Spreads, bindrunes and a daily practice

In this lesson: the Three Norns and two-paths spreads, what bindrunes really were, a simple rune meditation and a weekly rune journal.

In this final lesson we put the runes together: three spreads to read more than one rune, the real history of bindrunes and how to check a design, and a simple daily practice that will carry you well past this course.

Three spreads

Modern Spreads are modern frameworks, so treat positions as prompts. The Three Norns borrows the three women who, in the Völuspá, live by the well beneath the world tree: Urðr, linked to “what has come about”, Verðandi, “what is becoming”, and Skuld, “what shall be” or “what is owed”. Draw three runes for the roots of a situation, the present and a possible direction. The third is never a fixed future.

The five-rune cross places the heart of the matter in the center, what lies behind on the left, a possible direction on the right, the foundation below and what can help above. Two paths is for decisions: one rune for what the decision is really about, two for what each option offers and costs, and one for what to remember. The runes do not choose for you, and they should not. If you find yourself redrawing because you dislike the result, talk the choice through with someone instead.

The Norns in their own words

Historical The Three Norns spread borrows from the Völuspá, the first poem of the Poetic Edda. In Henry Adams Bellows’s 1923 translation, stanza 20 describes three maidens, “mighty in wisdom”, who come from their dwelling beneath the tree: “Urth is one named, Verthandi the next, / On the wood they scored, and Skuld the third. / Laws they made there, and life allotted / To the sons of men, and set their fates.”

The Norns are mythic figures who shape lives, and the line “on the wood they scored” is tantalizing: Bellows, in his notes, took it to mean magic signs cut on pieces of wood, and he also thought the lines might have been borrowed from another account of the Norns. The poem itself gives no method. Using their names for a spread is a modern homage, not a reconstruction.

Two more spreads to try

Modern The aett spread uses eight positions, one for each rune of an aett, read as a week plus a summary: draw one rune for each day of the coming week and one for the week as a whole, then check in each evening. The seasonal spread uses four runes at the turn of each season: what to harvest from the last season, what to rest, what to plant and what to celebrate. Both are frameworks, not traditions, and work best with short, honest notes.

What bindrunes really were

Historical In the record, a bindrune is a ligature: two letters joined to save space or for decoration, like æ in Latin script. The Kylver stone has a mysterious sign of stacked Tiwaz arrows on one stave, and a common ligature joins Isa and the small Ingwaz diamond for “ing”. Bindrunes appear in early and medieval inscriptions, rarely in the Viking Age, and there is no evidence that people designed personal magical bindrunes. The Vegvísir and the helm of awe are not bindrunes at all. The drawn designs come from early modern Icelandic manuscripts.

Modern Today people combine two or three runes into a personal symbol, by meaning or by initials, much like a monogram. Before you paint, share or tattoo one, check it. Does it look like another rune? Gebo and Isa combined make the Younger Futhark h-rune. Does it spell a word in any order? Does it resemble a hate symbol in the ADL database, or a logo? Write the results in your journal with the date.

A daily practice

Modern Rune meditation can be very simple: sit with one rune, trace its shape, say its name, picture the thing it is named for, a birch, a horse, the sun, and after five or ten minutes write a few words. Chanting rune names, often called galdr, is a modern reconstruction: the old word meant a sung charm, but no one knows how charms were sung.

I do not teach rune yoga, or stadhagaldr, because it comes from German rune occultists of the 1920s working with an invented row. Gentle walking with a rune in your pocket gives you the body without the baggage. Correspondences between runes, tarot and astrology are modern too, so keep personal associations labelled as yours.

A weekly rune journal, in practice

Modern A rune journal grows more useful the longer you keep it. Once a week, look back at your daily draws and readings. Note which runes came up, which poems helped, where a reading was useful and where it was not. Once a month, write a short paragraph on what you learned about the runes and about yourself. Once a year, look through the whole journal and write a page on how your understanding has changed. This habit keeps your practice honest, and it is also a record of a year of your life.

A second worked example: a two-paths reading

Imagine someone deciding whether to move to a smaller flat. She draws four runes. What the decision is about: Othala, home and what makes it right. Option one, staying: Isa, comfortable but stuck. Option two, moving: Raidho, effort and change. What to remember: Wunjo, “a good enough house”. She laughs at the last one: the poem’s phrase reminds her that she does not need the perfect flat. She writes her own list of what matters in a home and begins looking.

A note on measure

Historical Hávamál contains a line that suits daily practice well, even though it was written about offerings: “Better no prayer than too big an offering, / By thy getting measure thy gift” (Bellows, 1923). It is a reminder that more is not always better. A daily practice that fits your life will last. One that demands an hour every morning will probably not survive the first busy week.

Practice variations for the long run

A kenning journal. Once a week, draw one rune and write three kennings for it in the style of the Icelandic rune poem you met in lessons 6 to 8. Over a year you will have written your own small rune poem.

A monthly review. At the end of each month, read back through your journal. Count which runes appeared most often and notice any patterns. Write a short paragraph about what the month taught you. This is where your own meanings begin to form.

Seasonal reading. At the start of each season, lay out a three-rune spread for the months ahead: what to begin, what to tend and what to let go. Return to it at the end of the season and write what actually happened.

A rune a day, in order. For twenty-four days, take one rune each day in futhark order, from Fehu to Othala, instead of drawing at random. Read its stanzas, write one line about it and notice where it shows up in your day. When you finish, you will have spent time with every rune.

A worked example: a Norns spread

Imagine someone lays out the three-rune Norns spread, past, present and future, about her new evening study routine. She draws Isa for the past, Raidho for the present and Jera for the future. She writes that her study had frozen over the summer, that it is moving again now, and that the rune for the future speaks of a harvest that comes with patience.

She does not treat Jera as a promise. She treats it as a reminder that steady effort over months is how anything ripens. In her journal she adds one practical step: twenty minutes, three evenings a week.

Ending your course, beginning your practice

You now have the history, the three aettir, the poems and a way to work with the runes. What makes this practice yours is time. Keep your notebook close, stay curious about the sources and let your own meanings grow slowly beside the old ones.

Questions beginners ask

Can I combine runes and tarot? Yes, as a personal practice. Label the combination as modern and your own.

Is it safe to wear a bindrune? Usually, yes, if you check it as described in this lesson. Keep it simple and avoid forms that resemble extremist symbols.

What should I study next? Read more about the history, visit a museum collection, and keep a daily practice. The rune guides on my site go deeper.

Myths to drop: Bindrunes are not ancient spells. The Vegvísir is not a Viking symbol. And there is no “correct” spread passed down from antiquity.

A worked example

Imagine someone asking, “What is going on with my job search?” She draws Isa, Naudiz and Jera. Urðr, Isa: things have been frozen, and she has held back. Verðandi, Naudiz: pressure now, which might drive her to act. Skuld, Jera: harvest comes in its season, not overnight. Her action: send two applications this week. On Monday she begins a rune-of-the-week page for Jera and notes where she sees patience paying off.

Try this

Do one Three Norns reading on an open question: draw three runes for Urðr (what led here), Verðandi (what is happening now) and Skuld (what may develop if nothing changes). Write one sentence for each and one action. Then start a rune-of-the-week page: the rune drawn large, one line on its historical name, the poems in your own words, two modern keywords and a line each day on where you noticed its theme.

Recap

Spreads are modern frameworks: the Three Norns, the five-rune cross and two paths each give positions as prompts, never verdicts. Historical bindrunes were practical ligatures, and modern ones need checking before use. Icelandic staves are not runes. A simple meditation and a rune-of-the-week page, over 24 weeks, become your own rune directory. Through all of it, keep the three layers labelled.

What next

You have finished Runes for Beginners. Press “Mark as done” and claim your certificate of completion. From here, keep exploring my rune spreads, the bindrune guide and all 24 rune pages in the Elder Futhark guide.

Further reading: Henry Adams Bellows (trans.), The Poetic Edda (1923), Völuspá stanzas 19 and 20, freely available online.

Sources

• The Poetic Edda, translated by Henry Adams Bellows (New York: American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1923).
• Michael P. Barnes, Runes: A Handbook (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2012).
• Anti-Defamation League, Hate Symbols Database (online).

Go deeper: the runes pages on this site

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