Your online guide to divination and positive magic

As there are no reliable historical descriptions of runic divination, no one knows for sure how the ancients used runes for divining. Norse references all tell of the runes being cast or thrown, suggesting that the formal patterns used in the familiar runespreads commonly used today are modern conceptions, possibly derived from the Tarot. 

For example, most runes are carved onto small bits of wood, clay or stone. These are better designed to be picked up and scattered, rather than being laid out in a specific pattern like the Tarot. This is verified by descriptions of runic divination in Norse literature, all of which refer to them being 'thrown', 'cast' or 'scattered'.

Some books give upright and reversed meanings for the runes (like Tarot cards). This is obviously impractical if one is casting the runes, since many will land sideways or at odd angles. Polarizing the meanings of the runes in this way, even if those opposites aren't phrased in terms of 'positive' and 'negative', tends to limit the range of possible interpretations and ignores the complex and subtle relationships between the different runes in a cast.

Another method of casting runes in Western magic is to write the letters on slips of papers that are given, handed, or sent to the victim of the spell. Such a method was brilliantly described in the short story Casting the Runes by M. R. James in More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, 1911.

The important thing, however, is that you feel comfortable with the method you choose. If you feel the need for a more structured reading than a simple cast provides, devise a pattern for your casting cloth that has some meaning for you to give the reading a more tangible context. If you find nine or twelve runes to be a bit overwhelming, use three or four. If you want to just grab a handful and cast them, go right ahead. The runes themselves should tell you how they want to be read. With experiment and practice you will develop your own runecasting method that works with your rune set and and your psyche. If you feel the need for a more disciplined method than a random cast, construct your own casting field on a paper or cloth, or even a marked diagram on the ground. Choose a format that has significance to you, rather than just accepting a predefined pattern such as Freya Aswynn's Nine Worlds (see below).  Once you have found a system that works for you, stick to it. Consistency in method is one of the keys to successful divining. 

There are basically to way of using the runes: runespreads and runecasts

In a runespread, you select the runes for the reading from a hidden cache and place them in a pattern to be read according to their positions relative to one another. In a runecast you throw or drop the runes so that they fall randomly onto the runecasting surface and read them according to their location upon the surface. One or more runes can be picked blind and "at random" from a bag. The runes picked then have some bearing on the situation or question at hand. This form of divination is quite common found and relies on the effect that Carl Jung called "synchronicity" and that the original users of the runes would have called Wyrd.

Another major difference is in the method of interpretation. With a runespread it is common to use reverse and converse interpretations for many runes. For example, Berkanan upright can mean growth, whereas Berkanan reversed (upside-down) can indicate shrinkage or lack of growth, and Berkanan converse (face down) can mean hidden growth. So, with a runespread it is a simple matter to place the drawn rune onto the casting surface in exactly the same aspect it came to hand.

Interpreting a runecast

But in a runecast it is obviously  impractical to take these alternative interpretations into account because the runes can fall at any  angle. With a random pattern like the runecast it would be altogether too restrictive to limit the interpretation of individual runes in this way. It would curtail some of the more complex and subtle relationships between the neighbouring runes in the cast.

If you feel a bit out of depth using the full rune set, just select a few runes for your early efforts, 8, 9 or 12 runes will still provide enough depth for meaningful readings. Even that number might seem a bit overwhelming to begin with, so you might like to start with just 3, 4, or 5 runes to get the feel of the runecast method.

You must decide for yourself  how the relative positions of the runes effect the cast. When you have performed a number of casts and decided on meanings for various positions or patterns you will be able to formulate your own conventions for interpreting your runecast in future. It is important to be consistent in your interpretations, so once you find the meaning for a form or pattern that fits your situation, always try to keep to the same interpretation in the future. But don't be too restrictive in setting rules. In other words, you should not be tempted to see every triangle or square as a set pattern that must mean the same thing every time. 

Interpreting a runespread

In a spread the sequence in which runes are drawn determines their position and significance. Each place in a rune spread has a meaning attached  to it, so the first rune might represent "Past Events", the second "That Which  prevents Growth", the third "Current Situation" etc. Spreads can range from  anything from two runes up to a full 24 rune layout. All spreads in use today  are modern inventions since we know very little about ancient forms of  divination involving the runes. Spreads are a useful divinatory tool. Many  people will find one particular spread they like and use this consistently. Others will make use of different spreads depending on circumstances and the  type of information they are hoping to obtain. ). The more runes utilised in a spread the greater the level of detail the runes are able to provide. Hence 1-3 rune spreads are ideal when the intention is to enable a decision to be made quickly whereas spreads with more runes are preferable when wanting to look at a situation in greater depth considering all contributing factors