Runes 102 - Book Reviews - Runic Book of Days

There are few books that I think hit the mark better than S. Kelley Harrell's Runic Book of Days.  With the exception of wanting a little more history about runic calendars, a point I realize is personal preference, I thought the book moved pretty seamlessly from topic to topic.

In her introduction, Harrell makes a few important remarks and states what she believes this book will do for her readers.  Her approach makes the book feel more comfortable.  "I'm not interested in preaching a method on how to use the runes.  I'm also not going to present my perspective as if it's the gospel according to Freya."  This is important, because she also states that she doesn't believe that anyone knows the original context or rune usage with certainty.  I agree, and Harrell is consistent in regularly telling her readers to explore and do what feels right and what works for them.

Harrell divides the book into two main parts - Engaging the Runes and Living the Runes.  In discussing engaging the Runes, she offers a brief, but thoughtful overview of the history and origin of the Runes with equal time on their more academic beginnings as an alphabet and their mythological story through Odin and the Nine Worlds.  Harrell also makes the point that, "A detailed knowledge of Old Norse history isn't required to study the runes, though it helps tremendously."  Some understanding of the culture in which Runes were derived gives deeper meaning to their engagement.

Chapter two in Harrell's Engaging the Runes section provides a variety of ways to use the Runes, from tools to ways of reading, and galdr methods.  It's a good overview and reiterates her point about doing what works for you.  She concludes the chapter by talking about the aetts.  After so many years engaging the Runes, I am still hesitant to assign the aetts to a particular god, but there is some common practice there and Harrell's explanations are well-linked to her intention in her practice and creates a strong thread within the book.

Getting into the staves (individual Runes) in chapter three, Harrell touches on an important aspect of their meaning, that its direct translation is rudimentary and the indirect translation stems from cultural and timing issues.  "The indirect translations focus on how we experience the literal translation..."  This may be why her detailed interpretations of each Rune are thoughtful and range from recognizing the mundane to looking through the lens of the Norse cosmology.

Harrell concludes the first section of the book with a chapter explaining the Runic calendar, including how it came to be, and discusses sabbats, devotionals, initiations, and affirmations.

Part two is where the year-long experience - Living the Runes - begins.  The year is split into half months with an assigned Rune, and for each, Harrell offers a devotional or affirmation, and each half month also includes an affirmation.  She starts the calendar at the end of June, but since we are at the end of October, I skipped to that part and it explained a lot about the week I'm having.  The timing is interesting, because it is a transition from the first aett to the second - Wunjo to Hagalaz, joy to hail.  It's a tough transition.  October 28th, when Hagalaz takes over, rings in Samhain in the north and Harrell dedicates a few pages to that and another two to the Samhain Sabbat Initiation, ending, of course, with its affirmation.

Hagalaz Half-Month Affirmation

This brings me to Harrell's claim from the introduction about what Runic Book of Days will do for the reader.  "...you will come away equally unafraid to explore the runes as you choose, while [being] comfortably aware of how they are traditionally situated and understood."  Her statement is true, for me.  I have opened myself to exploring and considering the Runes in new and deeper ways.

If you have any experience with the Runes, this book will deepen your connection to them. 

Runes 102 - Book Reviews - Runes Plain & Simple

I struggle with books that are trying to teach the reader something, but have no reference section.  Such is the case with Runes Plain & Simple, by Kim Farnell.  The biggest issue I have with this book relative to not having any citations comes at the back in Tables 1 and 2.  These are magical correspondence tables, where Farnell has likened Runes to everything from specific gods and goddesses to colors, stones, trees, herbs, flowers, and more.  I have no faith in these tables without references and no explanation as to how they were derived.

