Greetings, O Seeker of Rune Wisdom!
I am in the final stages of completing The Book of Rune Secrets, and I would like to ask you: “Do you have any deep, unanswered questions about the runes?”
So this is a kind of “Ask Me Anything” discussion.
Are there things you haven’t found answers to anywhere, in all the literature you’ve read on rune meanings? Things that are missing?
I’d like you to please think deeply and summon up these questions, and send them to me at runesecrets@gmail.com, or through my contact form, or even the comments of this post! If you can fire a great question at me, I’ll do my best to think it over as I add to and edit my final draft and make this book even more connected to the real needs of the vast community that uses Rune Secrets.
About the Book:
This new work of mine is the culmination of over a decade of intense spiritual introspection and learning for me, and the opportunity at long last to share with you something powerful and complete. My plans are to release it as a self-published hard cover book, have it listed on Amazon and available to libraries and brick and mortar stores if they desire to order it. It should be available in some form from this website though by the end of April, at the latest.
It represents a total, coherent system of new rune knowledge. I have taken my understanding of the symbols and combined it with an understanding of contemporary science and cosmology to create a fresh and powerful work that should profoundly move readers. I’ve taken risks with it, not to cause deliberate controversy or because I think I know better than anyone else, but to show that the runes are extremely relevant to the 21st century.
I also include details not on making your own rune set, but on making your own rune system — of how to take their power into your own hands. My system seeks to turn you into your own best teacher. No esoteric, secretive gurus required. ;)
In many ways, the book departs from this blog and transcends it. It is my best work yet, I’m sure of it, and I am excited to see in what ways it empowers and illuminates the many members of this community, old and new, known and yet unknown to me, who I’ve grown to love. I can admit to you that it has already affected me greatly… I don’t know what provoked this transcendent clarity within me, but I thank the forces at work.
So, that’s the big news, and I am eager to share the fruits of my labor. I humbly request your questions so that I can edit with a vigor that incorporates your questions and curiosity into the fabric of this new narrative about the elder futhark runes.
Get in touch. Seriously!
Yours truly,
Tyriel
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43 Responses to Do You Have Any Deep, Unanswered Questions?
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Not a question, so much as a personal observation. As I’ve explored Runes, more & more I am seeing them all boil down to the interaction of Kenaz (increase/decrease/change) and Isa (stillness). I have a background in Taoist theory, and I’m sure that’s coloring my perceptions, but I’m just curious if anyone else sees this.
I know where you’re coming from, Jay. I’ve studied zen, taoism and buddhism and practiced as well. It’s all very interesting. But the short answer is: yes, it does color perceptions, and it also colors a lot of new age and occult writing these days, as the popularity of eastern practices like yoga and zen increase in the west.
As you’ll learn from my book, the runes move us toward complexity realization, while taoism and zen move us toward simplicity realization. East without West is incomplete, and you likely already see that.
Perhaps what you are observing is not that the runes boil down to the interaction of Kenaz and Isa, but that your taoist practice, or maybe just your interest in spirit in general, fits most closely into those two runes.
The point I wish to make is that the other runes (22 of them) point to other modes, and that as individuals, we tend to be drawn to particular aspects of them. For instance, I tend to be focused, personally, on Algiz, Ansuz and Inguz — seeing all things as basically an interaction of ideas. But if I were to adopt the Kenaz-Isa combination, and use its alchemy to influence my mental state, I should soon become concerned with knowledge of the ego-self, the stillness of the present moment.
I’ll take your observation into consideration as I look through my work, as I suspect it ties into bind-runes. Just be careful to realize that there is a simplicity-seeking energy, and a complexity-seeking one, and that they are both very relevant. We lean toward one or another depending where we’re at in our lives.
Great answer here Tyiel. I would add that you can always see other runes with in a rune and these often open up meaning adding pathways to complexity. Look at all the runes in Othala. Gebo, Ing, Kenaz, Sowilo all of these speak to the deep meaning of Othala.
I’ve been asked about Murk-Staves (reversed runes) and I think the lack of literature on them is because of a) imbalanced positivism from American authors and b) fear of the reality of powerful, destructive energy.
I don’t mind dedicating a fair amount of space to exploring the perversions of each rune energy as it manifests, and why it does so. What kind of questions do people have about reverse runes, beyond that?
Hmm. Should the Murk-Stave or reversed meaning be included with each rune in the main narrative, or as a separate appendix later in the book?
I amforincluding reversed meanings with each rune’s individula discussion.
