CASTING THE RUNES

The simplest method of rune-casting is the three-rune spread. Holding the pouch
or casting cup, you should face north with closed eyes, meditating on the Well of
Urdhr and the streams of power flowing forth from it to shape the tree Yggdrasil
(some of the images from the meditation on perthro may be helpful here). You
now concentrate on the shape of your question and try to feel the streams that
are flowing into it. When you feel a strong connection, you should trace the rune
perthro around the pouch or cup and say,

Flowing now forth from Wyrds world-well

Staves shall show all Set into being

Urdhr who is

Verdhandi becometh

Shadow-Skuld should be!

Cast the runes onto the cloth. Eyes closed, pick up three runes, whispering
Urdhr-Verdhandi- Skuld, and lay them out in that order. The first will show that
which is-the roots and layers shaping the situation you asked about. The second
will show that which is coming into being now, and the third will show what
should result from the interweaving of Urdhr and Verdhandi if nothing is done to
change things.

The three-rune reading may, if you wish, be expanded into nine, which will give
you a more complete view of the factors interacting in each phase of being.

Amore complex method, which is much more likely to be accurate and easier to
judge with regards to weal-working and woe- working aspects of the runes, is to
follow the ritual up to the casting, but rather than picking three or nine runes up,
to leave them all untouched on the cloth and interpret them from there. Only
those which have fallen face-upward should be read; those which are facedown
are the runes of forces that are either too deeply hidden to affect the immediate
question or are absent from the situation. The positions in which they fall will help
you to determine both meaning and degree of importance. You should try to see
the overall pattern of the runes first, tracing out the major lines or clumps of
runic power, which will represent the chief factors at work in the reading.
Generally lines will show you a progression of force, moving from the rune
nearest the reader outward; clumps will indicate that the runes in question are
working together simultaneously.

When the runes fall in relatively straight lines, the next thing to look for is smaller
lines that cross the greater ones at perpendicular angles.~ These lines are lines
of blockage; the runes in them will work woe, reacting badly with the runes of the
greater progression. They are hazards which must be crossed or written around.
Lesser lines that slant into the greater lines may be seen as feeders. They are
lesser factors that contribute to or rise from the larger progression. They will
more often work weal than woe, although not invariably. Some runes do not work
well together in any position, while others almost never work weal in any ordinary
situation. A sudden decline of energy in a linear pattern (say, from fehu or sowilo
to isa) or a rune of disruption (such as thurisaz or hagalaz) should in most cases
be taken as a warning.

In clumps you should look for interactions within aettir divisions and conceptual
interaction to determine which aspects of each rune will show through. Berkano
together with ingwaz or jera, for instance, will in most cases show a good result,
while berkano next to isa would show great inactivity, silence, and perhaps even
death. Runes that touch interact more strongly than runes that do not. Slight
overlapping may be a sign of unity: one rune hiding another shows either
concealment or blockage and woe-working, depending on whether the topmost
stave is one that normally indicates concealment or not.

Those interested in further work with divination should consult Edred Thorssons
At The Well of Wyrd, the only reliable book on the subject which is currently
available. Unfortunately, the market is flooded with texts on what is alleged to be
runic divination, written by people with little knowledge of magic and less of
Teutonic tradition (one book even calls the runes, which are almost purely
Germanic in origin and solely Germanic in use, the Celtic Runes!). You should
beware of experts who cannot backup their expertise with legitimate historical
research and knowledge of the Teutonic mind.