Sophie
It's a very good study group, HC! I have been reading these threads since I started to study runes. They were my introduction, but I also refer back to them very often.
Runes, what do they do, and some history.
Ange
OK....so I dabble in oracles and like Tarot. I won't have anything at all to do with the boards.....and don't get pernicity and ask which cos I can't spell uega....see....
By the same token I don't know one end of a rune....stone....bit of wood from another, so I ask.
There have been some very good answers......and some that, knowing nothing about these things, I can't follow cos they seem to indepth.
Maybe it is wrong to call stones that resemble the Tarot 'runes'....as they do seem to have their own particular alphabet etc.
But in my state of having the concentration span of a two yr old, and the memory of someone with alzimers because of my illness, I would find it very hard to takle something like the 'runes' and learn all there was to learn....cos quite simply I would forget everyday most of what I had leant the day beofre.
Now Tarot and the Majors are in my mind...put there before the illness struck and there they stay......
So for me to have 22 or whatever 'stones' to throw around as a change from shuffling the cards, then that would suit me just fine.....
However.....and here's my reason for wanting to find out a little more about what they were......unable at this time and for the forseable future to afford any of Canid's beautiful 'stones, I looked on ebay for any cheaper.....cos you know what it's like....you get something in your mind and off you go....
But there didn't seem to be any like Canid had made....so I asked the question.
To anyone that has taken offence at my mention of tarot with the stones....stones in general....or my 'bastardisation' of runes.....then what the hell eh....life is for finding things out.
And I'll wait till I can afford some of the stones that I like.....
Ang x
By the same token I don't know one end of a rune....stone....bit of wood from another, so I ask.
There have been some very good answers......and some that, knowing nothing about these things, I can't follow cos they seem to indepth.
Maybe it is wrong to call stones that resemble the Tarot 'runes'....as they do seem to have their own particular alphabet etc.
But in my state of having the concentration span of a two yr old, and the memory of someone with alzimers because of my illness, I would find it very hard to takle something like the 'runes' and learn all there was to learn....cos quite simply I would forget everyday most of what I had leant the day beofre.
Now Tarot and the Majors are in my mind...put there before the illness struck and there they stay......
So for me to have 22 or whatever 'stones' to throw around as a change from shuffling the cards, then that would suit me just fine.....
However.....and here's my reason for wanting to find out a little more about what they were......unable at this time and for the forseable future to afford any of Canid's beautiful 'stones, I looked on ebay for any cheaper.....cos you know what it's like....you get something in your mind and off you go....
But there didn't seem to be any like Canid had made....so I asked the question.
To anyone that has taken offence at my mention of tarot with the stones....stones in general....or my 'bastardisation' of runes.....then what the hell eh....life is for finding things out.
And I'll wait till I can afford some of the stones that I like.....
Ang x
cardlady22
Yes, "persnickety" (I'm not sure if I'm spelling right either) is a good way to describe many of the exchanges I've seen in various Rune study forums/groups. All I know is that I am drawn to them & will follow through the forest trails at my leisurely pace.
I love to learn, and I do learn a lot from the serious students & practitioners of all the different disciplines that can be found here on AT. But, I need my "learning play" time as well.
No offense, guys! Although I do get a bit intimidated when I see certain "resident expert" usernames & icons . . .
I love to learn, and I do learn a lot from the serious students & practitioners of all the different disciplines that can be found here on AT. But, I need my "learning play" time as well.
No offense, guys! Although I do get a bit intimidated when I see certain "resident expert" usernames & icons . . .
einhverfr
First, no offence was meant about the question of runestones.
However, what I was reacting to on the thread was the idea that these could be simply homogized with other systems. While this is by and large the methodology of Hermeticism and Neoplatonism, it results in a very simplistic understanding of the Runes themselves. You can't just come up with a 1:1 relationship between Major Arcana and Elder Futhark staves.
I would also note that the Tarot doesn't get the in-depth study it deserves from these things either. As one small example, if you look at the Rider-Waite deck, on the Chariot card, and compare it with the imagery of the soul-as-chariot in Plato's Phaedrus, a whole world of new meaning opens up. A real, careful study of the Tarot as a Neo-platonic mystery system would take several hundred or thousand pages to do well, and placing Waite's Celtic Cross spread in a Hermetic framework also opens up a significant wealth of symbolism.
However, what I was reacting to on the thread was the idea that these could be simply homogized with other systems. While this is by and large the methodology of Hermeticism and Neoplatonism, it results in a very simplistic understanding of the Runes themselves. You can't just come up with a 1:1 relationship between Major Arcana and Elder Futhark staves.
I would also note that the Tarot doesn't get the in-depth study it deserves from these things either. As one small example, if you look at the Rider-Waite deck, on the Chariot card, and compare it with the imagery of the soul-as-chariot in Plato's Phaedrus, a whole world of new meaning opens up. A real, careful study of the Tarot as a Neo-platonic mystery system would take several hundred or thousand pages to do well, and placing Waite's Celtic Cross spread in a Hermetic framework also opens up a significant wealth of symbolism.
Milfoil
Umbrae said:
And yet they have been used, in antiquity, as such . . .
http://home.no.net/ekerilar/ru-e-rusland.htm
einhverfr
Milfoil said:
The bigger problem is trying to homologize it with Hebrew, Greek, and related alphabets for magical purposes. The Futharks are organized around different principles.
Milfoil
einhverfr said:
Ah, no I never considered doing that. Each system has its own unique values and interpretations.
Certainly though, Seidr (use of song/sound) enabling the Volva to communicate with the spirit world and putting that sound/language down in a written form as with runes, to me, is a magical system. Its use in divination is, for me, a natural progression or partner to this magical system.
einhverfr
Milfoil said:
No doubt. In my book I cover a little bit of Skaldic and Eddic poetics. One interesting thing about the skaldic side is that the alliteration sounds are referred to as stafir (staves), the same as the Futhark letters.
Seidr is also an interesting field which requires a great deal more research. I just obtained Dag Strombeck's work on the subject and will have to learn Swedish to read it, but even with works such as that, I think we have only begun to scratch the surface.
An additional element is that there are a number of archeological finds which are fairly clearly magical. Stones which say things like "Gibu Auja" ("I give good luck") seem to imply a magical use. Given the dating of other artifacts, I would argue that the lots that Tacitus ues are probably, though not certainly, marked with the Elder Futhark.
