Casting the runes

 

When I first started working with runes, I knew I wanted to cast them.  I had read "The Wolf and the Raven," by Diana Paxson, and there is a great scene in the book where a character is given blank staves and challenged to cast and read the runes....without any rune markings on the staves!  This completely set how I think about reading the runes, and even though it was many years before I finally finished my own rune stave set, I've always approached runes from a casting and not so much drawing perspective.

I don't think there is anything wrong with drawing runes, or laying them out in a set spread (much like you would do tarot or oracle cards).  In fact, if you have a rune card deck (and I started early in my rune journey with little home-made flash cards), then drawing them and using spreads makes a lot more sense than trying to cast them (I'm imagining tossing a whole deck of cards....).  This isn't to say that I never do spreads with my runes, I actually like sometimes drawing a trio of runes for a quick question.  Just that, typically speaking, if I am working with runes, I am going to be casting.

This also means that I don't tend to use the blank rune or reversals (or any other version of Merkstave or 'face down' readings).  Again, this comes back to the difference of casting versus drawing.  I know many people like to draw runes, and they will orient them or interpret whether the rune they drew was front (rune-side) or back (blank side) up.  I do work with both of these concepts (orientation and facing), but in very specific situations, which I'll go into later on.

My personal method of casting involves gathering up all my runes and tossing the whole lot of them.  I do normally use a cloth, though I don't have a dedicated casting cloth.  For many years, I used a simple bandana.  I use a cloth to define the boundary of my reading, as well as to give my runes some amount of protection (as they are bone or stone, and casting onto a hard surface could be problematic).  I now have some lovely tarot reading cloths that I've acquired so that gives me more options.

Once I have cast, I first start by looking for any runes that have fallen off the cloth (neither of the castings I did for this post had any of these 'off-cloth' runes).  I find that these runes that don't fit into the reading can sometimes influence the reading by their absence.  I think of it as a complete lack of that energy in the reading (because even runes that are face down and not manifesting are still present and contributing to the situation).

Next, I will look at what I consider the heart of the reading, the largest clump of runes together.  In this case, we see a large clump right in the center of my cloth, but the center of the clump is Tiwaz, Pertho and Thurisaz.  

Here is where I feel that rune casting and drawing really differ.  When I draw cards, I absolutely look at the relationship between a card and the other cards in a reading, but with a casting I am not only thinking about the the runes themselves interact, but also their actual positions with each other. 

So Pertho is on top of Tiwaz and Thurisaz, who are both mostly parallel to each other.  Now, when I cast these runes, I was casting them with the intention of a general reading, kind of a 'checking in with myself' type of thing, so no specific situation.  I would see this as a need for focus and protection (perhaps a troubling situation that I would need to overcome, and it would require me to really tune in), but there is also a sense of the unknown that is laying over it (so perhaps I may not know exactly what the cause of the trouble is).

From there, I follow the runes outward, so Pertho is also touching Raido, which is touching Mannaz.  So I might consider how my state of travel is effecting my role in my community.

In the bottom of the main cluster, we have Fehu covering Eiwaz and Gebo.  I see both Eiwaz and Gebo as exchange type of runes, where there is a transfer going on, one thing moving to another.  Gebo is more of an external (an exchange between two beings), while Eiwaz is internal (a connection of opposites inside myself), and with Fehu on top I would see this as a message to be mindful of the costs and benefits of these types of exchanges.

Going up to the top of the cluster, the runes are more spread out, and we have Kenaz, Algiz and Isa.  They aren't quite touching, but they are very close, so I would see these as energies that may be interacting only through their echos (kind of how you can feel the heat of the fire when you get close, but you don't actually get burnt).  They also (with the aid of the face-down runes) form a nice rectangle, so there is a sense of stability here.  Isa and Kenaz are almost entirely part of the rectangle, while Algiz is only partially involved.  With Isa and Kenaz being on opposite sides, I would think of how stillness and creativity are often drawn upon at different times.  In order to have a well balanced, and stable, endeavor, we need both that quiet stillness (the time to think and reflect), and that frenzied burst of creation.  The addition of Algiz tells me that this balance is something I need to work on to feel secure and safe.

Now, we get into the outliers.  We have Ingwaz out to the bottom left, Pertho up to the top right, and then way out beyond Pertho, right at the edge of the cloth, we have a face-down rune.  This is one of the cases where I might check to see what the face-down rune is (as you can see in this picture, where I flipped it to show Sowilo).  When there is a significantly placed face-down rune, I often read those runes as well, but as a hidden influence.  

