Almost 2,000 years ago the Roman Tacitus described the use of ‘lots’ carved with sigils which were thrown by the priest or head of family upon a white cloth and then interpreted. The lots were made from fruit-bearing trees and the interpreter would invoke the wisdom of the Gods to assist him (Tacitus, Germania). The Germanic peoples carved rune inscriptions to name objects, record ownership, memorialize heroes and ancestors, and seek protection and power. By 150CE we can identify a particular set of runes called the ‘Elder Futhark’ which was used by Germanic peoples across what is now North-West Europe.
Myth tells us that Odin discovered the runes during a 9 day and 9 night initiation upon the world tree Yggdrasil. The most commonly cited account is found in the Havamal in the Poetic Edda where Odin tells us in his own words that ‘I peered right down into the deep, crying aloud I lifted the Runes then back I feel from thence’. This is often interpreted as a shamanic ‘journeying’ experience as portrayed in this tenth century poem: