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The Runes – A Shamanic Tool from
Dreamtime The
Nordic shamanic tradition is part of the vast phenomenon called circumpolar
shamanism made up primarily of different brands of Siberian, Inuit and Saami
shamanism. The Saami spiritual tradition arose in the northern areas of
Scandinavia and survives to this day as a living tradition in the
northernmost areas of Norway, Sweden and Finland. Nordic shamanism arose
further south in Scandinavia among peoples of Indo-European origin. During
long periods of time these traditions met and intermingled and today you can
find many similarities between Saami shamanism and Nordic shamanism although
both have very specific traits that differ. The last traces of the Nordic
shamanic tradition faded away with the old men and women practicing popular
medicine in the countryside towards the end of the 19th century
and the beginning of the 20th century. Since the early 1980’s
however there is an ongoing effort to recreate and renew the Nordic shamanic
tradition with the help of core shamanic methods and with inspiration from
the Saami tradition. One essential element of this effort is rune magic based
on the original uthark system
consisting of 24 runes. I
regard the runes as one of six sacred rites that were given as a gift from
the holy beings in Dreamtime, in “distant times”. Unfortunately there is no
living oral tradition about these rites but you can find references to them
in different songs in The Poetic Edda.
I must state that this book is a book of poems and not a religious document
or shamanic handbook, but it contains fragments of very old stories and myths
holding lots of shamanic knowledge. The sacred rites are utiseta (vision quest), blot
(ceremony), seidr (soul
journeying), galder (magic
singing), ordskifte (wisdom
competition) and rune magic which is the mother of all the other rites. The
runes have been used as a system of magic for at least 2000 years when
skilled people made runic inscriptions on knives, spears, bracelets and cups
for protection, victory and wellbeing. Many other ways of using them are
described in the Edda songs. The original use of the runes was undoubtedly
magic, purely magic. This use is much different and should not be mixed up
with the use of runes on commemorative stones – a tradition that blossomed
during the so called Viking age, 900-1100 C.E. especially in the central
parts of Sweden. The rune stones represent an exoteric use of runes as an
abstract alphabet. The esoteric, magical use of the runes was still performed
as a more or less secret tradition among initiated rune magicians, rune
masters. Many
scholars describe the runes as a rune row,
but the runes should not be perceived as a linear system. The runes are
cyclical, dynamic processes, living entities with will and personality. They
can’t be portrayed as “a row”. Bear these things in mind if you read any
books on rune magic. Bear also in mind that the magical use of the runes are
based on a certain way of numbering them, i e which rune you consider to be
number one, two, three and so on and which one you consider to be number 24.
This is very important if you want to use the numerical magic aspects of the
runes. I will come back to that later on and it will do now to mention that
the name of the runic system depends on which rune you put first in your
system. The name consists simply of the five or six first runes and you
either refer to them as the uthark
or futhark. I use the system as an uthark based in part on the research
by the Swedish scholar Sigurd Agrell who wrote several books in the 1920’s
and 1930’s on the magical use of the runes. 30 years of shamanic work with
the runes have convinced me that this is the right way to get the most power
from the runes. The
word runa (rune) has a complex
meaning but I think that the most appropriate translation is “hidden, or
secret, knowledge”. The runes contain knowledge on all things in the
universe. They contain knowledge on the essence
of all things. The runic system, the uthark,
is a story about the origin, the quality and the essence of everything. The uthark is a map of the cosmos, an
ever-changing map since the cosmos is in constant change. The runes are
process and movement – one follows the other and there is neither beginning,
nor end in the runic system. There is no polarity, no hierarchy among the
runes. In the runic system one is transformed into the other. The uthark is identical with the cosmic
web, that which is called Urd’s web.
The runes are not letters, they are symbols of the energies that constitute
the cosmos and they are these
energies. The runes are everywhere, all the time. I
usually describe the runes as esoteric knowledge of Mother Earth, for Mother Earth.
They are sacraments from Dreamtime, brought into this world as gifts from
holy people like the norns, Oden and many others. This process is
described in The Seeress’s Prophecy,
the first song in The Poetic Edda: I know an ash standing, her name
is Yggdrasil, From there come maidens, much
knowing, The
three “maidens” are the three norns
– Urd, Verdandi and Skuld – who weave the cosmic web,
Urd’s web, that everything is embedded in. In the process of weaving they are
carving on wooden slips, which means that they are weaving the cosmic web
using runes. So, in the Nordic shamanic tradition the runes are very much
connected to female powers. But they are not exclusively brought into this
world by female powers. The runes do balance female and male energies and
beside the norns the runes are much
connected to Oden and his shamanic
initiation, hanging in the world tree (Yggdrasill)
for nine consecutive days and nights without food or drink and wounded by his
own spear. This is described in Sayings
of the High One: I know that I hung
on a wind-blown tree, nine long nights, with a spear
wounded, and to Oden dedicated, myself to myself. Bread no one gave
me, nor a horn of drink, downward I peered, I took up the runes,
wailing I took them, then fell down
thence.
