The divinatory function of the runes is not “fortune telling”. It is the revelation of who you are now and what forces in nature, society and the inner self have shaped you to the present moment. What may come will be determined by your decision to act – every moment presents you with a turning point which will affect the Wyrd. (Rune Rede, Ruark Grimnisson page. 62)
This extract from Grimnisson’s Rune Rede: Wisdom and Magic for the Life Journey
Once you have your shiny new rune set, it can be difficult to know where to begin. Traditionally, a technique called ‘casting’ is used where the runes are thrown down – where they fall and how they fall are then read intuitively in relation to the other runes. We get this technique from Tacitus’s description in Germania:
Augury and divination by lot no people practice more diligently. The use of the lots is simple. A little bough is lopped off a fruit-bearing tree, and cut into small pieces; these are distinguished by certain marks, and thrown carelessly and at random over a white garment. In public questions the priest of the particular state, in private the father of the family, invokes the gods, and, with his eyes toward heaven, takes up each piece three times, and finds in them a meaning according to the mark previously impressed on them.
We will cover rune casting at a later date and look at some of the ways modern practitioners have interpreted this (and no, I don’t think any of them are priests of state and a lot of them won’t be fathers so perhaps ‘traditional’ is the wrong word). However, to move directly to a full rune spread is both daunting and will take a great deal of time while you scour through books hunting for their meanings. To cite Grimnisson again, divinatory interpretation is done by ‘applying knowledge with intuitional skill’ (pg. 59) and, however intuitive you are already, your lack of knowledge when you start out will hamper your insights. What can be fun, however, is to do a full casting for yourself as a new pracitioner and write out where all the runes fell – you can analyse your reading a number of times later as you progress and become more familiar with the runes.
One rune spread...
There is general agreement that the one rune spread is not traditional; as Edred Thorsson says, 1 ‘is the number of beginnings of root causes and solitary forces. It is rare in operative runecraft and in mythological references.’ (Rune Lore).
However, it is both an excellent way of learning the runes and is recommended by multiple practitioners as a way to get a quick Yes/No answer, or to get some insight into what the day will bring (see my entries on ‘Rune of the Day’ and ‘Rune of the Day – the report’ for more on this).
As a ‘quick reading’ method, you won’t always have time to set up a space, ask for guidance and choose your rune with care – and there are times when simply reaching into the bag and drawing a rune will give you what you need. As Katie Gerrard points out in Odin’s Gateways (pg. 149), one of the beauties of the one-rune spread is that it is discreet – as you can easily pull one rune from your bag without making a song and dance out of it. Having said that, I wouldn’t recommend using this method exclusively as it won’t assist you in building up an energetic relationship with your runes, or in honing your intuitive skills by connecting with them on a deeper level. When you have peace and quiet, practice the following method (which will stand you in good stead when you start doing more complex readings):
- Sit quietly with your rune set in your hands while to prepare yourself for the reading. You might want to do a relaxing meditation such as focusing on the evenness of your breathing (you can also try my World Tree relaxation on YouTube). You may also want to do some sort of space holding such as the Hammer of Thor Rite, calling in the runes, or simply visualising a sphere of bright energy around you.
- Blow on the rune bag to clear away any ‘cobwebs’ from previous readings – visualise the bag containing the emptiness that came before Wyrd was ‘written’.
- Ask for guidance and blessings on your reading, affirming that your work is the highest good of the person you are reading for (whether this is you or someone else). You might call for guidance from the runes (e.g. saying ‘Whispered secrets, hidden might, help me read the runes aright’), the Norns (Fates), Odin, or any another guide that seems apprioriate to you.
- Draw a single rune from the bag.
Yes/ No readings
It is generally accepted that, if you are going for a Yes/No response, then drawing the rune the right way up (shining stave) would indicate a yes, and drawing it reversed (murk stave) would indicate a No (note that some runes have no reversed position so would always indicate a yes). I don’t use this technique so can’t tell you how effective it is (I must admit that, in my view, if you are just looking for ‘Yes/No’ you could toss a coin just as well as draw a rune).
My preferred method is to see which rune comes and work from there. Let’s say I can’t decide whether to go on a trip or stay at home because the weather looks a bit iffy; if I ask ‘Shall I do the cleaning?’ and I draw the Raidho rune the right way up, then it appears to be saying ‘Yes, do the cleaning’ – but Raidho is the rune of journeys so my instinct would tell me to go out. Conversely, if I drew the Raidho rune reversed, I would take it as a clear indication that staying at home was really an excellent plan rather than as ‘No, go out’. The important thing is to frame your question clearly, know how you expect the information to be presented (e.g. by the rune’s position, or its meaning), and then ultimately go with what your instinct tells you immediately you see the rune. The last bit is key because you can start second guessing yourself, particularly if you are doing your own reading. In the example above, I could very easily start to reinterpret Raidho as ‘doing what is right’, in which case my guilt about the cleaning might get the better of me and I would effectively ignore the reading by twisting it to fit in with what I secretly thought I should do.
In Helrunar: A Manual of Rune Magick (pg. 243) Jan Fries gives some additional advice for anyone trying the one rune spread but struggling to see how the rune drawn connects with their questions. He recommends imagining a curtain and then drawing the rune in front of the curtain – pull the curtain back and see what images, connections and meanings appear for you (remember to draw the curtain again afterwards).
Although not directly related to the one rune spread, Katie Gerrard’s ‘lost rune’ in Odin’s Gateways is also worth mentioning here. This is when you are doing a full 24 rune spread or a casting and you notice that one rune is missing – in which cayse it is likely to be important either because the energy it represents is blocked to that person in some way, or because it is SO important, that it needs to be attended to first. (Normally you will find the rune sneaking at the bottom of your rune bag, although I have known them to fly out of the bag and across the room on occasion.
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