Metaphysics of Runes and how to Bind them for Teutonic Magic

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Runes are semipermeable membranes, mutually yoked with all others in the web of Wyrd. As ontological focal points, and psychological references – the keys to the multiverse encrypted in the cosmological number 24. Runa are the secrets truths, above and below, within and without.

They are passed on to us through a great chain of being from our distant Northern ancestors. Some theories claim they come from Latin script or even Ogham, a Celtic/Druid language. There are however also clear similarities between the runes and some archaic Bronze Age pictograms, just as there are runes that are more or less identical to letters from some of the earliest writing systems – like the ones of the Phoenicians and the Indus culture.
Believed to be spoken as a discourse between Harigastiz (Wotan/Wodhanaz), and the first race of men, the Erulians, who were rune masters and skalds – the ideal prototype of Mannaz, the humankind. Gradually the language became profane and differed from its original, divine source. Ansuz spoken in the oral tradition, and passed orally from the first generations down.
They lead us on journeys into the depths of our immediately aware, and unconscious collective brain, towards an enlightened state. Rather than working strictly from a bodily routine, and upward to mentation such as the Yogic path, or quelling parables, and nonsensical riddles as the focus of Zen, Runa mends the gaps between awe and wonder, the state of being oblivious to having to readjust our vision of the cosmos, in order to facilitate our very understanding of what is. Connecting the endless matrix of ideas in our mind with core thoughts, which like the helixes bound together in a DNA sequence act as carriers of ideas – passed down from our celestial tree – of which we are the latest representatives. This means we have a task, to keep the runes alive.

Unfortunately, we are left today with a rather bastardized version of the original Runic language. Few know how to speak it right, and fewer still how to use them, or where to put them. One need look to the poetry, for the rune rede.
The runes are power products, that lead us through the trials and tribulations of life. Those who wield them climbs a different face of the mountain, as they embed their own subjective meaning into each one’s personality.

From Sigrdrífumál:

He bade write on the shield
before the shining goddess,
On Arvak’s ear, | and on Alsvith’s hoof,
On the wheel of the wain | of Hrungnir’s killer,
On Sleipnir’s teeth, | and the straps of the sledge.
On the paws of the bear, | and on Bragi’s tongue,
On the wolf’s claws bared, | and the eagle’s beak,
On bloody wings, | and bridge’s end,
On freeing hands | and helping foot-prints.
On glass and on gold, | and on goodly charms
In wine and in beer, | and on well-loved seats,
On Gungnir’s point, | and on Grani’s breast,
On the nails of Norns, | and the night-owl’s beak.

So you can see, runes are risted (carved/engraved/scratched) on body parts, beaks, wings, claws and teeth of wild wolves, horses and birds; on weapons and wood, leather and talismans. This is of course a poetical description of the most effective places to put runes in the eyes of the Teutons. Today we use them more widespread, on our tokens and twigs, handmade fetiches, paper and taufr, and even online. But do we still know how to manipulate the runes , if we are competent enough to use them in all these places?

Rune communication occurs in a myriad of ways, I will give examples of how the Futhark system takes its course in our modern lives.

Runes are made as message in our natural language to affect alteration in the environment through our will.
Formulaic words packed with multilevel symbolic powers.
The :ᚠᚢᚦᚨᚱᚲ: (FUTHARK) formula using the entire rune row to engrain the collective paradigm of all essential things. Bringing a sense of cosmic, and psychic order to any a situation or environment.
Magical formulaic words that appear as random, undecipherable, unpronounceable, or repetitive. Like speaking in tongues, going into the trance where the secret words must be given or won from an outside source. Which might be more archaic rune words spoken between Odin and his Erulians.
Ideographs that are logos that represent the bindrune used. Not for direct translatable purpose and rational meaning, but making them more sympathetic and empathetic to the hidden realms.
Number formulas, using the rune Aett position and the numerical value of the rune in each row.
Rune math, using the tally and count of each runes for finding a number symbol, which represents the rune or word.
A rune document that describes specific acts of transformation or initiation by the runemaster; which is assumed to be in the form of some divine working, or magic rite. It details in runic language, and pseudonyms a short story of the ordeal, most often containing similar concepts that fit within the context of the rune formular.
Rune sending, a distant transmission from vitki to vitki, between which the qualities, and quantity of a given rune or rune formula may be chanted, gifted, and presented in some way across a distance to enact its purpose.
Runenyoga, performing the staves with the movement of the limb and bodily postures. Each rune stadha (posture) acting like a bio-antenna that receives the current of the rune, and enters the conscious state of the practitioner.
Through poetry, such as the Old English, Norse and Icelandic rune prose, which were commonly sung.

