In May 2026, my handbook for rune magicians is going to be published! The title of this book is PORTALS, PATTERNS AND PATHWAYS: A Handbook for Rune Magicians, Star Gazers and Myth Makers. It is always a most magical moment when the review copies arrive (on social media, we call this the “unboxing moment”) and I hold the actual book in my hands. This book started life as a large volume of notes in my Rune Magician Journals, which I then turned into courses for my rune magician students. Many of them asked, “When the book was coming out” (offering all material in one place, in a well-structured way, which also takes complete beginners through the material). So eventually I wrote that book. I am thrilled that Moon Books is the publisher (same as with my previous four non-fiction books) because I enjoy working with their amazing team.

It seems timely to answer a Rune-related question in this blog!  

My new book focuses on working with the Runes of the Elder Futhark. It is important to note that the Vikings used the runes of the Younger Futhark. The Elder Futhark was used in the period before the Viking Era. I often mention this because it is a popular trend for people who admire the Vikings to have rune tattoos. So I am just saying that if you want to be authentic (in synch with the Viking Age), you need to use designs involving the runes of the Younger Futhark. This rune row contains only 16 runes, while the Elder Futhark has 24, meaning that 8 runes dropped out of use during a transitional period.

A question I am often asked about rune readings is: “How can these ancient letters have any relevance or help us deal with modern situations? Examples people give are: the runes date from a time before the internet, airplanes and AI. Aren’t they obsolete by now, overtaken by modern history?

Well, I see the runes not only as letters, though they certainly were the writing system of the Viking Era, and were used well before that period by Germanic tribes, too. I primarily see them as glyphs with powerful indwelling spirits.

I believe that those indwelling spirits continue to evolve through interaction with human beings. This is a matter of Rune Gifu (or Gebo): the gifts and blessings or even cross-fertilisation inherent in fair exchange. The rune spirits will meet us wherever we are in the world or in history. They constantly reveal new dimensions of meaning, as both cultures and technology continue to evolve.

Let’s use AI as an example today. Is there a rune which has the core meaning AI (Artificial Intelligence), no! However, we do have rune Ken or Kenaz. Literally, it is the rune of the pine torch, lighting (among other things) the road of technical advances and technological progress. Ken is the rune of both the forge and the blacksmith. Blacksmiths make both tools and weapons, and a lot depends on whether we choose tools or weapons, and how we use them:

• With integrity?
• For the greater good of our communities?
• For personal gain?
• For mass destruction?

That is the moral choice, or fork in the road, that Rune Ken ultimately offers us. And that is the exact choice (or dilemma) we now face with AI!

Many unresolved questions remain:

• Do we have the right safety protocols in place?
• Will AI really benefit all of us or empower a small group of super wealthy people to make even more money and weaponise AI against the rest of us?
• Is it acceptable that AI uses immense amounts of precious drinking water, often in vulnerable locations in developing or under-resourced countries? (This is a matter of Rune Lagu or Laguz, too.)
• Should AI really control weapons of war and mass destruction?
• Is there a risk that AI could do away with human beings altogether?

And, considering all these concerns, should we allow the AI race between political leaders to continue, without arriving at global and binding agreements about following protocols for the safe use of AI?

The pine torch that Rune Ken casts light on all these possible outcomes. By casting that light, it also casts long shadows ahead of us, far into the future. Whatever we decide will bring other runes into play: Rune Lagu and matters of water scarcity, Rune Odal and matters of homeland security, Rune Hagal if a great crisis or cataclysm occurs. I suggest that Rune Naud, the “Mother of Necessity” (and of functional restrictions, self-discipline), should be our guide in navigating this, not Rune Fe. This was originally the rune of wealth expressed as the number of cattle someone owned, but in our day it refers to money, capitalism, consumerism and (taken to its outer extreme) runaway greed.

I am well aware that Prometheus is not a Norse god, but a key figure in Greek mythology. He stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind. This fire (again, think of the pine torch) represented knowledge, civilisation, and foresight. And Prometheus paid a high price for that. I think we would do well to meditate on his myth, as we make collective decisions about Tech and AI. To me, this is a Rune Ken Teaching.

Did the Vikings have AI? Of course not! Are there runes that will do a precision job in helping us navigate “all things AI”? Absolutely!

Please remember to check out my new book! And you know, if you leave a review (even two words will do) on Amazon, you will have made a difference to the life and future of an author!

For more details: https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/moon-books/our-books/portals-patterns-pathways-handbook-rune-magicians

Imelda Almqvist is an international teacher of Sacred Art and Seidr/Old Norse Traditions (the ancestral wisdom teachings of Northern Europe). She has published three books: Natural Born Shamans: A Spiritual Toolkit for Life (Using shamanism creatively with young people of all ages) in 2016, Sacred Art: A Hollow Bone for Spirit (Where Art Meets Shamanism) in 2019 and Medicine of the Imagination – Dwelling in possibility (an impassioned plea for fearless imagination) in 2020. She has presented her work on both The Shift Network and Sounds True. She appears in a TV program, titled Ice Age Shaman, made for the Smithsonian Museum, in the series Mystic Britain, talking about Neolithic arctic deer shamanism. Her fourth book, about the pre-Christian spirituality of The Netherlands and Low Countries, has just gone into production. She has already started her fifth book: about the runes of the Futhark/Uthark. In response to the 2020 pandemic she has opened an on-line school, called Pregnant Hag Teachings, to make more of her classes available on-line.