I agree with the previous poster. I’d like to see the reversed meaning alongside. I guess its the whole duality thing, can’t have light without dark, etc.
An honest review of dark stave would mean delving into the dark side of the human animal. Things like S/M and the Bekrano rune, the practice of birching. The whole issue of
Loki as as both the transformer and the hell spawn in one. there are things like transgender, Glamor, malicious intent.
all of this should be dealt with but much of it is adult and frightening. Also a real treatise would reveal that dark stave’s are desirable for highly ritualized transitions and this could be psychologically dangerous for dabblers. Like giving Salvia divinorum to a person who was just looking for a buzz.
We speak of ‘dabblers’ as if they need sheltering, or as if they’ve BEEN sheltered from the harshness of life already. After a point, I wonder sometimes if anyone has. If not, it is arrogant to ‘protect’ people from the fact that there is nasty shit out there.
I’ve always thought of “dabblers” as those folks who know enough to make a mess, and not enough to know how to clean it up… now, that has it’s roots in my lack of desire to be involved in more clean up efforts for people who picked up some book, to summon something, and failed to read how to banish first…
Goodness knows that the universe is not always a gentle teacher, and in that, it is sometimes unkind to try to “protect” someone from that harsh reality, because they may be totally unprepared when the crap hits the fan (and it always does). I also think it does the runes a disservice to show them only in the “light” as that is only a facet of them.
Good point i am all for it, but its such a dark topic that i think thats why not much is written.
I would wager that you are right about that
I think everyone starts as a dabbler, some are just more clear-headed than others. I think a book of experiments gone wrong would make for some very entertaining and educational reading!
I’ll probably be including an appendix of resources at the back of the book, different from a bibliography in that I don’t necessarily draw on everything listed, but others might find interesting. Thoughts?
I think that including a listing of further reading/reference is a good idea. Nothing is created in a vacuum and no one author has the final word. By providing a listing of further resources, wether cited or not, an author grants legitimacy to their own work while assisting the reader on the path to greater understanding, which is the ultimate goal of any reference work.
I’ve gotten a pretty magical idea from this, so thank you for your opinion Grizzlygator — I’ve decided to leave a little surprise at the end of my work in the resource section now. ;)
There will be an appendix about bind-runes that covers a contemplative system for using them to determine personal makeup, for transmutation and alchemy, for analyzing your environmental makeup.
Bind-runes, along with the murk-staves, represents something I’ve been told hundreds of times is confusing in much of the literature, if not completely lacking in coherence.
Hello
I’m so excited about your book! I think it will be a remarkable addition to my library. Whenever I need to look something up, I find your articles really helpful. I can only imagine that your book is going to be a gold mine of fantastic information. I do have a question, but I shall take more time to think about how best to phrase it before emailing you.
Hi Viv, thanks for the continued support. I am very glad that Rune Secret articles continue to be the go-to for so many people. I’m at the top of google results not through any particular cleverness of my own but because people chose this site themselves.
But the core content is going on 3.5 years old! So the book is a real departure from that. It’s solid. Unified. Coherent and better: useful, empowering and inspiring.
I would like to update the site but I don’t want to upset or confuse people by changing things too quickly. What I’ll probably do is set it up so that a small number of the rune pages here have excerpts from the book and then down the road somewhere make the transition.
Looking forward to that email, and don’t worry about taking too much time, just fire it off and I’ll do my part in addressing it fully :)
Tyriel,
Firstly I would just like to express my deep and heart-felt appreciation for the work you’ve published here; I know I can’t be the only one who, being drawn to the runes as a spiritual path, has found inspiration and elucidation through reading your articles. I read here quite often, though I’ve never commented before, and it has always struck me how correct and thought-provoking the material here has been.
As for questions, I regret that right now I have no pressing ones, except maybe the ever-present questions of “Why?” and “How?” that underlie everything and draw us inexorably forward along paths of understanding.
I find that the runes offer us answers to questions that never consciously occur to us, and, better, they offer us new questions that we never even realise we should be striving to answer.
In this, I am sure your new book will continue the excellent tradition of this website and be a treasure of wisdom and knowledge – I will be very eagerly anticipating it.
Best regards :)
Hi James,
You honor me, and you’re most welcome. I was very happy to see the notes and subsequent articles I originally drafted take Rune Secrets to the front page of Google on almost every keyword, and to receive so much attention. But I feel I owe more. These notes are old! 3.5 years really. My own understanding has expanded tremendously, you could say exponentially, in that time, for many reasons.