I also struggled with the errors in her historical references.  Although I can't go into many, I can pick out a few.  The most egregious for me is claiming that Heimdall led the Vanir with Freyja and Freyr in the war against the Aesir.  Another one of her claims is that the Vanir beheaded Hoenir, when, in fact, they beheaded Mimir.  According to the text, Loki created a set of arrows, not the single dart that he actually created, and gave them to Hödr to kill Baldr.  When I began my journey with Runes, three Rune masters told me that I had to understand the culture and mythology from which the Runes came.  I spent years studying both and still recognize that there is far more for me to learn that I already know.

She does offer a chapter on making your own Runes, which is okay.  Some of what she says strikes me as fluff, and some of her "statements" strike me as personal preference more than actually being necessary.  She does offer information about different types of wood/trees, which is interesting, but I still struggle with it (and this is me personally), because she doesn't give any citations about the source from which she derived this information.  Within this chapter, she also has a section called "Consecrating Your Runes".  I would like this section better if her statements were suggestions, because there is no standard practice for how to make your Runes your own.  The same holds true with her comments on "activating" your Runes.  She claims that you should hold each Rune in your left hand, close your hand around it like a cylinder, and blow into it.  What?  There is nothing plain or simple about the processes she describes.

Although this book is called Plain & Simple, I would not recommend it to beginners.  Only someone with some level of expertise could spot the errors and questionable information in this book, and be able to discern the few pieces worth taking away from it.

Runes 102 - Book Reviews - Runes: Ancient Scripts

I came to the Runes through academic channels, which may be why Martin Findell's book, Runes: Ancient Scripts, caught my eye.  Though it's short, Findell provides a reasonable overview of the Runes as an alphabet, which is the primary goal of his book.

There are a number of aspects of this book that I like.  First, for those who are new to Runes, the writing isn't too dense; it does a good job of providing background on the Runes as a form of writing and communication.  And, although most of you who read my blog are engaged with Runes as an oracle, we should understand both sides of this coin.  Findell explains what Runes are in terms of a writing vehicle; he follows a chronology as the Runes changed and split from the original Futhark to the Anglo Saxon Futhorc and the Younger Futhark used in Scandinavia during the Viking Age.  I like the fact that he suggests there may have been more than a single original version of the Futhark.  There is some truth behind it if for no other reason than the existing examples of the Runic writing are scarce and there are inconsistencies in form.  It is similar to different dialects in language.

In his chapter on Rune names, Findell shows us one of the most interesting images in the entire book.  It is an 18th century copy "of an earlier late 10th-/11th-century manuscript [that] preserves the earliest [copy] of the rune-poems from which we can learn about the tradition of runes-names." The picture is from a book by George Hickes, an English Divine (church clergy) and scholar who lived from 1642-1715.  Some researchers believe that the Rune Poems were used as a way of remembering the letters of the Futharks.  I can see that given the ABC songs we are taught as children.  In modern times, we have adopted the meanings named in the poems to serve as the foundation for using Runes as an oracle.

The other insightful piece of Findell's book is his chapter on the work of Runologists.  From an academic and historical perspective, his explanation begins to lend an eye to the depth of work that has transpired to develop our understanding of runic writing and the cultures and environments in which runic inscriptions were made.  Runology, while being its own area of academic study, incorporates work in numerous disciplines - linguistics, archeology, art history, literary history, and cultural history.  I could also see anthropology and geography fitting into that mix.  Findell shares some of the challenges with interpreting inscriptions as well as the processes used to gain a full understanding of each object and not simply figuring out what is carved on it.

In his final chapter, Findell includes a nod to MR James and JRR Tolkien, but claims that there is seldom any connection between "fantasy Runes" (those developed by James and Tolkien in their books) and real Runes.  I would amend that slightly to suggest that the mistake is that some readers take James and Tolkien at face value and consider their fantasy Runes to be the real ones.  Next, he touches on the Nazi misappropriation of Runes, something that still taints the Runes and their surrounding culture.

