An Experiential Approach to Runeworking

These Pagan Portals are all current works in progress, serialised here on the Pagan Collective blog with each chapter being open for comment. In due course the entire script will be published as a Pagan Portal book.

Over the next few months, we will be running weekly Spirit of the Rune lessons on this blog. Follow along and learn the runes!

There are a lot of books available today addressing various aspects of the Norse runes, so why did we write another?  There is a growing movement among the rune casting community that recognizes the runes as individual spirits.  Sarenth Odinson was one of the pioneers of this approach, and he coined a term you will find used extensively in this book: Rúnvættir.  In simple terms, “rún” is the Old Norse word for rune, and “vættir” is the word for spirits in the same language. In Old Norse, the land spirits are referred to as “Landvættir”; therefore, it is only logical for the rune spirits to be “Rúnvættir.”  Are they an existing being from the lore? No, there is no reference to such beings in the material that has survived to this day. However, they are treated as beings in one medieval text, so the idea isn’t completely new. There aren’t many books that address the runes in such a manner, and the authors felt compelled to add to their number.

The approach with which this book is written is almost entirely experiential. Intuition is the most important tool for any practitioner, whether doing divination or active magic. With this book, the reader will develop that mental muscle while approaching the Rúnvættir directly for instruction.  

Initial impressions are asked of the reader before a description of the meaning of each rune is revealed in an attempt to record impressions that will be lost as soon as outside information is received.  A set of the Elder Futhark runes is not required to begin, but by the end, it is necessary: one cannot perform divination without the divination tool.   Furthermore, as this is an animistic approach, the reader is expected to enter into a relationship with their rune set as well as the spirits behind the tools.  By the end of this program, they will be consecrated and prepared to serve any divinatory needs. This book also assumes the reader has at least a passing acquaintance with the concept of magical focus and can maintain it long enough to do spellwork. 

The program outlined in this book requires the reader to maintain a journal, which will become the reader’s reference manual as they progress past this book.  If using a bound book for your journal, I recommend setting it up such that each rune gets at least three sheets for notes and doing the exercises and entries specific to a single rune on that rune’s pages.  In this manner, through the processes outlined in this book, the reader will build their own reference manual.  Pages that remain blank after this program is complete can be used for any notes you may write in the future on the runes.

While thorough research of Nordic lore (including saga material) has gone into preparing the contents, this program relies heavily on intuition in connecting with the Rúnvættir and interpreting their messages. When one is new to this practice, confidence is generally low.  “How do I know it’s not just in my head?” comes the plaintive cry of the beginner.  More advanced students may encounter something known as “imposter syndrome,” in which the practitioner feels like they may know their stuff but lack confidence to the point of thinking that people who look to them for advice are looking at an imposter.  In my experience, this is a case where the only way out is through. There’s a reason it’s called a magical “practice,” because that’s exactly what one must do to develop the confidence to progress. If there are no stakes, there will be no progress.  My background includes the hard sciences, and one thing I learned in college is that a failed experiment is completely successful in demonstrating that this is not the correct way to go forward. 

Finally, the methods described in this book can serve as models for connecting with any other spirits the reader might encounter.  Simply adapt the methods to apply to whatever is needed.

There is a lot of information (and misinformation) available about working with the Elder Futhark runes.  It can be hard to sift through the available material to find and verify the information you seek.  While this particular method of working with the runes is heavily intuitive, it is underpinned by the three most commonly referenced rune poems (the Icelandic, Norwegian, and Anglo-Saxon rune poems) and the Poetic Edda.  In this path, the lore may not be emphasized, but it still provides the starting point and inspiration for the work.

Look out for Lesson one!

For more details on Daniela: https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/moon-books/authors/daniela-simina