The Runic Corner

[Deoridhe]

TeaDidikai

What are some of the best Runic decks out there?

Bigotted answer: none of them. wink I got my runestones from a little bagan store for 20$, though; I keep the blank one set aside in case I lose one. Amusingly, the bag once broke and the runes spilled over the parking lot, but I didn't lose any.

Armenian Futhark goes up to the 40s somewhere, but that one is heavily contestable.  

[TeaDidikai]

Deoridhe

Bigotted answer: none of them.

That's absurd. Think about it- Futhark staves of wood were used. They were dyed with blood or plant pigment.

What does that make rune cards?

Pressed wood dyed with pigment.

All the better if the pigment provides an image as a focus. I mean, with some of the suggestions about Runelore, and taking into account the detail of the "art" of the time, I think it is a perfectly natural progression. Had the Vikings survived into modern times and had the influence of Realism in their art...

Quote:

wink I got my runestones from a little bagan store for 20$, though; I keep the blank one set aside in case I lose one. Amusingly, the bag once broke and the runes spilled over the parking lot, but I didn't lose any.

Armenian Futhark goes up to the 40s somewhere, but that one is heavily contestable.

 

[Deoridhe]

TeaDidikai

Deoridhe

Bigotted answer: none of them.

That's absurd. Think about it- Futhark staves of wood were used. They were dyed with blood or plant pigment.

What does that make rune cards?

Pressed wood dyed with pigment.

Oh, I'm not refering ot the medium! I'm referring ot the fact that every rune deck I've ever seen has been inaccurate! Like that one mentioned, with an odd number of runes. Half of them are melds of one system and another, calling themselves runes, and the other half aren't Norse at all!

I'd rather like a set of 24 cards, though it would make casting much harder. Thet could fit easier in my purse, though!  

[TeaDidikai]

Deoridhe

Oh, I'm not refering ot the medium! I'm referring ot the fact that every rune deck I've ever seen has been inaccurate! Like that one mentioned, with an odd number of runes. Half of them are melds of one system and another, calling themselves runes, and the other half aren't Norse at all!

I'd rather like a set of 24 cards, though it would make casting much harder. Thet could fit easier in my purse, though!

Ever seen the Power of the Runes deck?  

[Deoridhe]

TeaDidikai

Deoridhe

Oh, I'm not refering ot the medium! I'm referring ot the fact that every rune deck I've ever seen has been inaccurate! Like that one mentioned, with an odd number of runes. Half of them are melds of one system and another, calling themselves runes, and the other half aren't Norse at all!

I'd rather like a set of 24 cards, though it would make casting much harder. Thet could fit easier in my purse, though!

Ever seen the Power of the Runes deck?

I think so. I think I prefer my current set of runestones, though; even after tipping out of my purse,t hey all came back to me. Good sign.  

[ShadowSharrow]

I made mine, I gathered the stones from where a fresh water river ran down into the sea.
I had tough I had collected them randomly and with out purpose until i got home and 'saw' that they were rune stones.  

[Deoridhe]

ShadowSharrow

I made mine, I gathered the stones from where a fresh water river ran down into the sea.
I had tough I had collected them randomly and with out purpose until i got home and 'saw' that they were rune stones.

So, they had the runes already in them?

I have a made wooden set, but I use them only rarely.  

[ShadowSharrow]

Deoridhe

So, they had the runes already in them?

I would say they did smile and all I had to do was mark them a little clearer.
even know if I am pulling runes rther then toss them then I can tell which one they are when I touch them in the bag.  

[Aki Norikaeru]

eek I have always seen these runes, lived with them, but I have only learned the names of the ones that shows up at every turn, mainly, Thurisaz. I want to find a book, and I will look for a reference as soon as I am done, but does Thurisaz truly mean those things? What could this mean for me, as only one other symbol is more prominent in my life? Also, Uruz in the third most prominent....aren't they like opposites?

Edit: I found this reference, is it a good one? "'Futhark: A Handbook of Rune Magic' and 'Runelore' by Edred Thorsson."  

[Deoridhe]

Aki Norikaeru

eek I have always seen these runes, lived with them, but I have only learned the names of the ones that shows up at every turn, mainly, Thurisaz. I want to find a book, and I will look for a reference as soon as I am done, but does Thurisaz truly mean those things? What could this mean for me, as only one other symbol is more prominent in my life? Also, Uruz in the third most prominent....aren't they like opposites?

