Book recommendations | The Aettr | Further Futhark | Websites

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Note: Most Old Norse material hails from Scandanavia and Iceland. Much of the scholarly material has not been translated into English. Much more of the source information was never written down, or was written down subsequent to the advent of Christianity. This leaves the field ripe for speculation, and for figuring out "what works", or at least seems to. I do my share herein, but will admit this. A couple of scholarly (in an overview way) English language sites associated with universities are listed below.

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Some recommended books:

H.R. Ellis-Davidson, Myths of Northern Europe, Penguin Books.

Freya Aswynn, Northern Mysteries and Magick, 1998, Llewellyn Publications. (A new updated edition of the earlier Leaves of Yggdrasil, complete with CD of chants).

Edred Thorsson, Runelore, 1987, Samuel Weiser, Inc.

The Elder Futhark (Norse Runes) are a collection of 24 symbols divided into three families or aettr. They were inscribed on amulets for protection, luck in battle, etc. As the old Norse language had no future tense, these runes were not used for definitive future predictions, but could be consulted to understand trends based in the present (leaving the reader to extrapolate outward as appropriate). The 25th blank rune available in some sets is a modern invention not used by most students of the Runes. Some of the runes as depicted above were also written in other styles.

The Aettr:

Contained in the pages below are my interpretations (in a basic way) of the meanings of the runes, based on books, workshops I've attended, meditation, and inspiration garnered during readings. Rather than setting them in stone (pun intended), think of them as symbols which can trigger your own explorations on many levels. See how they manifest in, and interact with, your own life.

The First Aett

The Second Aett

The Third Aett

Further Futhark:

My goal is now to learn how to read Old Norse/Old Icelandic, at least well enough to get somewhere with studies in greater depth. I'm not great with languages, so I don't see massive progress occurring on this in the near future. Meanwhile:

How I stumbled over the Futhark

Some thoughts on using the Futhark

Some Futhark-related websites:

A great new site regarding things Asatru.

Raven Online -- Several files describing what the Asatru religion is, and is not.

Icelandic Asatru Page / Ásatrúarfélagið -- Much of this is in Icelandic, but more English material shows up over time. Besides, it may be a great place to test one's knowledge of the Icelandic tongue.

FUTHARK Fonts (for the Mac) -- some look like they'd be cool, but I don't run a Mac.

A Futhark Font for Windows:

Elder Futhark TrueType font for Windows. Supplied as freeware by Jef Powell.

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