Edred Thorsson - The Big Book of Runes and Rune Magic: How to Interpret Runes, Rune Lore, and the Art of Runecasting

This edition first published in 2018

by Weiser Books, an imprint of

Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC

With offices at:

65 Parker Street, Suite 7

Newburyport, MA 01950

www.redwheelweiser.com

Copyright 2018 by Edred Thorsson

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC. Reviewers may quote brief passages. This edition is a collection of portions of these previously published titles: Futhark (1984), Runelore (1987), and Runecaster's Handbook (1999) published by Weiser Books.

ISBN: 978-1-57863-652-5

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018954581

Cover and text design by Kathryn Sky-Peck

Printed in the United States of America
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All translations from Old Norse, Old English, and other old languages found in this book are those of the author. An attempt has been made to strike a balance between poetic and literal translations, but often favor is given to the literal for the sake of correct understanding. In such cases notes may be added.

Thanks go to Paul Newell, Mitchell Edwin Wade, David Bragwin James, Robert Zoller, James Chisholm, Alice Rhoades, Anthony Looker, Ian Read, Ingrid Fischer, Adolf and Sigrun Schleipfer, Michael Moynihan, Ralph Tegtmeier, and Michael A. Aquino.

T his book represents some of the very best and most popular of my early work as a researcher and operative rune magician. The work represents a distillation of the most essential knowledge one can have on the lore of the runes. If your interests are broad and run the gamut from historical information to the actual practical application of runic knowledge in working the magic of these symbols, then this is the book that will serve as a reliable resource.

When dealing with runes, or really any comprehensive, culturally authentic form of magic, there are essentially four levels of information and activity that students must be aware of and engage in. These are: (1) basic historical knowledge; (2) inner, or esoteric, knowledge; (3) knowledge of how to read the symbols; and (4) how to use the information in an active, practical way. One must know, understand, read, and write within the system in question. Historical knowledge is internalized and reflected upon to develop theoretic frameworks, then the world is read or understood according to these ideas before the stage of active creativity in that system is attempted. This book takes the student through all of these phases in the most basic and fundamental way. For this reason, its contents are divided into four parts: Historical Lore, Hidden Lore, Reading the Runes, and Rune Magic.

In many regards this text consists of a republication of earlier works, but I have taken the opportunity to update and expand ideas originally offered to make them more in keeping with my current understanding. I found very little to change, but there are some new ideas and resources that are beneficial to learn.

The greatest challenge in creating this new work was in keeping the tone and spirit of the original texts. The original works, written in the late 1970s and early 1980s, had a certain energy reflective of my stage of development at that time. That energy has been appreciated by my most loyal students over the years, so I have tried to keep it in the contents of this book. One of the interesting things about having a writing career that has spanned over forty years is the ability to see the different tones and energies present in earlier works that have yet to be refined and distilled as they would be in later works, but that very energy is similar to a sort of white lightning, which would be a shame to lose.

Edred Thorsson
Woodharrow
March 20, 2018

L ong have we dwelt outside the gates of the gard of our indwelling gods. We were not expelled from their knowledge by some irreversible transgressionbut rather have only turned our backs on their troth. We can again turn to face their radiant powerbut only by knowing the roadways of that journey. Those gangways are the runesthe mysteries of our pathand the keys to their own hidden dimensions.

This book is made up of four parts: the historical and hidden lore of the runes, knowledge of how to read them, and knowledge of how to rist them upon the fabric of the world. Taken as a whole, this volume is a complete course in undertaking the acquisition of active knowledge of the runes and their uses. This process begins with learning the historical and objective lore surrounding the runes from antiquity. The first part of this book makes up a sort of brief introduction to runology. Once the basic knowledge has been learned, the student, or runer, moves on to deeper esoteric contemplation of the symbolic, cosmological, and psychological world of the ancestors. This takes the runer to a new level of consciousness about the symbolic world surrounding us, its origin and purpose. The next level involves what has been called reading the runes: this includes forms of what is called divination, but also requires the runer to interact with the symbols of the runes and his or her own life events in an active way. Before the child speaks, it understands. Before it writes, it must learn to read. The passive skills are relatively easier to use than the active ones. These passive skills also incur less in the way of possible negative repercussions, or unintended consequences. It has been known for magic to work too well and too quicklybefore the magician has had time to develop the life skills necessary to deal with that success. So, learning to read the runes aright is a major step in balanced development. Once the reading exercises are mastered, the runer moves on to active writing, or risting, into the very fabric of the universe. With the foundations already built, success is better assured.

In an elder age it seems we made a mistake. We rejectedslowly and incompletely to be sure, but nevertheless, we as a people rejectedthe wisdom of our own gods. No wondrous cure will reverse this rejection overnight; no grace is forthcoming from Odin! Only our own hard effort will bring each of us back to the long-lost lore. To this difficult yet noble task, all of the efforts of this book are dedicated.