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 - 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.