Important Update:
24 November, 2011
24 November, 2011
In the effort to tidy things up around here, I'm re-arrangint my Rune page, into four new sites:
The Second Aett
The Third Aett
Additional Runes
I will continue to update here periodically, to talk about Runes, or add new books, but for information on individual runes, please see the appropriate site (just click on the links above).
You can find important information about
Consecrating your Rune Set and other nifty stuff in the intro page.
Consecrating your Rune Set and other nifty stuff in the intro page.
Thanks for visiting!
If you arrived here because you bought one of my
Rune sets, an even BIGGER THANK YOU!
If you arrived here because you bought one of my
Rune sets, an even BIGGER THANK YOU!
Please feel free to email me at any time:
(please put Runes somewhere in the subject line,
so your email doesn't get lost in a sea of incoming mail).
so your email doesn't get lost in a sea of incoming mail).
30 August, 2011
About a eight months ago, I started seriously studying the Runes (I'd started looking at them/thinking about them--again--a couple of years ago,but there's reading a few books and then there's digging in and really studying something). Eight months isn't enough time to master anything and I certainly do not claim to be a master Rune worker; I'm even not a practicing Heathen (although the more I work with the Runes, the more of the Norse Gods who come knocking on my door.... go figure!)
That said, when I started (seriously) working with the Runes, they started seriously working with me. Funny how that happens. ;-) (Actually, it wasn't so funny when Hagalaz came up... oh boy was it distinctly not funny!)
Even before I started seriously working with the Runes, Frigg came to me (or I went to Her?) as a part of some Upper World journey work with my Shamanic teachers. I wasn't looking for any specific deity, let alone a Norse Goddess, but there She was. ;-) When I started working with the Runes, Odin made his presence clearly known, an experience that was less than comfortable at first. (My ex husband was an Odin-child, so I had to work really hard to distinguish in my own mind the differences between Odin and my ex. Kind of like if your ex drove a Ford Mustang, and every time you got into one, it reminded you of him/her and you got kind of squirmy and unsettled... you might not be so keen to go out and buy a Mustang for yourself. Assuming you make more money than I do and could afford one! ;-)
So what's the point of this page? Well, first off, I've listed some of the Rune books I've either read cover to cover, or those authors I happen to really respect. If you buy them through the link provided, I get a small percentage of the sale that I can use to support my book-buying-habit (yes, by clicking the button, you are enabling a junkie! ;-) The books are listed at the very, very, very bottom of THIS page; you can't find them anywhere else on the site, I'm not going to clutter things up with "here buy somebody else's book!"
Runes are magical tools; even more than tarot cards, they are used for spellwork as well as divination/insight; to that end, you should cleans and consecrate your set. There are different methods for consecration online and in books (see selection of books below for some of my favorites); some call for blood, others do not. Both wine and cherry juice can be substituted for blood, for those of you who (like me) are a tick squeamish when it comes to drawing blood (okay, not only am I squeamish, but I'm rubbish at it. I end up sticking my finger five or six times to get a single drop. Now, when I sew, I end up stabbing myself at least six times and drawing blood every time, especially if I'm working with white fabric!)
At any rate, the idea is to make your runes yours.
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I occasionally, perhaps just to torture myself, watch Ancient Astronauts. Now, I'm not going to suggest to you what you should or shouldn't believe, I'm not even going to tell you what *I* believe on the subject. I'm just going to say that last night's episodes about the Gods and aliens had me yelling at the television.
Zeus was, in the ancient world, linked to Thor, NOT Odin. Hermes was linked to Odin. Even the most casual student of mythology should know that.
Odin was not a solar deity; the Norse viewed their Sun as feminine. The Solar Goddess was called Sonna/Sunna. Again, this is basic Norse mythology.
When the presenters of these shows cannot get their mythology straight, when the blatently disregard how the ancients viewed their gods and their world, their credibility goes straight out the window.
Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now...
But before I go, YOU decide: Thor, Thor, or Thor...
(images used without permisson, nobody sue me, okay?)
Just in case somebody doesn't get it, the first image is from Stargate, the second from the 2011 move, and the last is a traditional rendering of the Norse Thunder God.
(My favorite is the top, from Stargate; I love the irony!)
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1 October, 2011
One of the things I was doing this week was researching the Norse God Ullr (sometimes written as "Ull", but what I've been able to glean is that that final 'r' is an important part of proper grammar, so it stays). At any rate, little is known about Ullr--there are very few images left over from Pre-Christian Norse Country (Norther Europe). What I did find was these http://www.elftown.com/_gallery%20of%20Ullr%20artwork, which are contemporary, but clearly done by a lady who feels a connection to Ullr (otherwise I can't imagine someone spending that much time with Him). Now, BEFORE you pop over to have a look, at least one his hopelessly irrevernt...which doesn't mean that I don't love it! It's just a bit of warning.
I've been researching Ullr because He came knocking on my head when I was trying to get my head around eihwaz--which is a rune I'm still struggling to fully get a grip on. I think it'll come to me in time, probably as I start working with Ullr.... should I mention that I dislike cold and snow, I've never been on skis and the less we talk about the time I tried to shoot a bow the better?? The Gods clearly do not pick us because of our skill sets. I have no idea why Ullr is tapping at my head, but He's very loud about it.
I've also been doing some reading on Skadi--She gets written up as Ullr's wife or possibly consort (after She leaves Her first husband, Njord over irreoncilable differences regarding where They should live, His home at the sea, or Hers, in the mountains), but there seems to be little historical evidence to link Skadi and Ullr, other than that They have similar purviews: skis and bows. Further complicating matters, some sources give accounts of a different Skadi all together, a male.
Of course what I really like about Skadi is that She dumped the guy who wasn't making her happy and went back to Her mountains (where She may or may not have taken up with Ullr).
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Video Series by a lady who really knows her stuff!
http://www.youtube.com/user/LadyoftheLabyrinth
Please carefully read book reviews before deciding if any particular book is what YOU are looking for; we all have different check lists of what makes a book good or not so good. These are just the titles/authors *I* like.
A Library of Rune Lore and Norse Mythology Books
Favorites
(Ms. Aswynn can be a bit feminist, more than a bit antagonistic toward Christianity, and defintiely seems racist in places... that said, it's an execellent book, just one whose author I do NOT agree with 100% of the time.)
Yes, it's a YA book. No, that does not diminish its value!
