Part One
I have come to the realization that each rune is the most simplistic and accessible rendering of an organization and pattern of forces – an energetic configuration. As has also been described, each rune is ‘chaos’ made flesh. Thus, the runes can act as keys to unlock doorways into the expression of power in the world.
Admittedly, when first coming across the runes as a teen eagerly immersing myself in diverse mystical and occult traditions I immediately regarded them as simplistic and rudimentary.
In comparison with systems such as the Tarot and the I Ching they seemed to me to be primitive. Each Tarot card, for example, is rich with color and symbol; and each I Ching hexagram is oft accompanied by a chapter of explanation.
The runes appear as simple ideographs that look like the scratches a child could make. After a cursory examination, somewhat disappointed, I discarded them – not to return to them till relatively recently.
A breakthrough for me occurred a few years back when I embarked on creating a sigil that to me would represent the ultimate harmony between man and woman, the fusion of masculine and feminine energies.
From an intention I wrote out which was a paragraph long I gave my creativity free reign and designed a mandala. One-half represents the male, the other half the female.
I’ve since laminated it and carry it around with me to paste on the wall of whatever room I am in.
What I discovered recently that I find remarkable is that within the mandala I had unconsciously included four runes. Two in each of the halves; with the runes interpreted as being feminine in the feminine half, and the runes considered masculine in the masculine half. I did this all of this without conscious intent! And without any research into the runes themselves barring that very brief exposure decades prior when I rejected them out of hand.
It is this very personal experience that has awarded the runes a place of respect in my current beliefs. I now regard the ‘scratchings’ as lines of energy and representations of primal forces.
My practice with the runes has been influenced by the works of Edred Thorsson, aka Stephen Flowers. When choosing to delve into any unfamiliar system you have to start somewhere, and you have to ‘trust’ in the authority of someone. Personally, I like his writings on the topic for a number of reasons:
1) He has the credentials, given that he’s a runic scholar with a Ph.D. in Germanic studies.
2) He walks the talk. Buoyed by his scholarly/academic background he obviously experiments assiduously with the runes and offers insights emerging from his own intuition. My take is that given the respect and discipline with which he has treated them the runes ‘now speak to him’.
3) He grasps that the runes are first and foremost a magical tool and that accompanying the ideographs are sound-values, mantras, and postures. The runes are both visual and phonetic: they have names and pronunciations, sounds and tones. And he suggests a ‘stadha’ for each rune; a bodily posture which IMO transforms the body into an antenna in order to be receptive to the vibration the rune signifies.
Yes, the runes are associated with letters and used as an alphabet, and yes we have derived common names from the runes: from the rune ‘Fehu’, associated with money, we get the word ‘fee’; from the rune ‘Gebo/Gyfu’ we get the word ‘gift’. And it’s kinda cool to note that from this same rune which symbolizes gifting as well as love we’ve been influenced to use its ideograph, ‘X’, to represent a kiss, affection.
Yet, as an excellent website explains, “We’ve already noted that the word “rune” means “letter” only secondarily and that its primary meaning is “secret” or “mystery” – the mysterious animistic power carried by the phoneme itself. We must also remember the ordeal Odin undertook in order to discover the runes – no one would hang from a tree without food or water for nine days and nights, ritually wounded by his own spear, in order to obtain a set of arbitrary signifiers.”
And this paragraph sums up my perspective on what the runes may accomplish: “Given that the ability to alter the course of destiny is one of the central concerns of traditional Germanic magic, it should come as no surprise that the runes, as an extremely potent means of redirecting destiny, and as inherently meaningful symbols, were thereby inherently magical by their very nature.” http://norse-mythology.org/runes/the-meanings-of-the-runes/
THE RUNIC PRACTICE:
As for my personal practice, I have taught myself to visualize the runes at will, and in the sequence prescribed. I can see them with my eyes closed in various colours, mostly red, sometimes as if etched in flame, as well as if they were inscribed in stone like those one would cast; or in front of me, shimmering in the air, and on walls and floors, engraved on trees that I walk past, or formed by clouds in the sky.
I have learned the names of the runes, and will chant these as I simultaneously visualize them. I may assume the posture of the opening rune, imagine it emblazoned on my wall as I chant its name in various tones, from low to high, softly and loudly, internally as well as spoken and sung.
I have begun to experiment with chanting the sound ‘OM’ preceding the name of a rune. And I also intone the mantras accompanying each rune that Thorrson prescribes. In this fashion I work in sequence from the first to the last rune.
I may also choose to work with a particular rune for that day, see it everywhere, assume its posture often, and chant its name frequently. I trust Thorsson when he claims that it may take some time in working with the runes before their effects will be noticed in one’s life but that once they are ‘activated’, so to speak, their powers will indisputably manifest.
Here is a guide to pronunciation:
End of Part One.
Kain Jc