Edit: I found this reference, is it a good one? "'Futhark: A Handbook of Rune Magic' and 'Runelore' by Edred Thorsson."

Thorsson is decentish; he accepts some questionable axioms (that the runes Odin whispers in Baldr's ears are 18 of the 24, for example) but his scholarship isn't bad. Keep your salt like and you should be ok.

Kveldulf Gundarsson is another good souce, and I believe I linked to Ragweed forge, which kindly allowed me to use his translations of the rune poems.

This bits about Thurisaz are what people say it means; I'm up there as one of the people. You need to judge for yourself.

In my experience, thurisaz and uruz are two types of power - one the firce protective/destructive nature of Thor and the Thurses, the other the primal and unspoken powering drive of the ox. I'm not sure any rune can truly be said to be "opposite" another, though, even isa and fehu.  

[godhi]

Through my personal experiments with the Runes, the best ones are those made from either wood, bone, or horn, although some people have better success with Runes made from clay or stone. Keep in mind that the word "rune" comes from the Old Norse word for "red" and in the Norse tradition rune staves were colored with either blood or red ochre.
My runes were purchased at a Renaissance Faire from a woman who carved them herself, and according to her were crafted from a single branch and harvested from a birch tree at midnight on the Summer Solstice. I stained them with my own blood, and through a bit of sympathetic magic I use both a hematite, a bloodstone, and a carnelian to "feed" them--stones which in popular lore are associated with blood. One of the reasons why I chose runes of birchwood is that in traditional Northern European magic, birch is female in gender and many Norse and Germanic magicians used wooden tools of the opposite gender, creating a sort of "sacred marriage" between themselves and their ritual tools.
In addition to runes and ritual tools, it was a common practice for both the Norse and Germanic people to bind their tools and weapons to themselves with a few drops of blood, thereby preventing faeries and witches from hexing these objects and using them against their owners.  

[Aki Norikaeru]

It is just, it has always protected me and it seems to be portrayed in a dark light,(Please note this is how I see it from its overall rendering, though I do not see anything remotely evil in its singular descriptions.) I never considered it could even be rough. Also, as far as I am concerned there has to be some part of something in the opposite, like ying and yang, so I meant it on more basic terms, though sadly I don't think I could specify those terms. Anyway, thank you for the sources, maybe next time the conversation will be lacking in ignorance on my part.(One may dream, right?) mrgreen  

[Deoridhe]

godhi

Through my personal experiments with the Runes, the best ones are those made from either wood, bone, or horn, although some people have better success with Runes made from clay or stone.

I once had a bindrune written in red on a piece of paper have the inanticipated but implied effect. I guess paper is a kind of wood, though.

I blooded my "big" runes. My "little" runes are for divination only; you'd have to ask Wing how well I do with divination.

FYI, divination is not a historical use of the runes so far as we know. My using them as such stems off of UPG.  

[Deoridhe]

Aki Norikaeru

dark light

Arguably, all the runes are dark. The were found via suffering and tie closely into blood and darkness.

Aki Norikaeru

Also, as far as I am concerned there has to be some part of something in the opposite, like ying and yang, so I meant it on more basic terms, though sadly I don't think I could specify those terms.

You might want to examine your preconceived notions of the necessity of opposites and their accuracy; yin and yang is an Asian concept, not a Norse one.

Aki Norikaeru

Anyway, thank you for the sources, maybe next time the conversation will be lacking in ignorance on my part.(One may dream, right?) mrgreen

All people are ignorant of something, even Frigga.  

[Aki Norikaeru]

stare (Please excuse this I am just ranting at basically nothing.) I used a cliche hoping that my meaning would be understood, I never thought that this conversation was limited to Norse examples. If you did not know what I was directly referring to it was the small bit of white in the black half and the small bit if black in the white half, thus the sharing traits in opposites.(Your comment, as having no clear sign of sarcasm and attacking my very basic knowledge of a cliche translated into you calling me imbecilic, I prefer to do that myself, as I know it to be in jest.) Also, that last part seems to have no connection to what I said as I know you could not have thought that I said, 'well I'll go read these books and be all knowing now.'