Oden “took up” the runes, which means that he
received them from Mother Earth and by saying that he took them “wailing”, he
shows that the runes primarily are about sound – the holy wind, önd, vibrating through our vocal
cords. Oden also describes the
runes as stained by the mighty sage, made by the powerful gods, carved out by
the runemaster of the gods: Odin for the Aesir, and Dain, for the elves, This
secret knowledge is spread out in many dimensions of the non-ordinary
reality, in Dreamtime. There is a very beautiful description of where you can
find the runes in the Edda song The Lay
of Sigrdrifa, where the valkyrie
(warrior woman) Sigrdrifa teaches a
young man, Sigurd, about the runes: They are, it said, on the shield
carved,
Sigrdrifa mentions 24 places where the
runes have been carved – one for each rune. They are all sorts of places:
from the shield before the sun and the horses Arvaker and Alsvinn who
pulls the sun across the sky to the claws, paws and beaks of wild (and
shamanic) animals like the wolf, the bear, the eagle and the owl. And the
runes have been sent wide ways among several different kinds of sacred
beings. They are everywhere all the time. The
runes contain knowledge from all dimensions in Dreamtime and from all sorts of
creatures in ordinary reality. Each of the 24 runes represents a separate
power that is essential to the world as we know it. The uthark has its name after the “first” five runes: Ur, the creative primordial force, Thurs, the destructive primordial
force, Ass, the holy wind,
life-giving power, Reid, the power
creating order, Ken, the power of
fire and heat. There are runes representing the four directions (or the six
directions if you prefer), the seasons, day and night, Mother Earth, Father
Sky, the sun, minerals, plants, animals, water, rain, snow, ice, sexuality,
fertility, planting, harvesting, harmony, love, joy, happiness, sacrifice,
death, the shaman, transformation etc. By
using the runes you can tap into the knowledge and power of Mother Earth and
of non-ordinary reality. The runes are doorways to Dreamtime. By sounding
them, by singing them, you enter into an altered state of consciousness where
you are accessible to the knowledge and power of Mother Earth and Dreamtime.
Several traditional shamanic ways can be used to gain insight into the wisdom
of the runes, e g spirit journeying to the realms in non-ordinary reality
where runic knowledge is to be found (I guess most shamans would call this
the upper world), vision quests together with runes, sleeping on runes,
dreaming on runes or just contemplating runes, breathing runes or carrying
runes (you carry wooden runes with you for a certain time). When
you have become skilled in using the runes you can contemplate them and
depict them at the same time as you sing them, thereby reinforcing their
power. Every rune has a specific sound and is connected to a specific cosmic
vibration so by singing a rune you get access to the power connected to that
specific rune. By singing e g gifu,
the harmony rune, you bring your whole being into interplay with a strong
harmonizing energy. By singing lagu,
you connect to water and the powers of water, the night and the moon. By
singing the whole uthark, all the
24 runes, you bring your being in harmony with all that is. How
do you sing the runes? Is that the same thing as reciting so called rune
poems, that can be found in Icelandic as well as Anglo-Saxon traditions? No,
this is not about reciting rune poems, which often have lost much of the
original magic essence of the runes. This is about sounding the runes in a
way that resonates with your body, with the environment, with “your”
landscape, with Mother Earth and with Dreamtime. You just let the runes
stream through your vocal cords and when doing that the runes will decide how
to sound – low or high, shrill or somber, loud or soft. When singing the
whole uthark you start with the
first rune and continue through the system to the last rune with one
following the other in an organic way, with one hooking into the next one.
The most common way to sing the whole uthark
is to do it three, four, six or nine rounds. All this means that the runes
will be sung in different ways on different occasions. How
do you pronounce the runes? In Cosmology
of the Uthark you can see their names and their pronunciations (which are
identical) right after each rune sign. I pronounce them in Swedish. Danes,
Norwegians and Icelanders will pronounce them somewhat different. How should
an English speaking person pronounce them? My suggestion is: by trying to
sound them with their Nordic names and letting the runes decide what works. I
don’t think that it is possible to construct a workable phonetic system for
the runes, but knowledge in German or Dutch ways of pronouncing might be of
help. If you want to
know how to sound and sing the runes you can listen here. What
about the meanings of the different runes? Where have I picked them up? The
short explanations in Cosmology of the
Uthark are very much based on traditional knowledge that has been
expressed in the Edda songs and older literature on the runes. But what I
write about the meaning of runes is to a great extent the result of many
years of work with the runes, some of it done with core shamanic methods, i e
by shamanic journeying. For a long period of time I was a member of a very
ambitious and energetic group of shamans working close together to revive the
Nordic shamanic tradition. Finding out about the runes, discussing the runes,
using the runes was one of the main efforts of this group. What I write here
is accordingly part of a collective body of knowledge. And remember: the word
runa is about secret knowledge.