“Why” and “How” are great questions, and I always try to answer them in the new, upcoming material. I think you’re right about the runes offer us answers to questions we didn’t even know to ask. Sometimes they also reveal to us things we didn’t know we knew already.
I was lucky enough to recently register the domain “runemeanings.com” and point it to the site. When I release the new book, I will also be constructing a new site to help with the study of the new content, interconnect the new site, and custom design a community that expands the knowledge into the public domain.
Wouldn’t it be nice if a community, rather than an author or guru, could write its own spiritual book, for itself? That’s where Rune Secrets will ultimately go: into the hands of the community.
Also, I’m getting better at creating amazing soundscapes and meditative music — you’ll soon see the results of that begin to appear as well available to listen to online, and download for a fair fee for listening on our ipods or whatever.
Offering an audiobook of the new material should be straight forward enough for me to produce as well, and I think that’s pretty unique when it comes to the runes.
So lots of forward thinking developments on the horizon. The site may seem to move in slow motion, but behind the scenes I work very hard and it puts fuels the flames of my passion for all this when someone like you tells me that it’s touched them :)
Again, my humble thanks!
-Tyriel
I recently have been drawing Fehu and Nauthiz, and I’m wondering if the new book includes anything on their relationship. I have been noticing many correlations between the value and circulation of wealth in Fehu, and the aspects of Nauthiz that force is to understand and accept our true needs. Both seem to ward against greed, and excess, and I think work together insperably when manifesting whatever it is we need in our lives, and avoiding the pitfalls of greed. What do you think?
Also, Nauthiz as a tool for attracting new love is an aspect I’ve never really understood that deeply, but it seems to be another correlation to Fehu. I’d love to hear your expansion on these thoughts, as this site has been a huge inspiration on re-thinking the runes for me. Can’t wait for the book!
- Kjolig
As way of introducing my presence and support for the Rune Secrets online community Project and book, I’d like to share my recent experience and reflections on the Runes. Specifically NAUTHIZ, as it has taken primary focus in thoughts and actions currently.
I find myself, my interests and energies once again circling back upon themselves like the great Jörmungandr with tail in mouth seeing things from my past in a new light. It was almost 14 years ago that I began my cursory explorations of the Northern European myths and at the time was not entirely willing to take the concepts provided by this sturdy and beautiful traditional way to heart. I find myself now lustfully grasping for the knowledge that are the Runes as I dangle from the tree.
Life has (as it often does) challenged my comfortable position and I have answered with some innovations (a new business, new creative projects, parenting) and these changes in my life have left me looking for a way to balance and creatively construct a new way of being. Add to this my increasing disgust for the mindless lifestyle we are expected to lead, sick distortions transmitted by mead overload and a speed and greed obsessed culture.
This is when I again and very loudly heard the call of the Runes.
So, getting back to Nauthiz. Because this rune is all about need and necessity and we all need things, knowledge, food, love etc. I see this rune as one which speaks about the power of community to feed our insatiable hearts and minds. Much like a Native American potlatch we all bonded by the “give and take” and cannot live in isolation. I have felt the hunger pangs of need and have gained great encouragement and “a new frame of mind” from Nauthiz.
So, Rune Secrets’ quest to establish an online community has resonated deeply with me. There is already an incredible presence to the Rune Secrets site and it can only become greater. I look forward to contributing and sharing in an intellectual and spiritual exploration of the runes.
“need renders little choice; the naked will freeze in the frost.”
Thank you, and welcome, Eric.
Hi again Tyriel,
I have a few comments based on the previous comments:
First, at what point is a rune considered murkstave? Coming from a background of Tarot, the equivalent is a card turned 180 degrees. For runes, especially with the different ways of casting, murkstave could be a rotated rune (180 degrees? what happens then if it is rotated 90 degrees?), an “upside down” lot, and I’ve even seen them end up balanced on a side, what would that indicate? Or is it more of a positional thing, where the relation to the other runes is what shifts the energy? I realize that I may be treading on delicate waters – there are discussions about reversals all the time and some people just don’t go there. But a discussion about what murkstave really is might be beneficial.
Also, I’m a big fan of bibliographies. With so much of the research in non-english books, etc, I’ve found it difficult to know whether I can even access some of the reference material in a language I understand. In a recent, non-related book I saw what was called a “ranked bibliography”, where he listed the referenced books/talks by the number of references he used. This would be useful for a relatively new student to go to. Also listing the languages it is available in would be useful. Another variant of this would be a ranked “recommended reading” list. I would expect a list like this to be very subjective, but basically it would tell the reader what additional material you consider important, and in what order. For translated Eddas and other stories, I would be interested in knowing which translation you recommend.
