Reversed or Not?

[Silver Venus]

As we are half way through the Runes I thought it would be nice to discuss whether we/you read them all upright whatever way they fall when casting or reversed aswell?
I personally only read mine unright same as I believe there are positive and negative runes so why complicate matters! ;)

How do you read yours?

[Rick]

When you carve a Rune, you are re-enacting the Eddaic Creation story. As the Gods gave to First Man, Ask, & First Woman, Embla, the gifts of shape, substance (blood), & 'ond' (sacred breath), when you carve a Rune, you give it a shape, substance (staining, whether blood or symbolic blood, such as paint or ink), & 'ond' (chanting the Rune's name as you carve it). Thus, a Rune is a living magical entity, & each one embodies certain specific magical properties. Turning a Rune upside down, right, left, backwards or inside out doesn't alter those magical properties. Each Rune contains both positive AND negative aspects; you are best served by considering all elements & aspects that each Rune contains, & then use your intuition to sift through what seems to fit in the particular reading.

I hope this makes sense... 8O

[Kiya]

I've always felt that when you cast a rune, or even pick one out of a bag, it can be at so many different angles to upright that reversed meanings seem pretty useless. After all, Runes aren't like Tarot Cards, either one way up or the other.

I must start working with my Runes again... I made them from river stones, painted the runes with a copper coloured acrylic paint, and coated them with clear nail varnish. Just thought I'd share.

[Flar's Freyja]

So, are you saying that I should consider both aspects no matter how they fall? That makes sense, because my intuition points out which meaning would apply.

[Silver Venus]

Ricky you always make perfect sense :D

Id agree with you all, I do take into consideration which way they fall and gain insights from these but I always read them upright whether they are on there side, reversed or whatever, some people read reversed if half turned to the right or so...

Kiya your runes sound wonderful! :sunny: Welcome back!! :boing:

[Flar's Freyja]

That's good, because if I take my last reading completely reversed I am in deep ca-ca :shaker:

[Silver Venus]

lol, but if you were in deep ca-ca youd of got all the dark runes or alike ;)

[Lavender]

I don't use reverse with my runes. Mainly it's what Rick said. I look at the meaning of the rune in conjunction to where it comes up in the reading & how it reads with the other runes.

[Flar's Freyja]

Would you mind helping me out for a second? I've been doing tarot for years but am new to the runes. I'm pretty sure I can interpret this but it would be nice to have some confirmation. I drew Ing first, Ansuz second and Raidho third. Anxuz and Raidho were reversed. I wanted to know whether my business would be successful.

[Rick]

Originally posted by Freyja
Would you mind helping me out for a second? I've been doing tarot for years but am new to the runes. I'm pretty sure I can interpret this but it would be nice to have some confirmation. I drew Ing first, Ansuz second and Raidho third. Ansuz and Raidho were reversed. I wanted to know whether my business would be successful.
Hmm... OK, Ingaz is a Rune of security & reassurance... it's the Green World... the ideal place in our minds & hearts... it represents the treasure hoard of the Vanir (think das Rheingold here)... Ansuz is Odin embodied; & communication... Raido means things are moving; maybe not as quickly as you wish, but the wheels haven't stopped turning... Raido also represents the Sun Wheel, & can be used as a measure of time... look for things to 'speedup' somewhat by the next 'crossquarter', & even more by Spring Equinox...

Summary: Even if business is slow, it's not going to dry up completely. Have faith; if the communication means, like, orders, these may have slowed down, but things will still keep moving, maybe slowly, but deliberately steadily...

Chin up... a few more weeks...

[Rick]

Originally posted by Freyja
So, are you saying that I should consider both aspects no matter how they fall? That makes sense, because my intuition points out which meaning would apply.
That pretty well sums it up... :)

[Flar's Freyja]

Thanks, Rick. My interpretation was that there are going to be obstacles but everything is going to work out just fine. :)

[nehelia]

i dont feel runes can have reversed meanings. often the position they fall relates to my interpretation, like if Raidho is pointing into Ehwaz er something. but its an interpretation of directional flow between the different runes. . .

[Jazzy Cat]

Hi Folks

Like Nehelia and Kiya I agree Runes cannot have reversed meanings. The problem with reversing and such like was that it started with people trying to find new ways of meddling with Tarot. Runes do not work the same way.

One way of throwing runes follows a piece of meditation where you take yourself up to being in Odin's Wagon, the constellation of the Big Dipper. If you imagine yourself in the wagon and then throw the runes towards the pole star (Teiwaz in the Runes represents this) you read what you can see, ie those face up, but those face down by their absence tell a story as they are akin to the dark side of the moon. You can read into why some runes are then face down. For example if someone is plainly ill and Laguz is not face up you can surmise the person is preventing themselves from being healed.

Personally whether face up or down, who cares as long as it works. The same thing won't work for everybody. It would be a boring world if it did.

Jazzy aka Torkjell

[Rick]

You bring up an interesting point about face up/face down, Jazzy... generally I don't read the Runes that fall face down, unless they are covering or being covered by a face up Rune... then I take them to be an 'underlying' aspect of the upturned Rune, or something that hasn't 'come to light' yet... but occasionally, a down turned Rune kinda seems to yell "Hey, look at me!" & demand to be turned over for consideration...

