Customer Reviews

Taking Up The Runes: A Complete Guide To Using Runes In Spells, Rituals, Divination, And Magic

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Paxson has given us the new primary text on using the Runes. She has compiled what there is to know about the symbols into a single volume, bringing divinatory and spell-binding meanings together in a way that makes the meaning and power of each rune clear. The poetry is good, the ritual structure sound and the insight into both ancient lore and modern adaptation profound. In addition she lays it all out in a series of 'classes' that allow students to learn the material in an orderly way.

Highly recommended

One of the problems with a lot of books on runes is the lack of originality, followed by the tendency to see runework as another magickal system. This work does none of the above.

Yes, she goes through the meanings of each rune-but in easy to understand ENGLISH. While not being afraid to use the old tongues (there are a numbers of quotes from the Norse and other languages), they are not necessary to the text itself. She does summarize a lot of what the better modern runic sources have before giving her own slant on a subject. Additionally she takes the runes in pairs, often using one to shed light on the other. This is a book scholars would not be ashamed to own, but that is useful to newcomers to the runes.

Where this work really departs from previous works is the practical and magickal working. This is firmly situated within the practice of the religious revival, rather than making a neo-magickal order type of work. It has rituals which are for the growth of the group, as well as the individual but which focus more on personal growth than on trying to win the lottery. While no shying away from practical magick, she reminds us that this was not about magick for magick's sake, but was about living for today and within the context of community. She points out that Odin, upon obtaining the runes, promptly began using and teaching them, as opposed to immediately ascending to some transcendent plane.

I believe and hope that this is the first of a new wave of works which focus on practices as part of the religious tradition rather than a separate search for power or transcendence. If for no other reason this work would be worth the purchase price. However above that it carries a lot of the lore and mindset that someone starting out in a Norse centered religious practice should have as well as that needed in going beyond the basics. Well Done and well worth having!

This is a well written compilation of the ideas of modern popular esoteric rune authors (Aswynn, Thorsson, Pennick, etc). It should not be taken as a book about historical pre-Christian rune use, but seeks to adapt more recently invented techniques and ideas into a religious setting based on Germanic mythology.

Seen in this light, the book is a useful reference of current popular rune usage. It will not appeal to the more re-creationist or academic rune students, but offers an abundance of examples of New-Age and ecclectic adaptations of the runes. Although it does go beyond the New-Age manuals by seeking to present these ideas in a "Northern Tradition" context, I would have liked to see more distinction made between modern and historical information.

Although this book is firmly in the "speculative" category, it does present some historical background, and is a cut above the New-Age fluff that dominates the majority of esoteric rune manuals.

Sweyn
The Rune Primer

If you ever wanted to learn the runes, here's the first book you should pick up. If you already know about the runes and want to learn more, here's the next book that should be on your reading list.

Her coverage of the runes is more than adequate, she cites historical evidence and personal observations about the meanings of the runes, and also gives a straightforward, no nonesense summary of what other authors in the field have found about the runes. The exercises she provides are great, the historical background she gives is spot on, informative, and not dry and boring like many authors would have done. The idea of working the runes in pairs is unique to this book, as is the fact that she gives helpful section for both solitary study and group work.

As for the reviewer who claimed that theirs came very cheaply made, I don't find mine to be so. It has stayed together for three re-reads now, and shows no sign of falling apart, nor has it ever smelled.

The best. Period.

There are a number of books on the Elder Futhark out there. Some of them are beautiful, but downright bizzare. Others make no effort at all to connect with the folklore and practices that are known from their original context.

Diana's book includes a brief survey for each rune of material from sources that are actually based on scholarly effort and practical use, along with the original folkloric rune poems themselves. This is combined with her extensive personal and community-based experience in scholarly, religious, and magical practice. It's not a thin book, but it is nevertheless a reasonably concise guide for material that would otherwise take a library to collect, if you could even find it all anymore.

I can say from firsthand experience that the rituals she includes are highly effective, and even kind of fun. The book works very well in a class setting, as it was designed and has been used repeatedly for that purpose.

