How to Work with the Runes

If you're just starting out with the Runes, whether you've just bought a set from me or already own a set and are looking for guidance, you may be excited to get right into attempting to read with the runes, much like you would with tarot cards: using a simple spread, looking up the meaning, and practicing interpretation. But let's sloooooooow down.

The runes have suffered a great deal from modern resurgence, whether from Nazi influence, Blum's complete lack of concern for the context and origins of the runes, or Stephen Flowers' perpetuation of unfactual work and alignment to Nazi interpretations. But there's a new age of the runes emerging and a new approach to the runes that, hopefully, is honoring both their origins, but also their existence as relational beings.

When we work with the runes, we are not just engaging with some lifeless symbol that we can interpret however we please or however someone else has told us, we must work with integrity to create a relationship with these ancient beings that isn't simply transactional.

A relationship is the most honest place to start, and that requires approaching them with humility and a willingness to learn. This relationship should not be transactional: the runes do not work that way and might be less-than-helpful, even if they are appearing to be, and you may find yourself in more confusion or at dead ends. In fact, you may find yourself rightfully f*cked with. Instead, you want to approach them as you would a dear friend: reciprocally and honestly.

The Havamal directs us to work with the runes "in silence" – and to me that means in solitary relationship without loud proclamations or even listening to the loud proclamations of others. This is a gnostic approach and an initiatory approach and it is paramount to proper relational working with the runes, as I believe.

If you're dead set on wanting some initial guidance and not fumbling around in the dark, the place I always recommend beginning is with a book you trust. But if you really want to base your relationship on trust, you might like to begin with your own heart and a path of gnosis.

A Word of Warning

Gnosis is inherently risky. If you have not worked with spiritual discernment, do not have experience with non-incarnate helping spirits or other beings, it might seem like there is little way to trust the information you are receiving. Good, you're already thinking critically. There is a trickster energy that can emerge when going blindly into any work of gnosis and you will have to have your head on straight to know what can be trusted and what needs to be questioned. Thankfully, meditating with the runes and asking to know them is unlikely to lead you to any disastrous places (we hope), but it's still worth having a critical mind and listening well to your body's responses when you are receiving answer. How is it sitting with you? Did your chest just tighten? Do you feel comfortable in that knowing? Do not mistake discomfort for dishonesty, though: at times, discomfort is just us coming up against something we did not want to see. But true "no, that is false" discomfort will register very different. Try to be honest with yourself. Ask trusted friends for help, if appropriate. If in doubt, give yourself time away and come back to it later.

Most importantly, though, take time, and come back again and again to your own agency. If you're being guided in a way that doesn't align to you have agency in this relationship, you might be barking up the wrong tree. Get help. Reach out to an experienced rune worker, but make sure that person isn't simply telling you "what is," but that they are encouraging exploration and investigation, even if that looks like "that sounds like utter bullshit, why don't you try again."

Don't let this dissuade you from this work. It is worth the painful honesty you must have with yourself and trusted allies and it is hugely helpful in any meaningful spiritual path. And, personally, I think learning this sort of gnostic literacy can make you a better person: the better you know yourself, the more discerning you are, the more consciously engaged you are with your own life.

External Guidance

If you're looking for some help or a trusted companion on the path, I highly recommend purchasing my good friend Lara Veleda Vesta's rune book: Wild Soul Runes. Lara was my first–and most impactful–rune teacher. She led me to a place with the runes where I understood the inherent feminine mystery that guides runic work and led me constantly back to my own relationship to the runes and my own inner sovereignty. Then go back to the source, the runic poems, the Havamal, any source point. Otherwise, Lara's is the only book I can point to with any authority. I have not come across others I trust.

Internal Guidance

Gnosis work, I believe, is at the heart of working with the runes. But what does that look like? Thankfully, if you've purchased Lara's book, you'll have some good questions to work with when meditating with each rune. But if you want to start now, here are some suggestions on how to effectively begin a relationship with the runes.

The Work

It might be good to have the following things before you begin:

• a rune set (if you don't have one, might I recommend those I make?)

• a journal and something to write with

• something to offer to the runes (mead, herbs, incense)

• a quiet, meditative space

Begin with whatever rune you like. Fehu is good, as it is considered the first in the alphabet, but pull one at random or lay them all out and see which one calls.

From there, sit with them. Offer them something, tell them about yourself, and explain your interested in getting to know them. Then, when you feel properly introduced, begin to ask them about themselves. Pause after each question long enough to receive an answer, use automatic writing or record yourself. Ask them what wisdom they want to share, who they are, where they've come from, what experiences shape their knowing. Use the runic poems to give context to questions. Ask Uruz what the attributes of the aurochs were/are and what wisdom they had to share. Ask Fehu what wealth truly means. Ask Ansuz about what divine inspiration/breath does for us.

This is how you work with the runes in integrity. From there, let your journey unfold. This is not a path with a destination. Odin, after all, was a wanderer in one of his many forms. Wandering about in pursuit of knowledge. May you, too, take up the path of the wanderer and find along it the immense wisdom the runes offer.