Where I feel Findell goes astray is near the end when he seems to condemn modern uses of Runes for divination, stating that new age or pagan magic is perhaps the most prevalent present-day use of Runes.  While that remark is true, the tone of his writing changes and he seems to denounce it, stating, "Most pagan books or websites will mention the historical use of Runes as writing, but this is treated as something secondary to their symbolic and oracular function."  He further suggests that the Runes are viewed primarily as magical symbols and function as a writing vehicle "only secondarily and incidentally".  I largely disagree with this, for while Findell points out that most "pagan books and websites" present the Runes as an alphabet secondarily, that is because their primary purpose is to present them as an oracle, just as Findell presents them primarily as a written language and discusses modern uses secondarily.

I am sure there are some people who see the Runes as nothing more than a divination tool.  However, my experience has been that those who take Runes seriously and are dedicated to them as an oracle give equal credence to their history, historical culture, and role as a writing form.  This is actually why I reviewed this book; not to correct his assumptions about the Runes as an oracle, but rather to share information about the Runes as a writing vehicle, which we come to understand through the complex and multi-faceted approach that academics, like Findell, take in their work to unravel the mystery and history of the Runes and the cultural of which they were a part.

Runes 102 - Book Reviews - Icelandic Magic

Icelandic Magic: Practical Secrets of the Northern Grimoires, by Stephen Flowers, left me wanting more, but not for the reasons you might think.  The book is divided into two parts.  The first part provided a backdrop into which Icelandic magic occurred and it was informative.  But, it was the second part (beginning with chapter 9),which is supposed to be "a unique book of magic in the traditional Icelandic form", that I felt was lacking guidance and that is where I really wanted more.

In Part One, Flowers provides an overview of the world in which Icelandic magic developed and existed.  He covers some chronology and includes information on how Christian and southern magical influences played roles in it as well.  It was interesting to see how they merged in many regards; for example, he talks about a medieval Rune stick (yes, carved in Runes) that uses "a Christian magical formula to allow for easy childbirth".  Even though the words were carved in Runes, the words themselves were Latin and talked about Christ, Elizabeth who gave birth to John the Baptiste, and the Lord.  Flowers also notes that single spells included references to Norse gods and goddesses, alongside the Christian god and Christian demons.

During his chronology, he highlights a few key Icelandic magicians, all of whom had ties to the church as bishops, vicars or predating Christianity and serving as goði (priest, chieftain) and whom are described in greater detail later.  This leads into a discussion of the Icelandic books of magic, which I felt was the most enlightening pieces of the book.  If you read only one chapter of this book, choose this one.  Although it is just an overview of magic books, it helped to paint a picture of the important historical magic books and their influences.

After this, the book began to get confusing for me, but I thought things would fall into place when I got to chapter 8, which covers preparation and inner work and they begin to.  Flowers claims the outer preparation - setting the ritual space - requires less effort than the inner preparation.  This made sense.  With regard to inner work, he says, "These skills of concentration, visualization, and memorization that are the ones that the ancients took for granted and that modern people almost entirely neglect."  By taking them for granted, he means that the ancients understood that they had to undertake these preparations.  It went without saying.  When we don't do that today, the result is "magical failure".

Chapter 9 is the last chapter before part 2 of the book and it is also where I began to lose interest and feel like I am being deprived of some pivotal information that would help me understand his overview of the process better.  I found many of his explanations lacking and his focus on invoking Odin incomplete.  I confess that I work with the Elder Futhark and acknowledge that the ancient magicians would have used the Younger Futhark, but that is secondary to my ability to understand the process that he lays out in terms of the inner work.  While I understand Odin's role in the Runes, when I invoke a god for Rune work, I choose Heimdall.  So, what does it mean to use another god or even the goddess Freyja and incorporate aspects of seiðr?

The final piece, Part Two - Gray Skin - was really disappointing.  Flowers states that it is a unique book of magic in the traditional Icelandic form and it contains work done in the Rune-Gild, a group that he formed in 1980.  The struggle that I have with this piece is that he doesn't provide a single example as to how these spells were derived or arrived at or how to enact them.  It is that understanding that I need where this book falls short for me.

