What does the guide say?
Record the symbol’s name and the source of the interpretation. Different authors may disagree.
Rune Divination / A field guide to letters and interpretation
Letters.
Stories.
Possibilities.
Runes have a history as writing. Contemporary rune readings add systems of symbolic interpretation. Explore both while keeping their sources and purposes clear.
Begin with the alphabet
There is more than
one runic system.
The Viking Ship Museum describes runes as letters used in Germanic writing traditions. The Elder Futhark has 24 letters; the Younger Futhark used in the Viking Age has 16.
Its guide places early inscriptions in the first centuries CE. That historical record should be distinguished from mythological accounts of how runes were obtained.
Explore the museum’s runic alphabet guide →
24Elder Futhark letters
16Younger Futhark letters
Check which alphabet your book or set uses before comparing its names and meanings.
A contemporary reflection exercise
One tile. Three kinds of notes.
Choose a rune and consult the guide that accompanies your set. Use the exercise to explore a question, rather than to establish what must happen.
What does it bring to mind?
Write your own response separately. A personal connection is not automatically a historical meaning.
What can you check or do?
Choose an ordinary, proportionate next step that makes sense without relying on a prediction.
Learning the practice
Read with
a questioning eye.
The wider library