SYMBOLISM

Introduction

Rune symbols are to be found across Northern Europe – on rock menhirs (early versions of modern-day tombstones) to jewellery and medieval wooden stave churches. The Vikings carved rune symbols on their bronze drinking cups, battle spears and armour, the lintels over their doorways and the prows of their ships. All to attract good fortune.

The rebirth of rune lore was made possible by a synthesis of comparative religion, anthropology, archaeology and linguistics. Teutonic mythology expressed in artifacts, plus ancient rune poems, have helped scholars contextualize the meaning of runes.

Runes as a Tool for Insight

Historically, runes were used to read, and even attempt to influence weather, tides, crops, fertility, health and love. Superstition aside, the most startling aspect of runes is their uncanny ability to reflect the dynamics of our current physical, emotional, mental and spiritual realities. Reading and heeding runes can help to unfold our life with greater balance and insight.

We therefore have in our hands a powerful method of communicating with the divinity within each of us, attuning our subconscious mind with the Higher Self to manifest greater vitality, love, abundance and peaceful well-being, while unfolding our dreams and visions.

‘The runic system provides us with a symbolic meta-language with which we can explore ourselves and the multiverse, express our experiences, and indeed shape our consciousness.’
— Runemaster Edred Thorsson, The Runestone, no. 34, Winter, 1980.