Casting the Runes
A person who had lived in the twentieth century had little conception of the influence and powers exerted by magic in the lives of his ancestors, even up to this early part of the twenty-first century. Religious practices of the past, which usually included magical rituals, were not regarded, as they are today, as a once-a-week observance of the hypothetical existence of a supreme creator but as a daily acknowledgement of the powers of Nature which ruled the lives of men. Magic was as normal and as acceptable to our ancient predecessors as electricity is us today, and in their eyes just as vital to the sustaining of everyday life. It was pure commonsense to the ancient peoples of Western Europe to invoke their gods and placate them with magical rites in order to ward off illness, bring good luck and fertility to the tribe and maintain harmony between men and the natural forces which they regarded as supernatural manifestations of the gods.
In Western Europe, during the historical period we now designate as the Dark Ages, the most powerful form of magic was that of the secret craft of rune casting. The use of runes achieved such a wide popularity because, unlike the later magical traditions of the Middle Ages which drew their impetus from the Judeo-Christian cabbala, it was a magic system with down-to-earth symbols relating to daily life.
The scope of runic magic is emphasized by the following list of different runes taken from the Norse sagas: birth runes, healthy runes, fertility runes, weather runes, love runes, healing runes, cursing runes and death runes. All these symbols and their attendant powers for good or evil were available to the ordinary person, either directly or through the offices of a local wizard, rune master priest.
Rune sorcery was considered so potent that even the dead could be raised by their evocation. This necromaniac rite of the dead was celebrated in a popular rhyme attributed to Odin.
>Cont. at; renegadetribune.com/casting-the-runes/