Runic
Philosophy is deep and complex and difficult to verbalise.
When it comes to trying to document the concepts in writing,
it is even harder; so in trying to give you a rudimentary
understanding I have kept things as simple as possible and
have stuck to first principles. It is important to remember
that the concepts of Rune Philosophy have developed over several
thousand years by the ancestors; and because of their tradition
of passing on knowledge through the 'spoken word' and by the
'living experience' what I have learned of the philosophy
has come from archeological records, myths, legends, ancient
poems, etc. Understanding of Norse and Celtic Mythology; and
the social structure has been an advantage, and then of course
there are the Runes themselves and what they have revealed
to me in my practice over the past 30+ years.
As
a starting point, my ancestors (European Celts) believed in
the philosophy of Wyrd, and Wyrd philosophy is used to explain
the mechanics of the runes. The Wyrd is thought of as a giant
spider's web that spreads its strands across time and space,
with each strand made up of a different manifestation of energy,
the culmination of these energies being the very fabric of
the universe. From the moment we are born to the moment of
our death we are some where on this web and because of the
nature of it we are also a part of the web.
The
link between the Wyrd and the Runes is that as each strand
of the Web is made of energy then to be able to identify the
different types of energies we must give each of them a symbol.
The Runes are these symbols. Each letter of the Runic alphabet
as well as having its phonetic value, and name also represents
an energy. In divination using the Runes reveal a reflection
of the energies in and around the subject, or person.
In
terms of the social imperative at it's most simplistic...
The ancestors knew and understood that the well-being of their
tribe, village, community was dependent on every member of
the community making a positive contribution based on their
skills and abilities - from the smallest child to the elders,
and everyone in between. It is for the purpose of identifying
an individuals innate energy, natural born skills or talents,
that the ancestors used the Runes to identify the path that
would bring greatest benefit to the individual and thereby
their community. The idea being that a happy, healthy and
whole individual would contribute more, with joy; than one
who was miserable, resentful and unhappy. To this end the
concept and practice of 'life-mapping' evolved, whereby a
divination was made - to identify an individuals strengths
and weaknesses, the nature of their natural born skill or
talent and what it was that the individual should avoid in
order to avert personal and or community disaster; at the
earliest opportunity. It is also of value to note that in
the world of the ancestors, there was no gender divide to
determine the path of a persons life - women could be warriors
and men could be teachers and healers.
Added
to this the ancestors of Northern Europe understood the laws
of cause and effect (Orlog), which is similar
in nature to the Eastern philosophy of Karma without the re-incarnation
aspect. The view was that you were born with a clean slate
and what you did with your life from then on was your
responsibility, if you got it wrong then you had to pay the
price, both in your physical life and in the after life. To
do good deeds in life would bring good fortune in return and
a good death, which would in turn ensure that the afterlife
was spent in Valhalla or Sesrumnir and not in Hel or if you
were a particularly vile creature Niflheimr. The Hel of our
ancestors was and is not to be likened to the Hell of Christian
philosophies, it was merely a cold, dark and dreary never
never world ruled over by Helia half goddess half giantess,
where those who did not die in a state of grace would be consigned.
The
Wyrd and Orlog are interlinked, a person doing a good deed
and building a good Orlog will fill their psyche with positive
energy. As that person is on the web and indeed part of it,
it naturally follows that they will be on a positive strand
of the Web. Because the web is the fabric of life then their
world will be influenced by that positive energy.
When
divining for the purpose of healing the process is reversed
instead of observing the manifestation of energy the Runes
are used as a channel for energy beneficial to the recipient.
As I have already said the runes represent pure energy in
its primal form, they also have names and concepts attached
to each of them. It is not unusual in ancient alphabets for
the letters to be given names as they serve as a suitable
set of mnemonics, also the concepts attached to each rune
is usually derived from its nature.
The
practical aspects of Rune lore can be broken down into two
main groupings for simplification, Passive i.e. divination
and Active i.e. healing and spiritual / personal evolution.
In
the tradition of use the Runes in healing and spiritual evolution
i.e. initiation. These two aspects can be looked at together
as the methods and underlying philosophy are similar. If we
think back to the web of Wyrd, the idea that depending on
our position on the web it would influence the nature of the
energies that were prominent in our psyche. Shamanic tradition
holds that all illness is caused by an influence of negative
energy disrupting the natural balance in the body, therefore
the healing process must replace the unbalanced energy with
a balanced or harmonious energy; this by its very nature would
cause a persons position on the web to move or shift. |
.gif)