Runes - How to Read Runes – Prisma Visions

GUIDE TO RUNES

HOW TO READ RUNES

AT A GLANCE

As with every card deck and form of divination, it is important to understand what the cards are saying as well as their different aspects. Within this guide, you will find a page dedicated to each card. Beneath the glyph and name of the card is the pronunciation of the card and a short paragraph on the history and origin of the Rune’s meaning. Underneath the history are several keywords that pertain to each Rune. Use these keywords as a starting point for understanding the complexities of the Runes. Keep in mind there can be many applied uses for a single Rune, so, context is key.

Following the keywords associated with the Rune are the reversed keywords for when the Rune appears upside-down. Runes are also known as “staves,” and thus the reversed meaning is known as “merkstave.” Merk translates to “dark.” Not all Runes have reversed meanings: there are nine runes in the Elder Futhark that are read the same way no matter how the Rune falls. Nine is a very symbolic number, especially in Nordic mythology, which follows the belief that there are nine worlds or planes of existence. Perhaps this is a coincidence. Perhaps there is a deeper synchronicity at work. You’ll notice that the nine runes that do not have reversed meanings look the same upside down.

STRINGING RUNES TOGETHER

Reading Runes is very similar to reading Tarot cards. You can pull a single Rune for the day, do a three-Rune reading, or choose to do an even more complex five-Rune reading. Generally, the readings done with Runes involve fewer cards as the meanings of each rune are very clear and there are only thirty-three Runes in total. Doing a reading with the Celtic Cross wouldn’t make much sense with runes since it would use nearly a third of the Runes in a single reading.

Before you start reading Runes, there are a couple of exercises I would recommend starting with to strengthen your understanding of the system.

To begin, shuffle the deck of Runes and begin pulling Runes one after the other. When you pull a Rune, either say out loud, or write down, the first associated meaning that comes to mind. Most people will develop a couple of keywords they associate each Rune with, but because there can be many interpretations, each reader will answer differently--and this is the magic of divination. It relies on our intuition to put our own spin on a reading.

After you have done a few rounds of Rune pulls, you can start pulling pairs and associating the two Runes in context with one another. This is a trick I learned from Lenormand that can also be applied to Runes. Here are a few examples below:

BERKANA + NAUTHIZ

(Birth + Need)

Need for a new start/early needs/necessary start

WUNJO + URUZ

(Joy + Challenge)

A welcome challenge/difficulty finding happiness

HAGALAZ + SOWILO

(Hail + Sun)

A short storm/joy following difficulties/from the darkness comes the light.

The examples above are only one way to interpret these Runes. You may come up with completely different interpretations. Let’s try it with sets of three Runes.

TIWAZ + GEBO + FEHU

(Victory + Bond + Wealth)

Unifying will allow for a successful outcome on both sides. See what you can do to come to an agreement that benefits both parties, a win-win situation.

BERKANA + THURISAZ + KENAZ

(Birth + Protection + Illumination)

This is a perfect time to start a new endeavor. You have lit the spark and time is of the essence to keep the fire burning.

Reading a Single Rune

A single Rune reading is also called “Odin’s Rune.” Performing a single Rune reading is simple. As always, it’s important to clear your mind (and space) before you begin casting Runes.

Center yourself and put good intentions into the act. If you use crystals or other objects in your readings, arrange them to your liking. When you are ready, take the Rune deck in your hand and shuffle it well. Take the cards and split the deck into three similar-sized piles, and then stack the piles together in any order. Draw the top card.

The card that has revealed itself has arrived for a reason. Each Rune can hold a variety of meanings depending on the situation at hand, so spend some time thinking about why this Rune has shown itself. Is there something deeper than what you realize is resting on the surface? Some diviners like to carry the Rune around with them throughout the day, or use it as a journaling prompt. What you choose to do from here is up to you.

