Rediscovering the Runes
- Details
- Category: Runes
Article by Henry Lauer
'Web of Wyrd' by Willow Arleana
A additional artwork by Sarah Lawless
Rediscovering the Runes
Runes are mysterious — literally so, for "mystery" is the root meaning of "rune." As a Heathen, runes form an important part of both my spiritual and magical life. The symbols and their complex interrelationships open doors into a deeper horizon than that which ordinary consciousness affords. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Norse myth of Odin's winning of the runes. The story goes that for nine nights he hung from the World Tree, delirious, starving, and wounded, until with a shriek he took up the runes and ended his ordeal. Odin embraced mystery, the fabric from which all reality is woven, and captured that infinitely inexpressible thing in just a handful of characters. This story reflects both the intensity of rune magic, and the richness that a broader grounding in history and mythology affords to our use of the runes.
