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The term rune is derived from the Indo-European root ru, which means mystery or secret. Runes were used by the ancient Norse, Germanic, and Saxon peoples as alphabetical characters and magical symbols that were ascribed with various magical, mystical, and divinatory properties.
The oldest runes that have been reliably researched by conventional archaeological methods date from more than 1,700 years ago. This set is therefore known as the Elder Futhark, although because it is associated with the culture of the Germanic peoples of Northern Europe, it is sometimes called the Common Germanic Futhark. These various alphabetical signs have been passed down through the centuries and were thought to possess religious and magical meanings.
Personal runes can represent letters, deities, qualities, animals events, and natural forces. Though they were an alphabet, they were thought too powerful to be used for common speech. Therefore they were reserved for ritual language, becoming the voice of the gods and a means of insight into the present and future.
The symbols were composed of vertical and angled straight lines that could easily be cut or burned in wood. The Runic system was used by ancient cultures and are thousands of years old.
Beginning in the 1980s and continuing to the present it became popular to use rune stones for divinatory purposes, they are cast like coins or sticks in I Ching or laid out in crosses or wheels such as Tarot cards. Some modern witches inscribe their magical tools and personal jewelry with runic characters
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