Product Description

Although many of us first encountered runes in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, this sacred alphabet is by no means a fabrication for books or movies. Similar to Hebrew letters in the sense that each symbol contains a meaning that transcends its original function as a letter, the runes are practical, flexible, and effective symbols with a variety of uses.

Today, the best known application of rune lore is divination: chips or stones marked with runes are drawn, cast, or laid out in patterns like tarot cards. In Taking Up the Runes, Paxson delves into the ancient historical meaning of each rune and explains their contemporary uses and meanings. We discover that the real power of runes comes from inside ourselves when we find the wisdom and power within each symbol and internalize them.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #128763 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

About the Author
Diana Paxson is author of more than a dozen historical novels with strong spiritual themes including The White Raven and The Serpent's Tooth. She is also the coauthor, with Marion Zimmer Bradley, of Priestess of Avalon and has continued the immensely popular Mists of Avalon series on her own.

Customer Reviews

The New Standard
Paxson has given us the new primary text on using the Runes. She has compiled what there is to know about the symbols into a single volume, bringing divinatory and spell-binding meanings together in a way that makes the meaning and power of each rune clear. The poetry is good, the ritual structure sound and the insight into both ancient lore and modern adaptation profound. In addition she lays it all out in a series of 'classes' that allow students to learn the material in an orderly way.

Highly recommended

A Compendium of information
One of the problems with a lot of books on runes is the lack of originality, followed by the tendency to see runework as another magickal system. This work does none of the above.

Yes, she goes through the meanings of each rune-but in easy to understand ENGLISH. While not being afraid to use the old tongues (there are a numbers of quotes from the Norse and other languages), they are not necessary to the text itself. She does summarize a lot of what the better modern runic sources have before giving her own slant on a subject. Additionally she takes the runes in pairs, often using one to shed light on the other. This is a book scholars would not be ashamed to own, but that is useful to newcomers to the runes.

Where this work really departs from previous works is the practical and magickal working. This is firmly situated within the practice of the religious revival, rather than making a neo-magickal order type of work. It has rituals which are for the growth of the group, as well as the individual but which focus more on personal growth than on trying to win the lottery. While no shying away from practical magick, she reminds us that this was not about magick for magick's sake, but was about living for today and within the context of community. She points out that Odin, upon obtaining the runes, promptly began using and teaching them, as opposed to immediately ascending to some transcendent plane.

I believe and hope that this is the first of a new wave of works which focus on practices as part of the religious tradition rather than a separate search for power or transcendence. If for no other reason this work would be worth the purchase price. However above that it carries a lot of the lore and mindset that someone starting out in a Norse centered religious practice should have as well as that needed in going beyond the basics. Well Done and well worth having!

Better than most
This is a well written compilation of the ideas of modern popular esoteric rune authors (Aswynn, Thorsson, Pennick, etc). It should not be taken as a book about historical pre-Christian rune use, but seeks to adapt more recently invented techniques and ideas into a religious setting based on Germanic mythology.

Seen in this light, the book is a useful reference of current popular rune usage. It will not appeal to the more re-creationist or academic rune students, but offers an abundance of examples of New-Age and ecclectic adaptations of the runes. Although it does go beyond the New-Age manuals by seeking to present these ideas in a "Northern Tradition" context, I would have liked to see more distinction made between modern and historical information.

Although this book is firmly in the "speculative" category, it does present some historical background, and is a cut above the New-Age fluff that dominates the majority of esoteric rune manuals.

Sweyn
The Rune Primer