In order to interpret these outliers, I also look at the whole flow of the casting.  So, this feels like it is stretching out towards that top corner, and I might see this as Ingwaz being the seed that is planted to create this situation, but as the runes are resolved, I am growing towards a place of happiness and ultimately this will bring an energetic boost.

After looking at the bits one at a time, I go back and look at the whole spread.  I am at a time where I can start planting some roots, that will lead me through focused work where I am working with community (though restricted or modified by not being able to travel).  I should be mindful of how much I am giving and what I am taking, and I need to balance my enthusiasm with periods of reflection, but working on this will be a good thing in my life, and I will not only feel more happiness but also renewed energy.

One thing that I didn't feel came up much in this casting was a lot of runes in the fall of the staves themselves.  That one rectangle felt important, and I can see other runes in the ways the staves fell (like Kenaz and the face down rune under it could be either another Kennaz or a Gebo).  This is a very much gut thing for me, because some rune shapes can pretty much always be found (any rune on it's own is Isa, any crossed runes can be Nauthiz or Gebo depending on how they are crossed), so sometimes I find these layers to add, and sometimes I just look at how the staves interact in a more abstract way (runes on top may be a governing force, the run underneath may be held down by the rune on top or it may be supporting it).

I also wanted to mention, you can totally do this type of casting methods with stones (or wood circles, or other roundish rune shape).  I like how staves more clearly make rune shapes, but stones can also create those types of phantom runes, if you look at the lines drawn between the stones (or if you extend imaginary lines along the axis of the rune symbols).

 

In this picture, I drew those imaginary lines out, so you can see how the runes might interact with each other.  I think the most important interactions are the cross between Raidho and Fehu, which I would probably read as a Nauthiz energy (it's not quite even enough for Gebo).   I might also see if Hagalaz made sense for the interaction between the Hagalaz stone, the Lagaz stone and the Othala stone.  I probably wouldn't look at the interaction between Berkana (to the far right), and Raidho, because they aren't very close, and Manaz at the bottom is likewise on it's own.

One thing that stood out for me on this casting was the two stones that were kind of piled on each other, even though both were face down.  I flipped them over, and found Uruz and Tiwaz.  I always find stacked runes to be really interesting and the higher the pile, the more I feel like is going on right there.  This was only two, but they were definitely calling my attention.  With Uruz on the bottom, I feel like there was a tendency to resist movement, to be stubborn and fixed in place.  Tiwaz indicates that focus and dedication could overcome this, but both of them being face down is giving me the feeling that the timing isn't right for this energy just yet.  It's something that is coming, but it's not here, so I can be aware, and prepare, but I don't need to do anything yet.

One final note, on casting cloths.  As I said, I don't have a dedicated casting cloth, but both of these cloths I used today do have design on them, and could add extra layers to the reading.  The first one features a compass rose in the center, and looking at the runes in terms of the compass directions (and possibly the elements) could definitely bring more layers of meaning.  I might also think about the progression of left to right (from past through present to the future), and the layer of up and down (earth versus spirit or subconscious versus thinking mind).  I could view the circle around the compass rose as internal influences and anything outside as exterior ones (self versus others). 

With the second casting cloth, there is both the spider and her web to work with, as well as the elemental symbols in the corners.  I might view the center of the web as closest to me, or it might be the future (and the edge of the web is the present and anything outside of that is the past).  I can quarter the cloth and think of runes in each quadrant as being flavored by the element in their corner.

What I love about rune casting is that there are so many ways to go!  There is a sense of boundlessness, and each time I sit to cast I am opening myself up to what is going to come through.  In some ways, it's a bit scary, because there isn't that framework to work with.  I often end up 'talking myself through' the reading, where I'll pick one place to start, and work my way outward, thinking about each rune or the pattern of the staves/stones in one area, and then as I add in different runes I might change how I saw things from earlier.  I do like to go through, at the end, and kind of sum up the whole casting.  

I also find that taking a picture (or sketching it out, though taking a picture is easier) can be very helpful.  I almost always like to have a journal handy to take notes of my impressions, and with both, I can refer back to my picture and my notes and I might notice things later that I didn't see at first.

I love casting, and thing it's a fantastic way to work with runes, and I highly recommend giving it a try if you haven't.  If you are finding it intimidating, take a picture, and work with just one part at a time.  Think about one rune and what is surrounding it.  Then, another day, come back and work with another section.  

And most of all, have fun with it!  I see casting as a way to tap into parts of my mind that I can't readily access, and there is no wrong way to do it.  Some days I feel like I'm just seeing super obvious stuff, but maybe I needed to be hit over the head with the obvious!  While other days I might find myself really going down a winding path of tenuous connections, but ending up somewhere that I never would have expected.  But always, I feel that I have connected a little bit more with my runes, and my self.