It has been long believed that the Runes were first created around 2000 years ago around Scandinavia or Germany where shamans would carve symbols into bits of wood or pebbles and worn as talisman or used in the art of divination.

Norse legends tell of a man named Odin who spent his entire life searching for knowledge. It is said that he exchanged an eye to drink from the spring of wisdom and to unravel the secret meanings of the runes, hung upside down from a windswept fruit tree by his feet and wounded himself with his own spear. He hanged for nine days and nights with the runes scattered around the base of the tree when at the last few moments of life their secrets were revealed to him. The gods granted him an eternal life as the god of wisdom and knowledge. It was believed that he would appear to those seeking knowledge as an old man with a beard and wearing a gray cloak.Rune priests used these runes for many purposes including predicting the future, empowering weapons, to heal the sick and wounded and worn as amulets to attract love and protect the wearer.
Traditionally Runes have been carved, engraved or burnt on a variety of materials including on the wood of Yule, Ash, Oak or fruit trees. Engraved on copper bronze or gold tablets. But today runes are made of many materials including plastic, and readily available from specialist shops, along with Tarot cards and I Ching (other tools of divination).

Apart from the use of runes in divination, they are the forerunner of the modern alphabet and they have evolved to many elaborate symbols enabling voices and thoughts of the past to be past down through history! Runes truly are a fabulous invention of man, don't forget to try out the interpreter to see your name written using the runic alphabet.

Consulting the Runes
There are many different ways to cast or interpret the runes depending upon the needs of the inquirer, for example someone seeking a quick solution to a problem may seek guidance from a single rune selected from a pouch at random. Where as a more detailed interpretation may require many runes arranged in a pattern or spread similar to the tarot. Each position within the spread/layout, has it's own particular significance and if reversed, the runes have an alternative or reversed meaning and these should be taken in to account in the reading.

For the best method of learning the meanings of the individual runes I recommend looking at the translation of an Old English Rune poem translated by by Swain Wodening Canote

Try a free rune reading by entering your question in the box on the right of this page, or see what your name looks like when written in runes.