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Nordic Runes: Understanding, Casting, and Interpreting the Ancient Viking Oracle Paperback – May 5, 2003

by Paul Rhys Mountfort (Author)

4.7 1,469 ratings

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A comprehensive and practical guide to the ancient oracle based on the runic alphabet of the Norse

• Reveals the symbolism and divinatory significance of the 24 rune "staves"

• Provides clear instructions on how to craft your own rune stones

• Explains the role of runes in the Norse wisdom tradition and its influence on such works as Tolkien's Lord of the Rings

Nordic runes are a potent and profoundly transformative magic system that gives contemporary readers access to the ancient wisdom tradition of Northern European cultures. The runes have deep resonances within the pagan Norse world of gods and goddesses, giants, dwarves, warriors, and wizards, which have greatly influenced the work of J.R.R. Tolkien, among others. Norse tradition attributes the discovery of the runes to the "All-Father" Odin--a god of inspiration and secret wisdom and the mythical prototype for runecasters, who established the pattern for gaining his knowledge.

Nordic Runes addresses three major areas: Runelore, the history of this 2000-year-old Norse oracle; Runestaves, the meaning of the individual runes of the Elder Futhark alphabet and their powerful mythological, magical, and practical lessons for daily life; and Runecasting, a comprehensive guide to the oracular application of the ancient runes, including their crafting, divination, and self-development. As Nordic Runes shows, the runes do more than simply reflect the path of fate; they help develop and enhance intuition. By learning to cast and interpret the runes, the user becomes receptive to the energy currents in material reality and empowered in the arts of its transformation.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The runes have an entire mythology and history, all of which is meticulously explained in Paul Mountfort's Nordic Runes." ― Dell Magazines, October 2003

"Nordic Runes by Paul Rhys Mountfort serves as an excellent guide for those wishing to understand and utilize the runes. . . . His tome is comprehensive and rests firmly on a solid foundation of scholarship. It is also user friendly and fun to read." ― Thor the Barbarian, Nemeton, Jan 2006

"More than just a clinical textbook on rune work, this book was a pleasure to read. . ." ― Roxanne, The Beltane Papers, April 2004

From the Back Cover

DIVINATION / NORSE MYTHOLOGY

Nordic runes--the runes of the Elder Futhark--comprise a potent and profoundly transformative divination system that gives us access to the ancient wisdom tradition of Northern European cultures. These runes have deep resonances within the Northern pagan world of gods and goddesses, giants, dwarves, warriors, and wizards, which have greatly influenced the work of J. R. R. Tolkien, among others.

Nordic Runes addresses three major areas:

â ¢Â Runelore, the history and rich mythological tradition of this ancient oracle first discovered by the All Father, Odin.

â ¢Â Runestaves, which includes full explanations of the meanings of each of the 24 runes in the Elder Futhark, accompanying visualizations, and practical lessons for daily life.

â ¢Â Runecasting, a comprehensive guide to the oracular application of the ancient runes, including their crafting, their use in divination, and interpretations of sample castings.

As Nordic Runes shows, the runes do much more than simply reflect fate; they help develop and enhance intuition and open new paths of growth, self-discovery, and transformation.

PAUL RHYS MOUNTFORT is a writer, researcher, and workshop leader specializing in the Celtic and Norse traditions. He is the author of Active in the contemporary Pagan community, he lives with his partner and son on Waiheke Island, in the Hauraki Gulf of Auckland, New Zealand.

About the Author

Paul Rhys Mountfort is a writer, researcher, and workshop leader specializing in the Celtic and Norse traditions. He is the author of Ogam: The Celtic Oracle of the Trees. Active in the contemporary pagan community, he lives with his partner and son on Waiheke Island, in the Hauraki Gulf of Auckland, New Zealand.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

fom the Introduction:

The Origin of Runes and How to Use this Book

This book is a complete guide for those who wish to draw on the well of practical and esoteric wisdom embodied in the ancient Runes. It provides the necessary tools for interpreting ‘the runes of good help’ and the teachings from the Norse wisdom tradition on which they are founded. Having come into prominence some two-thousand years ago, the twenty-four runestaves of the ancient Elder Futhark alphabet are more relevant to us today, at the dawn of a new millennium, than ever before. Like the images of the Tarot deck and hexagrams of the I Ching, Runes are profound keys to personal empowerment, self-development and spiritual awareness.

The Runes are native to traditional Northern European cultures. They have deep resonances within the pagan Norse world of high gods and goddesses, elemental forces, giants, dwarves, warriors and wizards that inspired, among others, J. R. R Tolkien in the writing of his fantasy fictions. Ancient tales tell of their discovery by the magician-god Odin, their use in magic, and divination. This last, predictive use of Runes continues with us today. However, the twenty-four runes of the Elder Futhark are more than mere fortune-telling tokens: they are a potent key to the rich mythological heritage of the Norse world. Each ‘stave’ (individual rune) evokes a set of tales and correspondences in ancient Norse myth; they encode a set of profound teachings, an entire wisdom tradition. These teachings, moreover, have a universality and a timelessness to their insights, messages to impart that transcends their Northern European origins.

