Tag Archives: magic

Divinatory Methods

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In contemporary runic practice, the Runes are very frequently used for divination aka fortune telling or readings. I say contemporary practice, because there is no solid evidence of divination with the Runes. However, there is quite a bit of lore that indicates that runes were probably used for that purpose, mostly from mythic sources. The sagas indicate runes being used, usually for magic, and sometimes that magic would be divinatory in purpose, but the runes were incidental to the magic, and not the main focus.

The most often quoted example of “runic divination” actually comes from a Roman historian, named Tacitus. In his history of Germania, he makes note of their method of performing lots. However, his language does not explicitly indicate the Runes only that symbols were carved in piece of wood from the branch of a fruit bearing tree, and from those symbols, answers were given from the gods. This method does work very well with the Runes however, and I often use an adapted version for readings with the Runes.

Other methods are derived from tarot, where a specific layout is used, often named after a mythic figure or symbol, or associated with cosmological forces and patterns. The simplest of these is the One Rune or the Odhinn’s Rune, where a single rune is selected and that answers the question or gives insight to the issue being asked about. This method works well for either “simple” yes, no or maybe answers. The yes answer would be an upright figure selected, a no would be an upside down figure selected, while a maybe would be any of the “non-invertible runes” with the maybe being explained more depending upon the meaning of the rune.

Another common version of a layout is the 3 Runes or the Norns Spread, named after the etin women who gather around the well of Urd (Wyrd in Anglo-Saxon), watering Yggdrasil with the well water, and patching it with white clay, who are also the mistress of Fate, or Wyrd. Their names are Urd, Verthandi and Skuld (or Wyrd, Metod and Skuld in Anglo-Saxon). When it is called the Norn’s spread, it is specifically used for looking at the past, present and future, while other values can be used for the three runes. These values are often connected in some way, such as Body, Mind and Soul, or Seed, Plant, and Fruit.
The final method of divination is based upon working magic with the runes that make information known to you. There are numerous ways to do this, from focusing on certain runes to bring you into contact with knowledgeable entities, or beings that possess the information you seek, such as contacting Gods or spirits, to summoning up the dead to ask them questions which they would have had the answer to. You could also work to travel metaphysically, popular known as astral projection, but in northern tradition it has the name hamfaring, referring to the part of the being known as the hamr (shape) which can travel from the body, which can then go seek the information that you desire.

Mythic Origins of the Runes

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According to the Lore about the origins of the Runes, they are clearly placed with Odhinn, the primary deity of the Aesir, the most human-like of the Northern tradition Gods. The story of his gaining the runes comes from a literary work known as the Havamal (The sayings of the High One) which relates the story. I highly recommend reading a translation of the Havamal for you, as I will relate a shorter version of the story here.

According to story, Odhinn took his speak, and impaled himself upon Yggdrasil, the World Tree. For 9 days and 9 nights, without food or water, Odhinn hung from Yggdrasil, “a sacrifice of himself, to himself” (as many of the human offerings to Odhinn were hung from a tree in a similar manner). At the end of the 9th night, Odhinn perceived the runes at the roots of Yggdrasil, and reached out, grabbed them, falling from the tree as he did so.
The High One (presumably Odhinn) goes on to explain some of the techniques of working with Runes, and also the 18 spells he knows made of Runes, which cover a number of maladies and situations that might be experienced. While many other authors have theorized runes to these sections, or even created their own Futhark based upon this section, it is my suppositions that these are independent spells that are worked with combinations of runes.
It is from this source that all runic knowledge is given, especially the more esoteric or magical runic knowledge and practices, for all the Futharks.

A brief history of the runes

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A brief history of the Runes.

The Runes are a script that appears in Northern Europe. It appears to have been developed as the letters of the people of the areas that are now known as Germany, Denmark and Sweden. The earliest surviving material has been dated to 200 CE (aka AD) from those areas. Later finds show the spread of this script following those people to Frisia (now known as Netherlands) and then to England, and also going to Norway and then Iceland. There is no agreed upon theory as to the actual roots of the Runic script, why it was invented, or who invented it, but there are many theories, some looking to Greek or Roman influence, and some supposing a purely native invention, but there is not much evidence in support of any of those theories.

As the runes spread from their most likely origin, changes in culture, society and language prompted changes in their alphabet and script. The earliest complete Rune Alphabets show 24 letters. As the runes journeyed through what is now the Netherlands and to England, it gained additional letters, as many as 33 letters that were added to it. As the Runes crossed the North Sea into Norway, where literacy was not as prevalent, they reduced to 16 letters. This remained the case as explorers found Iceland, one of the last areas to lose their runic and pagan practices. This created at least 4 identifiable runic scripts or Futharks (named for the first letters of the script). They are known as the Elder Futhark (which is the oldest) The Anglo-Saxon Futhorc (found mainly in England and Netherlands) and the Younger Futhark (which has two bodies of lore attached to it, the Norwegian Rune Poem, and the Icelandic Rune Poem).

During the late 19th century and the early 20th Century, there was a runic revival, as interest in historical roots of ethnic culture flourished. During this time, a man named Guido Von List (among others) explored metaphysical and philosophical meanings to the Rune Alphabet, proposing various philosophies. Guido Von List also created his own Futhark, based upon the Havamal, a piece of poetry, which described the mythic origin of Runes by Odhinn. What became known as the Armanen Runes contained 18 runes, with a variety of meanings. This rune row was also picked up by German Nationalists who would later join the Nazi party. Because of that very unfortunate period of German History, the runes as a whole were forgotten in Europe for a few decades, although a few groups from before WWII revived their studies and practices.

In the modern day, the most often used Futhark is the Elder Futhark. Many books about Runes focus on the Elder Futhark. While the Elder Futhark is shown to be the oldest Futhark, it has the least body of lore attached to it, as most other lore focuses on Anglo-Saxon Futhorc, or the Norwegian and Icelandic Futharks. As various groups focused on Northern spiritualities of various traditions grow and prosper, more lore, information and wisdom about the Runes becomes available.