To go even further, it was practice amongst the skalds, or the rune wizards of the indigenous Germanic folk, to hide the meaning of the runes. A comrade of mine recently told me about the quandary of using cryptic runes for the sake of it. It become essentially pointless to write runes that are completely undecipherable to everyone. At least one other person must know how to read them. Inscribing them in these ways was meant to be a secret formula of making sure only the initiated were able to make them out. The only time you would purposely make them readable only by you, is for personal ritual use (like making a sigil, that is essential to you). Boustrophedon technique refers the the ploughing method, writing the runes so they are read from left to right, then back right to left.
Rune scrambling is another method, where the letters may not be in the correct order, or entire word displaced. The staves can be written in logo form as a substitute, such as :ᚦ: for Thorn or the God Thor, or by replacing some runes with non-runic staves. Mixing the different languages would make it harder to stick to finding what a formula meant according to the Futhark tablet for instance, or leaving out vowels that makes a jumble or hard sounds.
The phonetic values can be shifted forward or backward, for instance, writing Hagalaz to represent Wunjo or Nauthiz. One of my personal favorites would be having shadow runes or invisible runes which are not physically written down, but not meant to be read either – they instead are made to operate on the semi-conscious plane. Stacked runes, like three Berkano, or a line of Fehu, might be invoking the goddesses :ᛒ:, or asking for wealth :ᚠ:. And recently I have seen something, in a folk album I often listen to, with the Gibu Auja stave put twice over, followed by the actual words Gibu Auja twice, a possible archaic version of Odin and his two brothers names Wodhanaz, Wiljon, Wihaz, then two bindrunes and again – Gibu Auja stave. I thought this may be some form of prayer (extra points for guessing the band in the reference).
Dost thou know how to bind them?

As vitki, we are all born into a matrix of different paradigms involving the collective unconscious. Inherit in our soul complex is an ever present free will. We can do what we want and bend external happenings and “objective” reality to our will, that is magic. The runes and their allies, are contextual tools applied by the solitary magician, which are able to access those portions of the brain which are not immediately available for cognitive use in everyday mundane activity. The parable of the runes is a puzzle which pieces together to form our better nature. The word is power, and runa are the essence of the words. The imprecations of words to clothe themselves in a cryptic formula, for good, and for cursing to enhance their magical workings, and increase their expression.

We can do what we want and bend external happenings and “objective” reality to our will, that is magic.

But alas, as the formula becomes known, and static, its power diminishes, and there is need, not to prolong the use of the mundane words, but using the same power in a different language through which their effect can be amplified, and conveyed in a more effective way. This is when the Norsemen took to using staves, which were risted into tools, weapons, stone, bone, tines, or used on clothing and seemingly menial instruments which took on new use. Sometimes then even scraped off into ale or tossed in the wind. The bindrune, is two or more of these staves combined together in pictographic form, that may represent words, symbols or metaphors in their own right.

First I shall describe a few types of bindrunes:

Is-runes (Ice runes) comprise a vertical stave, like Isa, with branching staves on the left indicating the aett (family – division of runes, either 1st, 2nd, or 3rd), and the staves on the left indicating its place within the aett. (1-8). Often used to spell names.
They can be drawn freely, going in any direction, according to the will of the vitki, connecting the line and ends of one to another, or altering the shapes and spin of the rune characters.
Made within a picture, to give them a logo-graphic quality, and associated hidden rune form.
Drawn in line with two dots on either side of them, as a rune mantra. The dots represent their completeness and need to be read as one. Like a seed sound, each rune co-dependent on the other.
Merkstave. Drawing them inverted, sideways or discordant in some manner, with two or more risted together (caution for the rune apprentice, who may not know how to handle them).