Divination systems like the Runes are based on sets of meaningful signs, omens which we ‘randomly’ choose and interpret for their personal message to us. But how could such a procedure possibly work? The traditional Norse answer would be that, in the Web of Wyrd (Destiny), all things and events resonate in a profound and luminous way and that Runes faithfully record the signature of the energy movements underlying our own unique fate-path at the moment of consultation. The scientific rationalism of the West generally does not admit that events which are not causally related can have an underlying connection, but the idea is no longer disreputable even in scientific terms, for the notion of randomness itself has increasingly been subject to scrutiny in modern times. . . . For all its chaos, we are now entering an exciting time, when modern science and ancient magic can at last meet and come into dialogue.

In the ancient world divination was, of course, put down to the activity of gods and spirits. . . .In Northern Europe, the highest of all the gods, Odin was himself the discoverer and lord of the Runes. Odin in fact provides the model for mastery of the runic system. In Norse myth, he descends the World Tree and undergoes a sacrifice to haul up the Runes from Mímir’s Well. The Well of Mímir can be understood in several ways: as the psyche of the runecaster, the collective unconscious, and the world of energy forms underlying physical matter, for the story of Odin’s quest is really a code for the process of looking within and attaining therein knowledge of all the worlds. The Runes are the physical tokens of his hard-won wisdom, offered to those ‘to whom they may avail.’

How exactly do the Runes embody the wisdom of Odin? First, the runic signs carry many meanings. Each rune has a field of associations, partially preserved for us in three ancient ‘Rune poems’, which appear to be based on far older, oral traditions. In Norse myth, Odin was the god and patron of the oral tradition, so the wisdom of the Runes and the accumulated folk-wisdom they represent can be seen as flowing from him, and from various guises of the Goddess, from whose springs of knowledge Odin himself drew. For example, the image of the first rune, f, (fehu), is cattle. The primary correspondences are assets, wealth and gain, for in ancient Norse culture you were worth as much as your herd of cattle. In a Rune reading, each rune is interpreted as an omen of personal significance--thus fehu is titled as ‘Abundance’ in this book. Obviously, we would be cheered by the appearance of fehu in a reading for the present or near future! Yet, as will be seen, fehu’s association with wealth, good fortune and greed evoke far deeper mythical and legendary themes in traditional runelore.

Runes can teach us self-mastery and gift us its fruits. In the original sources, they are praised as a guide to action, a remedy for misfortune and a magical tool for promoting empowerment, fulfillment, prosperity and peace. This is the spirit in which the Runes function for us today.

Runelore

Nordic Runes is divided into three parts, much like the structure of a tree. The first part, "Runelore," follows the runic tradition back to its roots in pagan antiquity, introducing the reader to the history of the alphabet. Here you will encounter the world of runic mysteries, encoded in old scripts and inscriptions, transmitted by the Rune guilds, and echoed in the Rune poems. You will also learn the story of the Runes as told in the medieval Icelandic Eddas, those remarkable remnants of pagan Norse myth and literature. . .

The second part of this book, "Runestaves," is the ‘trunk’ of the tree, the store of vital sap wherein is distilled the waters of inspiration. Here you will find the twenty-four runestaves of the Elder Futhark presented along with their associations, meanings and unique wisdom.

The third part of Nordic Runes, "Runecasting," is like the branches of the tree, extending into the infinite possibilities of the future. . . . It is the ‘casting’ or laying-out of runestaves that sets the Runes in motion, as it were. Far from being a morbid, fate-bound exercise, runic divination is an empowering art that opens us to the myriad possibilities presented by life’s branching paths.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Destiny Books; Original ed. edition (May 5, 2003)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0892810939
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0892810932
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.9 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.9 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #108,865 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #22 in Divination with Runes
- #74 in Paganism
- #194 in Folklore & Mythology Studies

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Frodi Ingsson

A Solid Runic Foundation

Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2016

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When you find an author that discusses esoteric topics with clarity, simplicity, and above all, experience and knowledge, you know you have found a good author. When that same author offers academic references and clearly stated personal opinions, you know you have found a great author. Mountfort falls under the second category.

I really appreciate Mountfort’s efforts to include a variety of different sources when discussing the Runes. I definitely got the feel that he is well researched and practiced and not just regurgitating what others have said.

I like his writing style and honesty. Rather than paint some mystic associations he is down to earth and practical. His main intention is to introduce the divinational aspects rather than the magical and developmental ones. Though, he does offer a little bit on these as well.

