What are the Runes?

A Brief History of the Runes

& Their Use in Spiritual Practices

The religious ideas of the Germanic peoples have rarely been represented in modern culture. Yet today we are seeing an awakening awareness of the spirituality of Northern Europe. Many first encountered the ruins in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. So it must be noted that Tolkien, who knew the runes very well, shifted them around for his own reasons, so that, for instance, the G Rune for Gandalf, is represented by Fehu rather than by Gebo. Furthermore, it was a mystery that belonged to the North, to the old gods of the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings, whose culture formed the foundation of our own. In Old High German, the word run or runa means mystery, and those who seek secrets in the runes will not be disappointed. But the runes are also a practical, flexible, and effective symbol system with a variety of uses that opens itself to the sincere seeker with amazing readiness.

The most obvious use of the runes is as a means of communication. They are indeed an alphabet - a system of symbols representing sounds that can be used to spell words. This usefulness does not account for their attraction. As a sacred alphabet, runes are much more like Hebrew letters, each having a meaning in itself that transcends its function as a representation of sound. Like Hebrew letters, each rune has a name of its own and serves as a focus for a constellation of meanings, associations, and symbols. The individual runes are powerful tools for meditation. A systematic study of each of them in turn can become an opening to the psyche and help integrate the personality. Such a survey also serves as an excellent general introduction to Northern European culture.

Today, the best-known application of rune lore is in divination. Chips or stones marked with the runes are drawn, cast, or laid out in patterns like tarot cards. The complexity of a reading may be affected by the fact that there are fewer runes than there are tarot cards, but a good reader can uncover considerable depth. A tarot card carries more visual information than a rune chip, but like the runes, the cards are named. When you read runes instead of tarot cards, you do not have the help of the artist's symbolism in determining the meaning. Instead, the simple rune forms a direct trigger association in the interpreter’s consciousness.

What is the source of this system that attracts us so? On the level of myth, the runes were given to us by Odin. In the Havamal (The Sayings of the High One), Odin says:

“I know I was hanged on the windy tree; for nine full nights; stabbed by a spear, offered to Odin; sworn by myself to myself; upon that tree that no man knows; from what roots it rises; no bread did they bear to me nor horn handed; into the deep I gazed - I took up the runes, took them up, screaming, then fell back again.” (Havamal 138-39)

Thus, the myth behind the ruins is one of sacrifice. The God was hanged, stabbed, experiencing every possible pain, and offered everything for that moment of transcendence in which he could manifest into consciousness the words of power. The runes.

Historically, the first known runic inscriptions date from the second century CE (Common Era). Their sophistication argues that runes may have been used for at least a century before that. However, although we can recall the ancient runes with some certainty, the details of their origin and evolution lie shrouded in mists as dense as those that veil the Baltic Shores. Interpretation of the earliest inscriptions is equally problematic. “For every inscription there shall be as many interpretations as there are scholars working on it” (Wilson, Page 1987, p.10).

Runes were inscribed on spearheads, brooches, shields, wooden staves, combs, and later, memorial stones. Some of the inscriptions indicate the name of the owner or maker of the object, while others appear to be magical inscriptions invoking luck or protection. Later on, runes were used for more ordinary communications, to identify or tally goods, for example. As the Roman church and European feudalism spread into the northern countries, so did the Latin alphabet. Soon, Anglo-Saxon texts were being written in an odd mixture of runes and Latin letters. By the time the sagas were written down, the Latin alphabet had become the means of written communication, and when the runes were used, it was generally for magical purposes.

The old Germanic runic alphabet, or futhark (a word formed from the sounds of the first six runes), consisted of twenty-four symbols written in a traditional order. For convenience, the 24 runes may be divided into three “aetts,” or eights, named for the runes with which they begin: Freyr’s aett, Hagal’s aett, and Tyr’s aett. This is called the Elder Futhark, and it is the runic system Laura uses in her divination. Are you interested in the mysteries of the runes? Contact me to start a conversation.

Paxson, Diana L. Taking up the Runes: A Complete Guide to Using Runes in Spells, Rituals, Divination, and Magic. Weiser Books, 2022.