Copyright 2008 T. Sheil & A. Sheil All Rights Reserved
Recently, I have been posting Rune exercises on my “Daily Lessons” page. These are simple little things to help people better appreciate the Runes in the everyday world. They are based on the fact that the Runic energies and principles manifest in our worldly experiences. It could not be otherwise. The Runes are connected to things that directly affect our day to day lives. Look at the symbols of the Runes. These are not bizarre abstractions, but common things drawn from the world around us and the realm of ideas.
Learning the Runes begins by relating them to yourself. You have been relating with them all your life. Every time you hand a dollar bill, pound note or krone to the cashier, you are relating with the Fehu Rune. Fehu is the essence which money represents. Every time you are a passenger on a bus, subway, tram or train, you are part of the Raido Rune experience. Raido is the power and principle of Transportation. It is movement for a specific purpose. Every time you look at your face in a mirror, you touch the Mannar and the Odal Runes. Mannar is identity, and your face is the physical expression of who you are. Odal is something you own so firmly that it cannot be transferred. Your face is yours since before you were born. It belongs to you and only you.
Esoteric scholars have a tendency to begin by trying to jump into an understanding of abstractions,. It is as if they want to jump halfway up the mountain. Before they can go higher, they must backtrack to discover all that is beneath them. We begin by looking at the most immediate expressions of powers and principles. From there, we climb a steady ascent. There is no backtracking and no confusion. We go from the outer to the inner, from the lower to the higher.
The Runes of the Elder Futhark are so placed for a reason. Notice how they follow a pattern unlike other adjacent alphabets, such as the Roman, Greek or Phoenician. The Runes are arranged for purposes other than alphabetic. They are a grid. Various arrangements use the Grid to further employ the Runes.
If we look at the first column of Runes, for example, we have Fehu, Hagal, and Tyr. In the old “Roof Runes” rendition, Fehu is the ‘peak’ and Tyr and Hagal are the ‘eaves.” Fehu is assets, symbolized by Cattle. Hagal scatters the herd. Tyr manages and controls it. In terms of other assets, Hagal allows them to scatter while Tyr corrals them and guides them in a productive direction. On yet another level, Hagal distributes “matter” by scattering randomly whereas Tyr focuses each piece deliberately. Obviously, Hagal is no way to manage a herd, but a great way to sow seeds. Tyr is the way to direct a herd for profit, but excruciatingly slow for sowing seeds.
Let us try one more. The final two Runes of the last Aett, Odal and Dag, can have their positions switched when necessary. In one Roof Rune set using the last column of the Futhark, Wunjo is the peak while Sig and Dag are the eaves. Wunjo is joy and harmony. Sig symbolizes the Sun. The Sun is always bright whether it is in the sky or it ducks beyond the horizon. In this Rune code, it is harmony brought on a by a constant state. Dag is the interplay of day and night. In this Rune code, it is the harmony caused by the balance of two opposites. Here we see harmony achieved in two ways: as a constant, unmoving state, and as a harmony achieved by movement.
This is but one example of codes that employ the Futhark order. (Others are explained in Old Norse Rune Mysteries and Rune Codes and Futhark Order Codes.)
The Futhark is a product of natural measurement. Before the days of decimal systems such as Metric, people measured by relative amounts. An item or substance could be halved, quartered, or doubled easily. It could also be divided into thirds. The SAE inch is a prime example of natural measure. It can be divided easily into a half, quarter or eighth. Natural measure also uses thirds. A thing can be divided into its from, middle and end. Twelve is the lowest number for natural measure, as it can be divided into halves, quarters, sixths and thirds. Twenty four is better in that it allows easier division into eights.
The Elder Futhark is divided into eighths and thirds. There are eight Runes in each row, or Aett. There are three rows, or Aetts. This natural numeration makes it easier to work with the Runes.
All of this indicates one point for the new student: it is important to learn the Runes in sequence. There is a reason they are arranged as they are. Learning means beginning with the first Rune and working one’s way through each Aett successively. By doing so, the lessons build one upon another. Previous Runes build a foundation for understanding succeeding Runes. Indeed, much of Runic education is a matter of comparing the Runes. Both similarities and contrasts help reveal the nature of the Runes. This is why the grid is arranged as it is.