Most of my workings with runes have been through bindrunes, so I would be very interested in information about that, especially the history of bindrunes and how different people use them today. I suspect I have some “different” ways of creating them. :)
I would also be interested in how to apply runes to everyday experiences, but of course at this point your book is probably getting huge! Such a large topic to cover. I can’t wait to read it!
- kim
Murkstaves scare most people. At its base, a Murkstave has nothing to do with divination. It is not a ‘reversed’ rune, but a perversed rune energy, or misaligned, disharmonious. The Nazi party was infamous for taking symbols that meant good things and twisting them to represent their ends, notably Sowilo, and particularly Othala. I think this is part of the reason authors avoid speaking on them.
You want to talk about reversals, frankly they scare people. Also there is a false positivism in America in particular, you find it everywhere, especially in the workplace culture. Things have to be ‘happy’. When dealing with the runes, things have to be ‘real’. Happiness is one aspect of many, and while it is desirable, our obsession with it makes us impulsive.
Rather than worry about when a rune is considered ‘reversed’, I would recommend watching how you react to the possibility it might be reversed, and your own acceptance or denial of that. A lot of the time when we say ‘some people’ we mean ‘the part of myself I’m not willing to admit is me’.
I handle each rune’s murkstave in my upcoming book “The Book of Rune Secrets”, and their practical applications.
I’d read several translations of the Eddas and accept that things can’t be translated perfectly, ever. Don’t be afraid to take your own creative license and tinker. If something sounds powerful to you, and you want to revise the translation a bit (rewrite it just for yourself) I suggest you go ahead and do just that! Not the answer most would give, maybe, but one that will work best for your personal needs. Trust me, it’s what the translator did :P
I may include a couple of recommended readings in the back of the Book. I will allow the community to determine what sources to use amongst itself. If I could figure out how to hyperlink to your own brain, or put a photograph of it in the book, I would.
Bindrunes are difficult. Combining two different runes out of 24 options gives us 276 combinations. Combining 3 gives us 2024. So I don’t talk about individual bind runes. What I will do is outline a system of rune alchemy that, with practice, will allow you to work easily with bind-runes as a side effect.
Hopefully, with a little creativity and thought, the book’s take on runes will translate well into every day reality. But I’ll always require you think for yourself, and often try to trick you into doing so :P
Sincerely,
Tyriel
I think the reversed signs, whether runes or tarot cards, are also frustrating for people. In a set without reversed symbols, you still have some positive and some negative. If, on top of that, you add a second, identical set except that everything goes from bad to worse, well, that is kind of overwheming. You have to come into it with a pretty positive frame just to stand a chance.
Where I find myself “stuck” is in the “call.” I feel the draw, I have had amazing experiences, and my studies have found their way into my life so that it colours how I view things. Still I feel like I am grasping at the darkness at times, that there is something just outside of my grasp, and I am “just not getting it.”
While for the most part this isn’t something plain on the surface, and it goes beyond the general insecurities/second guessing etc, it is something that is ever present. I am wondering if you will have some insight into breaking through this barrier, even thought I couldn’t explain what the barrier is made of any further.
I am forever grateful to the people reviving this area of study and life, and it often seems like this is a way of life with homework. There are also so many horrid books out there, but I love looking at the suggested reading lists and bibliography lists and seeing where they all over lap. We all have our biases, and different filters that we use to see the world, but those types of lists help to share some of the foundational works.
I hope to really cut through that darkness with my book, Liza. And not to mention the social interface I’m currently configuring for the Rune Secrets Study Community.
It’s takes courage to live with the “just not getting it”, certainly admitting it — but I honestly believe that that is the most fundamental requirement for authentic knowledge. That means when something DOES come, you’ll be much more able to know it as true.
I still haven’t decided what to do about the resource section of the book. But the resources that the community will generate may have infinite potential!
Thanks for commenting, hope you’ll return frequently,
Tyriel
Thanks :) I plan to check in more…
I am curious though, why you say that takes courage to admit? I mean, the acedemics are there & the compulsion to continue is undeniable. I guess I don’t see it as courage as much as I see no other reasonable choice. I’m in the boat that I’ve seen/experienced to much not to accept the reality of what is going on… I just can’t find my way through this fog…yet.