[Silver Venus]

lol, yeah I agree sometimes they dont like to be left face down at all do they!

I tend to read all face up and upright, probally because Im a beginner but I dont think Im going to change, because if it works dont change it hey! I just take into account everything to do with how they fell and most importanly (for me) there relation in space and pattern to each other.

[Jazzy Cat]

If we look at reversed Runes differently, an upsidedown or back to front Rune is a wendrune and is imbued with more potency, especially in galdr. This is why on some historical runes stones you see some written in reverse. This should solve the reversed or not argument if you want to follow traditional lines instead of work akin to tarot practise.

As for face down, why not try the method as given in Germania by Tacitus and throw twigs from fruit trees. Personally I use apple wood. This way eliminates face down runes.

On the subject of casting twigs, I would be very interested to hear others experiences of it.

....oh well back to tha haunch of venison!

[Silver Venus]

I havent tried casting twigs, I guess you really have to know your stuff for that!
Ive heard of it many times before, think Rick did a thread here too ages back, but Im not really keen on the idea.. don't know why just feel it doesnt fit with me...

& I dont think Twig would like to be thrown about :T

[Jazzy Cat]

Yep, twigs do not like being thrown about unless you are good to them and ask the tree and the twigs if you can use them first.

They should land on a clean white piece of cloth and cared for. Anyone with a rudementary grasp of Runes can do it. You just look for the rune shapes that manifest. There is a ritual method of throwing for this.

[Silver Venus]

I meant Twig from Druids :eek:

Sounds like it would be nice to do on a summer's day in an orchard or wood.. shame its winter and freeeezing now!

Whats the ritual thats involved? :)

[Flar's Freyja]

I'll have to try that twig thing the next time a storm dumps a ton of willow into my yard. I've already made a lifetime supply of wands and besoms. What's the best size to make the twigs? Entire branches seem to gather out there. The trees aren't even mine, they are in neighbors' yards.

You guys are over my head. You throw your runes? I stir them around in my bag and take them out one at a time, so I haven't even run into the face-down issue.

[Silver Venus]

Originally posted by Freyja

You guys are over my head. You throw your runes? I stir them around in my bag and take them out one at a time, so I haven't even run into the face-down issue.

I do the both, depending upon how I feel but I mainly throw a few at a time to answer a question. I first reach into my little bag then stir them around like-wise until my hand gets 3 or 4 or 5, just whatever runes seem to feel nice and fit in my hand. Then I take them out and gently throw them down. I interperate them all as a whole taking each one into account and how they effect each other in position and theres normally a very clear pattern ~ this all answer's the question.
I take out individual runes one at a time to read for past, present and future or like-wise rune/tarot spreads.

:)

[Flar's Freyja]

Oh good, that's how I do it too. I can feel the energy from them in my hand, that's how I know which one to draw out of the bag. The story behind my bag is kinda neat. Our HP/Shaman person had a giveaway at his house of old magickal stuff and there was this poor little ugly yellow hand-stitched leather bag. Nobody wanted it. I picked it up a few times and left it there. When I went back again, he still had the table out with the leftovers and I decided to take it. It is perfect for my runes. This person has amazing spiritual energy, and I feel honored to have gotten this as a gift.

[Silver Venus]

Thats great to hear Freyja :) it must be a very special bag.
I got mine as a gift too from my sister ~ its supposed to be a money/keyring/keys pouch and made out of the softess green leather. She got me it years ago from a holiday in Spain and I never used it until I found it one day and thought it would be perfect for my runes, they were so happy to have found a special home just as I was. :)

[Flar's Freyja]

Isn't it great how we acquire things before we know what their purpose is? I also have a birch branch that I got when someone brought a bunch of birch to our women's circle. We made a circle besom and some of us took home the leftovers. It's been in the corner of my bedroom for about a year. Guess what I now know it is for? My set of wooden runes. A friend will be slicing it up for me this week!

[Rick]

...my Runes are made of Birch... when I cast them, I cast them all at once...

[Silver Venus]

Freyja thats great! I hope they turn out beautifully and have alot of feminine power :)

Rick, you cast yours all at once? Thats great! How do you do it? Do you ask a certain question or cast on a board? I guess the face down runes and all the patterns really come into there own when you cast them all at the same time :)

[Rick]

Originally posted by Silver Venus
Freyja thats great! I hope they turn out beautifully and have a lot of feminine power :)

Rick, you cast yours all at once? Thats great! How do you do it? Do you ask a certain question or cast on a board? I guess the face down runes and all the patterns really come into there own when you cast them all at the same time :)

I just hold them in my cupped hands, ask my question (which more often than not is 'tell me what I need to know'), hold 'em up, & pull my hands apart. Depending on where I'm reading, I usually have down at least a tablecloth or equivalent; if not, I keep a soft cloth (it's actually an old cloth diaper... man, they're soft after 'bout a zillion washings!) :D in my 'magic box'.