The authors correspondence section of the Runes gives us some traditional names, sounds, imagery, and definitions, as well as, the traditional poems associated with each Rune, their meanings, keywords, and myths/legends related with them. The myths and legends part I really liked. This is by far the best introductory book on the Runes I have come across.

This is the fifth book on my suggested Rune Reading List. While not on my suggested read list, I also encouraged you to get Rune Correspondences by Frodi Ingsson so that you can add things that are meaningful to you as you learn more about the Runes.

1. The Complete Illustrated Guide to Runes by Nigel Pennick
2. Way of the Runes by Bernard King
3. Runes: Reading the Past by R.I Page
4. Runelore: A Handbook of Esoteric Runology by Edred Thorsson
5. Nordic Runes by Paul Rhys Mountfort
6. Taking up the Runes Diana L Paxson
7. Runecaster’s Handbook Edred Thorsson
8. Poetic Edda by either Hollander, Crawford, or Larrington
9. Prose Edda by Jesse L. Byock
10. Hávamál Meditations: Embodying Oðinn’s Teachings by Frodi Ingsson (forthcoming)
11. Runes of Transformation by Kaedrich Olsen
12. Helrunar by Jan Fries
13. Runes and Magic by Stephen E. Flowers
14. Rune Yoga: Staða & Galdr
15. Rune Workings: Meditations and Rituals by Frodi Ingsson (forthcoming)

148 people found this helpful

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ConsciousCat

This book gave me a

Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2023

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Great understanding of the runes and such great detail . I read this book in maybe 3 days and now I used it as a guide in my practice.

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S Hayes

Well written and informative

Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2019

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I just finished reading this book and I am really impressed. Only a small part of the book is about the "how to" of rune casting, which is how it should be. The book covers a lot: the ancient historical origins, commentaries on 19th and 20th revivals, and commentary on how much of rune lore today came from BCE, to name just a few subjects. I was particularly impressed at the treatment of the various translations of the runic texts and meanings, allowing the reader to choose the most accessible way to use the runes. As a history major, I loved the first part of the book that went into the Norse tales of Odin and the Norns, so much so that I went to Barnes and Noble and picked up a couple books on Norse myths and legends to read up in further detail. I highly recommend this book to novice and seasoned rune casters alike, a real joy to read!

9 people found this helpful

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Christopher Cardwell

My go-to book for Runes

Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2022

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I've been working with the Elder Futhark runes for a couple years now, and this has been my go-to book since I purchased it. It gives information on the history and historical context of the runes, all their meanings and associations, as well as insight into divination. This is a good starter book if you're interested in working with the Elder Futhark runes.

5 people found this helpful

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jaime nay

Great book

Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2023

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Interesting read. Very informative

2 people found this helpful

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Delila Valor

interesting book

Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2020

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I have studyed runes for decades. i liked the reciting of the lore for each rune. It is important to me to know the lore. The author has a fresh point of view, compared to others. Like reading Thorson can be dry...like a collage professor. Dont get me wrong...Love Thorson, just when doing research one needs mutiple points of view and styles of addressing the information. It is easy the read and understand, even for a newbie, but doesnt bore someone who has been on this path for decades. A uuseful reference mateerial

2 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Good service

Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2023

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Book in great condition and delivered efficiently.

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Judith M. VINES

Perfect condition of book I ordered at used price

Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2022

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The packaging of the book I ordered was a lovely presentation. Inside of the usual packaging material, was a very nice slick black bag with a large Thank You emboldened on the bag. I had ordered several books at once from different sources, but this book came in sophisticated packaging and of excellent condition. I will definitely order again from this source!

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Jason Schneider

Exactly as pictured

Reviewed in Canada on March 6, 2022

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Having true Vikibg blood in me I very excited to dive into this book

Angela

This is a fantastic reference book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 17, 2023

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This book arrived before expected, and it fills everything I was looking for, as it's a great reference book and explains not just the runes but some Norse mythology as well.

One person found this helpful

Marina

No es para mi

Reviewed in Mexico on November 5, 2019

Verified Purchase

Todo está suuuuuper desglosado, de depende vienen las runas, como se usaban, tooooda la historia. Después ya vienen los significados y todo. Este libro siento que es más histórico que mágico, para uno mágico recomendaría el de shop.cocorina.com lo compré después de ver que este no me iba a funcionar para lo que quería.

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Lena

Worth the money.

Reviewed in Germany on February 26, 2019

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For me as an absolute beginner with runes I loved the first chapter about some backrounds and just started diving in the meanings of each individual rune. I love the details.

vanebliss

Inspiring!

Reviewed in Brazil on July 25, 2017

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An truly inspiring read. The knowledge of runes is beautiful but the way the author transmits it is a plus side of this book, making it quite a pleasurable read.

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