What are Runes?

Runes are connected to witchcraft and they are a tool used in divination and magic which have been used throughout Europe, Scandinavia, the British Isles and Iceland from around 100 b.c.e. They are used as an oracle for seeking advice and are said to work best on asking a specific question once having given details of the circumstances, although the outcome is sometimes questionable and unclear.

The runes at best will point you in the right direction but you will have to conclude the answer yourself from the information they give you and figure out exact details yourself, there is never a clear cut and dry answer to your problems.

However, rune casting or runic divination as it is called is not a way of fortune telling but rather a way of analyzing the particular path you are on and what the outcome is likely to be. The word rune means mystery or secret and each rune has a special meaning and properties associated with it, each of them translates into a word or phrase that has a special meaning representing the forces of nature and the mind and each is associated with a Norse god.

The runes were also used as a method of writing and first made their appearance among German tribes in central Europe, it is thought that some of the rune symbols may have come from other languages such as Greek and early roman. Inscriptions on the runic stones have been dated as far back as the 3rd century AD though it is thought that they existed a long time before then.

How to read runes

By far the simplest way of reading runes is to use the one rune method, after you have cleared your mind of all other thoughts ask the question in mind, concentrating on it. When you have concentrated on your question and you feel the time is right take just one rune from your bag and from this stone, you will gather information relating to the question at hand, what you make of this information is entirely up to you.

If you think that more information is needed then you can take three runes instead of just the one from the bag, you will deduct information from the first rune regarding the circumstances of your question.

The second rune will give you an indication of the route you should take and the third is the likely outcome should you choose to go with the action. This of course is only a very brief glimpse of casting runes and there are several books and websites you can read should you wish to delve deeper into the magic of runes.