Historical Precedent for the 3 Rune Cast

[imranshaikh1]

could someone tell me what runes is please?

[MoonGoddess]

Runes are a set of markings which form the Futhark, the best way to discribe them is to liken them to the alphabet.  Although they are not a traditional alphabet, the lettering system does not start with ABC but the name Futhark is the first six letters of the Runic sytem.  Fehu, Uraz, Thurisaz, Ansuz, Raidho and Kenaz.  They are originaly Norse but have been taken by different cultures and have been extended adapted to suit there purpose.  They can be used for writing in code, or for magical purposes

MG

[Azamarak]

The Egyptions did have something similar to Runes. They had images carved upon small scraps from the slag piles. Similar to runes. You can find them occassionaly in shops. They are called The Eye of Horus stones. They are egyption images however, not an alphabet per se. I have a set kicking around here somewhere.

[Wælwulf]

The Egyptions did have something similar to Runes. They had images carved upon small scraps from the slag piles. Similar to runes. You can find them occassionaly in shops. They are called The Eye of Horus stones. They are egyption images however, not an alphabet per se. I have a set kicking around here somewhere.

Sources?

[MoonGoddess]

There are such "alphabets" which are not technically "alphabets" because their first letters do not start with the same letters that we know.  The Eye of Horus sounds very interesting would be interesting in reading more about them if you could please let us know where you may have got this information that would be great.

[Azamarak]

Ok consider this a random act of kindness, since I had to go digging through this mountain of stuff to lay hands on my old Eye of Horus set.  If you were to see the stuff I have collected in my life time you would understand why I call a search through it as a random act of kindness.

This set was given to me about 20 years ago by a woman from Toronto who at the time I thought I could not live without. On one of her many visits to North Carolina I made her a set of runes as well as a very nice wand. She sent me this Eye of Horus set which I am guessing she acquired in Toronto.

It came with a book explaining the history of the Eye of Horus which it describes as "an oracle of ancient Egypt". The Book's author is David Lawson and it is published by the St. Martins Press out of New York, in the publisher's mark it shows a dashound with small print that says "A Thomas Dunne Book". The book is a hundred and sixty pages long and covers the history, meanings, and castins of the stones.  There are 25 stones each with a name and meaning.

I will randomly open a page to one of the stones and see what we get....Ok I have opened to the stone RE it looks like a circle within a circle with a line under it. It signifies Journeying, Cycles, Illumination and Creation. The stone represents Re the sun god of Heliopolis whose other forms include Atum and Khepri..there are then three pages describing everything you could want to know about this stone.

The stones them selves appear to be some form of hardened and fired clay, unglased and sandish in color with the inscritions carved into them and then lined in blue making them very visible. They come with a very nice aquablue  and  gold pouch with drawstrings.

The book describes 5 different spreads that can be used with the stones they are; The Wisdom of Maat Spread using 3 stones chosen like runes from the bag, The Secrets of the Sphinx Spread using 4 stones that are flipped randomly after all stones are spread, The Treasures of the Pyramids Spread using 5 stones, The Relationship spread using two stones, and The Eye of Horus spread which is a most elaborate spread using 7 stones, which is said to be usually only cast once for a person and then other spreads are used.

Ok that is my source for the Eye of Horus Stones, as I said they came as a gift about 20 years ago and then went into my collection of things that I am always going to get to when I get the time. Truthfully, the only reason I could recall them vaguely was that they were a gift by an old lover and I had written some stuff about them in my BOS years ago (I think it was in volume 6, which would date them at about 1982 or 3). I always seem to be able to recall little things that I wrote in my BOS.

[MoonGoddess]

Thank you for that effort Azamarak, believe me I know what you are talking about going in search for things.  My parents this year have sent me over 10 large boxes of my stuff which I had to go through and chuck out most things but thankfully found all my rune books amongst other stuff which I hold dear to my heart.

I find it is alway good when quoting information to put in and author so that people if they are interested can then look them up in the library or go and buy the book themselves if it is still in publication.  I guess I am a bit of a book worm...lol.

Any way back to your Eye of Horus stones are there any colours in them or are they just one colour or just the carving itself?  So many questions.  I am always interested in tools of the trade.

Thank you again for telling us were you got your information.

[Azamarak]

The stones themselves are solid color like a white sand  they appear to be some type of hard fired unglazed ceremic. The inscriptions seem to be carved not cast, and are then painted a shade of blue making the inscription very visible. The over all quality of them seems to be very good. To be honest I have just set them on a shelf for years and treated them as pretty much a novelty item. I just don't know enough about them.

I recall that I was somewhat impressed when I recieved them since they confirmed some feelings that I have harbored all my life concerning the overall human condition. I had some thoughts about how it was fitting that the ancient Egyptions would have developed a thing with similarities to Runes....but that is another discussion entirely.

