In the previous thread, the discussion at one point turned to the use of runes for divination. At one point, Cheryl Hill asked “Is anyone reading Gus’ Blog familiar with Asatru and have an opinion?” By the time I was able to get back to my computer, the conversation had gone far past that post, and I didn’t want to derail the thread. I’d like to offer the following, though, for what it may be worth.
I’ve been practicing Asatru for a number of years now, and it’s been my great fortune to study and worship with a group of very scholarly-minded heathens in my current home town for the last four years or so. I consider myself to be very familiar with Asatru. In fairness, I should add that personally I don’t have much interest in divination. As far as the whole “you need pure blood” bit, I don’t give much weight to it. There’s been a lot of ink and bytes spent on the Folkish/Universalist goofiness in heathenry, so I’m not going to spend much time on that; if you find an anti-blood argument written by someone with half a brain, it’s probably safe to assume that I agree with most of the points therein. If Odin or some other god did take the time to tell someone something like that in connection with using the runes for divination, I suspect that deity was probably telling the diviner to understand better the nature of the tools used.
As for the runes themselves: I agree with runologists like R.I. Page that the different runic systems, of which the younger futhark is probably the most familiar to modern folk, were probably developed primarily as a way of writing down information in a society that didn’t have a lot paper. The runes’ characteristic angular shapes are good for carving in stone, and if you carve them in the right direction, they don’t get lost in the grain of wood. The vast majority of runic inscriptions that have survived to the current day are pretty mundane: they tell who made something, or who owned something, or who a particular stone was raised for. Others are like ancient text messages carried by human messengers instead of cell phone transmissions and communicate things like “please lend me your ship” or “stop drinking with your friends and come home.”
Some runic inscriptions may’ve had a more magical purpose. In the saga of Egil Skallagrimsson, Egil recarves a rune stick to help a sick person whose illness was made worse by a pervious carver’s poorly made runes. In the Eddic poem Sigrdrifumal, Sigrdrifa tells Sigurd of runes that can help bring victory, that can aid women giving birth, that can make sea voyages go more smoothly, and that can help healing, among others. I’m not aware, though, that even when used for magical purposes, the runes were intended to be used for divination. Among the Germanic forms of divination that Tacitus discusses, he does mention using slips of wood; however, he doesn’t say anything about these slips of wood being “marked with those people’s savage writing” or anything like that. Even more significant, it’s probably safe to assume that Odin would have great mastery of the runes, yet in the poems and sagas, when he needs information about what is to come (as in Baldrs drauma, when the gods want to know why Baldr is having such awful dreams), he doesn’t use runes. Instead, he’s more likely to consult the dead, giants, or volvas (or some combination thereof).
That’s not to say that the runes couldn’t be used for divination. If you believe (as many pagans and heathens do) that everything is interconnected, then anything, including the runes, could be used to gain greater insight into the shape Wyrd is to take. But for people who work more easily with the familiar, a set of Scrabble tiles drawn randomly from a bag or a group of words taken from a favorite book would probably work just as well, if not better.
Sorry for the extraordinarily long comment, but I thought that for those interested it would be a little more useful than just “I’m a heathen, and runes probably weren’t originally for divination” with no further explanation.

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Sorn Skald, thank you for your comments and explanations about runes. I hadn’t known most of what you shared here.
One question though — you mentioned that you didn’t have much interest in divination. I’m curious about that. I liken divination to having a roadmap of what’s ahead. Just as when I’m driving, I like to know if the road ahead is winding, slippery when wet, under construction, narrows, no shoulder – bridge out — things like that. It will change how I’m driving, and if it’s very bad, I may even decide to change my route.
Is your disinterest because you don’t trust any divinatory tools, or because you don’t feel a need to have a look at the future?

