Making a set and casting runes

In this lesson you will make a safe card or clay rune set, ask good questions, read a rune in seven steps, keep a reading log and try a nine-rune cast.

You know all 24 runes. Now you can make a set and start reading. Everything in this lesson is modern practice, because no historical rune-casting method survives. That frees you to do it simply, safely and honestly.

Making a set

Modern A set needs 24 pieces of the same size, each marked on one side. Card is the easiest and safest: cut 24 small rectangles from thick card and draw the runes with a dark marker, and you have a working set in an hour.

Air-dry clay disks marked with a toothpick work well too. Ready-cut craft disks of birch, beech, maple or pine are lovely if you want wood. Please never use yew, even though Eihwaz is the yew rune: almost every part of the tree is poisonous, and shavings or finished pieces are dangerous to children and pets.

Historical Coloring runes is genuinely old. Runestones were painted, often red. Some sagas describe runes reddened with blood, but those are stories. Use nontoxic acrylic paint or paint pens instead. A homemade set is no more powerful than a bought one, and a bought set is no less yours.

Making a set, step by step

Here is the card method in detail, for an evening’s craft. Cut 24 rectangles of thick card about the size of a large postage stamp; a cereal box works well. Round the corners with scissors so they shuffle easily. Lightly pencil each rune first, checking against the table, then go over it with a dark marker or paint pen.

Say the name of each rune as you draw it. When all 24 are done, check them one by one against a reliable table, because it is easy to reverse a branch. Store them in a small cloth bag or an envelope. If you want, write the rune’s name and sound on the back in small letters while you learn, and paint over them later.

Modern For a clay set, roll air-dry clay to about half a centimeter, cut circles with a small glass, mark the runes with a toothpick, let them dry for a day or two and paint the grooves. For wood, buy ready-cut craft disks from a known, nontoxic wood and paint the runes rather than burning them unless you are experienced with a wood-burning pen.

Drawing, casting, reversals and the blank rune

Modern Rune reading as most people practice it is about a century old. Guido von List published his eighteen invented “Armanen” runes in 1908, Friedrich Marby taught rune postures in the 1920s, and Ralph Blum’s The Book of Runes (1982) and Edred Thorsson’s Futhark (1984) shaped the sets and meanings sold today. You can draw runes from a bag one at a time and lay them in positions, or cast a handful onto a cloth and read the ones that land face up.

The white cloth is a deliberate echo of Tacitus, not a reconstruction. Reading upside-down runes as “reversed” or “merkstave” is a modern option. Nine runes look the same either way up: Gebo, Hagalaz, Naudiz, Isa, Jera, Eihwaz, Sowilo, Ingwaz and Dagaz. The blank rune was added by Ralph Blum in 1982. I do not use it, but if your set has one, set it aside or label it in your notes as modern.

Good questions and how to read

Good questions are open, about you and about the present or near future: “What do I need to understand about this situation?” or “What strength can I draw on this week?” Yes-or-no questions about the future, other people’s private thoughts, health, law, money and death do not belong in a reading. If you keep asking the same question hoping for a different answer, put the runes away for the day.

When you draw a rune, work through seven steps:

1. Name the rune aloud and notice its shape.
2. Write your first impression before looking anything up.
3. Remember the historical name: cattle, sun, ice.
4. Recall what the rune poems say.
5. Consider the modern keywords, remembering they are modern.
6. Ask how the rune speaks to your question.
7. Sum up the reading in one sentence. If you cannot, the reading is simply unclear, and that is fine.

Keep a reading log with the date, the exact question, the method, the runes, your impressions, your interpretation and one action. A week or a month later, add what actually happened and whether the reading helped. That follow-up is the heart of honest practice. And remember that chance will sometimes give you the same rune several times. That is how chance works, not a message.

A sample reading log entry

Date: Sunday morning. Question: “What do I need to understand about starting my evening class?” Method: three runes, drawn from the bag. Runes: Raidho, Kenaz, Jera. First impressions: “moving, light, slow”. Names: ride, torch, year. Poems: the ride is easy by the fire and hard on the road; the torch burns where people sit; harvest comes for rich and poor alike. Interpretation: “Starting is the hard part of the journey; the class will bring light; results come with time.” Action: “Book the class this week and expect to feel awkward for the first month.” Follow-up a month later: “The first two weeks were hard. Now I enjoy it.”

