Diana Paxson — Taking Up the Runes (2005)

Summary

A modern practical handbook on the 24 Elder Futhark runes, grown out of the rune class Paxson has taught since 1988 in the Bay Area (the "Hrafnar" kindred). Its school is American Heathenry/ Ásatrú, leaning heavily on Edred Thorsson (Stephen Flowers), Freya Aswynn, Kveldulf Gundarsson and Tony Willis; the academic layer comes through H. R. Ellis-Davidson, the Eddas and the rune poems. The book is explicitly framed as a group course of ~14 months (two runes a month): Part 1 — the "meanings" of each rune (ancient ones from the poems + modern interpretations + practical application); Part 2 — ready-made rituals and meditation pathworkings for each pair of runes, plus divination and a final "runic initiation" (a night bound to a tree). Epistemically mixed: Paxson honestly separates the rune poems from modern interpretations and admits the ancient method of divination is unknown, yet she builds a magical system on revelation ("downloads" from Odin) and the syncretism of various revival authors. The 2005 edition carries a preface on the Covid era and on the neo-Nazi appropriation of runes (Othala, Tiwaz, Elhaz) with an explicit distance from white-supremacist readings.

Key claims

• historical-fact "Wealth/cattle" is Fehu's first meaning in all the old rune poems; the English word "fee" derives from it; the Latin parallel is pecus → "pecuniary". — ch. P1/2 (Fehu).
• historical-fact The Anglo-Saxon, Norwegian, and Icelandic rune poems give different emphases to a rune's meaning; Paxson cites the originals (e.g. Fehu, Eihwaz = yew in all three). — ch. P1/2, P1/8.
• historical-fact Eihwaz means "yew" in all the poems; it is 13th in the Elder/Anglo-Saxon futhark, shifted to 16th in the Younger (the final-"r" sound). — ch. P1/8.
• historical-fact The exact ancient method of rune divination is unknown; the sources mention using runes for healing more than for divination (citing Kodratoff 2003). — ch. P1/14.
• historical-fact Laying out discs "like tarot" is a modern device inspired by tarot, not ancient. — ch. P1/14.
• historical-fact Tolkien knew runes but rearranged them "to suit himself" (Gandalf's G-rune = Fehu, not Gebo). — Introduction.
• historical-fact Othala, Tiwaz and Elhaz appear in neo-Nazi symbolism; the author records this and distances herself. — Preface.
• revival-claim The full "constellation of meanings" for each rune (Fehu = productivity/creativity/ Freyr-Freyja; Uruz = health/manifesting divine energies, etc.) is a modern construction, assembled from Thorsson, Aswynn, Willis, Gundarsson + personal insight. Not ancient. — Part 1, throughout the "Modern Meanings" sections.
• revival-claim Binding runes to particular gods/myths (Fehu→Vanir/Freyr/Freyja/Brísingamen/ Gullveig; Eihwaz→Yggdrasil/Odin; Perthro→the wells of fate/Frigga) is the author's interpretive synthesis, not an attested ancient correspondence. — ch. P1/2, P1/8.
• revival-claim The corpus of "magical uses" of runes (Fehu in gold ink on a chequebook; runes for the garden Fehu/Uruz/Jera/Ingwaz; Fehu on the forehead for attractiveness) is modern rune-magic. — ch. P1/2.
• revival-claim The course structure "two runes a month, 14 months", the division into aettir, the paired presentation of runes — the author's didactics. — ch. P1/1.
• revival-claim The idea that rune-meanings change over time, and that even Odin "always takes up the runes anew", is the author's theological frame, presented as a mystical truth. — ch. P1/14.
• ethnographic-data Casting rune-staves "one aett at a time onto a white cloth", reconstructed from Sibley/"rural Scandinavia"; the rule "no more than once a day", drawing 3 runes from those cast — as practices current in the community. — ch. P1/14.
• mechanism-evidence The "psychology of costume" — dressing up / props help shift the state of consciousness into a "Norse mode"; a psychological tuning mechanism is named outright. — ch. P1/1.
• mechanism-evidence Ritual work "spends energy" → grounding and food are needed afterwards; the language of states/trance, not of magical proof. — Introduction to Part 2.

