Welcome to Runes 301! In this series, I am going to share with you the process through which I travel to make my own set of Runes, based on my understanding of what Runes were during the Viking Age and before, and in the world of Norse Mythology.
I have started the process of making my own Runes with a ritual that I "created". While there are some basic rules for making your own wooden Rune staves, the process also has many individualized steps too. I decided that I wanted to cleanse the tools I'm going to use to make the Runes with "holy" water. For me, that means rain. Luckily in these modern times, we know when to expect rain. Rain was forecast for us one day last week, so I got a metal bucket, washed it, faced west (northwest-ish) and made my request to Freyr the morning the rain was going to start. Let me reiterate that this is my ritual. It is not a requirement, but you are welcome to use it, modify it or create your own.
I chose Freyr to receive my request, because he is the Norse god of fertility. There are goddesses (Sif, Freyja and Frigg, for example) and other gods (Njörd) associated with fertility and even Thor is associated with weather, storms and rain. You can choose whichever god you prefer. It doesn't have to be any of those listed. It simply has to be a god you believe in. For me, Freyr felt right.
I faced west/northwest holding the bucket. This direction was purely of my own choosing, because I knew the storm was coming from that direction. Holding the bucket out in front of me, I looked into the approaching clouds and said the following incantation, then set down the bucket to receive Freyr's nourishment.
"I believe in the power of Freyr to provide fertility to the planet, to nourish the Earth and all things that live here."
The catch is that you have to believe what you say.
By the end of the day, the bucket had just over a centimeter of water in it. I put it in a glass jar, closed and saved it for the cleansing ritual, which I will do after I acquire the tools I'll use to cut and carve the wood and etch out the Runes.
The next ritual will be the cleansing of the tools, followed by cutting the wood within the next couple of weeks. I hope you will stay tuned and, if you have gone through this process, that you will share your experience with us.
Do you have any particular wood you use and if so, what/why? I use red cedar, mainly for the red heart wood because I love the color of it.
ReplyDeleteIf you are making these for your own use, these will be the most powerful and in tune with you set you will ever use. I highly recommend people who are serious about runes to make their own.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to seeing this process.
I am currently in thr process of making my own set of runes as well,im sawing my slices of wood from a grape vine,you can pretty much use any wood except elder,I wouldnt take a chance with the ladys tree.
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