The Vikings used a runic alphabet called Younger Futhark. But they believed that words had power, and especially the written word. Therefore they believed that runes could be used to describe the world, but also shape it through magic. It took a rune master to properly utilize the runes, and these were usually men. Women were more likely to be practitioners of Seidr magic.
Mythology of the Runes
According to Norse mythology, one day Odin saw the Norns, the Norse Fates, sitting at their well among the roots of Yggdrasil. They were writing fate into the bark of the tree. Envious of their knowledge, Odin hung himself from Yggdrasil, staring into the well of destiny, while pierced by his own spear. He stayed there for nine days and nights until the serets of the runes were revealed to him. He then shared those secrets with mankind. The word rune comes from the Germanic word run, which means a secret or whisper.
Odin is not specifically described as using the runes elsewhere in Norse mythology, nor do they feature in any other stories surviving about the gods, except that sometimes things are described as inscribed with runes. For example, the tongue of Bragi, the god of Skalds, was said to have runes written on it.
History of the Runes
The linguistic evidence suggests that the runes were developed by Northern Europeans from early Italic alphabets. The first Germanic runes, known as Elder Futhark, emerged in the first century AD. This alphabet was used in Scandinavia in the pre-Viking age. A full set of the 24 Elder Futhark runic symbols has been found on the Kylver stone in Sweden dating to the year 400.
With the rise of the Vikings, Scandinavian languages began to change and Elder Futhark was replaced by Younger Futhark from about 800. This was a shorter alphabet of only 16 runic symbols. Slightly different versions of the alphabet were used in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
Younger Futhark was used until about 1200 when runic alphabets were completely replaced by Latin due to the influence of Christianity. The runes of the Anglo Saxons had been similarly replaced by around the year 600. When Snorri Sturluson was recording stories about Norse mythology in the 13th century, he wrote in Old Norse using a transliterated Latin script.
Around Younger Futhark 6,000 rune stones bearing inscriptions survive from Scanindavia, carved into stone, wood, bone, metal, or other hard surfaces. The sharp straight lines lend themselves to this kind of inscription, but no runic text on paper survives.
The runic letters were both phonetic, representing a sound, and symbolic, carrying a conceptual meaning. The latter have mostly been determined from medieval rune poems from Iceland and Norway.
Viking Age Rune Magic
The Romans, observing pre-Viking Germanic people, noted that they used the runes for magical purposes, principally divination. Roman authors record practices such as carving runic symbols onto sticks and throwing them on the ground to see a pattern. The Romans may have picked up on this specific use as divination was also common in Roman culture. But a Viking poem hints at the same practice in the Viking age, describing wooden chips carved with the runes being tossed into blood to divine the future.
A story from the Norse sagas also points to the magical powers of the runes. In the Saga of Egil, the warrior encounters a farmer whose daughter is very ill. Investigating the situation, he discovers that a whalebone with a crudely carved rune symbol has been placed in her bed, probably by a local boy in an attempt to help the girl. Unfortunately, the boy’s knowledge of the runes appears to have been minimal and he had carved a rune that was making her worse rather than better. As a master of the runes, Egil destroys the rune and inscribes a different runic symbol to counteract the ill effects of the original rune.
Other episodes in the Norse sagas tell of victory runes carved onto weapons, wave runes carved into the sides of ships and oars, birth runes that offer assistance during childbirth, and life runes that can treat wounds and illness.
But aside from these snippets, we know every little about how rune magic actually functioned in the Viking age.
Medieval Icelandic Rune Magic
We know much more about a form of rune magic practiced in Iceland in the early modern age, which may be related to earlier Viking practices.
Several Icelandic grimoires survive and record magical staves made from the runes, known as Galdrastafir. These were created by joining runes together to create symbols and generally had an associated ritual to activate them for their desired purpose. The recorded symbols had a wide range of purposes including killing an enemy’s cattle, promoting fertility, guidance through bad weather, and warding off thieves.
While these rune magic spells probably draw on earlier Viking practices, these grimoires date from around 500 years after the Icelanders converted to Christianity, dating from the 15th to the 19th centuries. They also show clear Christian influence with similarities to Renaissance Christian occult texts and saints mentioned in the text alongside the Norse gods.
There is some evidence to suggest that Viking age rune magic may also have worked by staking runes on top of one another to create more complex symbols. In the pre-Viking Migration Period (400-700 AD), we often see runes stacked on top of each other in a repeating pattern. The most common is the Tiwaz rune, associated with the god Tyr. This may have been meant as a magical invocation. Scholars also believed that the runic inscription ALU, which often appears in proto-Viking inscriptions, could be a runic configuration for protection rather than a word.
These examples may suggest that the Vikings stacked runes to create talismans, as seen in a more complex form in the Icelandic grimoires.
While the Icelandic magical staves can’t specifically be tied to Viking rune magic, they are still fascinating in their own right. Below are some of the most popular Galdrastafir magical symbols.
Aegishjalmur – Helm of Awe
Aegishjalmr, also known as the Helm of Awe, was designed to protect warriors in battle by giving them the ferocity and strength to overcome their enemies. According to the manuscript, you can draw the symbol on your forehead, between their eyes, before going into battle. Sometimes in blood.
According to Icelandic folk tales collected by Jón Ármason in the 19th century, the symbol could also be made from lead and pressed into the space between the eyebrows. The user would then recite the formula:
Aegishjalmr er eg ber milli bruna mer! (I bear the helm of awe between my brows!)
