9 Things I’ve Learned from Reading Runes

As I prepare to teach the final live cohort of Radical Runes, I’ve been thinking a lot about how my own relationship with the runes has grown over the years. And some of my opinions about runes might surprise you. For example, I don’t use my runes for divination nearly as much as I used to. There is just so much more to them than that. One of the things that I always hope to impress upon my students is when you begin working with them it is entering into relationship with them.

That is honestly one of the biggest things I’ve learned - the runes have beckoned me into animism in a beautiful way over the course of studying them. But I’ll talk about that later.

If you’re considering learning how to work with the runes, you might be wondering why this particular system is calling to you. Maybe you already read tarot or have a trusty oracle deck - why do you feel a calling to work with runes?

Sometimes the impulse is obvious: for example, if you’re diving into a heathen path, follow Odin, and are fascinated with the Norse myths. Or perhaps you’re learning about Nordic ancestry. These are some reasons why working with runes might feel obvious for you.

If you’re a little more hesitant, you might be asking yourself what it looks like to be deep into a rune practice. What does the other side of beginning look like for you? What does rune wisdom look and feel like?

9 Things I’ve Learned Reading Runes

1. Runes can jump out at you at any time. One of the things that is really unique about runes is that their shapes are simple enough that you can easily spot them in nature. Sometimes when I’m going for a walk to think things through, to come to a conclusion, or just to clear my head, I’ll spot some twigs on the sidewalk that are in the shape of a rune. Or maybe I’ll notice the rune in the bark of a tree. When this happens, I generally pause, take a breath, and thank the runes for the message.
   
   
2. It’s not always about divination. There are many, many different ways of working with the runes. You can use them for divination - and that’s how a lot of people use them - but they are also really potent symbols to use in magic, to create bindrunes, to chant.

I started my relationship with runes in using them for magic. I would carve the rune onto a candle, or maybe draw it on a slip of paper to carry in my pocket. Lately I’ve been going back to utilizing runes for magic more than divination and it feels really good. I love using Algiz at the four corners when I create a sacred space, or outlining Fehu on my skin when I use a prosperity oil. When I’m making sigils and using other symbols, I will also absolutely pull in runes. Sometimes I’ll write things out in the runes if I’m trying to write out a spell to give it an added layer of magic. Using runes in magic could be an entire book, which I definitely don’t have space for here. But you see! There are so so so many ways of working with runes outside of divination.

Not to mention there are a lot of unique ways of reading runes for divination! Sometimes you pull a single rune, or you’ll pull runes in a spread, and other times you’ll want to throw the runes on the cloth to get a different kind of reading. And sometimes, a rune will cross your path in the wild and that is so obviously an omen that you choose to read it that way.

3. Sometimes, you’re not supposed to know. There have been times that I’ve gone to consult the runes (or even tarot) and the thing that I get is nonsense. It doesn’t make any sense. I’ll consult the books, and it will be like the divination tool is answering the wrong question. I used to take this as a sign that I didn’t know what I was doing, that I had no business reading runes or taking clients. Now, I’ve realized this is just the runes’ way of telling me that I don’t need to know the answer.

How can you tell when you’re just not supposed to know? Say you’re doing a reading about an ex, someone you aren’t in touch with and you’re just trying to get in their head. But then you pull Eiwaz (yew), Fehu (wealth/work), and Thurisaz (giant/protection). You pull a clarifying rune, and you get Isa (ice). You pull another clarifying rune, and you get Perth (the unknown/fate). Of course, there is a way to read these runes together. If I were reading for a client, I would be able to figure out what they mean. But for myself in this scenario, let’s just say that they don’t make sense. It’s like they’re answering a question about my career. Then I will set them aside.

Perhaps an easier way of determining if you really aren’t supposed to know the answer: When the clarifying rune is Isa. The rune for Ice is often a signal that it’s important to stop in your path and reconsider, regroup, or rest.

4. The runes have taught me so much about animism, in ways that I didn’t expect. Animism is the attribution of a soul to plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena. The more I’ve worked with the runes the more I have recognized in them something akin to a soul. Sometimes when I’m trying to explain what the runes are I’ll talk about them as forces of nature, but really they feel almost like ancestors to me. They are symbols that have been assigned meaning by so many people before me that they resonate at that level.

But as much as the runes themselves also feel like they have a soul, over the course of studying them deeply I have learned to look at other forces of nature as being animate.

I don’t know whether this is because of my work with the runes or a happy coincidence. In general, working with the runes led me to working with spiritual teachers who were working with Nordic animist ideas. I think heathenry has a particular affinity with animism - throughout the myths and folklore we have references to land deities, river spirits, gods transforming into different animals, and lively forests. In Nordic tradition we have the spirit of the farm, ancestor veneration, a thinning of the limits between living and dead, humans and nature. Of course the runes have a lot of wisdom to impart about animism!