There are things about the runes that are not to be disclosed even today. How
come that sound is so essential in Nordic shamanism? Part of the explanation
can be found in the first song in The
Poetic Edda when the seeress, who is a shaman, tells about the creation
of the world out of emptiness: Young were the years when Ymir made his settlement, Ymir is the first creature to be created out of
the vast emptiness called Ginnungagap
in the primal embrace between heat and frost. Ymir was a giant and he was later slain by Oden and his two brothers who built the earth of the giant’s body
parts. Ymir was The First One and
his name means “the clamoring one”. First there was just emptiness and then there
was heat and frost creating sound, so sound is really a constituting power in
Nordic cosmic myth. This doen’t mean that Ymir
created the world. It means that sound is a basic power constructing the
world. When the norns were weaving the runes into the cosmic web we can
assume that they were simultaneously sing the runes into the web. This
process still continues and by singing the runes you connect to the
primordial forces of the cosmos, you vibrate in resonance with everything
else. In that way you can say that the runes are sound. And because sound is created by the primordial wind,
the holy wind, önd, the runes are also wind, spirit. By
singing the runes you attune yourself to the cosmic web, to Urd’s web, thereby receiving the
knowledge and power of the runes and thereby also transforming yourself and
the world. Another way to say this is that you connect to the intelligence
field of Mother Earth, you let Mother Earth’s power embrace you. This is a
way of healing. By singing the runes you overcome the gap between yourself
and the sacred, tuning into the sacred and, in fact, becoming sacred, whole,
healed. You sing Mother Earth’s song as a creative co-actor in The Great
Cosmic Cycle, in The Great Mystery. The
runes contain esoteric knowledge about the world and they are a philosophical
tool that helps us to understand the world and its workings. But the runes
are not only for understanding how everything works but also for doing magic,
trying to influence the world, helping and healing people, animals, plants
and Mother Earth. The runes are tools that enable us to intervene in the
cosmic web. By using them in this respect they may function as an act of
healing and an agent of change. Songs in The
Poetic Edda give several hints about situations where the magic use of
the runes might help, common to all shamanic traditions; healing physical and
psychical ailments, reviving dead people, weather working, finding lost
persons or objects, protecting from black magic, putting out fires,
restraining hatred and bringing harmony, finding out the future etc. In this
way the runes are a shamanic tool expressing knowledge and power that are
common to and can be found in shamanic traditions worldwide. There
are strong ethic rules associated with the runes, what we can call a proper
protocol. Oden himself states in Sayings of the High One: Better not to pray, than to
sacrifice too much, And
in Sigrdrifa’s words: Those are book-runes, those are
protection-runes, When
using the runes for good, not asking too much or too often, i e using the
runes in a humble and respectful way, then they will help bringing harmony
and balance, which in itself is an ongoing, dynamic process. There
are several ways to use the runes as magic tools. The main method is singing
them, just like singing them is a way to receive their knowledge. You can
sing the runes over a person that needs healing. You can sing them and at the
same time draw the runes with your fingertips on or over the body of your
client. Such a ceremony can also be performed as distance healing. Then you
still sing the runes out loud, simultaneously sketching them with your
fingertips in front of you and visualizing how they travel to the client.
Runes can also be sent to the intended recipient through the elements water,
earth and fire. You just draw them with your fingertips in water or in the
earth as you sing them. If you want to use fire you could sketch the runes on
paper and burn the paper as you sing the runes. My
personal runic protocol is very simple: 1) I create a sacred space/circle by
greeting the six directions and asking the spirits of the place for
permission to perform the ceremony, 2) I sing the whole uthark one or three or four rounds to root myself in the earth
and attune myself to the cosmic web, 3) I send the runes to those I want to
help (persons, animals, plants, places or Mother Earth) by singing them and
sketching them in the air in front of me, 4) I complete the ceremony by
singing the uthark as a kind of
blessing-way, 5) I thank the place, Mother Earth, the runes and all spirits
that have helped me and leave a small gift. Can
you use the drum together with runes? Absolutely! It can be an earthshaking
experience to drum and simultaneously sing the runes. In fact the runes can
be combined with all possible shamanic methods. How do I know which runes to
use in a magic ceremony? By intuition, by making a spirit journey or just by
asking the runes. Do
the runes always help? That is a very complex question to answer. I guess that
one answer is that they are just as helpful as any other shamanic method and
that the main thing in all shamanic work is to create or recreate harmony and
balance. Sometimes the runes help, sometimes they don’t – and you can’t
always tell why. The runes are living entities, they do have a mind and a
will of their own and they decide if and when they want to help. We can pray
and we can ask, but we can’t command the runes. However I have seen them heal
and protect. Once I visited a Saami shaman in Kautokeino in northern Norway.
