The Runes as an Ancient Oracle

The Runes are a Nordic divination tool (stones with specific markings) claimed to be derived by Odin, a spiritual truth-seeker, who is said to have voluntarily hung from a tree for days that he might find enlightenment.  During this time, he saw patterns among the branches that suggested twenty-five cross-hatched shapes.  These shapes were later marked upon stones.  Each shape describes a life situation or spiritual challenge.   

Ralph Blum, author of The Book of Runes, describes the ultimate purpose of this oracle as to render us creators of our own destiny. 

The simplest way to use the Runes is to begin by asking a question that one is pondering, and then with the question firmly planted in the mind and heart, to draw one stone from the bag of Runes.  The person then compares the marking on the stone to a chart to discover the meaning of the Rune and then reads a passage that describes that Rune’s energy or message. 

Blum says that just as the Vikings used the Runes to navigate their ships under cloudy skies,  we can use the Runes to modify our own life course.

Blum states in his book that he has received hundreds of letters over the years from people who use the Runes as a self-enlightenment tool with great success.

The Runes, like other tools, serve to enlighten us by engendering in us a state of trance.  This state shifts our consciousness from its ordinary linear perception to a deeper state of awareness.