7/30/2019 History on Runes
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Mother Earth School of Witchcraft
Lesson #1
History Paper on Runes
Shane Staten
A History of the Runes
The beginning of runic interpretation is what brought Runes to
Northern Europeansaround the first century A.D.; who, due to the
alphabets first six letters called it FUTHARK. Withthis ability to
decipher meaning and thousands of years of archeological research
scientistshave found that runes come from way before the beginning
of the current era. There is onefinding that reports runes being
discovered as far back as 2000 B.C.E in Semetic languageareas like
Asia Minor and Palestine.
The word Rune is originally rooted in the word Runa, defined as
mystery or secret, andcomes from the ancient Norsemen. The symbols
themselves represented various, importantaspects of life to the old
Norse. For instance some markings were representations of Gods,some
defined people, animals, happenings, and ideas. Originally runes
were also used torepresent bodily positions for worship with divine
forces, or yoga like exercise. The symbolsrunes represent are the
depicted manifestation of Diety and Nature, eternally
representingdiscoverie and understanding for ages past, present,
and future.
Unlike the English language, The Scandinavians would write in
various different formats.One such difference was the boustphedon,
meaning one sentence went left to right and the nextwould go right
to left or vice versa. There were also versions where the runes
were inverted,read through a mirror only, or bound together with
two letters being one. Runes were often
written in one continuous string of letters; forexample. And if
one were to break up words hewould use a notation like+for+example.
One interesting point of fact is that runes have onlyvertical lines
and diagonal lines, no curves or horizontal ones. This is said to
be because runeswere predominantly carved on wood, and to avoid
grain lines being mistaken for the lines of therune symbols
themselves. Unlike most known forms of writing the Runes have
maintained theirsense of sameness through the years; retaining all
their magickal as well as literal meaning.
At or around Ragnarok (the end of the world) Odin climbed
Yggdrasil (the World Tree)and suspended himself for 9 days and
nights, between the 9 worlds. While in suspension hereceived
transmission of wisdom about the runes and their purposes,
properties, and powersfrom the original source of oneness; the
togetherness of all that is, was, or ever will be.
Sources:
Oswald the Runemaker: Origin of the Runes section
-http://www.runemaker.com/history.shtml
The History of the Runes
-http://www.arild-hauge.com/history.htm
Little Giant Encyclopedia Runes by Sirona Knight Published: 2008
pp. 15-34
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