Introducing the Runes

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!

What Are the Runes?

The term “rune” is generally understood to refer to a character from one of the alphabets commonly associated with Germanic paganism.  At the simplest and most surface level of understanding, the three best-known runic alphabets are ancient writing systems used by peoples in the Northern and Western areas of Europe starting a little less than 2000 years ago. While there has been some controversy around the earliest beginnings of the oldest of these scripts, the Elder Futhark, the current thinking is that it  evolved from the Lepontic alphabet used by people living in the territories that correspond today to Northern Italy, Switzerland, and Southern Austria. Lepontic inscriptions dating back to 550-100 BCE have been discovered around Lugano in Switzerland, and near Lakes Como and Maggiore in Northern Italy.

The Lepontic Alphabet

Due to population mobility – migration, colonization following military conquests, and commercial activities which involved traveling long distances – the runic alphabet spread. Over time, its letters changed to accommodate the languages spoken in the Norse, Germanic and Anglo-Saxon territories.

The Elder/Older Futhark, the first form of the runic alphabet, which is clearly distinct from Lepontic, was used in the areas where the early Germanic languages, such as Proto-Germanic, developed into Old Norse and other languages from its period. The Elder Futhark was in circulation mainly between the first and sixth centuries CE. It has 24 characters and is the focus of this book.

The Anglo-Saxon Futhorc was in use from the fifth through the eleventh century in England and Frisia – today’s Netherlands and Germany. It has 28-34 characters depending on the form.

The Younger Futhark was used throughout Scandinavia during the Viking Age. It is the shortest runic script with only 16 characters.

There is some debate in the community whether the runes were simply an alphabet used for inscriptions or if they were considered magical by the elder heathen.  Given references to magic performed by Egil Skallagrímsson in his Saga, we know that at least by the time of the author (suspected to be Snorri Sturluson), the Icelandic people believed the runes could have been used for magic.  There really are few other logical explanations for the stacked Tiwaz runes we have on certain inscriptions: the Lindholm amulet (2nd to 4th century) contains three, as does the Seeland-II-C bracteate (500 CE), while the Kylver Stone (400 CE) contains a whopping eight Tiwaz runes. There was clearly some purpose to the repetition, and it was unlikely to have been communication.

In Your Journal 

1. Study the photos of each of the runic alphabets. Which do you feel the most drawn to?

2. Explore your feelings/observations/reflections in your journal. How does this align with your current Heathen focus? If it doesn’t, how do you feel about working with runes from a different Heathen culture than your usual focus? Do you foresee any conflicts, and if so, how do you plan to resolve them?

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