[Flar's Freyja]

I never ask specific questions of my cards or the runes, either. I basically read for myself as a meditation, to determine where I'm at. Many times they reveal something that is going to happen, but it's difficult to figure out exactly what that might be. Or to really recognize it when it comes along. I thought I had one situation pinpointed but it actually turned out to be something else that was a far more serious situation.

For my runes, I use a beautiful piece of black silk cloth that I found in the fabric remnant basket at Wal-mart. I have found lots of good stuff in there, including some great fabric to cover my BOS with and some pieces suitable for altar cloths.

I was with someone last night who uses a big tackle box for his "magic box." I should talk, mine is a whole trunk that doubles as a coffee table ;)

[nehelia]

yeh i agree too, sometimes the runes are all "no i really was supposed to be right side up" er something. and im glad you made that comment, rick, about missing runes talking about the situation as much as present runes--its something i intuited but didnt quite know how to put into words

i do all sorts of different things when casting runes, because they are so responsive and im so attuned to them. sometimes i draw a rune or three all at once, sometimes three or five in succession, and sometimes i cast them all out onto my journey blanket. i always have an issue in mind, and try to leave it open-ended, not yes or no, because they speak better that way. but whenever i do it, i give them some good stirring inside the rune bag after whispering my question into it, and often a rune will fall out early or get stuck in my fingers right away like "ÄAH pay attention to MEE!" once in a reading, Dagaz fell out of the bag; when i put it back in, it got caught in my fingers, and then when i cast the runes out it got caught in my fingers again and then dropped to land on my leg. heh.

seems many objects know what they're for before you do. my fire rune bag was too small for a tarot deck, so i gave it to a friend and he left it behind when he moved back to his hometown. . .its black velvet with a yellow outside, and the size is just enough to fit my fingers inside. its perfect because the stones are very small.

hope the besom runes work out for ya, freyja. . .

[The Mad Vitiki]

let me have a at this one


there are 9 runes that are unreversable and have no right side ether becase they repersent the 9 worlds they are :

hagalaz........... hella (land of the dead)
isa.................. jotunheim (where the ice giants live)
eihwaz............swartalheim(land of the drak alfs)
nauthiz............nefehelhim(land of fog)
dagaz..............mussepelheim(land of the fire giants)
jera.................midgard(earth plane)
sowulo ...........lightalfheim (land of the light alfs)
inguz...............vanaheim (land of the vainer)
gebo...............asgard(land of the aesir)

[Flar's Freyja]

let me have a at this one
there are 9 runes that are unreversable and have no right side ether becase they repersent the 9 worlds they are :

Hey, Rick - I think you may have met your match in our Newbie - I'm looking forward to listening to some good discussions.

Welcome, Mad Vitiki. You're pretty smart;)

[Rick]

Originally posted by Freyja


Hey, Rick - I think you may have met your match in our Newbie - I'm looking forward to listening to some good discussions.

Welcome, Mad Vitiki. You're pretty smart;)
:rotfl:
The Mad Vitiki & I have known each other since the third grade...

[Flar's Freyja]

The Mad Vitiki & I have known each other since the third grade...

:wah: You'd better quit makin' fun of me today.....:wah:

[Rick]

Awww, don't cry, there's no way you coulda known Mad & I went back 35+ years... here, here's a hanky... EWW!... um, no thanks, I don't want it back... no, that's all right, you keep it... really, I insist... :D

[Flar's Freyja]

Awww, don't cry, there's no way you coulda known Mad & I went back 35+ years... here, here's a hanky... EWW!... um, no thanks, I don't want it back... no, that's all right, you keep it... really, I insist...

:wah2: Okay.....sniff......thanks. First you get me in all that trouble and then you make fun of me. One more time and I'm leaving......;)

[Rick]

:) :D :p :cool: 8O :bigredgri :sunny: :bubbles: :T :wave: :mmm: :thumbsup: :crylaugh: :lol: :rotfl: :heartthro :smooch: :loveduv: :hearteyes

[Flar's Freyja]

:razz: :razz: :razz: :razz: :razz: :razz: :razz: :razz: :razz:


:heartthro

[The Mad Vitiki]

Originally posted by Freyja


Hey, Rick - I think you may have met your match in our Newbie - I'm looking forward to listening to some good discussions.

Welcome, Mad Vitiki. You're pretty smart;)
well thank you huh i think but Newbie wow havent been called that since basic training back in 1974

[Flar's Freyja]

well thank you huh i think but Newbie wow havent been called that since basic training back in 1974

You're welcome.....sniff....sorry for the error.........sniff...............

[The Mad Vitiki]

Originally posted by Freyja


You're welcome.....sniff....sorry for the error.........sniff...............
Whats the sniffeln about u got a cold cause i took it as a coplment you know when you get old its nice to be called a newbei but u may be CRAZY ether way rik says u good folk and if that old salt likes u u ok in by me

[Flar's Freyja]

Whats the sniffeln about u got a cold cause i took it as a coplment you know when you get old its nice to be called a newbei but u may be CRAZY ether way rik says u good folk and if that old salt likes u u ok in by me

Aw dat's sweet. I dry eyes now. :loveduv: