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Alaric Albertsson

Wyrdworking: The Path of a Saxon Sorcerer Paperback – February 8, 2011

by Alaric Albertsson (Author)

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Within the pages of this magical handbook, you’ll find everything you need to know to practice Saxon sorcery. Alaric Albertsson once again uncovers the practices and customs of the Anglo-Saxons hidden in early charms and English folk traditions. His first book, Travels Through Middle Earth, taught readers how to connect with the Saxon cosmology, deities, spirits, and rituals. Now, Wyrdworking tells how to craft rune charms, brew potions, cast effective spells, and use magical techniques to find love and prosperity.

This guide explores the folklore, meanings, and magical properties of all thirty-three Old English Futhorc runes, classifying them by theme, such as animals or trees, to help you learn. Discover how to make a wand or staff, consecrate and use a seax (knife), and practice the herbal healing known as wortcunning. Design effective spells through the use of galdor (incantations), practice wiglung (the art of soothsaying), and create your own set of powerful divinatory runes.

Print length

360 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Llewellyn Publications
Publication date

February 8, 2011
Dimensions

6.25 x 1 x 9.5 inches
ISBN-10

0738721336
ISBN-13

978-0738721330
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Alaric Albertsson (Pennsylvania) is a founding member of Earendel Hearth, an Anglo-Saxon inhíred, and served as vice president and was on the Board of Directors of the Heartland Spiritual Alliance. He is currently a member of the Druidic organization Ár nDraíocht Féin and serves as the Anglo-Saxon Vice Chieftain for the ADF Germanic kin, Eldr ok Iss.

Albertsson first embraced polytheism in the summer of 1971. At this time he had the opportunity to talk with rural people in the Ozark Mountains about traditional moon lore, weather lore and folk beliefs and was strongly influenced by spiritist traditions. Over the past four decades, Albertsson's personal spiritual practice has developed as a synthesis of Anglo-Saxon tradition, country folklore, herbal studies and rune lore.

Product details

Publisher : Llewellyn Publications (February 8, 2011)
Language : English
Paperback : 360 pages
ISBN-10 : 0738721336
ISBN-13 : 978-0738721330
Item Weight : 1.02 pounds
Dimensions : 6.25 x 1 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,371,209 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #386 in Druidism
- #2,305 in Paganism
- #5,601 in Magic Studies (Books)

Customer Reviews:
33 ratings

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2 star		5%
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Sandra K

So good I bought it twice (the second time for my mother)

Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2019

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Due to life it took me over six months to finish reading this book-- but it was well worth it. I went slowly through the runes reading one rune's section a day. I found that this technique along with the book's descriptions really helped keep the runes' meanings in my mind. After completing this book I can easily look at a rune and know what it is saying. I can also think of runes off the top of my head that will help me with certain goals. I never thought I would be so familiar to runes because they don't have images like tarot cards do. But thanks to this book I feel a comfort with runes i never thought was possible. And thus I ended up buying this book a second time because my mother wanted to have the same comfort with runes.

One person found this helpful

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Gonzo

Wicca with Anglo-Saxon-esque style.

Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2013

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I had to reread this book before making a review. My initial impression was that of being let down by this book. I had high hopes before reading it, and afterwards I felt I just wasted my money on another wiccan book. This kept me from absorbing the good stuff in this book.

LIKED- He makes no claims of "authenticity" of wyrdworking and clearly indicates that this is a book for magick users, not scholars. He often uses old english terms and bits of history but this is not a history book. When something is a new, modern or personal "invention" he clearly states it is so.
DISLIKED- The review questions at the end of the chapter were a little reminescent of grade school text books (remember how fun they were, right?)and he makes a few references to Raymond Bucklands works, which to me, comes off as a little less confident, going with one of the mainstream guys. It's time to break away from the wiccan/ceremonial magick "regime".

Other revieweres did a good job, but I wanted to give a little more on the content of the book, as I find those reviews most helpful, myself. If you don't want to read this all, just read the following three lines.

If you like Northern Revival Magick, you might like this book.
If you like wicca, you will probably like this book.
If you like knowing the origins of terms/words and/or you want a wider range of rune study material you will definitely like this book.

My initial impression is still the same. This is pretty much a start-up book on wicca with some old english flavor. But it's also one of the better ones I,ve seen...sans moral lecturing and hippy culture bias. It won't steer you wrong or put restrictions on you.

CONTENT
Good introduction explaining the content of this book (worth reading)

Pages 3-21 are a kind of preparation for the book, Nature Magick, Wicca and the 9 parts of the body.