This book is not the kind of Rune work that I do or am interested in and, with a few exceptions, was not for me.  That doesn't mean that you would not find some benefit in it.  I did find the historical context to be helpful.

Runes 102 - Book Reviews - The Saga of the Volsungs

If you type "Saga of the Volsungs" into your search engine (aka - google it), there will be no shortage of links to this famous and important saga.  Not only did the Vikings carve this story into the Ramsund Runestone in Sweden, but it inspired the likes of Richard Wagner, William Morris, and JRR Tolkein.

While all three of these artists were inspired more broadly by Norse mythology and history, this book in particular influenced Wagner's opera Der Ring Des Nibelungen, Morris' epic poem The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs, and Tolkein's narrative poem The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun.

Moreover, this story has been translated into multiple languages over the years and retold in different versions, including edited summaries.

What is it that is so inspiring about this saga?  It could be any number of things from the more obvious dragon slaying to the more subtle influence of women interpreting dreams and carving Runes.  Maybe it's the relationships. Volsunga Saga is a true-to-form saga, detailing multiple generations of Volsungs and explaining the relationships of their allies and enemies alike.  It is loaded with Viking battles and victories and wealthy kings and fair women.  It even has magic potions and shape shifting. So, what's not to love?  The story is quite fascinating.

Of course, as I said, if you do an online search for it, numerous versions of it will come up.  I chose the version I read for one main reason.  It was translated by my former Old Norse Professor from UCLA, Dr. Jesse Byock and I trust him.  That, I'm sure makes me biased, but I enjoyed The Saga of the Volsungs nonetheless.  Naturally, I liked the story.  However,  the introduction was really helpful in laying the foundation, providing context in the larger back drop of Norse/European society at the time, and noting the story's more recent influence on music, literature, and art.  There were also some useful notes and other sections at the end of the book.

As for the translation itself, Byock does an excellent job of painting a clear story while maintaining the historical presentation.  In other words, he didn't turn it into a contemporary interpretation, rather maintained the original voice in a way that makes it easy to read and follow.  This is a tough spot to find.  I have read versions of other historical writings that have stuck so close to the original version that I could not relate to the story and found myself researching ancient words just to make sense of it.  In other instances stories have been so modernized as to lose any sense of their historical significance.  That is not the case here.

It's harder to review the translation of a story that already exists than it is to talk (or write) about original works, but this is one story that has been handled well by the translating author.

For me, one of the most interesting aspects of the story are the Runes, a topic I will discuss more soon, so stay tuned for that.  For now, if you want an easy and enjoyable book to read while learning about about historical Norse culture, I recommend putting The Saga of the Volsungs (aka - Volsunga Saga) on the list.

Runes 102- Book Reviews - Rudiments of Runelore

Rudiments of Runelore by Stephen Pollington, is a quirky little book that I'd recommend to anyone who is interested in gaining a more academic understanding of the Runes and their origins and historical use as an alphabet.  In his book, Pollington avoids the New Age slant on Runes, instead approaching them from a very linguistic and Viking-Age and earlier perspective.

I really liked that he stated flatly that his intention was "to look at the runes themselves, their origins, what they were used for and how they were used."  He follows what he calls a common sense approach, addressing questions like what Runes are and where they originated.

All of this he does primarily from an Anglo-Saxon perspective, which is interesting, because many people come at the Runes with a purely Norse perspective even when using the Elder Futhark.  We must remember, though, that the Runes are Germanic, which includes at least Germany, Scandinavia, England, and the Netherlands.