He had promised to take me to a magic spot just below a sacred mountain the
next day. When I arrived he had caught a severe cold and didn’t feel like
coming along but was willing to change his mind if I could help him get well.
He sat down in front of me, I closed my eyes and breathed deeply to let some
runes come into my mind. Then I wrote two or three of them on his forehead at
the same time as I sang them out loud. Next morning he was extremely
energetic and took me to the sacred mountain where I had a very shocking
experience which is quite another story. Did I cure him? I would say: no, the
runes did, Mother Earth did. I
have also, alone as well as together with friends, been able to use runes to
protect areas and places that have faced exploitation of some kind, e g
clearcutting or peat cutting, or to heal places that have been exploited or
desecrated, e g ancestral places of worship. When healing a place it is
important to sing strong runes of harmony and balance and I always prefer to
sing the whole uthark, three or
four times. I
could mention more instances of how the runes do help but the runes really
don’t want to talk about these things in public and I prefer not to violate
their proper protocol. Divination
with the runes is perhaps the most famous aspect of rune magic. Yes, they are
a powerful divinatory tool. But a very complex tool. The runes never answer
yes or no to a question. You have to put your question in such a way that the
runes start telling you things. You can simply ask for guidance or you can
word your question as how, why, what? Any wording that inspires the runes to
answer and talk and tell. The runes will show the essence of your relation to
the world, your connection to the cosmic web and the potential of your
present situation. Of course you can ask the runes on behalf of other
persons. There are three main draws or castings of runes: 1) Oden’s draw, 2) the draw of the norns and 3) the draw of the nine
worlds. If you have your runes in a medicine bag you draw one, three or nine
runes, depending on how complex an answer you want. Another way of doing
divination is by casting the runes on a cloth and then pick up one, three or
nine runes. In
Oden’s draw or casting only one
rune is picked so the wording of your question is very important. In the draw of the norns you pick three runes that will tell you a) what has brought
about the present situation, b) what choices of action you have and c) what
kind of outcome is probable if you act like suggested in b). The draw of the
nine worlds is a variation of this draw. You simply pick three runes to
answer each of the three aspects above (“past-present-future”). Some
people working with rune divination claim that it doesn’t matter which runes
you draw, because all runes have something important to tell when asked. My
opinion is that the runes have a life of their own, they have will and
personality, i e spirit, and therefore the runes you receive are not a matter
of chance. You receive exactly the runes that you need. The problem is that
the message can be hard to decode and difficult to face. When
divining with runes I do use 25 and not 24 runes. The 25th rune is
a non-rune, without sound and form, a rune of paradox. It is called The Empty
One or The Unknowable. The Empty One is not mentioned anywhere in the old
texts. It is a new creation of the 20th century, although it suits
extremely well into the archaic system. You could say that The Empty One is
the rune of Ginnungagap (Emptiness)
or that it is the emptiness that brings forth the uthark. It is not a part of the uthark – it precedes the uthark.
Why use it divination? In a way The Empty One means nothing, but at the same
time it means everything. When drawing this non-rune the uthark tells you that you are facing something that could be
quite shocking – a jump into the void. Or the uthark simply tells you that it won’t or can’t answer your
question. The
uthark is a map of the cosmos. How
do you depict a map that is a process in ever-changing movement? What comes
closest to this dynamic stream or flow of energy is an open-ended spiral –
although also this depiction is very approximate. For
30 years now I have been trying to incorporate the runes in my shamanic work
and in my life. This has been an adventure, and it still is. The runes have a
life of their own and they do continuously surprise me. Still. Jörgen I Eriksson, March 2012
Agrell,
Sigurd: The Runic Numerical Magic and Its Antique Prototype (Lund 1927) Ellis
Davidson, Hilda: The Lost Beliefs of Northern Europe (London 1993) Eriksson,
Jörgen I: Rune Magic and Shamanism (Umeå 2012) Price,
Neil S: The Viking Way (Uppsala 2002) The
Poetic Edda (translated by Carolyne Larrington). Oxford 1996. (This
article was originally written for The
Journal of Shamanic Practice)
Details
on my book Rune Magic and Shamanism –
Original Nordic Knowledge from Mother Earth can be found here. |
