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Pagan Portals Runes

John Hunt Publishing Ltd.

CHAPTER 1

Origin of the Runes

Magic is believing in yourself; if you can do that, you can make anything happen.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

In the Beginning

Since ancient times, our ancestors have used symbols to communicate with the outside world. They learned from observing all aspects of nature and adapted to changes in their lives in order to survive. They also used many different symbols and signs for divination and magic.

It is not known how old Runes are, but Rune markings appear on cave paintings dated from about 1330 BC. Runes fell into disuse as Roman alphabets became the preferred script of most of Europe.

Runic lettering first appeared among German tribes in Central and Eastern Europe. The Anglo-Saxon Runes are descended from the Elder Futhark, which originated in Scandinavia. They were also used by the northern Germanic tribes of Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Northern Germany.

Runes were used long before the concept of writing was around. Our ancestors saw Runes as powerful aids to divination and magic, able to influence the forces of nature and work charms of fertility and healing. Runes were also used in casting spells, to gain a kiss from a would-be loved one or to pay back an enemy.

Runes are actually alphabetic symbols used for writing. They were found on door posts, property markers, swords, shields, tombstones and even on Viking warships. The Norse used Runic characters mostly for practical purposes, such as marking graves, identifying property, combs or helmets, making calendars and encoding secret messages.

The Elder Futhark - ca. 150 to 800 AD

The Elder Futhark is sometimes known as 'Common Germanic Futhark' or Longer Rune-Row.

The Elder Futhark is the oldest version of Runic lettering. It first emerged around 200 AD and was used in the parts of Europe which were home to the Germanic people, including Scandinavia. It was known as the Futhark after the first six Runes - Fehu, Uruz, THurisaz, Ansuz, Raido, and Kauno.

It is known that the Germanic peoples in Europe used pictographic symbols that were scratched into rocks. As the Runes consisted of straight lines, it made them easier to carve into wood or stone.

By 400 AD, use of a common set of twenty-four Runes (beginning with F and ending with O) had spread across Northern Europe.

As time passed, new Runes were added as the need arose; at different times and locations, various versions of the Futhark emerged, including up to thirty-eight symbols. Gradually, the twenty-four Anglo-Saxon Futhark became standard and was grouped into three sets of eight, known as Aetts.

The Younger Futhark - 800 to 1110 AD

The Younger Futhark is also known as the 'Scandinavian Runes' and is believed to have been in use from around about 800 AD. It was the main alphabet in Norway, Sweden and Denmark throughout the Viking Age.

The forms of the Runes were altered and made easier to understand at a time when there were phonetic changes to the spoken language. Nine of the original Elder Futhark were also dropped.

The Younger Futhark is a reduced form of the Elder Futhark comprising of only 16 characters and divided into two sets, Long Branch (Danish) and Short Twig (Swedish/Norwegian) Runes.

The difference between the two versions has been the subject of controversy. It is believed that the Long Branch Runes were used for stone carvings and the Short Branch Runes were in everyday use for private and officially carved messages on wood.

Long Branch (top line)

(also called Danish Runes, even though Swedes and Norwegians used it)

Short Twig or Rök Runes (middle line)

(also called Swedish-Norwegian Runes, even though the Danish used it)

The bottom line in the diagram below shows the Runes sounds.

The Younger Futhark became known in Europe as the 'Alphabet of the Norsemen' and was studied and used for trade and diplomatic contacts.

Anglo-Saxon Futhorc - 400 to 1100 AD

The Anglo-Saxon Futhorc descended from the Elder Futhark and contained between 26 and 33 Runes.

Runes were brought to Britain in the 5th century by the Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Frisians. Extra letters were added to the Runic lettering to write Anglo-Saxon/Old English and the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc was developed.

Runic inscriptions are mostly found on jewellery, weapons, stones and other objects. Very few examples of Runic writing on manuscripts have survived.

In the beginning, the Futhorc thrived as a writing system. However, its developing complexity led to increasingly complicated forms that must have been more difficult to carve and it did not survive. The Latin alphabet replaced the Futhorc around the 9th century, and did not survive much past the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Futhorc continued to be used in Scandinavia until 1600.

Creation of the Runes

There have been many theories initiated over who created the Runes. One I have come across many times is about the God Odin.

In Norse mythology, Odin (also known as Woden or Wotan) is the chief God. Odin and his wife, Frigg, are rulers of Asgard, which is one of the Nine Worlds. Odin is a son of Bor and Bestla. Odin is a God of war and death, but also the God of poetry and wisdom. Odin had many sons, the most memorable one being Thor, God of thunder.

Odin's quest for knowledge was never ending. Norse legends and myths tell tales of him wandering the world in search of knowledge on his eight-legged white horse, Sleipnir. He also had two ravens, Hugin (thought) and Munin (memory), who sat on his shoulders and circled the Earth each day, seeing all and then flying home at night to report what they had learnt.

