Runes have more of the occult working within the symbolism than anything else. When you look at them the first thing you notice is how solid and straight-line they are. This is because the runic inscriptions were carved mostly in stone, bone or wood but only the first withstand the forces of time.
Runes are both the alphabet and ideograms, and on the image below it is the Elder Futhark, and the first runic inscriptions date from around 150 AD, so they are not all that old. There are much older alphabets.
Magical use of the runes is not all that clear. Mythologically, the god Odin received runes in an exchange for his eye. He was using them as the tools to command reality and make it whatever he wanted.
Possibly, the runes were first the magical symbols and charms, rather than means of writing.
But, Nordic people who were the most suspected of this magic practice were innocent of it; the first magical texts and uses are in fact Icelandic ( examples are galdrastafir, or sigils), not Norse.
Norwegians were mostly using them as the means of writing, literature or poetry.
Because of their rather exotic nature and mystery surrounding their practical usage, either in magic, occult or divination the runes are present everywhere - from J.R.R. Tolkien's Hobbit to various horror infused movies ( Shadowhunters) or games ( Eternal Darkness).
I do not read runes, but sometimes I use them, and I am still learning new things about runic magical practices.
All card readings are free and you can request a reading under any blog posts or on Twitter.
