'Well, I guess it's you', he says. He has been around the hall several times, looking for someone to give him a reading. He walked past the Tarot readers and the channellers and psychometry readers and has ended up at my stall. He is young, skinny, and he wants to know if he will go to prison.
I explain what Runes are, and my process. I then rattle in four great helping spirits from the Upper World, facing each of the four quarters in turn. It's noisy in the hall. The wooden floors set up a bit of an echo and there are many others at work here. I have learned to let these great spirits help me enter a Shamanic state of consciousness so I can do my work. Then I take my box of Runes, and with eyes shut, I throw them onto a white linen cloth. I recite some words. Eyes still shut, I pick out three Runes and put them aside. They represent the Norns, the weavers of fate. They are what has become, what is becoming and what will become. Then I interpret them. I tell stories from Norse mythology to illustrate the learnings. I aim to educate as well as inform.
This young man has not really owned up to what he has done. It was all someone else's fault and all a misunderstanding. He is chronically misunderstood, especially by his girlfriends. Nothing is fair. He thinks if he goes away this time, it will be because the judge will listen to the girlfriend, who is now his ex. I need to be a bit gentle here. The fact that he has come to me indicates he is ready to do some thinking. I unpack the reading carefully, bearing in mind what one of the helping spirits has told me when I was rattling. This chap has an opportunity here, and his ancestors are cheering him on. He can break a cycle, but his motivation is so tender and new it needs to be handled carefully. I am very positive. This is no time for bluff and bullshit. I am not interested in his excuses. I have a chance to tell him something of what he can become, what the helping spirits who claim him see in him.
Divination is the second most common Shamanic activity, after healing. I trained in 16 forms of divination, but then I settled on something I was already doing. That was Rune work. I have been working with runes for about nine years now.
Runes are an alphabet. You can write your name in runes. As an alphabet they possibly arose in Etruscan culture and made their way north and west into the Germanic and Nordic lands. The word rune means a secret or a whisper. It seems runes were used not for writing larger texts, but for labels or statements such as naming the maker of a sword, or a blessing on a headstone. Or a spell. It was only in the twentieth century that they became used for divination, and the methods of their use is heavily influenced by more widely known systems such as Tarot or New Age oracle cards. They are well known in the Heathen community, but not so much outside of it. I have done rune readings regularly at spiritual fairs, and most of my querents have never heard of them. I like this. It means the people who come to me are willing to do something different. I am sometimes surprised at the results. They are taking a punt, and so am I because I am willing to stake my reputation on something unusual.
I am on my second set. My first set I made from plum tree wood, the second from apple wood. I etched the wooden discs with a pyrography tool, on both sides.As I did so I sang the Runes and listened to music that featured them. I also took a square piece of white linen, and hemmed it by hand, singing the Runes into it. Then I undertook a ritual for Odin, the god who found the Runes when he sacrificed himself to himself by hanging for nine nights on the World Tree Yggdrasil. Then I undertook a ritual for Freyja, the goddess who taught Odin how to use them. In this double ritual I washed the Rune discs in a mix of red ochre, consecrated water, rye, whisky and blood. I dedicated the Runes to the deities. I overdid the ochre a bit so I ended up painting over the pyrography. So it is a serious piece of kit. They live with their linen cloth in an antique cigar box. If I lost one, I would have to start again. It is the dedication of the Runes to the deities that is the most delicate part of the process. It needs to be renewed often enough. I need to be reminded of who I work with and to thank them.
A simple rune-of-the-day ritual keeps my hand in and reminds me about them. Because runes are such simple forms, I can see them everywhere. I once did a very elaborate ritual around the rune Eiwaz, which took about three months. During that time I put the rune everywhere, in twigs or stones or clothes pegs, and yet it remained invisible. You can draw runes in the air or on a surface, with a liquid. You can combine them into bindrunes and use them as amulets. You can sing them. You can make your body into their shapes (rune yoga). They are so simple they can be embedded into a daily practice. Unlike Tarot say, there are so few of them that they are each made to do a lot of duty. Working with them is a condensed and intuitive process, less amenable to the intellect.
I am happy to do readings for people. Rune of the Day is free, for anyone. More detailed readings, or consecrated bind Runes, are done at the fairs for money, or for koha, or an appropriate gift. Cabbages are always good.
