Runes
The Runes
Every rune in the Elder Futhark has its own page, and this is the door to all twenty four. They run in the old order, three rows of eight, with the sound of each rune, the picture it names, and a few words on what it tends to mean when it comes out of the bag. Each rune page gives the picture in full, what the rune says when it comes up, its reversed reading, and where it sits beside the tarot and the trees.
The first eight
Fehu is F and cattle, the wealth that moves, what you earn and own and share; a rune about money and the things that stand in for it. The Fehu page is first. Uruz is U and the aurochs, the great wild ox, strength and health and the vitality that has not been tamed yet; the Uruz page. Thurisaz is the Th of thorn and the giant, force and defence, the sharp thing that protects and the sharp thing that hurts, and a word about thinking before acting; the Thurisaz page. Ansuz is A and the mouth, speech and breath and a message, the advice of someone older who has seen it before; the Ansuz page. Raidho is R and the road, the wagon and the long trip, travel and movement and the right order of doing things; the Raidho page. Kenaz is K and the torch, knowledge and craft, the light you work by and the fire you work with; the Kenaz page. Gebo is G and the gift, exchange and generosity and partnership, the balance between giving and taking; the Gebo page. Wunjo is W and joy, harmony and fellowship and wellbeing, the good moment and the sense to enjoy it; the Wunjo page.
The second eight
Hagalaz is H and hail, the storm nobody can stop and that passes, hard weather that clears the air; the Hagalaz page. Nauthiz is N and need, constraint and necessity and friction, the lack that teaches you something; the Nauthiz page. Isa is I and ice, stillness and standstill, a pause on a frozen surface that may be thinner than it looks; the Isa page. Jera is J said as a Y, the year and the harvest, the cycle coming round and patience paid in its season; the Jera page. Eihwaz is Ei and the yew, endurance and the strong spine, the tree of the dead that outlives everyone, and transition; the Eihwaz page. Perthro is P and the dice cup, chance and fate and hidden things, what is not yet decided; the Perthro page. Algiz is Z and the elk, or the sedge grass, protection and the raised hand, the guardian keeping watch; the Algiz page. Sowilo is S and the sun, success and wholeness and energy, the light that shows the way; the Sowilo page.
The third eight
Tiwaz is T and the god Tyr, justice and honour, victory earned fairly and the price paid for order; the Tiwaz page. Berkano is B and the birch, growth and new beginnings, birth and nurture, the mother tree; the Berkano page. Ehwaz is E and the horse, partnership and trust, two moving together; the Ehwaz page. Mannaz is M and humankind, the self among others, community and the mind; the Mannaz page. Laguz is L and the lake, flow and intuition, what runs underneath; the Laguz page. Ingwaz is Ng and the god Ing, fertility and gestation, potential held and waiting like a seed in the ground; the Ingwaz page. Dagaz is D and day, breakthrough and awakening, the turn from dark to light; the Dagaz page. Othala is O and the homestead, home and heritage, what is handed down with the land; the Othala page.
How to use these pages
The best way in is from a draw. Ask your question, draw a rune, sit with its picture for a minute, and then open its page. Read the picture section first, then the part on when it comes up, and only then the reversed paragraph if your rune landed upside down. The How to Cast the Runes page covers the draw itself.
The second way is to browse. Read the twenty four pages in order, one a day, and by the end of the month you will know the alphabet well enough to read without looking anything up. I think the order matters here. The first row is about what you have, the second is about what the weather does to you, and the third is about who you are among other people, and the sequence teaches something that the pages read at random do not.
The third way is to come at a rune from somewhere else. Each page ends with a short section on where the rune sits beside the tarot, as my own association and nothing stronger, and where its picture is a tree, a pointer to the Celtic Tree Astrology pages. If you already know the cards, you will find the two alphabets rhyme more often than you would expect.
The reversed runes
A rune drawn upside down is read as its meaning blocked, delayed or turned against you, and each page gives one paragraph on it. Eight runes look the same either way up and have no reversed reading: Gebo, Hagalaz, Isa, Jera, Eihwaz, Sowilo, Ingwaz and Dagaz. Their pages say so, and tell you to look at the runes around them for the hard side of the day. Nauthiz is argued over and I treat it as reversible, so it has a reversed paragraph like the other fifteen.
Which rune to read first
If you have a set, draw one and start there. If you have no set yet, start with Fehu and read down the alphabet, or go straight to whichever picture caught your eye on this page. The one that caught your eye usually did so for a reason, and finding out what that reason was is a decent first lesson in reading runes.
If you would like your own chart read, my readings are here.
In this section
Runes
The other pages in this set, and where they sit in the Library.
See every page and post in the Contents.
The Members area has songs, Moon pages to print, the Sunday article a day early and a first look at new Library pages.