The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

Hi everyone, I am new to Heathenry and I was wondering, what is a good way to start using the Runes? Either for divination, or on a daily basis...I'm a little confused on the best way to use them. Any info or book suggestions would be appreciated!

Hi everyone, I am new to Heathenry and I was wondering, what is a good way to start using the Runes? Either for divination, or on a daily basis...I'm a little confused on the best way to use them. Any info or book suggestions would be appreciated!

 
In addition to useful books and texts, I'd recommend keeping a journal (a page a rune, or something) with meanings you find most common and also personal to you.  For instance, there is one rune I get that, while often listed as a portent of an "act of god" type of situation, in personal divinations often takes the shade of meaning "sit back and quit worrying."

Divinations on a daily basis, even just about more idle questions than big, life-altering ones, will help you gain familiarity with your runes.  I feel it's a personal relationship in a way, like many feel about their different tarot decks.  And it will help you build a personal dictionary of sorts, if you record the different flavors and meanings of each rune as you see them yourself.

In addition to useful books and texts, I'd recommend keeping a journal (a page a rune, or something) with meanings you find most common and also personal to you.  For instance, there is one rune I get that, while often listed as a portent of an "act of god" type of situation, in personal divinations often takes the shade of meaning "sit back and quit worrying."

Divinations on a daily basis, even just about more idle questions than big, life-altering ones, will help you gain familiarity with your runes.  I feel it's a personal relationship in a way, like many feel about their different tarot decks.  And it will help you build a personal dictionary of sorts, if you record the different flavors and meanings of each rune as you see them yourself.

 I have been planning to start a journal on the runes based on a "rune a day" pull..so far Dagaz has been popping up everywhere! I think I see what u mean..

I have been planning to start a journal on the runes based on a "rune a day" pull..so far Dagaz has been popping up everywhere! I think I see what u mean..

 
I pull a rune every morning, and starting last month have been jotting the rune on one of my calendars, so that I can look back and see any patterns that emerge over time.

I also find a notebook with pages for each rune, as well as places for other observations, is very helpful.  I'm using a 3ring binder so that I can add and move pages as needed.  As I read more, reflect more and realize my own thoughts on the runes, I add them in.  Then I go back from time to time and read what I have on different runes.  I find the looking back process very useful, and almost always remember things I had forgotten, which helps me to weave a fuller picture of each rune.

Reading written descriptions are good, but don't forget your personal connection with the runes. Meditate on them. Connect to them. Listen to what they have to say.

You can start up by meditating on a specific rune, but another good exercise is to pull a random rune, hold it in your hand, and meditate on it without looking at it. You'll get to look at the rune as it is, without all the associations that exist in your mind.

 
I currently work as a troubleshooter in a Medicare part D plan call center. Essentially, I'm one of the folks that the person you talk to in a call center goes to when they don't know how or just simply cannot handle the caller's issue or the caller is fed up with the representative.

This is an immensely stressful job on a good and there aren't many good days. So, I drew the Runes on some index cards, including Hela's aett, and when things are slow I takes them out and begin going through them; sort of like a Sun Wheel. This has helped me to memorize them and become more familiar with the added benefit of the focused meditation acting to help me remain calm when all I really want to do is harm the moron who caused the plan member's problem.

As for magic use, I've used Fehu before and it worked beautifully to fill my cupboards. I'm still waiting for the lottery numbers though... :

I'm used to the Aettir being Freyja's (or Freyr's), Heimdall's, and Tyr's; this is a new one on me. Could you elaborate?

Sunflower

 
Mind you, I'm still new to this one too. I found it while researching Ear and haven't seen a whole lot about it yet. Then again, I haven't been able to find a whole lot about Hel at all and my income is what polite people would call "limited", so book purchases are a no-go for now.

Anyway, Hela's Aett begins with Ear, then continues with Ac, Ior, Yr, Os, Cweorth, Stan, Chalc, & finally, Gar. Allegedly Gar is more Odin's rune but the source's I've found are contradictory.

I believe the person who labeled them as Hela's Aett was Raven Kaldera, but the runes themselves seem to be from the Anglo-Saxon, Frisian and Northumbrian rune sets.

That seems to be the case, though Kaldera uses 'Hel' rather than 'Hela' - I got very little, yesterday, websearching 'Hela's aett', and that was using two different search engines. But Darkhawk put me on to this page on Kaldera's Northern Traditions site, which I'm guessing is (one of) the resource(s) Skumring is drawing on.

I see, now, that searching 'Hel's aett' gets more (and more reliable!) results - I really should have thought of doing that search as well, yesterday.

Mind you, I'm still new to this one too. I found it while researching Ear and haven't seen a whole lot about it yet. Then again, I haven't been able to find a whole lot about Hel at all and my income is what polite people would call "limited", so book purchases are a no-go for now.

Anyway, Hela's Aett begins with Ear, then continues with Ac, Ior, Yr, Os, Cweorth, Stan, Chalc, & finally, Gar. Allegedly Gar is more Odin's rune but the source's I've found are contradictory.

 
That's the order in which Raven Kaldera discusses them, on the site linked above, but he doesn't seem to be making a claim about that being the 'correct' order (he uses language like, 'Let's start with...,' and, 'The next one to look at...'); how it reads to me is that this is an order he finds useful, either for his own purposes or for introducing others to this approach. In ancient inscriptions, usually Ac is the first 'new' rune - though, as the Wiki article notes, '[t]he letter sequence, and indeed the letter inventory is not fixed.' (In none of the instances given in the article is Ear the first, though.)

There seem to be as many, if not more, folks who use the term 'Hel(a)'s Aett' for the second aett of the Elder Futhark, as an alternative to 'Heimdall's Aett' - I mention this not to say anyone is right or wrong, but to note that there's more than one usage in play, so it's not safe to assume people will know what you're talking about without more elaboration.

Kylara brings up a point that makes me twitch a bit: that the Futhorc runes themselves are Anglo-Saxon/Frisian (Northumbria being a geographically-specific instance of Anglo-Saxon), and thus connected to the West Germanic linguistic branch, but Hel, and the Jotnar generally, are part of Norse (specifically, Icelandic) mythology (i.e., the North Germanic linguistic branch), and are AFAIK only speculatively attestable (f'ex, that the character of Seo Hell in the Old English Gospel of Nicodemus 'invites comparison' with Hel and Frau Holle) in connection with AS culture

So Kaldera's statement about the 'extra' runes, that 'they reek of the Rokkr or Jotnir, the "dark gods" of Norse mythology,' should not be taken as factual, or even relevant, to Heathenry in general, but as Kaldera's personal gnosis, which may or may not be useful/applicable to other folks. IMO the disclaimer at the top of that (and every) NT page is inadequate, in this case, at fully expressing just how far this diverges from NT's 'reconstructionist-derived' description; if there is any 'reconstruction' here at all, it's not documented.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't work with it, Skumring; if you're finding it useful to you, that's great. But you should keep in mind that it's not 'standard' in Heathenry, and that the Northern Tradition is not well-regarded among mainstream Heathens.

Sunflower

Yeah, would like to reinforce what was said here.

 
Yeah, going back through my notes and what I saved Raven and one other site were the one's I'd say were the main sources. Which is why I'm still looking. I'm planning on making my own rune set but I'd like to know more about this Hel's Aett and such first. I've also not used them as of yet since Raven Kaldera is the only significant source I've found and everyone else is either copying from him or vice versa. That, and something about his attitude in his writing rubs me the wrong way.