caridwen
very slightly off topic, this is exactly the sort of situation the historical forum wants to create a new section for...in historical.
I say there are rooms here all ready for discussion.
But. If they get one everyone else should get one too where speculation doesn't draw blood.
There is no need for anyone to get bombastic.
Pictorial minors are a newly made up thing, yet I expect there are people here who would defend their historic authenticity with their very life.
I love using the blank rune. The closest I could ever hope to historically valid use is writing my name in runic. Beyond that, as far as I'm concerned it's pretty much all speculation. That's why books about ancient runic lore written by historians are so thin. There is little proof about any of it beyond the remaining stone tablets and plinths.
No one is getting "bombastic" - people are asking for evidence of an assertion that something claimed to exist - exists.
I have no problem with people throwing dice, doll heads or bits of streaky bacon in with their runes. I do have a problem if they claim they are part of the runic alphabet. How can a rune exist as part of an alphabet that is blank? Is it a pause for thought?
We have to remember that unlike Tarot, runes were also used to communicate and are a written language. It is the equivalent of me saying there are 27 letters in the English alphabet, the 27th cannot be seen or heard but because you can't prove it is not there, it exists
The blank rune is a modern invention and as I said above, people can of course use it, just please prove its historical existence before claiming it's a traditional part of the futhark.