[EarlofLeicester]

I am going to play Devil's Advocate here for a moment, although will admit that I don't have specific knowledge to refute or deny.  Runes as we generally know them are historically veracible as Germanic creations, such as the people we associate with Scandinavia and Anglo-Saxon England.  In modern times we have seen books and stones on things like Celtic Runes which are a modern construct to apply the Norse stones to a different philosophical point of view (in this case Celtic).  While it is an interesting idea, it is not a cornerstone of the people who lived so very long ago.  (It would be like me making up a Norse tradition because it suited my whims.  May be satisfying, but hardly authentic).  Then there is the scholarship of some who have unearthed some ancient runic system (the Goddess Runes come to mind, admittedly I was hoodwinked for a bit) but closer examination makes it more of as hoax, or at least wishful thinking (to be kind) and not historically authentic.  Given the time and breadth of the Egyptian empire it seems impossible to me that the use of runes in their culture was not recorded previously if they indeed had the runes.  Certainly Egypt was more high profile than Germania  yet the Christian edited versions of the writings of that era still strongly reproduce an era where the runes existed and were important to the peoples.  I haven't researched the info that Azamarak discusses, but if it's one book by only one person when sooooo many people discussing Egypt in the past have never touched based on runic systems, well, then I have to remain skeptical.  Admittedly, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and the methodology of runecasting is clearly appealing to some, but modern day creations just don't cut it IMHO.  I could polish some stones and engrave some American symbols on them... on seconf thought, no, let's stick with the Futhark and what we know to be true, Odin be praised!

[Wælwulf]

Funny, I was going to rephrase after I realized my apparent error in my request as stated, & say academic sources, but I sometimes get the words "elitist pig" screamed at me from across the room, so I was going to leave it alone. It seemed to stray far enough from the subject of runes that it wasn't a huge deal for me anyway. I guess I'll just have to be more clear in the future when I make a request for sources.

[EarlofLeicester]

No, Waelwulf, don't second guess yourself.  I think academic sources covers it quite nicely.  Guess that makes me an elitist pig, too.  Oink.

After a reasonably large number of posts I made today on the runes, that may be an easy assumption to make (i.e. elitist pig) but it is about Norse scholarship and honesty in reporting it.  The historically veracible isn't always going to be the popular choice, but for those faithful to the Norse traditions, they will always be the right choice.

[MoonGoddess]

No, Waelwulf, don't second guess yourself.  I think academic sources covers it quite nicely.  Guess that makes me an elitist pig, too.  Oink.

After a reasonably large number of posts I made today on the runes, that may be an easy assumption to make (i.e. elitist pig) but it is about Norse scholarship and honesty in reporting it.  The historically veracible isn't always going to be the popular choice, but for those faithful to the Norse traditions, they will always be the right choice.

Ooooh Stop, can't laugh any more my sides are aching and I think the baby might be coming...lol.  Oink Oink Oink!

[EarlofLeicester]

A lil' copy and paste from Wiki:  The Norse gods Freyr and Freyja both had boars. Freyr’s boar was named Gullinbursti ("Golden Mane"), who was manufactured by the Sons of Ivaldi as a gift to Freyr. The bristles in Gullinbursti’s mane glowed in the dark to illuminate the way for his owner. Freya rode the boar Hildesvini (Battle Swine) when she was not using her cat-drawn chariot. According to the poem Hyndluljóð, Freyja concealed the identity of her protégé Ottar by turning him into a boar. In Norse Mythology, the boar was generally associated with fertility as well as a protective talisman in war, due to the animal’s sometimes fierce nature.

Hildesvini... Hmm, would maybe would make a fine mascot for like minded people?  Myself, Waelwulf and MoonGoddess.  Anyone else want to join the MB's Boar Club?  (Do boars go oink, oink?)


Freyja and Hildesvini

Disclaimer:  All tongue-in-cheek and many advocates of the Norse ways use Mjollnir as sacred imagery of their beliefs.

[MoonGoddess]

But of course Frey and Frejya's wild boars why did I not think of that...Oh I just saw on the news tonight about a eleven year of kid from Alabama who hunted a wild bore for three hours and eventually killed it (I will state here that I do not condone the hunting of any animals for sport).  The bore was almost a tonne you should have seen the size of it.  Any way back to the image you have posted, how powerful is that it seems to give off energy just looking at it just imagine how it must feel to hold.

[EarlofLeicester]

I don't own a Mjolnir (in any form) which royally bugs me.  They were selling nice ones at the ren faire last year but I didn't have the ca$h to spare.  Looking to fix that problem this year.  :)