5. The runes work best when I’m in a reciprocal relationship with them. This is a part of understanding the runes as one focal point of an animist worldview. They aren’t to be taken for granted, a relationship with them is meant to be cultivated. When I am too demanding, going to them too often without cleansing or placing them on my altar, they don’t work as well. Sometimes I can tell that they’re just tired. The runes aren’t like a coin-operated fortune telling machine: they are energies to cultivate a relationship with.

What does reciprocal mean in this instance? How can I, a mere human, create a reciprocal relationship with these historic, esoteric symbols?

Figuring out what reciprocity means can be difficult. The first step is obviously respect. It’s imperative to have respect for the runes as you learn them - otherwise what’s the point? But if you set out to create a reciprocal relationship with them, you might find that things change and shift around you. Even now, years into my process of studying the runes in public, I’m learning new ways of giving back.

For me one of the most important ways I maintain a reciprocal relationship with the runes is through engaging with them publicly. I write blog posts, create podcast episodes, and even teach courses about the runes. Sharing my relationship with the runes publicly is an important part of reciprocity and mutual regard.

6. I don’t have to perform rune readings for other people to be a rune reader and expert. At the same time that I’ve been sharing my writing and podcasting about the runes ever more frequently, I haven’t been performing rune readings for other people. Part of that is that at the time of writing this I’m not actually open for readings. But even if I were open I don’t think I would be offering rune readings terribly publicly. I think that’s in large part because most of the time when clients come to me with a question, it is better suited to the kind of reading that I get with my tarot decks. And that’s totally ok! Maybe I’m chanting or visualizing Perthro before sitting down to do the reading. Maybe I send a rune chant out into the world on behalf of friends, family, and other community members. These things all count! I am still a runeworker!
7. Secrecy and privacy have become very important in my rune AND magical practice. When I first started to talk about my spiritual practice and do readings for people publicly I felt the need to share … probably too much. I was eager to be recognized and seen in the community, tired of being in the shadows as a solo practitioner. Now I feel very differently. I don’t feel the need to overshare about my personal practice because I feel like I have the support of spirits and ancestors. I don’t feel as alone as I did, which means that I feel less need to get recognition and approval from others.

There is a belief in Nordic folk magic - as well as many other magic systems - that once you have done the magic, you need to let it solidify. Depending on your internal system and the strength of the spell cast, this could mean not talking about it for three days, a full week, or ever. Because really, the magic is between you and the unseen world - you don’t need to bring other people into it. I believe that especially in the immediate hours after casting a spell the magic is still taking shape, susceptible to outside intervention. It has become my habit not to talk about the exact workings that I do publicly.

The same is somewhat true of my rune practice; where I might tell other people what my card of the day is, I rarely discuss any rune readings that I do with myself. If I’m casting spells using the runes, I don’t. speak of it. Not really.

Of course all of this is different from teaching. When I’m teaching I need to use examples of magic that I have done in the past in order to help my students understand - but I usually choose examples where the spell is “finished.” I still keep firm boundaries around my runework and spellwork even as I teach from experience.

8. The spirit world is not ours to command, and nor is it something to be afraid of. I have explored many different styles of magic over the years, but when I decided to stick with folk magic it was largely because I like how most folk practitioners I know deal with spirits. This was the aspect of folk magic that really stood out to me in comparison with other systems. Now, I was raised in a small town that was deeply haunted. I remember when I first learned to practice magic in a coven setting we always had one person on “entity duty” because they were attracted to the magic. These entities were threatening, scary, presented as enemies to the coven.

Later, when I was working in occult shops I was exposed to ceremonial magick. I remember vividly attending a workshop on necromancy in relationship to Hekate where we were employing this particular teacher’s interpretation of the PGM and necromancy as described in ancient Greek plays. We were encouraged to mock the spirits until they had to pay attention. Now, this may have some applications (doing necromancy with bigoted family members, for example), but it didn’t quite sit right with me. It was too commanding - demanding that a spirit join you, shaming them into submission, all of these things didn’t feel like a great way to begin a relationship.

So I started experimenting with having my own spirit relationships. I remembered back to when I was a child and it was so easy to speak with the ghost in my home. One of the things that I love about Nordic folk magic is that spirits are not necessarily assigned positive or negative attributes before you get to know them - much like people. Spirits are neutral until proven otherwise. This has definitely been reinforced by rune spirit readings that I’ve done over the years, and then eventually from my own spirit communications without a medium involved. It feels natural to me.

9. The runes are always with me. Their names are easy to chant under my breath when I need them. I can easily make their shapes with my body. I can even find runes when I go on walks. They don’t simply leave - they are a constant companion and source of comfort. I have grown to see them as old friends, and I wish that blessing upon you.

My relationship with the runes is still growing, of course! This is a lifelong practice and one that has already been so rewarding. I would love to hear from you how the runes have taught you lessons, or honestly how any other longterm spiritual practice has taught you wisdom!