On his travels, Odin met three women called Norns sitting at a well, busy spinning threads of fate for the Gods and mankind. As they spun their yarns, Urd, Verdandi and Skuld revealed to Odin many secrets of the distant past and the future. Odin was keen to learn more about seeing into the future, and the three sisters pointed him to the Giant Mimir at the Spring of Wisdom. Mimir is the giant in Norse mythology who guards the 'Well of the Highest Wisdom', situated in Jotunheim under the roots of Yggdrasil: the World Tree.

Odin rode to Jotunheim to meet the Giant Mimir, but Mimir did not want to give his knowledge so easily, so Odin pledged his left eye to Mimir for the privilege of drinking from the spring so that he could be shown the mysteries of this world.

Odin was not fully satisfied in his quest for wisdom and left.

He travelled through the desolate heaths and eventually got caught in the branches of an ash tree. As he tried to free himself, he was wounded by his spear (called 'Gugnir') and Odin hung between heaven and earth. His horse, Sleipnir, came to help and his ravens, 'Hugin' and 'Munin', flew around him and brought the world's thoughts to him.

For nine days and nine nights, he hung impaled on the World Tree, Yggdrasil, without food or drink. In a flash of insight, he saw that there was writing on the rocks below him and derived wisdom from this writing. He bent down deeply from the tree, took up his sword and cut the symbols into the trunk. He fell down from the tree and called Sleipnir to take him to Valhalla, the castle of the Gods. Odin then passed on this learned knowledge to mankind.

The Word Rune

The word 'Rune' derives from the Old Norse and Old English, 'run', which means 'mystery' or 'secret'. These two meanings also appear in Old English 'run', the ancestor of our word. The direct descendants of Old English 'run' are the archaic verb, 'round' (whisper, talk in secret) and the obsolete noun, 'roun' (whispering, secret talk).

Johannes Thomae Bureus Agrivillensis

Johannes Thomae Bureus Agrivillensis or Johan Bure, as he was known (1568 - 1652), was born in Åkerby near the city of Uppsala in Sweden. He was a son of a Lutheran parish priest. He had a good education in Uppsala and Stockholm and later studied in Germany and Italy. In 1595, he studied theology; in 1602 he became a professor; and from 1603 on, royal antiquarian. Bureus died a cripple in 1652.

During his studies, Bureus learned Latin and Hebrew. In 1591, he got a medieval magic book from his father-in-law, Mårten Bång, and got interested in Cabbala.

In 1593, Bureus became a civil servant and was appointed editor of religious texts in Stockholm. Just before he moved there, Bureus ran into a Rune stone that aroused his curiosity. He lived in an area that had many Rune stones, but he never really noticed them before he saw the stone in front of the Cistercian cloister of Riddarholm. He was captivated by the strange scripts and wanted to learn how to read them. He travelled the province of Dalarne and learned to read the Runes from the local farmers. In 1599 and 1600, Bureus made an extensive trip through his native country to find more Rune stones so he could write down, translate and interpret the texts. Bureus viewed Runes as holy and magical in a cabbalistic sense.

During his life, he was a Runic scholar who was interested in Rosicrucianism, which is the theology of a secret society of mystics. It is said to have been founded in late medieval Germany by Christian Rosenkreuz. He was also royal librarian, tutor and advisor of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, who also assigned him to translate certain stones.

He combined his runic and esoteric interests with his own Runic system, which he called the 'Adalruna', and in 1611, he published his first book in the Swedish language, Svenska ABC boken medh runor, using the Runic lettering and Latin script.

Olof Rudbeck Sr

Olof Rudbeck Sr (1630 - 1702) was born in Västerås, Sweden, 100 km west of Stockholm. His father, Johannes Rudbeck, was a Professor of Theology at the University of Uppsala before he became the Bishop of Västerås.

Olof studied for his education at Västerås. He became a scientist, writer and Professor of Medicine at Uppsala University. He also became the first person to write a medical dissertation about the lymph glands. Rudbeck made the first major medical discovery when he discovered the lymphatic system after performing a dissection on a cow carcass in an open market.

The doctor then turned historian and undertook a 30-year endeavour to uncover Sweden's proud origins after noting what he thought were striking similarities between ancient Nordic myths and classical Greek myths. He strongly believed in his extraordinary quest to prove that Sweden was indeed the location of the lost, advanced civilisation Atlantis. Rudbeck began to see connections from classical civilisation to the folklore of Sweden, both in geography and in their legendary rulers. He found ancient inscriptions on stones and he also continued to study the ancient Scandinavian Runes, the tradition of Ragnarok.

In 1675, Rudbeck published Atlantica, one of a number of books in which he submitted his strong belief in a Scandinavian Atlantis. He was one of the few writers to suggest that Atlantis was fact, not fiction, and that Scandinavia was one of the first lands occupied by Atlantean survivors.

Anders Celsius

Anders Celsius (27 November 1701 - 25 April 1744) was born in Uppsala, Sweden. He was the son of an astronomy professor and the grandson of a mathematician.

Anders Celsius was an astronomer who invented the Celsius temperature scale, the most widely used in the world today. Celsius was primarily an astronomer and did not even start working on his temperature scale until shortly before his death. He also extended the science of Runes and travelled around the whole of Sweden to examine the bautastenar megaliths, which means 'standing stones'.

