Casting runes anyone

[annajona]

Do any of you women cast the runes?
I have had wonderful results in the past with rune casting and want to know if any one else does this.

I have a beautiful set of runes, made from pebbles of different sizes. I bought them the first time I set my foot in a new-age shop I have never visited since. The lady working in the store said the runes had been sitting there in the shelf for a very long time and that they were sold to her by an eccentric man who lives alone somewhere in a remote spot of the country. He brought only this bag and sold it to her to sell in the shop.

It was obviously waiting for me, since I felt drawn to it in such a way. I just walked straight into the shop, straight to the shelf where my runes were sitting, bought them and left.

I have to go to that shop again soon... hmmm


Any way!
Do any of you have experience with the runes? How are your runes? stone, clay, glass, plastic? How to you throw them? etc.

Anna Jóna

[crystal woman]

I have some beautiful rune stones made for me by one of my students. She made them for me out of river clay, they're shaped like little rectangular tablets. I don't throw the runes, I keep them in the bag she made to go with them and just put my hand in the bag and pull them out unseen. I don't think you're supposed to throw runes - I know you can throw I Ching coins and sticks though. I don't often do oracle work with the runes, (I mainly use tarot for that) but when I want to do some kind of magic I will select specific runes that have particular meanings that are relevant to the magic work I'm doing. Then I will spread them out in the pattern that I'm making along with stones, herbs, cards, etc. They do contribute a lot of power and intent towards the magic work.

[annajona]

you can use the runes as you wish. They have a double meaning, the alphabet, where they are used like normal lettering to carve text in stone (much easier to carve runes in stone or wood than the alphabet we use here) and then they have the spiritual meaning.
The old way, the traditional way is to throw the runes, but if you want to draw out individual ones you can of course do that.

When you throw the runes, you throw the whole bag on a runetable (or elsewhere) and interpret the ones that are right side up. The runes have no "reverse meaning" like tarot. If the blank back is up, you just dont read them, and if they are facing you upside down, you just turn them.

[annajona]

doesn´t any of us use the runes as a guide?

[treewicca]

i do. i have a set a dear friend made from stones from the river i live beside. she painted them with seven coats each of black paint, then painted on the runes in silver. she made a lovely velvet bag for them and i tend to pull one to three out at random when needing guidance. i havent tried throwing them, but i like the sound of that too.

[Joanne]

I made a set from flat beach stones smoothed by the ocean..I was able to just write the symbols on with a black magic marker. Sometimes I just draw one for reflection at new moon or full; or I do a 3 rune read for past-present-future...or you can draw for a situation. I liked the intrepretations and magical info here: http://www.bewitchingways.com/runes/runes.htm
It used to be you could click on the rune pic and read but things changed a bit I see. I don't know enough about them really, so I get lost with all the in-depth descriptions in books, websites. (Kind of like interpreting every little thing on a tarot card).

[AlachuaArtist]

The Runes I use are made of clay, like small rectangular tablets with red marks. I made a rune board to use with them, and keep them in a gray velvet pouch. I bought them years ago from some forgotten place.

I've never thrown them, but do mainly 3-stone readings with them. Or pull one out of the pouch for a "daily focus" sort of thing. They have an amazing "right-on" energy that tends to sound like fortune telling, although that's not what I use them for.

I've seen some beautiful sets for sale, but think I'd like to make a set from smooth stones I find.

[Anonymous]

Hi, it's really interesting to learn how different people around the world use runes.

I made my first set when i was a teenager - from paper, following instructions in a teen magazine.

My undergraduate degree thesis focused on anglo saxon paganism, and my rune interest was rekindled. Then i lapsed, and wanted a book by Thorson to help me learn some official meanings before i found my own interpretations. Then all of a sudden both books appeared in a discount store i love, and i was firmly back on the rune-lore path.

I believe personal views are great, but this is a time-honoured system so i will respect it. To understand the place of things in the originators life, how it became a rune image, and so its deeper meaning is very important for me. I am learning the Anglo-Saxon rune poem as it speaks most to my heritage. Which do other people prefer? Icelandic? Or a mixture? The prettiest or the easiest to undersand?!

Joanne - Thank you for the marker pen idea - so simple! I have collected smooth beech pebbles and have been wondering how to get the rune on them. I tried etching with a blade but when held it sort of rubbed away.

[treewicca]

i would love to hear more of your understandings of rune lore 23rdspiral. I am mainly an enthusiastic and intuitive personal viewer myself, but am always interested to learn more and would love to hear more of their roots. perhaps we could have a RUNE at a time thread here like we do in Healing Wise forum? anyone keen?

and i too may dance with joanne's idea and use a vivid marker on the pebbles i have collected...that would be a great way to move the wee bag of them i have collected out of the 'to do' basket and into use. i had been planning on following my friend's lead and doing the seven coats of intent/paint, but my intent is so strong and their river so close, i am thinking a marker might be just the go! and there sure is plenty in my 'to do' basket, i've been working on moving projects along a bit quicker. excellent plan!!

hmm, now you have me thinking whether i stick to the runes i know, or look further into different systems to really find the one for me. i do suspect i already have them tho!

