HERB - rune inscribed salt clay

[Rauthulfr]

Greetings from Rauthulfr;
Well, just to pop over and put on one of my other hats (but not for a long
speech):  There are Runes, and there are runes.  This can make a big
difference depending upon trying to do something vaguely period Norse,
verses something relatively new age/neo-pagan Norse.  The challenge here is
that Runes to a great extent became "popular" after Ralph Blum published
his "The Book of Runes" which came with a set of ceramic tiles.  Blum's
interpretations tend not to be supportable in terms of period references.
Other modern writers such as Thorsson have dug farther into period stuff,
although the problem is that the Norse tended not to document their
esoteric practices and beliefs, and those who did write stuff down, tended
to be from the post-pagan period and wrote with a Christian bias.

Fortunately, as it is currently presented the Elder Futhark (the 24 rune
set) tends to be pretty established as far as form, and there is a fair bit
of agreement as to their esoteric meanings in the Neo-pagan community.
This means that most folks will "read" them the same way, and the forms
commonly in use today are relatively consistent.  I don't intend this to be
one of those "Evil Laurel" diatribes, rather as a nudge and a reminder that
rune casting as it exists today and rune casting as it existed in the
Viking era, probably reflect very different things.  And with that
knowledge, it remains a fun project, and something I just might do the next
time I'm asked to teach a class on Runes!

YIS
R


At 04:05 PM 11/19/99 , you wrote:
>> Well, come on down for Thanksgiving dinner. I'm gonna try to antique them.
>> And I found a page with all the runes and what they mean. And a recipe for
>> the salt dough. So Sunday I will attempt it and let you all know how it
>> goes.
>>
>> Elewyiss


Rauthulfr Meistari inn Orthstori  (OL, MC, P-eX, Et Cetera)
An Tir Arts & Sciences Champion AS: XXXIII-XXXIV
or, non- SCA: Michael Wolfe M. A. I. S. AB-
*Practice Random Acts of Chocolate.....

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