Example spreads

The most often used runic spread is the three-Rune spread. Much like Tarot, these three Runes represent the past, present, and future of a situation. Keep in mind that like all forms of divination, this is not to suggest that the future is fixed nor does it predict an outcome. Divination is meant to guide your subconscious into observing aspects of a situation in a different context.

When doing a three-Rune reading, I like to assign the positions to:

THE PAST - where I just was

THE PRESENT - where I am now

THE FUTURE - what comes next

I think removing the grand context of past, present, future, and looking at a more microcosmic view, as perhaps last week, this week, and next week helps apply the Runes to a more specific situation in your life.

Three-Rune spreads can also be used to answer Yes or No questions. Once the three Runes are placed in front of you, take note of the orientation of the runes. Upright runes = yes, reversed runes = no.

Let’s try doing a three-Rune reading using this spread. I shuffled the deck and pulled the following cards:

ISA - INGWAZ - JERA

THE PAST: Isa represents ice. It stands for slow movement or something frozen in time. Time is a big factor in Isa, which asks us to have patience.

THE PRESENT: Ingwaz is the seed. It represents the be.ginning of growth and an opportune time to plant ideas for something new to grow.

THE FUTURE: Jera represents harvest, or year. It symbolizes a ripe time to reap the rewards of your labor.

Immediately, we can see a strong connection of time passing by. All three of these Runes deal with time in some manner.

Isa and Jera are working off of each other to express that patience will be required in order to see this thing through. In the past, it may have felt like there was little to no movement. Feeling stuck in place can be a difficult feeling to wrestle with. In the present position, we have a single seed--a sign of change. The icy past has begun to thaw and has revealed a budding beginning. The relationship between Ingwaz and Jera is also very strong, as Jera projects the maturity of Ingwaz. It suggests that this future may actually be a year down the line.

Now let’s look at how the colors of the cards are playing out in this spread. Remember that orange colors signify challenge, and golds and yellows signify joys.

Isa is a predominantly orange card, and luckily it is the card that falls in the past position. We can see that the presence of orange deteriorates as the spread progresses. The orange from the background of Isa transforms into the orange of the seed in Ingwaz. This might suggest that the difficulties of the past will not be wiped clean, but instead will mani.fest themselves in the growth. Ingwaz is generally a neu.tral card. It contains a mixture of golds and oranges in the heart of the seed, with a neutral blue background. Ingwaz is affected by the cards around it, so in this case it is taking the struggles from Isa and bringing them into the present. Growth rarely comes without growing pains. In Jera, we see this orange transform into the rake, but the amount of gold has significantly increased. The orange here suggests that the harvest will not come without challenge, but the reward will be worth it.

As you can see from this example, the color alone is enough to form thoughtful connections when doing readings with Green Glyphs.

Next, we will go over some more spread options that involve four and five Runes. The same methods that we used here with the three-Rune reading can be applied to these spreads. Before we move on, I would recommend doing a few readings on your own. Before you consult the guide for answers, listen to your intuition. Read the colors as I did here and pull apart meanings from the imagery. You may surprise yourself with how much you already have stored deep inside of your being. We are all magically and spiritually connected more than we will ever realize.

FOUR RUNES

There are a few methods for reading Runes in sets of four. You can do a normal past. present, future reading with a fourth position to represent the outcome. Another method, that I find works well with Runes, is to read the seasons of the upcoming year. The seasons have such an important role in Runes, making this layout especially fitting. You would begin as you would with any other reading and in this version you would denote the four positions to:

SPRING • SUMMER • AUTUMN • WINTER

The Runes that fall in each position give an over arching view of the year ahead. Let’s try a sample reading with four Runes. After shuffling the deck, I drew the following four cards:

SOWILO • URUZ • ANSUZ • HAGALAZ

Sowilo is the sun Rune and represents warmth, joy, and, quite literally, the sun. Uruz is the strength Rune and deals with challenges and obstacles, but also having the strength to overcome. Ansuz is the breath Rune and is about messages both spoken and written; communication is also covered by this rune. Hagalaz is the hail Rune and speaks about natural disasters and disruptions.

There are a few ways to interpret a reading like this. We can look at it in a mundane way or in a more life-changing way.

One version would be that the spring would be a beautiful time spent outside in the sun; the summer would become a bit more challenging, with a few obstacles I will need to face; the autumn would bring a time of deepening of connections with myself and with others, especially in the form of communication; and the winter will bring more turbulence, and perhaps quite literally, hail.

We can also look at the color of the cards to read deeper into the meaning of the reading. We begin with an incredibly positive card, perhaps the most positive in the entire Rune system. Sowilo has no orange at all and is covered in gold. This would suggest the year would begin well. Following Sowilo, we have Uruz, which has quite a bit of orange suggesting the spring will be challenging, but Uruz also tells us that we can persevere if we proceed with strength and willpower. The autumn is represented by Ansuz, which has both gold and orange present in the card. Ansuz is generally a neutral card as it pertains to communication, which can be both positive and negative, depending on the context. It seems like the autumn will be a mix of good and bad with a focus on communication. Finally, we have Hagalaz, one of the most, if not the most, challenging cards. There is a bit of gold in the center of the hail comets, but other than that, we are met with an onslaught of orange. Hagalaz suggests that the year may end with quite a bit of turbulence, but often when this card shows up, it is because this change is long overdue.

FIVE RUNES AND BEYOND

If you are looking for a longer rune reading you can add in a fourth and fifth Rune position to the past present future reading. These positions represent advice (fourth) and outcome (fifth). The Advice Rune presents you with another way of looking at the situation. Perhaps it is not as dire as you perceive, or maybe it is even more so. The fifth rune, Outcome, represents the future if you take the advice of the fourth rune.

These spreads are merely suggestions for how to begin reading with Runes. Advanced readers may choose to develop their own ways to read Runes that can incorporate even more Runes in a reading. It’s important to note that the more Runes you do choose to add in the more diluted the reading can become. Three of the Runes speak loudly, but once you introduce ten or twelve, you are using nearly half the system and so naturally the importance of each Rune showing up is lessened.

Once again, let’s take a look at the example spread below. After shuffling I pulled: Ehwaz - Mannaz - Kenaz - Gebo - Wunjo.

Ehwaz is the horse Rune and speaks to loyalty and rapid changes. Mannaz is the Rune of humankind and is about human connection and the greater good. Kenaz is the flame Rune and represents the spark of light in the darkness. Gebo is the gift Rune and can represent a literal gift exchange or a talent. Lastly, Wunjo is the Rune of joy and represents positivity and happiness.

EHWAZ • MANNAZ • KENAZ • GEBO • WUNJO

So, in the past position, we have rapid changes and a sense of spiritual movement. Our current position is Mannaz, which can represent our need to feel connected to those around us. Kenaz occupies the future position, which indicates that there is a spark that will need to be maintained in the future in order to light the way. It may be challenging (noting the presence of orange) but at the heart of this spark is goodness (yellows and golds). The fourth position, the advice, is Gebo. Here, it is likely that Gebo stands for giving and accepting. It is directly speaking to Mannaz, the card in the present posi.tion. Perhaps there is an openness that needs to be nurtured with those that are close to us. In the final position we have Wunjo, a sign of great joy. It is always reassuring to have a positive card in the final position that represents the out.come. This would suggest that if the advice is taken to heart, the outcome will be one of great positivity.

Looking at the color of this spread can prove a bit more chal.lenging than some of the previous examples, but let’s see what we can infer. Ehwaz has a mix of color, suggesting that these past spiritual changes were met with a mix of good and bad. Mannaz has no color so it stands as a true neutral card. Kenaz, as mentioned earlier, also has a mix of gold and orange. But then we are met with the final two cards which have a surplus of gold and yellow. So even though Mannaz has no color, we can infer that these small difficulties of the past will be replaced by happiness in the future.

There are many different spreads you can attempt with Runes that are not covered in this short guide. We encourage you to seek additional resources to further expand your understanding of this ancient practice.