[Anonymous]

I'm happy to chat about runes, and think a Rune at a Time tread could be really interesting and inspirational.

Treewicca, it sounds like you are ready to paint to me! If they dont feel right after doing it quickly, you could always do the several coats of paint/intenet afterwards either to build up the rune mark, or with clear varnish, or simply with plain water from your river? Actually, I really like that idea... and it will help me also to get my want-to-be-runes off my to-do list! Fantastic. Thank you! Now to find a red marker...

Treewicca, if you've got your own system, trying to add a different one on top may just confuse matters! maybe scan over the histories, just to see if one jumps out at you as maybe you've been tapping into that one anyway. I wouldnt worry though. I've heard of english wise women gathering, creating and using their own divination systems in line with their own intuition, to avoid being seen or caught - eg. thimble, feather, ring, penny, corn head, pebble, coal piece... easy to see how each could represent something. Just off the top of my head, for me those above would be: protection, communication, loyalty, luck, prosperity, foundations, security...

[Anonymous]

Hi

Somehow there is for me something fascinating in the Runes but i dont know what, i thought i buy some, went to a newage shop but i didnt use them and selled them through a forum. So now, i dont know if i should have them because, why buy something, when it just dusts in a shelf.

Somebody recomende, making them my self and that they were mor powerful then, as when i buy them.

anybody have a suggestion??

Greetings Devashra

[Xochitl]

A few years ago I was struck with a serious rune-making bug. I gathered fallen branches from various trees on my property (elm, rowan, oak, birch, ash, willow), cut the runes with a small hand saw, sandpapered them smooth, then used a wood-burner for the symbols.

I never cease to be fascinated by the beautiful images and symbols that are found within the wood. One set (I forget from which tree) had naturally occuring star/pentagram shapes right at the core of several of the cut pieces. I ended up keeping a rowan set for myself, they had a beautiful reddish swirly design at the center that really drew me to them. I oil my runes to keep them from drying out too much, and stay away from varnish and paint, as I like to keep them as close to their natural state as possible.

I cast the runes on occasions where I am in need of guidance or insight with regards to certain situations, when my mind is too cluttered to access my intuition easily without the use of such tools. Sometimes I draw one rune out of my pouch, and other times I draw several to cast a spread. I don't have a set way of casting them, I just cast as the situation or my need dictates.

For many years I have been entertaining the idea of creating my own personal rune(ish) divination/guidance system. This would involve a collection of branch pieces from various trees, where it is the specific tree that is the symbol, rather than having any additional symbol added on. On a yearly basis, I could see rubbing each rune with the sap, flower or leaf of the tree the branch came from, to maintain a link between these runes to the tree, its living essence, spirit and wisdom. I'm very curious as to how this system will unfold when the inspiration does finally hit me.

[Leaf]

Anna Jóna, thank you for bringing this up.

I have been using them for a long time. I use them as a guide whenever I feel I need an answer that I can't find on my own. It's stunning how sometimes the runes seem to know more about me than I know about the runes.

I have a set of runes created a long time ago by my best friend, they are carved and then painted red. I feel they are very close to me as they are part of the ancestral tradition here, though most people seem to have forgotten them by now. They have no idea about the runes. I was wondering how that is in Iceland, as that region was not invaded as much as we were.

Mostly I lay them in two circles, one clockwise (with 4 runes) and one the other way around (with 4 runes) and then one rune between these two circles. The number nine is referring to the nine worlds of Yggdrasil, and each position refers to a question related to each of the nine worlds (with Midgard in the middle).

Sometimes I just pull out one rune, and it's amazing how the same runes come back to tell me something every time again. As if they were old friends.

[treewicca]

i like the sound of your layout, Leaf...i think i might try that.

Xochitl, i love your idea of the pieces of wood, with the essence of the tree continually rubbed in. We have a plum tree here that had a natural heart-shape in the centre when i cut the branch across. I got all excited and cut it into a few rounds, with the idea of linking them together for a belt. I was very disappointed when they dried and cracked and ended up like little pacmans....should i have dried the whole branch before i tried cutting the rounds?

[Xochitl]

TreeWicca - that was quite a find, I have never seen or heard of a heart shape in wood. I am truly sorry the wood ended up cracking and splitting like that. My heart sank just to hear about it.

I have only used dry wood, and have never had any problems. I oil the pieces every few months, to keep them from becoming too dry and brittle.

Hopefully you'll find another piece and will share a picture with us of the belt you make with it!