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 Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2005 2:32 pm
Runes are an alphabetic script used by the peoples of Northern Europe from the first century c.e. until well into the Middle Ages. In addition to their use as a written alphabet, the runes also served as a system of symbols used for magic and divination. Runes fell into disuse as the Roman alphabets became the preferred script of most of Europe, but their forms and meanings were preserved in inscriptions and manuscripts.
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Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2005 2:35 pm
Older than the New Testament, the Runes have lain fallow for more than 400 years. The Runes were last in current use in Iceland during the Middle Ages. The wisdom of the Rune Masters died with them. Little remains but the standing Rune stones, the sagas, the far-flung fragments of runic lore, and the 24 Runes themselves.
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Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2005 2:37 pm
The influence of the Runes on their time is incontestable. When the high chieftains and wise counselors of Anglo-Saxon England met in conclave, they called their secret deliberations "Ruenes". When Bishop Wulfila made his translation of the Bible into fourth century Gothic, he rendered St. Mark's "the mystery of the kingdom of God" using "runa" for "mystery.
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Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2005 2:40 pm
Eight centuries earlier, when Greek historian Herodotus traveled around the Black Sea, he encountered descendants of Scythian tribesmen who crawled under blankets, smoked themselves into a stupor, and cast marked sticks in the air and "read" them when they fell. These sticks were used as Rune sticks.
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Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2005 2:42 pm
There is no firm agreement among scholars as to where and when runic writing first made its appearance in Western Europe. Before Germanic peoples possessed any form of script, they used pictorial symbols that they scratched onto rocks.
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Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2005 2:44 pm
Especially common in Sweden, these prehistoric rock carvings, are dated back to 1300BC and were probably linked to Indo- European fertility and sun cults.
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Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2005 2:45 pm
The practice of divination (sortilege) was cultivated among Northern Italic as well as Germanic peoples, one using letters the other symbols. Numerous runic standing stones can be seen in the British Isles, in Germany and throughout Scandinavia.
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Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2005 2:47 pm
From the beginning Runes took on a ritualistic meaning, serving for the casting of lots, for divination, and to evoke higher powers that could influence the lives and fortunes of the people. The craft of "runemal" touched every aspect of life, from the most sacred to the most practical. There were Runes and spells to influence the weather, the tides, crops, love, healing, fertility, cursing and removing curses, birth and death.
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Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2005 2:49 pm
Runes were carved on amulets, drinking cups, battle spears, over the lintels of dwellings and onto the prows of Viking ships.
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Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2005 2:50 pm
The Rune castors of the Teutons and Vikings wore startling garb that made them easily recognizable. Honored, welcomed and feared these shamans were familiar figures in tribal circles. There is evidence that a fair number of runic practitioners were women.
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Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2005 2:53 pm
Runic symbols have been carved into pieces of hardwood, incised on metal or cut into leather that was then stained with pigment.
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Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2005 2:54 pm
The most common Runes were smooth flat stones or pebbles with symbols or glyphs painted on one side. The practitioner would keep them in a pouch, shake them and scatter the pebbles on the ground. Those falling with glyphs upward were then interpreted.
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Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2005 2:55 pm
By 100 AD the Runes were already becoming widely known on the European Continent. They were carried from place to place by traders, adventurers, and warriors, and eventually by Anglo-Saxon missionaries.
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Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2005 2:59 pm
For this dispersion to occur a common alphabet was required, the alphabet that became known as "futhark" after its first 6 letters.
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Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2005 3:04 pm
Although later Anglo-Saxon alphabets expanded to include as many as 33 letters in Britain, the traditional Germanic futhark is comprised of 24 Runes. These were divided into 3 families of 8 Runes each, 3 and 8 being numbers credited with special potency. The 3 groups, known as "aettir" were named for the Norse Gods "Freyr" "Hagal" and "Tyr".
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