More the latter, I suppose. The classic forms of divination (as well as other overtly magical and/or esoteric practices) aren’t really part of my religious practice. Nor, to the best of my knowledge, are they a regular part of the practice of any of the people with whom I regularly worship.
I’m a big believer in a more cyclic than linear time. That which is to come is built on what has come before and what is now becoming; the greater your understanding of Urd and Verdandi, the greater your likelihood of being able to anticipate Skuld. To borrow your driving analogy a bit, I believe that others have travelled parts of the same or very similar roads. If I learn enough of their journeys (and perhaps even get some of those others to help me at times in my own travels), then it will be as though I’d made a roadmap. With that knowledge and help, if I keep my vehicle maintained and do my best to be a good driver, then I will be well-prepared for the road ahead.

Sorn Skald, thank you for sharing your perspective. It takes a certain level of confidence to forge ahead as you do, and that is admirable.
I also view time as cyclic instead of linear; I think that’s common to all Pagans. I would expect you’re also mindful of the cycles “within” cycles; an example would be the turning of the Wheel to Ostara. That point on the Wheel highlights the beginning of Spring and the fertility and warmer weather of the season. But it’s not all flowers and baby bunny rabbits. As you know Spring has cycles too; some days are warm and lovely while others are stormy with torrential rain or even snow – and Spring also heralds the beginning of tornado season. And the storms THEMSELVES have cycles… And Spring can switch from mild to fierce literally overnight. Spring is notoriously unpredictable about which face you’re going to see at any given moment; people have died from violent weather in the season of new life.
Life itself is much like the Spring weather. One day all is gentle and peaceful and the next day a violent “storm” is lashing you. I don’t feel confident that simply knowing the stories of those who have come before me will provide what I need to know. I “check the forecast” to see what’s expected for that day before heading out because I want to know what’s coming.
Don’t get me wrong I don’t think you are mistaken in your views regarding divination; everyone’s mileage varies. But for me – well I want all the information I can possibly gather so I can be as prepared as possible. But then wanting to be prepared is a strong feature of my personality — just ask my husband while watching me pack whenever we travel anywhere!

One more divination question I’m curious about — does anyone else look for omens during the day for clues as to upcoming events?
And if so, have you ever encountered a really bright flash of light as an omen of the death of someone close to you? It happened to me just once, a few hours before my husband Len out of the blue had a sudden fatal heart attack in 1996 (I’ve since remarried). I had no idea what that flash indicated, but I’m convinced it was some sort of omen. It was extremely bright, quick, unmistakable – and no one else saw it. I’ve looked since then for any references to it but I’ve not found anything.

I am an eclectic Pagan, and so, not Asatru, but I am interested in hearing how others interact with the Norse/Nordic Deities. Thank you so much for posting so much information, and your own opinion too. I appreciate it. I will continue to use the runes in a number of ways, but I get that a lot of what survived the years is rather mundane in subject rather than magically or divination-inclined.
I’ve just finished a good translation of the Saga of the Volsungs, so it seems to me that the Runes’ potential uses could be wide-ranging to an experimenter or someone who wants to explore them. That some don’t doesn’t bother me any more than it bothers me who does or doesn’t use the Tarot; each are a potential tool for a person to use, and their choice is their choice.

I refrained from commenting on the thread, because my approach to divination is at odds with most others. That’s a respectful observation, not a criticism. Each of us makes a conscious decision about such things, and I consider personal integrity — especially in an area like divination — to be of utmost importance.
I have a strong personal agreement with the notion that time is unbounded by geometric boundaries. Humans can only approach life with the tools and skills we have, and linearity — even circularity — imposes limits on something that feels unlimited.
I approach divination as a service, not necessarily as a way to obtain advance knowledge (of any level or sense of confidence). I am a moment of time, right now, but as I type this and as a person reads this, “I am” has changed… minutely, even trivially, but viewing time statically contradicts its basic nature of process, dynamism, and obscurity beyond our personal limits.
My tool is Tarot. I explored several variants, but always came back to Waite’s design as rendered by Pamela Coleman Smith. Their symbolic setting — and the commentary by Eden Grey — provides me with a perfect meeting point between me and the person for whom I am reading. That’s my commitment to integrity in the process, and not a commentary on any variant.
For me, divination is the imposition of linearity in order for myself and the other person(s) involved to have a chance to grasp and understand what is being divined. What was, what is, and what may be are a continuum, not a set of markers on a path.

