Rune stones

Method of Divining - Used by traveling Seers on Planet Nilfeheim



The Origins of Rune Stones: According to the "Illustrated Encyclopedia of Divination" the word "rune" means "whisper" or "secret". Indeed runes are thought by some to be a way of interacting with both the spirit and the living world. The system of divination by runes can be attributed to two tribes who came together and produced a combination of symbols and old signs which were found on a variety of paintings, ritual and domestic items in the North from as early as Paleolithic times. However there are other myths surrounding the origins of the runes including the Volsungr, a Northern ancestral tribe who crossed into Europe before the Ice Age.

There is also a myth relating to Odin a God of wisdom, divination and the Horde of the Dead". After hanging down on the "World Tree for nine days", he realised or "saw" at the end of his "shamanistic journey":

"How the magical and systematic power of signs - and of the mind - could be put together. He took up the runes"

As well as their use as an alphabet; it was their use as a divining tool and their supposed power to call up deities' influence over fertility, crops, tides, love, healing and curses, which led to people as late as 1700 being burned at the stake for using them.

Today the use of the runes seems to be enjoying a modern day revival with collections becoming more widely available and instruction sheets on how to use them.

As the runes spread throughout Europe by the Anglo Saxons, the runic alphabet which was quite varied in number depending upon geographical location, finally became settled into a basic alphabet of 24 Runes called the FuThark.

The word FUThARK originates from the sounds of the six letters. The 24 Runic signs are arranged into three families comprising 8 runes each. These individual families are called Aett (singular) or Aettir (plural) Each family or Aett is ruled over by its own particular spirit or Norse God. Respectively these entities are:

Freya & Frey - Goddess and God of fertility and increase

Heindall - The watcher and the keeper of the Rainbow Bridge to the Heavens

Tyr - War leader and spirit of the just

The sequence of signs in each Aett has meaning as does each rune within it. Each individual rune is thought to be a "symbolic storehouse" and a "magical talisman" having its own unique set of meanings connecting a variety of things including: feelings, experiences, spirits, objects, creatures and archetypal processes.

Almost like the makeup of an inner reality their movements in any given situation are said to be indicative of how "Wynd" or fate is operating in an individual's affairs. The meanings of the runes are however quite fluid. Although old texts do give sets of associations for the signs there is still quite an amount that is left up to the interpretation and intuition of the individual using them.