Objective study of the Runes must lead to subjective understanding. You want to feel the Rune as well as know it intellectually. The reason for my exercises is to do just that. Because of our society’s current educational system, we excel at learning intellectually. Objective education is easy. We are not so good at developing our subjective skills. Feeling, intuition and subjective insight are pretty much ignored by educators. Nonetheless, the subjective is essential to learning the Runes.
I have found that a good part of a student’s initial study is spent teaching him how to learn subjectively.
We must approach study of the Runes with all of our being, and that means using both our objective and subjective faculties. Education has to be understood internally as well and intellectually. The need to feel becomes as important as the need to think.
To begin Runic study, one needs to see the basic meaning of the Runes. Each Rune is both an essence, or power, and a principle, or action. (You can download a set of Rune interpretations here: )
As a study aid, draw out the Futhark on a piece of paper. Draw out the three aetts. Do it by hand. There is something about writing that makes it personal.
Start with Fehu. Read the Rune and its description. Think of it in your own terms. Perhaps cattle is a bit abstract/. Living in our modern world, cattle are not as immediate a presence in our lives. Assets might mean something else. It could entail investments. It might be money. Look for places where this Rune is visible in your life. For instance, money is an asset. How does it benefit you? Think of how money is the means to acquire things. How does it feel to receive money? How does it feel to have it? How do you feel when you spend it? These reveal a small piece of your relationship to the Rune which money represents. It opens you to a personal appreciation of Fehu. Granted that this is just the beginning of the beginning. As the Chinese say, the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.
Another brief example is Urus, the Rune depicted as an independent wild ox. The aurochs bull was admired for its strength. This is the most basic force. Strength can lift and push heavy loads. It is pure, brute force. The metaphysicians used to differentiate between strength and power. Strength was the ability to hold. It was the essence of steadfastness, and of holding one’s ground. Power was a different force that could be projected. Might one see Urus as Strength and Thurs as power?
Use your strength to lift an object. How does it feel to be able to do that? How about pushing? Think about how it makes you feel. Next, push against someone else. Have him push back. You are feeling your strength against that of another. How does it feel to overcome him and push him back? How do you feel when he resists you? When he pushes you back?
Exercises like these are of tremendous value because they connect you directly to the Runes. By using your feelings as a connecting point, you gain a more personal insight into each Rune’s essence and operating principle. It is no longer an abstraction. It has instead become something you know by experience.
Follow these exercises by daily meditation and observation. Meditation is nothing more than thinking deeply about the Rune while in a relaxed state. Observation is merely noting examples of the Rune in action in your daily experiences. It is that simple, though not easy. The actual work requires dedication. Your practice must be consistent. You do not force it, but let it come to you. The trick is to let the Rune reveal itself rather than you trying to make it fit some notion of your own.
If you do this for three to five years, you will have a great insight and the ability to use the Runes. This is better than reading many books and filling your head with ideas. Those who focus on intellectual study can memorize and repeat what they have read, but they have not developed a great ability to apply that knowledge. Those who work wit the power sources - in our case, the Runes - will eventually develop a subjective understanding as well as an intellectual one. More important is that they will be able to actually use the Runes.
The other side of Rune work is to understand techniques for applying the Runes. These are many and varied. There are spoken charms, talismans, written spells and a whole variety of magickal methods that can be used to employ the Runes. The same rule applies here as with other magick. The best magicians may know many techniques, but they generally have two or three which they use almost all of the time. You do better to learn one method well than to learn many halfway. Your best results will come with a technique that you have mastered. Here, the degree of mastery far outweighs numbers of spells.
As with all magick, the path to the Runes is a matter of making it personal. Once you appreciate the Runes as forces and principles which are working in your everyday experience, you have opened the way to their mysteries. Expertise takes time, consistency and dedicated effort. This is not hard work so much as work done over an extended period of time. For those who keep to the work, the rewards are priceless.
By the way, within this article I have given the whole secret for attaining mastery of the Runes and magickal work. It is so simple that most folks do not even notice it.
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