Practice variations

One-rune days. Draw one rune each morning for a month, as in the worked example, and keep a simple tally of which runes appear. At the end you will see chance at work: some runes will appear several times and some not at all.

Name-only readings. For a week, read only from the historical names and the poems, ignoring modern keywords. Many readers find their readings become more grounded.

Pairs. Draw two runes for “what helps” and “what to watch”. Read them together as a short sentence.

A first session from start to finish

Here is one simple way to run a session with a new set. It is a suggestion, not a tradition.

Begin by clearing a small space and laying down a plain cloth. A white one is a nice nod to Tacitus, though any color works. Write your question in your notebook in one clear sentence, then mix the runes in their bag or with your hands for as long as feels right.

Draw one rune, or three for a simple spread, and place them on the cloth. Before opening any book, write your first impression of each rune in a few words. Only then compare with your notes from lessons 6 to 8 and the rune poems. Finish with a short conclusion of one or two sentences, add the date and return the runes to their bag.

The whole session can take ten minutes. Short, regular sessions build more skill than long, rare ones.

Caring for your set

Keep your runes in a bag or box so that none go missing. A set with a missing rune is incomplete, and you will notice it at once in a reading. Wooden runes may need a little oil now and then if they dry out. Stones and clay need nothing more than an occasional wipe. If a rune breaks, you can simply make a new one. There is no historical rule about how a set should be stored, so choose what suits your home.

When the answer feels wrong

Sometimes a draw seems to make no sense. Do not redraw at once. Write down the rune anyway and come back to it the next day. Often the meaning becomes clear later. If it still makes no sense, that is fine too. Note it as unclear. An honest “I do not know” in your log is worth more than a forced interpretation.

Questions beginners ask

Do I need to cleanse or charge my runes? There is no historical practice to follow. If you like a small ritual, such as keeping them in a special bag, that is a personal choice.

Is a wooden set better than a card one? No. Choose what is pleasant to use and safe to make.

What if I lose a rune? Make a new one. A set is a tool, not a talisman.

Myths to drop: You do not have to receive your first set as a gift. A set made of a particular wood does not have special powers. And “merkstave” is not an ancient term for reversed runes; it is a modern use of an Old Norse-looking word.

A worked example

Imagine someone on her first morning draw. She asks, “What should I keep in mind today?” and draws ᛁ, Isa. Her first impression is “cold, stuck”. She remembers the name, ice, and the Norwegian poem’s “wide bridge”. She writes: “Today, slow down and do not force the conversation with my manager.” In the evening she adds: “Waited until Friday to raise it. Glad I did.” On day five she draws Isa again and notes it as chance, not a sign.

Try this

Make a set of 24 card runes, saying each name as you draw it. Then, for the next seven mornings, ask “What should I keep in mind today?”, draw one rune without looking and write your first impression and one sentence linking it to your day. Each evening, add one or two sentences about how it connected, or did not.

When you are ready for more, try a cast: take nine runes from the bag without looking, scatter them gently onto a white cloth, set aside any that land face down and read those in the center first, then those around them. Cast once per question.

Recap

Make a safe set from card, clay or common wood, never yew, and color it with paint, never blood. Drawing, casting, reversals and the blank rune are modern choices. Ask open questions about yourself, read each rune through its name, poems, modern keywords and your question, and keep an honest log with follow-up notes.

What next

Press “Mark as done” and continue with Spreads, bindrunes and a daily practice. For more detail, see how to make a rune set and how to cast runes.

Further reading: Mindy MacLeod and Bernard Mees, Runic Amulets and Magic Objects (Boydell, 2006), for the historical evidence that sits behind modern practice.

Sources

• Tacitus, Germania, translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb (London: Macmillan, 1868).
• Michael P. Barnes, Runes: A Handbook (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2012).
• Ralph Blum, The Book of Runes (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1982).

Go deeper: the runes pages on this site

Mark as done