If you come to a point in your practice where you think you need to use a bindrune, it is recommended that you have studied the concepts of this text on what exactly they will be able to do for you. Making the actual bindrune is largely up to your own inventive, creative mind, but understanding first the fundamentals will work weal untold when it comes to using them magically.

I personally like to create a time in my day where I can be alone, in a quiet place or natural environment where there are no distractions. This allows me to give my full attention to what I am doing. If you are rushing, and are drawing them as if they were scribblings in a notebook, you are doing it wrong. The bindrunes will not reflect your true state of awareness, and therefore will not help you when you come back to test them. Meditate first, allow thought and choices and events from the day to go away. Starting from a peaceful state from scratch, is the most effective – because it allows you to form and bend the endless directions your bindrune can take into the right one.
Guided writing bindrune

Example of guided writing. Done completely in the dark during trance meditation, and adapted after in lineform bindstave.

I have also had success with making some in heavily inspired, wodened (ecstatic) states, where they seemed to pour out of me, at least for the amount of time I needed to draw them. If you have general ideas and intentions for the bindrune, use those to structure it. Perhaps try guided writing, letting your hand act as a medium for what is needed to be put down. This is usually more practical I find, with an opiate or nootropic of some kind – like Psilocybin, and Cannabis.
When you have a sound vision of how it will look, then be patient and take your time in making it exactly how you see it within. It should feel the same all the way through, that you have not deviated from your original course until it has – somewhere along the line – lost its meaning. When finished, use it in a trial and try to weight its effects, before using it for a more important rite or praxis. In my current gild, there is focus on being original at first. You may just want to put it in your journal, and use it a couple times then forget about it. This is completely fine in my opinion, but if this doesn’t get to you, you may want to try using non-traditional means of creating and importing the bind rune. Risting with blood or mud, carving on exotic animal material, or branding on flesh so that you may have it with you at all times. These things just allow you to further implant meaning into your own creation, to give life, and a name to it.

Ritual use

Northern esotericism, like that of Odinism, revolves around very refined principles of teaching. Personal gnosis is gained through the access of first entering a neutral state, where the mind sloughs off the debris of conflicting distractions. Folk spirituality has always preserved an element of ritual which imbibes the individual singular self with a set a primordial ideals and collective consciousness. Through ritual, one can enter a state removed from the daily routine, the former is fundamentally organic, and often sporadic, while the latter is a repeating stimulus that gradually diminishes its effect on the psyche the more it is done.
Focusing on the bindrune you have made, and the paradigm you have attached to it, you can intone a string of galdor for each separate rune used, reading off of a cryptic or prosaic formula related to the bindrune, or simply listen to a sound/noise/song that represents it. Repeat it 9 times, for the sacred number of the 9 worlds contained within the multiverse. Suggestively reading something 9 times may require more cognitive force and thus less receptivity for some, where listening should be substituted.

This takes your foci and refines the current of the fashioned bindrune inwards. By engaging in the meditation, it realigns your existence without the direct conscious intention to do so. Creating an imprint on the brain, linking one to a deeper state of awareness, conducive to primordial awe on a small scale. The thoughts that arise, from after the meditation have their source in a less hectic world, one without analysis, or rational explanation – simply they just are. With a bindrune that will work its weal in the external world, full effect will come through practical action to follow it.
For instance, if I make a bindrune for prospecting in a new community, or finding a gild, I would make all efforts to contribute my talents, seek out like minded people, join a forum, or offer a workshop to facilitate growth.

The bindrune will not do the work for you, but it functions as a point of reference, a kerd of vertice or seed that inspires the act to take form. If the bindrune is more of a sympathetic, or personal nature – a passive openness must be taken when using it. The paradigm simply allowed to manifest itself first into the fabric of your being. Then allow yourself to become the vessel of said bindrune, trusting in your own abilities. Through any process of spiritual growth, learn to not read with an overtly decided opinion and closed off perception. This immediate reaction and postulating something immediately as truth, is the damaging instinct of man – and is a precept that must be surpassed before we are able to truly proceed, and grow.