I’ve been reading several posts on here and I am very interested in this website. In recent times I have had an enlarging interest in all things Magick, runic, and mystical. I have to say I enjoy this website very much. But on topic of this thread, I believe that you could mention the Murk-staves of each rune with the positive meanings. In a back section, you could go into further detail on these destructive forces. I think that would be good.
Thanks Chad! I hope you’ll subscribe to the newsletter because there are some awesome new features and content coming soon. :)
HI Tyriel,
I would love to see the associations of the Gods/Goddesses and the reason they are connected to that particular rune. Sure I’ve come across articles and books that say which rune belongs to which deitie, but it never explains why.
I would really like to know how the Norse Myth and their deities tie into the their own runes.
I have read as much as I can on the mythology and cosmology of the Norse, and would like to see the linkages between them, without having to flip through my many mythology books to find it.
Fascinating web/blog!
Hy Ty,
I was wondering how much emphasis and importance you put on the Aette when doing a reading?Should it be a consideration?
I can’t really find a lot on the discussion of the three Aettir, and some are very condradicting.
Thanks!
Well, I think this question has been inside me for quite a long time… When I had my very first contact with the Runes, back in 1995 I had already been using Tarot for around 8 years and I was aware of some Buddist, Taoist, Egyptian, Hebrew and Greek concepts of human evolution and spiritual techings, besides the hidden “secrets” contined in Tarot. Then, ’bout 4 years ago, I became in closer contact with both the Runes and the 13 Moons movement… So, in my new approach of the Nordic techings, back in 1995 and more recently, I couldn’t stop thinking that despite the thousands of years and miles apart from different cultures and empires that proppossed (sorry if I mispelled this word) some basic “theories” of human inner and spiritual evolution there were, have always been, are and will be a conjunction point of them. Consequently, could we say, beleive or at least be able to find the very first “mother” of all that was, has been, is and will be the primary and final goal of our spiritual beings living a human life?
I must clarify it’s not something that makes me crave for an answer, but it comes to me as clear as it came more than 15 years ago…
Do you know the book on runes called Galdratákn Guðanna (Magic Symbols of the Gods) by Jóhanna G. Harðardóttir? She’s Staðgengill Allsherjargoða (Deputy High Priestess) of the Ásatrúarfélagið in Iceland.
She discusses her study of and work with runes in a three-part interview at the Norse Mythology Blog. It starts here:
http://www.norsemyth.org/2011/01/interview-with-johanna-g-harardottir-of.html
No I had not heard of her, thank you for sharing this info. Please come and visit the forum.
Uber-novice here… My husband brought home the video game “Alice: Madness Returns”. There are runes everywhere (u can see them on the cover as well). None of these runes seem to fit anywhere I try to look them up (fancy looking four, omega-type symbol, male/female symbols w/ odd add-ons, etc.). My question is does anyone know where to find their meanings? Please respond to annek4nra at aol dot com. Thank you.
How do I know if the runes are for me
If they feel like their mystery could inspire you to look deeper into yourself, and the world around you, then the runes are for you!
i am new in runes honestly its my first day and i donot know where should i start u seem to know so much so please guide me
Come to the Rune Secrets web site
http://runesecrets.net/profiles/members/
I am fascinated to read about various views of the resonance between the Runes and Tao. Quite recently, I came to a conclusion (independently) that the Futhark might be a representation of the Tao, the “Way”. There is much to recommend this view, especially when we consider the Nordic idea of Orlog. In this, and in Rune readings, we seek the solution to a kind of equation in which A leads to B, and that can lead to C , and so on. When we consult the Runes for divination, perhaps what we’re really asking is “regarding the matter of ‘X’ what is the “Way” like from where/when we are now to where we will be in the future if nothing changes?” In a sense are we asking to see a specific piece of the Way (Tao), in order to know if we are on course, or if we need to change what we’re doing to reach a more favorable outcome?
I don’t assert the accuracy of this interpretation, and I would be very surprised if the early Norse had knowledge of the Tao as expressed in Asia. And yes, I AM influenced by other things I have studied: that’s the idea, isn’t it? To do otherwise I think is to fall into the trap that plagues so many organized religions, and even schools of Pagan magic, that is, to assert (arrogantly) that one single school of thought has the whole revealed truth and (implicitly) that all other schools of thought are misguided at best, or liars at worst. I believe that our study of the Runes is enhanced by cross-fertilization from many cultures. I feel we will be better at our Rune-craft if we enlarge our definition of the Futhark and it’s significance through the inclusion of ideas from diverse sources in our thoughts and meditations about the Runes.