Rune tattoos: what to know first
A rune sits well on skin. A few lines. A simple sign. And behind it an image sometimes more than a thousand years old. That is exactly why runic tattoos draw people.
But before choosing Fehu, Algiz, Tiwaz or joining several signs together, it is worth doing one simple thing: find out what you are about to wear. Not only what is written under the rune on Pinterest. But its old name, its image, its history — and what happened to the sign later.
Do not start with the tattoo. Start with the rune
If a sign appeals to you, get to know it first. Fehu is not simply «the money rune». In the old poem it stands for wealth — useful, wanted, and able to breed quarrels. Isa is not simply «a stop». It is ice: cold, slippery and dangerous.
- Raidho is the road.
- Sowilo is the sun.
When that sign stays on your skin for a long time, it is more interesting to wear not one modern keyword but the whole image standing behind it.
Were runic tattoos made in the old days?
We do not know.
No old source left us a description of a permanent runic tattoo. But there is a very close and interesting scene. Sigrdrífumál advises cutting runes on various surfaces — among them the back of the hand and the fingernail. So the idea of putting a rune on the body for a purpose is present in the old poetry. Was it paint? A scratch? A temporary mark?
We do not know.
So the phrase «the Vikings tattooed runes on themselves» goes further than the sources allow. But the rule «runes must never be put on the body» has no such old source either.
There is one more thing worth checking
Some runic shapes acquired a much later political history. In the twentieth century Nazi organizations and the SS used stylized runes in their symbolism. Some of those signs were later carried on by neo-Nazi and other hate movements. That does not mean the historical rune «belongs» to them. It existed long before the twentieth century.
But if you are going to wear a sign on your skin, it is worth knowing what other people may see in it today. Especially if it is Sowilo, Othala or a sign stylized after those later political emblems. Not in order to give up the rune. In order to choose it knowingly.
And what about joining several runes?
You can.
Historical bind runes really did exist — several signs could be drawn together into one shape. But the modern practice of composing from them a personal symbol for protection, love, strength or a particular intent is far younger. That does not make such a sign any less yours. Only, before the tattoo, it is worth taking it apart again:
- which runes are hidden here?
- what does each of them mean?
- are there accidental extra shapes?
- and do I want to wear all of that meaning?
A beautiful symbol is easier to draw than to choose well.
Which rune to choose for a tattoo?
Perhaps there is no need to hurry choosing at all. Spend some time with the runes. Read the poems. See which images you keep coming back to. Maybe one rune appeals not because a table called it «the rune of strength», but because its story matches yours with strange precision. Then it is no longer simply a beautiful sign. And those, probably, are the things worth leaving on skin.