Techniques

• Calling the Rune Ring (the opening of any ritual)
  • What is done: standing, the group intones the whole futhark, drawing each rune in the air (with knife/wand/staff or finger), turning sunwise; they visualize the runes as a shimmering ring of bright forms around the working space. By the end of the course, from memory.
  • Claimed effect: creates a "warded and focused space".
  • Mechanism: focusing of attention / psychological shift into ritual mode (named outright).
• Pathworking / guided meditation (a meditative journey to the World Tree)
  • What is done: the leader slowly reads a "journey" text (e.g. a path to Yggdrasil and the runes) in dim light; participants in a light trance. Each pair of runes has its own pathworking in Part 2.
  • Claimed effect: the message "reaches deeper levels of consciousness", internalizing the rune "into the soul".
  • Link: echoes guided visualization / hypnotic induction; "levels of trance".
• The standard ritual structure (Part 2)
  • What is done: (1) calling the rune ring, (2) invocations of the gods (Sigdrifa's prayer, calls to Odin), (3) the "work" — offerings, prayers, spells, dramatizing a myth, (4) guided meditation, (5) grounding, thanks to the powers, taking down the rune ring, food.
  • Claimed effect: to "manifest the meaning of the runes", to absorb them in body and soul; the group version is stronger than solo.
• Runic spells / staves (the Fehu example)
  • What is done: write a rune on an object/stave with a precisely formulated intention (Fehu in gold ink on a chequebook; Fehu+Gebo for exchange; runes into a plant pot for growth; Fehu on the forehead).
  • Claimed effect: productivity, profit, plant growth, attractiveness.
  • The author's caveat: the intention must be formulated precisely, or "you will multiply cats, not your account" — i.e. the effect works through clarity of intention.
• Spinning / conjuration-chant (Hagalaz, "unbinding problems")
  • What is done: by candlelight, center yourself, spin the circle three times with the chant "Around, around (I am) unbound… by haegl's power!", let go — see which problems the lines of the rune point to.
  • Claimed effect: to "unbind" a problem by the power of Hagalaz.
• Three-Rune Divination
  • What is done: draw 3 runes from a bag/bowl, interpret by the interplay of rune + position + the nature of the question; or the reconstructed casting of staves by aettir onto a cloth.
  • Claimed effect: advice/forecast; explicitly as a "way of proving" (testing whether the reading works) from Hávamál 144.
• Runic Initiation (the course finale)
  • What is done: a night bound to a tree in a warded place, with ≥2 trusted helpers; the runes are presented at regular intervals, the initiate in a sustained light trance contemplates all the runes at once and the links between them. An imitation of Odin's "hanging on the Tree".
  • Claimed effect: a "profound impact", internalizing the whole futhark; not a shortcut to knowledge — the effect is proportional to preparation (≥a year of study, skill at holding a trance).
  • The author's warning: not for beginners; without preparation it is "merely an uncomfortable night".

Quality of the evidence

A primary text of the modern revival tradition (T2): a statement of practice, not proof. Its strength is a relative epistemic care for the genre: Paxson separates rune-poem/Eddic quotations from modern interpretations ("Ancient Meanings" vs "Modern Meanings"), openly admits that the ancient divination method is unknown and that the "tarot-like" layout is a modern invention. Its weakness is that the system of meanings is built syncretically from several 20th-century revival authors (Thorsson/Flowers, Aswynn, Willis, Gundarsson) plus personal revelation ("downloads" from Odin), and is presented as a living mystical truth. The "results" of the magic/spells are anecdotal, with no controlled studies (the general status of the track). The claimed mechanisms (the psychology of costume, focus of attention, trance) are psychological, plausible, but unmeasured in the book.

Links

• The rune-revival timeline — who added what, and when
• Thorsson — Futhark — Paxson's main modern source
• Page — Runes and Runic Inscriptions — the academic counter-pole on rune-magic
• Rune divination — FAQ — what is genuinely ancient versus reconstructed