TOOLS
Myse- Work surface (Table, Cloth or Flat Stone)
Telga- a wand (I like when he states AGAINST a very common Wiccan belief, that cutting off a branch is like cutting off a finger. It's not because trees shed their branches all the time...people's fingers don't just fall off)
Staff- or Staef
Mortar (& Pestle)for wortcunning/herbs
Cauldron- For heating liquids OVER AN OPEN FIRE ( he suggests using a modern pot or stock pot)
Seax- Knife (I like his method of Weland's Transfer)
Good Thing- not a whole lot required
Bad Thing- nothing new

ALCHEMY OF MAGICK- storage ideas and ingredients such as herbs, minerals, blood, metals, salt, spit, urine, wax, fat and oil.
I like his entries on traditional English plants such as leeks and mugwort, but didn't like his all too common approach on essential oils. He (and many others) say it's too difficult and expensive, just buy them (essential oils). If you really put a lot of stock into DIY magick then expense, time and effort are no object.

ENGLISH (Anglo Saxon) RUNES
The 33 MOST PROMINENT Futhorc runes (pages sixty-seven to 211, the majority of the book), 29 of which appear in the Anglo Saxon Rune Poem(s) (of wich there are many slight variations in translation). He has the Rune Poem(s) and discusses everything from divination, charms, bindrunes to helms (of awe). He divides the runes up into themed categories; plant, animal, earthly, in the hall (human conditions) and beyond the hall (devine conditions)... instead of the traditional families of Aett(ir) which are attributed to certain gods (to some). However, much of his RUNECRAFT is derived from scandinavian/germanic revival (new) traditions...though he emphasis spells (active magick) over divination (passive magick)

In this section he does emphasize the point that rune studies never end, it's a lifelong endeavor. I totally agree. As we grow older, our attitudes, experiences, values and revelations change. Things gain and lose significance. The battle runes mean different things to young and old men.

However he boldly (and in my opinion, wrongly) claims that Anglo Saxon Pagan spirituality is ESSENTIAL to being a rune worker. Helpful-yes. Important-maybe. Essential- No. If that were true the runes would have been abandoned immediatly the moment a pagan converted to christianity. History shows that this was not the case.

GALDOR
power of speech (songs, chants and sounds) along with poetry, rhymes, alliteration-stuff like that.

WORTCUNNING
working with herbs for MAGICK and a list (with brief descriptions) of 24 common herbs (there is unique or uncommon info here)

WIGLUNG(divination)
contains a very good section on what he calls WyrdStones- 14 Bindrune like symbols attached to common concerns/meanings (or witch's runes)

BLOOD TO BLOOD-Health Magick
HEART TO HEART- Love Magick (of course)
RAGS TO RICHES- Prosperity Magick (again, of course)

CONCLUSION
A little history and paths of study

APPENDIX A- Runes, Meanings and Values
APPENDIX B- Wyrd Stones, Names and Meanings
APPENDIX C- How to write with runes
GLOSSARY- To refresh the memory with terms, spellings and meanings encountered in the book

12 people found this helpful

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M. Garren

Another great book by Mr. Albertsson

Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2011

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This is the second book by this author that I have read. I love both of his books! Finding material on the Saxon traditions is difficult at best. The focus on the Futhorc, instead of the more widely known Futhark, is very refreshing. The author presents the full version of the Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem in a modern translation. The Runes are grouped together in the text according to type instead of in the traditional order (which is given for reference) and then, along with each Rune, you have the text of the Rune Poem again for easy reference and analysis.

The use of the Runes, as well as other magical methods within a Saxon tradition, are presented and the reader given contemporary examples of how to use them.

Given the scarcity of works dealing with this topic and the gaps in knowledge of how the ancients actually practiced their traditions, the author synthesizes and presents a great introduction to the Saxon ways.

This text, along with his first work, 'Travels Through Middle Earth: The Path of a Saxon Pagan', offer great starting points to assist any seeker on their way to deeper studies of this path.

19 people found this helpful

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Chicago Bookworm

A VERY USEFUL BOOK ON THE FUTHORC

Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2013

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This book is very useful for the rune student interested in moving beyond the commonly used Futhark runes into the less-used Futhorc rune set. Indeed, it's one of the few books out there on the Futhorc. I found Albertsson's text clear and interesting, and in many cases persuasive. The scholarship relating to the Futhorc appears to be quite limited, and thus even more is open to interpretation than with the Futhark. In some instances, Albertsson's opinions may not be to the taste of everyone. For example, he associates the rune Ior with the beaver rather than Jormangand (the world serpent), which appears to be a more common opinion. Yet Albertsson is informative and provocative in the best sense, and I recommend this book.

One person found this helpful

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Brett Chandler-Finch

Wyrdworking and Anglo Saxon sorcery and magic are the same book

Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2020

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I bought wyrdworking and a handbook of Saxon sorcery at the same time. They are exactly the same book. Llewellyn simply changed the title and cover pages. Even the page numbering is the same. Luckily I was able to give my daughter the other copy. otherwise the book is well written.

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w bates

brilliant

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 30, 2013

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this is a brilliant and well written book for anyone interested in anglo saxon magic and i recommend it most strongly

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