Customer Reviews

The Runic Workbook: Understanding and Using the Power of Runes (Aquarian Press Divination Series)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One of the best books I have ever seen on the subject. Great for beginers and experts alike. Easy to understand meanings. Covers many ways runes can be used, and is in a format perfect for newcomers. Start here.

I'm giving this book a middle to slightly negative rating. It contains some useful information. But it is trying to incoroporate too much of today's melting pot messages which eventually becomes an overlay in this book to the Runes clarity and concepts themselves. The concepts are difficult to understand today since we are taught to filter our understandings through different lenses.

Since sometimes various religious or political modis operandi has unfortunately for many been to stamp out another's belief systems via wars or outright genocides, a culture's ancient teachings have tended to be misunderstood. This makes such a topic particularly difficult to cover. To the author's credit, this topic is an important and a challenging one especially since the earth and all in it need true diversity and tolerance of difference (in contrast to today's melted pots which ultimately destroy all unique cultures). Understanding and studying the ancient ways may help the ancestors of many different ones to retain their old ways, practice them, and not reinvent them into a superficial New World theme park melting pot.

The author misses the point entirely that for those of the Runes, the ancients partner with the gods and goddesses. Unlike many modern religions, the rune people did not consider themselves and were not powerless at the whims of the seasons or correct god picks. Since ancient times, both the gods themselves and the people are evolving in an active working partnership. Humans just as the different gods have free will; therefore, the outcomes are worked together. Not all ancient runemasters were the Vikings or sacrifice tribes as implied in the book. Without understanding and emphasizing the sensational, unfortunately today's myth makers melts a few alien prevalent and dominant themes into one horrible pot which would make any reasonable person look no further and miss the connection to nature and the cycles offered in Runic studies and personal development.

Many different peoples have worked with the Runes. Casting them like Tarot cards may be for some people and depends on the integrity and understanding of the person casting (sounds like a technique for both scammers as well as good practitioners), but may have some benefit of helping people become familiar with the Runes again. The book also talks about standing on "the brink of a new Runic instruction". This sounds to me like another attempt to reinvent another Ages' overlay to further obscure the ancient path from the few salmon swimming back up ancient streams. Instead of a new instruction set, reconnecting today with the ancient ones are vital to survival of many peoples. The ancient tree people of Middle Earth seem like a different group than any described in the book.

To the author's credit, the Runes are a difficult topic to write about. The ancient teachings even say "none may hold [contain or own] the Runes". To work with the Runes is a journey just as this life is one. May we each journey well and may the best of this book help those seeking to understand the Runes. It was also good to read many of the explanations about how to expand ones ability to sense and grow in this understanding.

Here is a classic explanation of the origin of the Runes and the journey to even beginning with them here in Middle Earth:

The Speech of the High One

Suspended on that windswept tree,
I swung there for nine long nights,
Wounded by my own blade (thought),
Bloodied for O'din
Myself an offering to myself:
Bound to the tree,
That no man knows,
Whither the roots of it run.

None gave me bread,
None gave me drink,
Down to the deepest depths I peered,
Until I spied the Runes.
With a roaring cry I seized them up,
Then dizzy and fainting, I fell.
Well being I won,
And wisdom too.
I grew and took joy in my growth:
From a word to a word,
I was led to a word,
From a deed to another deed.
The Poetic Edda
(circa A.D. 1200)

One of the better runes for beginners. While the author ties a lot of info in with astrology, the detailed information on the meanings of the runes are great for any beginner.

This is the best book I have ever found on reading runes. It is easy to use, and full of good information.

There are some things about Tony Willis' book that I do appreciate. However, at times, this book seems to stretch the truth.

The best thing about this book is that Tony Willis touches on many different interpretations of the runes and his definitions of a number of runic combinations that he finds significant. The worst part about this book is that when I say that he "touches upon" them, I mean that the more universal meaning of each rune is summed up by a single sentence, following pages of mundane descriptions.

He attempts to analyze the runes in terms of astrological signs and Greek and Roman mythology, which is a decent approach given that Willis' background seems to be in Astrology, but unfortunately, he spends too much time trying to fit the runes into astrological categories, even when they don't really fit. For someone more well-versed in Astrology than me, this could be a meaningful way of learning the runes, but according to the simple descriptions that Willis gives, he seems to be forcing the connection.

There are much better rune books out there, most especially Diana Paxson's book "Taking up the Runes" and Edred Thorsson's "Futhark", but for someone looking to get a more "new age" perspective on the runes, I've seen far worse than this one.

Although Willis' book has many good exercises within its pages, I have a hard time getting past the flagrent misinterpretations within its covers. Willis tries hard to fuse the Grecko/Roman philosophies, and the Astrology that is based on those philosophies, with the mythos and ideals of the Norse, but it just cannot be done successfully. The two philosophies are just too different. He tries to equate Jupiter with Thor. Beside the point that Jupiter was a king of gods and Thor wasn't, Jupiter was feared by his people and Thor was loved and was treated as if he were blood kin.
If you are looking for a good book to learn the esoteric meanings of the runes, avoid this book at all costs. "Northern Mysteries" by Freyja Aswynn, "Futhark" by Edred Thorson, and "Runecasters" by Edred Thorson, are far better.

I've borrowed this book from a good friend of mine, and in reading it the book revolutionized all my previous thoughts about the Runes. I first started out reading Ralph Blum's _The Book of Runes_, so perhaps it goes unsaid in the difference of information (no offense to anyone in particular) between the two books. There was a lot of information covered in _The Runic Workbook_ that really interested me into actually practicing the art of divination. Read the book-- you won't be disappointed.