A Practical Heathen's Guide to Asatru by Patricia M. Lafayllve

Author:Patricia M. Lafayllve
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: asatru, religion, deities, history, rituals, magic, heathen
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD.
Published: 2013-09-17T16:00:00+00:00

[contents]

Written language can be considered

magical by those who cannot read.

Ten

Runes, Charms, and Magic

Heathenry has its own system of what can be called the esoteric arts. Two prominent practices are using the runes and working seidh. There were other forms of magic as well, including charms, herbal practices, and incantations, but detailed discussions of these are beyond the scope of this book. Still, any introduction to the heathen religious folkway should spend some time discussing these runes and seidh. (Seidworking will be discussed in chapter 11.)

Runes were originally nothing more than a method of writing. Later, magical uses of the runes can be found in both the Eddic and saga records showing that the runes had magical uses. Tacitus mentions the casting of lots, saying that the Germanic tribes have the “highest regard” 1 for omens and lot casting. He goes into great detail discussing the method he witnesses, which we will discuss more fully later in this chapter.2 We have no other record of the runes being used for divination. Modern heathens do practice runic divination, but it is worth noting that, as far as we can tell, it may or may not have been a traditional use of the runes.

Historically speaking, there are varied theories regarding the exact origins of the runes. Runes, or runic inscriptions, have been found dating to 200 BCE.3 Runes are found among the Scandinavians, the Icelanders, Anglo-Saxons, Frisians, and other Germanic speaking peoples at one time or another. They were used on everything from merchant’s ownership tags to recording the deeds of a hero on a stone monument. Some inscriptions simply indicated ownership—one sample reads, “Domnal Seal’s-Head owns this sword.” 4 Some were clearly graffiti. Ellis Davidson points out the “effrontery” of traveling Vikings, citing the “runic inscriptions on ancient tombs like Maeshowe in Orkney.”5

Cleasby-Vigfusson defines the word rún as “to enquire,” and “writing,” and the dictionary goes on to refer to the word as “magical characters,” “a secret, hidden lore,” and “mystery.” 6 In his book, Runes, Ralph Elliott discusses the word and its adoption into Celtic, as rūn, where it meant “secret,”7 and into the Finnish runo with the meaning “song.”8 Edred Thorsson provides us with the Proto-Indo-European root *reu-, meaning “to roar, 9 while Maurine Halsall points to cognate words, such as the Old Saxon runon, meaning “to whisper.” 10 It seems clear that the word itself was a complicated one, and one which changed meanings over time. We see that the runes are “secret,” and can mean “mystery,” and definitions like these can point us to more esoteric meanings.

Mythologically speaking, Odin is the father of the runes. In the Hávamál, Odin speaks of hanging from a windswept tree with no food or water for nine nights. He looks below him, takes up the runes, and cries out before falling back again.11 We do not know why he screams; it is often assumed that the power of the runes is so great even Odin has some trouble gathering them up.

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