Making your own set of rune stones or tiles is an excellent way to begin to learn the runic symbols. Sometimes, a single letter says something that paragraphs cannot. Runic symbols have powerfully condensed meaning. Rune-casting-or reading the runes-is a way to activate intuition and gather information about the past, present and future.

But most of the time, when people talk about reading runes, they are referring to the Elder Futhark, which fell out of use as an alphabet around the 8th century AD.Įach rune has a threefold meaning: A phonetic sound (as a letter of the alphabet), a mundane object or action that it stands for, and a mystical or abstract significance. The best-known runic alphabet is the Elder Futhark, which contains 24 symbols.There are other rune systems, such as the Younger Futhark, Northumbrian runes, and Witches' runes. (Much as young children can quickly learn their ABCs.) The first learning tool you’ll need is a rune set of your own, to begin familiarizing yourself with this ancient system of knowledge.įirst, some background: Runes are archaic European letters used in magick and divination. Thinking about taking up the runes? Mastery of the runes can take many years, but it is not difficult for a beginner to learn the basics.

Elder futhark rune stones