Otherways- Fiction Fanatics

Like a lot of people, it was Tolkien that first introduced me to runes. His, naturally, were the basis of the language of the elves, and quite a few fantasy authors have followed suit. Various series have had runes of power or protection, runic languages, runic shields. I think, though, that it is the real runes that fascinate me the most.

Runes form the Viking alphabet, and runestones are often the equivalent of a Viking historical marker. Some of them serve more as notaries, where an oath was sworn between two groups and a stone marker erected on the spot. Curiously, that habit wasn’t just popular among Vikings, if you read the Old Testament of the Bible, many of the agreements there were concluded by raising a stone between them and making an offering. Of course, the Vikings were making an offering to their own gods, but the concept is the same: you and I agree, the deity or deities saw it, and this stone will make sure they remember.

Small claims court just wasn’t a thing then.

I live in the middle of a landlocked state in the plains. When Viking longboats were raiding towns and razing them to the ground, we had buffalo. Yes, it was a whole heaping lot of buffalo, possibly even a sea of buffalo, yet I can assure you there wasn’t a longboat in sight.

But we have a runestone.

I know, it’s weird. Sure, modern linguistic scholars have said it isn’t old enough to prove that Vikings travelled all the way here long before the rest of Europe chose to join the party, but it has still fascinated me since I learned about it in grade school.

Vikings used runes for a number of things, written language being the most obvious. My favorite use, naturally enough, is divination. Hogwarts offers a class in runic divination, but if you’re over the age to receive your letter, I’ll give you the short form.

Twenty five tiles make up the runic set, including Odin’s rune, the blank one. These tiles are made of various substances, from bone to clay, with one side blank and the other inscribed with a symbol. If you are familiar with Tarot, the process of reading runes will not be unfamiliar. In its most basic form, the runes are placed in a bag, and drawn to form a specific pattern, called a spread, while holding a question you want answered in your mind. Once the spread is filled, you will read it from right to left.

Each position in the spread has a meaning, and each rune also has a set of meanings. For example, one of the simplest spreads is the three-rune spread. Remembering the runes are to be read right to left, the rightmost rune signifies your current situation, the central rune action, and the rightmost is the new situation, or outcome. In general, one doesn’t ask questions, you raise issues. Instead of saying “Should I quit my job?”, say instead, “My concern is my work.” This leaves the reading open to broader interpretation, giving you permission to think outside the box.

For fun, I used that question, thinking of my publishing career, and pulled the following runes: Wunjo, Eihwasz, and Laguz. Laguz, or flow, is in position one, signifying the current situation. I can certainly buy that “flow” is a good word for now. I have a novel at one publisher, a short under consideration, a second novel finishing its rough draft this week, and a third at over 30,000 words and a fourth under the proverbial knife in a complete re-write. That’s a lot to keep going, but I’ve finally got it all “flowing” well.

Position two is the action you should take. I drew Eihwasz, the rune of defense. Okay, aside from being utterly distracted from my work by internet cats riding robotic vacuums, what would I be defending against? Interestingly enough, the rune also indicates patience. The advice is to set your affairs in order, be alert, and tend to business. Always good advice, and perhaps especially true in the publishing world.

Finally, in the outcome position, I drew Wunjo, or joy, also known as the fruit-bearing branch. I don’t know about you, but I’ll take that as a good omen.

Of course, I don’t believe that you should live your life entirely by omens and signs. I don’t visit astrologers, nor do I use my fortune cookie lucky numbers to play the lottery. I do find the entire process fascinating, and whether you are accessing just your own subconscious, or something bigger, it is a beautiful and useful process.

Cheers,

Michelle