would *also*
suggest doing something removable before getting, say, a tattoo...

You've asked some interesting questions, and I hope my reply
has been of some use to you, even though it only scratches the
surface of the topic!

-- Lorrie

lorrie

Oh, and I looked at the artist in question... while her work is
clearly very pretty, she's charging rather a lot for glazed ceramic --
$30 for a pendant and $400 for a rune set? Good gracious! You can get
sets on semi-precious stones for *far* less; a jeweler friend of mine
will sell you an amber set for, I believe, $120.

Me, well, I made my own: I went to a nearby forest, asked for
a branch that would be appropriate, and made my own. Far less money,
and, well, how much more "attuned to my vibration" (which was one of
the aforementioned artist's selling points) can you get than "I made
them myself!"

No, no. Look, if you want good runes and less fleecing, go here:

http://www.tarahill.com/

... which is *not* my jeweler friend with the amber runes, but
they're nice folks and make good products *and* have a reasonable starting
runic primer thingy online for free.

-- Lorrie