Wilhelm Grimm

Wilhelm Carl Grimm also known as Karl (24 February 1786 - 16 December 1859) was a German author. He was born in Hanau, Germany and in 1803 he started studying law at the University of Marburg.

His older brother was called Jacob Ludwig Carl (1785 - 1863). They are best known as the Brothers Grimm and for their collection of more than 200 fairy and folk tales, such as Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin, The Frog Prince, Hansel and Gretel, and Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs.

Wilhelm Grimm was asked by a friend to investigate the markings on rocks discovered on his estate. This first substantial exploration of the ancient markings made him want to know more and so he began to explore artefacts like helmets, and a book was written on the literature of the Runes. Wilhelm Grimm discussed his findings, the 'Marcomannic Runes', in 1821 in 'Ueber Deutsche Runen'.

It is believed that the Younger Futhark had developed further into the Marcomannic Runes, and then into the Dalecarlian Runes around 1500 to 1800 AD. The origins of the Runic scripts are uncertain.

Heinrich Luitpold Himmler

Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was born in Munich on 7 October 1900 to a Roman Catholic family and died in 1945.

He served in the German army at the end of World War One and then had a variety of jobs, including working as a chicken farmer. He became involved with the Nazi party in the early 1920s and took part in the 'beer hall' putsch of 1923. Himmler acted as the Nazi party's propaganda leader between 1926 and 1930. In 1929, he was appointed head of the SS and Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard, and the following year was elected to the Reichstag.

Himmler was to become one of the most feared men once World War Two broke out. Himmler was a keen Astrologist and Cosmologist and became convinced that Germany's future rested in the stars. He was also fascinated by the occult, as were other Nazi leaders, such as Rudolf Hess. When Heinrich Himmler controlled the German Secret Intelligence Service he set up a special top secret department called the Occult Bureau to gather information on Astrology and the uses of psychic powers in espionage work. He also instigated research into the Runes, in the strong belief that this would further knowledge of a vigorous Germanic culture.

During the Nazi party's rise to power, they embraced symbols from Guido von List's 'Armanen Runes'. He devoted his life to Runic Occultism and became one of the important figures in Germanic mysticism and runic revivalism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He published a book in 1908 called 'Das Geheimnis der Runen' (The Secret of the Runes), about a set of 18 Armanen Runes, which were based on the Younger Futhark. This followed an 11-month state of temporary blindness after a cataract operation on both eyes in 1902. This vision in 1902 opened up his 'inner eye' known today as the third eye, and the 'Secret of the Runes' was revealed to him.

This book highlighted theories of Armanism, a myth of a super race, which he interpreted and considered that the German people belonged to. The book and von List's teachings in general proved to be compelling material for people like Hitler, Goering and Hess, who even became members of his secret Thule Society.

The symbol they used most widely from the Armanen Runes was the Sig Rune, which was repeated as the symbol of Schutz-Staffel (SS), meaning 'protective force'.

The Schutz-Staffel was a paramilitary Nazi organisation under Adolf Hitler. The SS grew from a small bodyguard unit to a powerful force. In time, it grew into a million men on the front lines, in the concentration camps, in administration and as police.

The Sig Rune ended up being used by Karl Maria Wiligut, who was Himmler's official occultist. The SS Sig Runes design was created in 1931 when Walter Heck, an SS member, drew two reversed and inverted Sig Runes side by side and noticed the similarity to the initials of the SS. Heck sold the rights to the Sig Runes to the SS and the Runes were quickly adopted as the insignia of the Schutz-Staffel. It was turned into a badge and was worn as an armband. It also appeared on weapons and wall slogans.

After the Second World War, the Runes became unpopular because of their association with Nazism.

J.R.R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE (3 January 1892 - 2 September 1973) was better known as J.R.R. Tolkien. He was an English writer and poet, and is best known as the author of the classic fantasy novels, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.

He used the Anglo-Saxon Runes on a map to highlight its connection to the Dwarves. Runes were also used in the early drafts of The Lord of the Rings but he decided to replace them with the 'Cirth'. 'Cirth' was a Rune-like alphabet invented by him and was adapted from the real life Runes.

Today

It was not until the mid-1980s that the New Age movement grew and the Runes regained their popularity as a tool for self-awareness and divination.

They can also be seen in popular culture; for example, Hermione Granger, from the popular Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, studies ancient Runes, and the alien Asgard race from the successful American science fiction television series Stargate SG1 uses Runes as their written language.

Did you know?

The middle name of Bjorn Borg, the former world number one tennis player from Sweden, is 'Rune'.

CHAPTER 2

The Rune Poems

An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it.

William Bernbach

The Rune Poems are three poems that record the letters of Runic alphabets, while providing a descriptive poetic verse for each letter. The three different poems are the Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem, the Norwegian Rune Poem and the Icelandic Rune Poem.

These ancient poems for Runes were created as an aid for remembering the Rune symbols, names and meanings. Unfortunately, there are no poems existing for the Elder Futhark.
(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Pagan Portals Runes by Kylie Holmes, Nicola Stonehouse. Copyright © 2013 Kylie Holmes. Excerpted by permission of John Hunt Publishing Ltd..
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