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Runes: Middle Ages
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Runes are the characters of ancient alphabets: Teutonic (24 letters), Anglo-Saxon (32 letters), and Scandinavian (16 letters). Runic characters are similar to Latin letters, except that they tend to have few curves and consist mostly of straight lines, suitable for carving with knives. Runic letters were used for over one thousand years. For most people, the runic alphabet died out sometime between the 13th and 16th centuries. But for those special New Age people with one foot in the world of secrets and the other in the world of mysteries, runes are used as a form of divination.*
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Runes were in wide use from the 4th to the 12th century. A form of runes was used in Scandinavia throughout the Middle Ages as an alternative to the Latin alphabet used by the clergy, and runes survived in occasional use in rural Sweden at least until the 17th century. Runes were ... used to augment the Latin alphabet for certain sounds, notably the thorn (þ, th) used in Anglo-Saxon England and modern Iceland.
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There are two accounts of how runes became known to mortal men. It is told in Rigsþula how Rig, identified as Heimdall in the introduction, sired three sons, Thrall (slave), Churl (freeman) and Jarl (noble), on human women. These sons became the ancestors of the three classes of men indicated by their names. When Jarl reached an age when he began to handle weapons and show other signs of nobility, Rig returned and having claimed him as a son, taught him the runes. In 1555, the exiled Swedish archbishop Olaus Magnus recorded a tradition that a man named Kettil Runske had stolen three rune staffs from Odin and learned the runes and their magic.
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Most people who write about the "meanings" of the runes use more imagination than scholarship. Most reputable scholars avoid the topic. The majority of current writing on the use of runes for magical purposes is done by people who are interested in continuing this practice. They usually have knowledge of other magical systems, and this affects their interpretation of runic practices. They are often quite willing to fill in the gaps, or reinterpret available information to fit their preconceptions. At worst, they simply make up whatever they think will sell the most books and new age rune casting sets.
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There is some debate over the origin of the "alphabet" aspect of the runes. Cases have been made for both Latin and Greek derivation, and several scholars are once again arguing in favour of both these theories. However, the strongest evidence still seems to point to a North Italic origin. The parallels between the two alphabets are too close to be ignored, particularly in the forms of the letters, as well as in the variable direction of the writing, and certain structural and even symbolic characteristics. This would ... explain why so many of the runes resemble Roman letters, since both Italic and Latin scripts are derived from the Etruscan alphabet (itself a branch of the Western Greek family of alphabets). This theory would place the original creation of the futhark sometime before the 1st.
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The magical powers attributed to runes were believed to be released in the etching of names, phrases, memorial inscriptions, and spells upon bone, metal, wood and stone. Grave markers were inscribed with runes that described the deeds of the dead, and warded off grave robbers. Diviners used runes in the casting of lots. Runes were carved on swords to make them more powerful in battle, and to cause more pain and death to the enemy. Magicians etched them on magical tools, sometimes sprinkling them with blood to make the magic more potent. Runes were etched as amulets on wands, jewelry, personal belongings, chalices, and other items of protection against illness, the evil eye, and sorcery, and to guarantee safety and effect healing.
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Middle Ages