Do runes really work?
Yes. But perhaps not the way you think. A rune does not know what will happen to you on Tuesday. It does not make decisions for you and does not guarantee a future. But draw one at random, put a real question in front of yourself — and suddenly a familiar situation has to be seen differently.
One rune speaks of wealth that can set people apart. Another of ice you have to wait out. Another of the road.
The image is chance.
What you recognize in it is not. You can call it magic. You can call it psychology. You can call it simply a good way to stop and think. Runes have worked differently for different people for a very long time.
And how were they used before?
We know for certain that runes were used for more than writing. In Sigrdrífumál, stanzas 6 to 10, there are victory runes, runes for guarding a drink, for safe sailing and for healing. They were cut on swords, horns, palms, wood. People did it meaning to change something. But there is an important difference here.
The old sources left us no modern dictionary where one rune stands for money, another for a journey and a third for relationships. And they do not describe the spreads of one, three or several runes familiar today. The old practice of using runes is real. Modern rune reading is far younger.
Where does the answer come from, then?
There are at least three ways to look at it. Maybe the runes themselves speak. Maybe a random rune simply throws a thought where you were not going to look. Or maybe something very human is at work: when a strong image appears, we start matching it against our own life — and notice things we had walked past. You do not have to decide which explanation is right.
Because in all three the same thing happens: a rune puts an image in front of you. And you find the answer.
Can runes predict the future?
The old rune poems do not promise it. They speak of cattle, hail, ice, the sun, the road, a human being, need, a gift. These are not ready predictions. They are images. Fehu, for instance, is wealth. But the old poem reminds you at once that wealth can become a cause of quarrels among kinsmen. And that is where it gets interesting. If you drew Fehu, the question is not necessarily:
«Is money coming to me?»
Perhaps it is better to ask:
«What am I trying to hold on to right now?» or: «What do I own — and what of it owns me?»
That is where a rune starts to work.
How Odin got the runes Runes or tarot: what is the difference?