When discussing Rune origins, Pollington comes from two locations and is potentially talking about two different sets of shapes that are considered runic.  In northern Europe and southern Scandinavia, he cites geometric shapes that occur in rock carvings, such as zig-zags, circles, and crosses.  The other location is in the southern Alps and links to an alphabetic script related to Etruscan writing.  Beyond this, Pollington walks his readers through how Germanic people may have come to use Runes and assures us that Runes were used widely by about 1800-2000 years ago.  Though not a primary concern of the book, he does mention and relate some uses to magical purposes.

Perhaps supporting his academic approach, he includes the Rune poems in both their native language and an English translation, as he does base arguments on them.  Even Pollington's interpretation of each Rune and its meaning bears his academic background and a fair bit of linguistic information, but offer some intriguing ideas.  For example, he refers to Hagalaz as the first winter Rune and Isa as the last before Jera brings spring.  Perhaps the interpretation that most caught my eye was Nauthiz, within which he includes distress and adversity.  This is quite a different idea on the notion of need and, in fact, is the emotional aspect or result of having a need.

Pollington also includes a section on Runic cryptography, whereby Runes are used in written (Latin alphabet) texts to serve as secret codes.  There are plenty of examples of this provided too.  Still, one of the most engaging bits of information in this book comes in chapter 5, when Pollington discusses the Norfolk 'Tiw' Runes.  I won't give it away here; I encourage you to read it.  All I will say is it has to do with the word 'alu' and gives a few examples as to how it may have been used.

This book is great for people who are still trying to get a sense of the Runes and would like a solid grounding in factual information, that is to say what is actually known, before venturing off into different perspectives.  Don't let the word 'academic' taint this book.  It's not dry or boring as the word might imply.  It is interesting.  Between this book and The Rune Primer, the reader can establish a good foundation for exploring and using the Runes.

Runes 102 - Book Reviews - Northern Mysteries and Magick

"Everything in this book must be tested in the reader's own experience."  This statement, in Lionel Snell's forward, is a pretty good summation of Freya Aswynn's book Northern Mysteries and Magick: Runes and Feminine Powers, at least as far as trying out her take on divination, Rune magic and such are concerned.

While I confess I liked this book more than Thorsson's Futhark: A Handbook of Rune Study, I had some of the same struggles with it.  Once again, I found myself wanting to understand many of her statements and conclusions.  I am not saying she is wrong; in fact, she is well-versed and knowledgeable, but there are no citations, few references, and many statements that seem to be nothing more than her opinion or based on her experience.  Now, I know this book is largely that - based on her experience - which is why I liked the the Snell quote, but I feel she misses many opportunities to allow her readers to dig deeper into understanding the Runes on their own terms.

After writing so many notes in the margin asking if things were true or how she knows certain things, I was surprised to find a detailed explanation of Odin's encounters with Gunlodd and Rind near the end of the book.  I don't view these as good examples of feminine power, rather how Odin used them to get what he needed.

I had hoped for more consistency throughout the book in understanding the role of feminine powers in Rune use.  In the same vein, although I understand why Aswynn included a chapter on Norse gods, I would have like to see a chapter on the goddesses come first, rather than having them appear as part of a larger chapter on feminine mysteries right at the end of the book.  Moreover, at least two goddesses were missing that I think could have been included, Sif and Sigyn.  For me, Sif is a fertility goddess, related to making mead, while Sigyn represents loyalty and comforts those who are sorrowful or in pain..  I view both of these goddesses as care givers, a very important and powerful feminine trait.

That said, there were many things I enjoyed about the book.  For example, I like her perspective and how she told her story about coming to understand and use the Runes.  Even though I have no affinity to astrology and having nothing to do with occult knowledge,  I appreciate that these are part of and that they inform her experience.  In addition, she introduces a variety of divination methods, including a few different options using drawn wheels with consciousness levels laid out around them; worth considering for those interested in trying new ways of deepening their connection to or understanding of the Runes.  Much of what she presents is her own design, but through seeing how she interprets and uses Runes and creates casts, we can improve our own understanding of and ability to work with the Runes.

