RUNES: The Viking Oracle

Runes are fundamentally an alphabetic script which was used by the peoples of Northern Europe from the first century c.e. until well into the Middle Ages. In addition to their use as a written alphabet, the runes also served as a system of symbols used for magic and divination. Runes fell into disuse as the Roman alphabets became the preferred script of most of Europe, however, their forms and meanings were still preserved in inscriptions and manuscripts.

Mythic Origins

According to mythology, the gift of the runes was given to humanity by the Viking god, Odin. In an act of shamanistic self-suffering, Odin hung from the world-tree Ygdrassil for nine days until the secrets of the runes were revealed to him. Encoded within them were all the patterns of the universe.

Factual Origins

The true origins of the runes has been lost to antiquity. Where and for what reason their first uses occured may never be completely acertained. But a few things are certain.
Their earliest use seems to have been with the Alpine Germanic people, and, according to some sources, the Heruli tribe. Reasons for this belief are theoretical, based solely on the fact that earliest title for “rune-master” or shaman amongst the early Viking tribes was the word “heruli”.

The Spirit Of The Stones

The spiritual values of the runes have evolved and developed throughout the ages, primarily through the ancient Germanic world, and they have a very close connection with old Germanic religions and Nordic mythology.
The runic alphabet is called, Futhark, so named after the phonetic value of the first six runes in the series: F(heu), U(ruz), TH(urisaz), A(nsuz), R(aido), and K(enaz). The earliest version of this alphabet is know as the Elder Futhark. There are twenty-four runes in the Elder Futhark, broken into three groups of eight knowns as aettir. The runes of each aettir have an interrelation that binds them in a common theme.

Making Of The Runes

According to Nordic tradition, runes were carved on bits of bark or wood chips from Ash or Yew trees, then painted with a bit of blood from the runecaster. However, runes have been made from a variety of materials including of bone, ceramic or stone.
For divinatory purposes they would then be tossed into a sack, shaken up, and then cast on the ground. Those that remained upright would be read and interpreted in regards to the issue at hand.

Casting The Runes

Traditionally, the position of a rune was not important; upside-down or inverted didn’t matter as long as the rune came up it meant more or less the same thing. But some rune-workers do apply inverted and reversed interpretations to runes. Inverted runes would be those that are upside down, and reversed runes are those that appear to be mirrored from right to left. An inverted rune could be interpreted as the opposite of the rune, and the reversed could be interpreted as the absence of the rune.

Ancient Metaphors

The word kenning is used a lot in conjunction with runic interpretations. Kenning is a poetic metaphor used to describe something in terms of something else. Since the runes are tied to germanic myth which, as all myths, can be highly metaphorical the true meaning of a rune often times can be buried underneath the theme of a mythic germanic tale. Here is an example...
At the most basic level, and without any kenning at all, the rune Fehu represents “cattle”... plain simple little cows. So if Fehu came up in your spread could it mean that cows are in your future? Possibly, but it is more likely that the rune represents what cattle symbolized to the early germanic people. If you had much cattle on your land, you were considered prosperous and could well be wealthy. That being the case, on the first level of kenning, cattle meant wealth and so does the rune Fehu.
Fehu’s placement at the begining of the Furthark, in the first aett is associated with the primal forces of creation. What level of kenning offers interpretive assistance here? Well, lets take the the cattle and prosperity metaphor to a deeper level.
To the early germanic people there was a direct connection between wealth, prosperity, fertility and general life-energy. You were wealthy if you had many cows. You would have many cows if they were fertile. Fertility was a by-product of high amounts of general life-energy, and all energy originated from the primal elemental source, fire. So, with this deeper level of keening, Fehu represents the primal fire, the fire that was present during the creation of the world.
All the runes have such levels of kenning and interpretation, and it takes a skilled runemaster to determine which level of kenning is appropriate for a given reading.

Vision Quest is proud to offer a special workshop this month on Rune Training (Saturday, Jun 21, 1-5 pm) with Dr. Grant Smith, where you can gain in-depth knowledge and understanding to cast and intrepret the runes for yourself and others.
The popular Book & Rune sets by Ralph Blum are available at Vision Quest.

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