A “rune-row” it’s the A to Z of the runes, from the first to the last letter. Participants will be encouraged to discover for themselves what the runes signify using a old practice called “pathfinding” - related to shamanic journeying. Each student will be working on their personal rune sets - Andreas will bring blank runes to the class, from especially sourced birch wood for this purpose. Through the journey the participants gain a more "personal and private" understanding of what these symbols mean to them. Those who have personal sets can bring theirs as well to work with.
A general outline of the day and learning outcomes:
Introduction to the thousand-year history of runic writing. This is an overview of how the runes were used and their origins, participants will understand both the mythological origin and the historical, to be made aware of the depth of history that runes carry with them in their thousand year writing period.
Mythtelling: The Northern myth cycles: Myth "cycles" follow the birth of the universe to the end, and then to going back again to the beginning. They are called cycles as the Northern Myth's express the cyclical seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Here you will hear the major myths of the Norse pantheon and how they relate closely to our runic study.
Runes as the emanations from the Elder Gods: symbols from the sub-conscious.
Behind each rune there is a God/Goddess and a mythological landscape, you will be able to define which runes are associated with the traditional pantheon.
Magical talismans and bindrunes, how to prepare and to carve. Materials will be prepared for making this and to teach how this is done. This is an intuitive process. You will learn the art of talismanic carving and the symbols and numerology they used in antiquity.
An inner journey through the sacred Ash Tree: Yggdrasil: This is a "shamanic" trance journey (called pathfinding) for the understanding of the “personal" symbol. Each journey is a quest for knowledge of symbolism and mythical archetype.
Making your own Nine Runes of Power - how to send, how to pray, how to bless and how to cast. Andreas will bring nine blank runes - they are from responsible sourced birch wood. You will make your own nine runes of power. The nine runes refer to the nine worlds of Yggdrasil.
A traditional Blot Ceremony to Goddess Frejya Goddess Frejya taught Seidr (Norse Shamanism) to Odin. She is also the Goddess of fertility and war as she takes a share of those who fall in battle, she is the head of the Valkyries.
The blot to Freyja will be a traditional ceremony; blot simply means "blessing." The ceremony consists of traditional prayers passed down to us from poems and general praise making to the journey we have been on, it also is a mark when the two day journey concludes and your own personal rune journey begins. During the blot, we bless the runes the students have been making and also their bindrunes.
With this ceremony we make a reading with the runes to benefit people within the group. It will be a specially construed "healing reading" to strengthen and heal something in someone life, to alter and change their path if necessary. Our readings are a group participation where all the students gather and use their well earned knowledge to start to see patterns that can benefit the questioner. Concept of fate (orlog and wyrd) become important in order to learn how to use the runes ethically and morally correct.
Please if you can, bring either a song, a poem, a piece of writing or a small offering to the altar and something that represents your ancestors.