Aegishjalmur is not depicted identically in all the surviving sources. For example, in Galdrabok, a 17th-century Icelandic grimoire, it is depicted with only four arms, while in the 19th-century folktales, it appears with eight arms. Either way, the arms project out from a central point and terminate with the Algiz rune. In some cases, each runic stave also bears three lines running perpendicular to the runes themselves, but these are not always present.
Vegvisir – Norse Compass
Vegvisir, also known as the Norse Compass, is first recorded in the Huld Manuscript, compiled by Geir Vigfusson in the 19th century. It depicts the Vegvisir symbol, which means “that which shows the way”, combining “vegur” which means way, with “visir”, which means pointer.
The symbol in the Huld Manuscript is square, rather than the round version that is common today, and is composed of eight staves, each ending with different symbols. It has been speculated that each symbol represented one of the cardinal directions, much like a compass. Though it is worth noting that there is no evidence that the Vikings ever used anything resembling a compass.
The round version of the symbol first appears in the Galdrabok, a grimoire which it is claimed dates from the 16th century, but was first published in 1921. The current location of the original manuscript, if it ever existed, is unknown.
The Huld Manuscript says of the symbol that: If this sign is carried, one will never lose one’s way in storms of bad weather, even when the way is not known. The Galdrabok gives the same description for the use of the runic stave but says that it could also be used for spiritual guidance and protection. The book also claims that the symbol should be drawn on the forehead in blood, just like the Helm of Awe.
Draumstafur – Dream Rune
Draumstafur is the dream rune, which promises to allow you to dream of your heart’s desire. But this rune is about more than inducing sweet dreams. In the Norse world, dreams were considered prophetic. If you could take control of your dreams and steer them in a desired direction, perhaps you could take control of your destiny.
According to one manuscript, the rune should be written onto silver or white leather on St John’s night, a Christian reference to Midsummer’s eve. Place it under your pillow, and when you sleep, your dreams will feature your unfulfilled desires.
Another manuscript suggests carving it on a red spruce and putting it under your own pillow, or on “man killing oak” and putting it under someone else’s pillow without them knowing to take control of their dreams.
Holastafur – Opening Hills
Holastafuur is described specifically as a rune for opening hills, but it probably means that it is used for communicating with the dead. There are many afterlives in Norse culture, but a common belief was that the dead moved under a hill, where they lived largely the same life as when they were alive. This is probably why burial mounds were often used as resting places. The Holastafur rune could allow you to open a hill in order to be able to communicate with the dead.
Nabrokarstafur – Wealth Rune
Necromancy is not unknown among the symbols included in the grimoires. The Nabrokarstafur rune is used to make nabrok, which are pants made from the skin of a dead man that are capable of producing unlimited money.
Lukkastafir – Luck Rune
Lukkastafir is a rune for luck. “Whosoever bears these staves on him will not meet with mishaps on sea and land.” Whether this means carrying a physical representation of the stave or drawing it on your skin is unclear.
Ottastafur – Fear Rune
Ottastafur can be used to strike fear in the heart of your enemies. Scratch the symbol on an oak tablet and throw it at the feet of your enemy to make them afraid. To be fair, it would be pretty scary to know that the person in front of you is actively cursing your existence.
Lasabrjotur – Lock Breaker
According to the grimoires, this is a symbol for breaking locks. There is evidence for locks in the Viking world from around the 9th century. Draw the symbol onto a lock and this will summon trolls and demons to grab the lock and crack it.
Dreprun – Killing Rune
Dreprun is known as the killing rune, but it is more about killing someone’s livelihood than their person. Put this symbol on your enemy’s horse trail, and they will lose all their livestock.
Gapaldur and Ginfaxi – Wrestling Rune
This is one that MMA fighters wish they knew about. Draw the Gapaldur rune on your right heel and the Ginfaxi rune under your left toes to ensure victory in a wrestling match.
Fengur – Catching Rune
The Fengur rune is used to “catch” a girl, specifically to get her pregnant, presumably forcing her to marry you. The symbol should be drawn onto a piece of cheese and given to the girl to eat.
Thorshamar – Thor’s Hammer Rune
This stave is literally called the “Thor’s Hammer” rune, and it is to be used by wizards and magic workers rather than others who might use a rune for luck or guidance. The rune is often used to expose magic or deceit. The grimoires specifically say that it can expose a thief. But cryptically, the text also says that wizards can use it to “do other magic”.
Thjofastafur – Thief Rune
Several specific runes are recorded for exposing thieves. Thjofastafur should be put under the doorstep of your enemy. He will recoil when he passes the threshold if he has stolen from you. A similar symbol can be scratched onto the bottom of the plate of a suspected thief to expose them when they try to eat.
Other Thjofastafur runes can be scratched on to a “man killing oak” and kept in your hand to help you detect a thief. Or you can scratch a similar symbol onto birch wood and put it beneath your pillow so that you will see the thief in your dreams.
A Note of Rune Divination
The rune magic found in modern occult publications is not taken from ancient Viking practices. It is inspired by the Viking runes but also many other magical practices from around the world, in particular hermeticism, occultism and the I Ching.
Modern runic divination dates from the 17th century when a Swedish mystic named Johannes Bureus was inspired by visions to create a new runic divination system that married together the Younger Futhark runes with the Kabbalah, a Jewish mystical tradition.
His ideas were built on over the following centuries, especially by German mystics. The next major development came in 1902 when Austrian occultist Guido von List developed the Armanen runes. Most modern rune magic is based on this underlying system.
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