--Ember--

If you can only afford to buy one rune book I recommend this one. Not only because the author includes a wide variety of valuable information and suggestions, but because she extensively quotes and references many of the other most often recommended rune authors including Aswynn and Gundarsson. Because of this through buying this book you get the advantage of the knowledge contained in the other authors' books as well. I liked the set up of the book, with each chapter featuring two paired runes and including the Icelandic, Norwegian, and Anglo-Saxon rune poems, as well as suggestions for divinatory meanings and magical uses. While the ritual and meditation suggestions might not be to everyone's taste they do serve to illustrate the possibilities, and could easily be tailored to suit the individual. As another reviewer pointed out this is not a historical a study of the ancient runes, but rather a modern exploration of the uses of the runes in the world today and it serves that purpose very well. Also it was designed based on a series of classes taught by the author and lends itself very well to study groups, particularly those structured (as the author suggests) over a longer period of time. Personally I have read it through, used it for a study group, and keep it on hand as a convenient reference.

This is one of my favorite rune books, because she is historically true as she possibly can be, and because the basis of this book comes from her experience leading study groups on the runes and the northern mysteries. Certainly this is a unique find in this field of occult tradition, because it has had the opportunity to be put into practice by her groups years before it was ever published, and the experience drawn from her groups helped to refine the text over time based on their collective experiences, yielding this indispensible volume that it has evolved into.

Most of the excercises and rituals were originally intended for a group setting, but any of them can be practiced by the solitary "runester."

In this work, renowned fiction author Diana Paxson tackles practical rune-uses in magic, divination, and ritual. The book is obviously intended to be a sort of popular guide rather than a more serious piece. While there are places where the book misses the mark, there are places where it is fairly good as well. It is a good introduction to more serious works but it is not, by itself, a complete guide.

First the good:

I appreciate the fact that the author provides a fair bit of structure in her approach to runestave meanings. This is an important step which is missing from many books on the subject. This is important because it helps individuals make up their own minds and arrive at personal synthesis in this area. Some of the discussions of how to run a study group are helpful as well.

I also appreciated the fact that the rune poems were given in the original languages with inline translations. This helps to encourage individuals to think about the poems as being in their original languages and hence try to investigate their own translations. When I do a second edition of "The Serpent and the Eagle," I will probably follow that approach.

Now the bad:

As the author points out, the Runes are a cultural expression of a specific set of people at a specific point in time. Unfortunately she then compares spiritual systems to foreign food and suggests that we can mix and match as we find it helpful with very little structure. Much of the approach from that point on ends up much more reminiscent of Hermeticism and related traditions and there is a clear Wiccan influence. (Among other things she refers to menstrual blood as "moon blood" without noting that Germanic languages and traditions see the Moon as a male mythological figure.) This is unfortunate because it provides a shallower approach to the tradition as a whole.

A second problem occurs with the treatment of the Old Icelandic Rune Poem. The original sources include two sets of material not covered in this book. The first is a set of glosses in Latin (Aurum for Fe, Umbre for Ur, Saturnus for Thurs, etc). Often times, the investigation of these glosses provides important material for understanding the Runes. In some cases, this can be very interesting. For example As is glossed as "Jupiter" and Naudh is glossed as "opera" (meaning "work").

The second set of material omitted are the listings of leader titles alliterating with the stave name. Once again, these can be quite important to understanding the staves.

Additionally I think there is some merit to the criticism of the bibliography, which is robust in some areas, lacking in some parts, and way off in left field in others (a substantial number of contemporary fiction works by the author and others appear there).

My other complaints are mild and not really the author's fault. The pages are printed on off-white paper which is designed to make the book thicker than necessary. The font is made larger than necessary. There are white space issues with the first page. Really the book design looks like it was done either to make the book appear more substantial than it is, and the book design seems remarkably amateurish for a publisher like Weiser. The cover mentions the author's fictional works which are really unrelated to the current book. If you are a book design nerd, you won't be able to stand this book.

Overall:

I think this book is alright in its proper context. Certainly if someone wants to get into the Runes from a Wiccan background this book and "A Practical Guide to the Runes" by Lisa Peschal are good choices. However, it is not a serious textbook and is not meant to be. I would recommend it to some people but not others, hence a 3 star rating.

This is one of my go-to books for Runework. I've actually worked through this book, and each part of it is full of great insight, and the meanings of the runes as she's presented them are better for having viewpoints in addition to her own. This book works and feels like a workbook as much as it is a reference, and I use it as both.

The book is thick, and full of cross-referenced information, including direct quotes from mythology and historical resources, as well as contemporary rune authors. The guides to interpretation are of deep importance, and to me, stress a critical thinking approach to readings and use of the Runes. An excellent source. I can't recommend it highly enough.

This book should be required reading for anyone wanting to learn the Runes. Ms. Paxson goes through each Rune and carefully details it's meanings historically and in modern times. Not only is it practical, it's also rich with scholarship. Highly recommended.