With regard to her individual Rune interpretations, I leave that for each reader to decide, because whether or not you agree with her explanations for each Rune, reading and processing them is how you will learn to define each Rune's meaning for yourself.  I will, however, give one example of an interpretation that resonated with me, because I found it empowering and overflowing with the feminine energy I was looking for when I got this book.

The Rune is Raido, the Rune of riding, implying travel, whether physical, mental, emotional or spiritual.  Aswynn truly capitalizes on this idea and takes it many steps further, likening Raido not only to movement or motion, but to taking charge of a situation and moving it forward in a directed and conscious way.  She uses phrases like, "to move within one's natural limits", "establishing control over one's circumstances", and "moral responsibility and integrity".  Perhaps my favorite and the most inspiring line in this description of Raido was, "working with the force of Raido means to be in charge of one's own path in life."  How profound to connect the riding Rune with your life's path on all levels.

That is empowering! That is what I hoped and needed to get out of this book.  The feminine aspects are there; sometimes they are just a little hard to find.  Still, I consider this an important book for any library dedicated to studying and understanding the Runes.

Runes 102 - Book Reviews - Futhark: A Handbook of Rune Magic

This book was a bear for me to get through.  Although there were parts that I liked, there seemed to be many more that didn't click with me.  I found much of the information in Futhark: A Handbook of Rune Magic, by Edred Thorsson constituted his own deductions about the Runes, but provided no context or references for them.

Thorsson's knowledge of the historical aspect of Runes solid and there are many moments in the book, where the writing flows almost poetically.  For example, on the very first page, he explains Runes like this:

"It is this form that is inscribed as a symbol for a formless and timeless idea."

It's well said and eloquent and I hoped for more of this throughout the rest of the book.  In fact, there were snippets from some of the Rune interpretations, that I really liked, such as when he referred to Kenaz as "the ability and will to generate and create" and likened it to a Rune for craftspeople and artists.

His description of Nauthiz as "will-directed action" really empowered the definition of that Rune for me too.  Some of the ideas in his chapter on Rune Work were also interesting and I think they could be a great tool for those looking to expand or contemplate new and different ways to engage with the Runes.

However, overall, this book simply did not resonate with me.  I found myself constantly questioning Thorsson's interpretations of Rune meanings.  I wasn't questioning whether he was right or wrong, rather wanting to know his source for the deductions and claims he made.  I wanted to understand how he drew his conclusions.  For example, he claims "Fehu is the raw archetypal energy of motion and expansion in the multiverse" and that it is the "basic force of fertility."  But, I don't understand how he reaches these conclusion and that is a question I need to have answered for my own understanding.

Perhaps the biggest issue I had with Thorsson's interpretations is with Mannaz, when he states that Heimdall is Odin in "one of his many guises".  I researched Heimdall for two years when I was writing my novel, The Son of Nine Sisters, and never found any indication that he was anything other than a god and entity to himself.  I'm not saying the information showing this to be true doesn't exist, rather that, if Thorsson has such evidence, he needs to show it to me.

On a broader scale, it may well be that this book doesn't resonate with me because of its presentation.  Thorsson presents almost everything from a cosmological or multiverse external experience as a way to engage and understand the Runes, whereas my engagement with them is grounded in an Earth or Midgard-based perspective.  Maybe the complexity with which he approaches the topic is lost on me.

Of course, I have talked to people whose response to this book was similar to mine and I know people who love it.  I say this to point out that Futhark is not a bad book; it just wasn't the book for me.  That is why personal choice is so important and one of the things I love about the Runes.  Each person has to figure out for themselves how to interpret them and what better way to do that than by reading a variety of perspectives.

Will I use this book as a reference source in my work with the Runes?  Yes.  Will I use it often?  Probably not.  My go to book is The Rune Primer.

Regardless of my thoughts on Thorsson's Futhark, it is one that should be a part of any undertaking to learn the Runes, because it does provide a unique point of view.