Franklin Evans, do I understand you correctly? You look at a Tarot reading as an overview of a person’s existence?

Cheryl,
If I understand your question correctly: Yes, I do.
I should clarify that by adding that in my experience a reading, per se, is limited to the combined scope of the perceptions of the people involved with the reading. Since I almost never read for more than one person at a time, you may assume that I mean myself and the person.
My personal beliefs exclude a sentient deity. That’s a very inadequate way of saying that I don’t expect to get “messages” or even guidance from an external source on which I place that sort of identification, but I do believe in a common connection amongst all of us that I find easiest to think of in Jung’s term collective unconscious. Further, I don’t discount the symbologies that others employ, I just stick with the one that serves me best.

Franklin Evans – that’s very interesting. It sounds to me that each Tarot reading you’d do would be quite involved. Is there a particular spread you use, or have you come up with your own? How much time do they take? The readings I’ve done for others usually take about 45 minutes and involve understanding recent influences and looking ahead about 6 months.
I’m familiar with Jung’s term “collective unconscious”. I think of that connection more as a web of energy linking all things; as in the way I understand string theory. (Do note that I said the way *I understand* string theory. If you get all mathematical and quantum mechanic-y on me I will NOT understand you!)
Although I do believe in sentient deities, I think the concept of a sentient deity is not necessary in divination. What I think IS necessary is the understanding that there is a field of energy available to us that can be both manipulated, as in Magick or energy work, and also read and observed for understanding as to how the flow of that energy has affected us in the past and will influence us in the future. And that we have the ability to change much of that outcome by changing where we are directing our energies – both our personal ones and those we have pulled in from that collective energy field.

The best and most efficient way to answer your latest question, and maybe help answer more, is to read my LJ entry linked above. I considered linking it earlier, but got distracted and didn’t follow up the thought.
A personal addendum to that (I posted it in November 2003) is inspired by your “field of energy” statement: During a reading, I am combining energy work with following the flow of energy. Not mentioned in the LJ post is my ongoing feeling that the barrier between conscious and subconscious is so strong (and for good reasons) that the vast majority of the energy I expend is in suppressing that barrier during the reading. I have (as I write in LJ) always felt drained at the end of a reading, and this concerns me, but not overmuch because if I pay attention and ground and center soon after (very much in line with what we do at circle rituals) I regain my normal energy level.
I do have a theory about that. The drained feeling is the price I pay for not using psycho-active substances instead. The energy must come from somewhere, and in a reading it comes from inside me and must be replenished.

Franklin Evans, I read your linked Journal entries. Very interesting stuff. I agree completely with people “opening themselves up” when being read, even perhaps without knowing that they’re doing this.
Have you ever done remote readings? Where someone will send you a personal item such as a glove, scarf, item of jewelry, etc. and you hold it and feel the person’s energies then do a reading for them? I’ve done remote readings, although my last one was about five years ago. I must have something belonging to the person to read accurately though; I’m not able to do it otherwise.
As for the energy drain – I’ve encountered that too sometimes. What I do to help combat times of low energy is to keep an “energy savings account”. During times when my energy is at a peak and I have it to burn, I charge a stone or two with the excess energy. I then wrap it in white cloth and tuck it away in a safe place. In times of low energy, I can re-absorb it from the stone and feel better very quickly. You might want to try this to see if it helps you too.

I’ve never intentionally done a remote reading. I don’t mean to be vague, but my conscious awareness of it is lacking. I believe that it has to do with my personal focus (as in foible) on what I can perceive physically in front of me, and that I deliberately rely on human cues I can perceive.
I have had the rare prophetic dream. I won’t go into detail, because it seems rather off-topic here. I do approach such things the same way I approach readings, in that I believe that my subconscious is picking up the necessary data or “signals” and pushing them up while I dream.
Thanks you for the advice on the energy drain. Your approach is one I’ve heard from others. I keep it in reserve if grounding and centering seem inadequate.

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