Re: Rune of the Month
Okay, here goes. The first big problem we have is that the Elder Futhark (which is what most people mean when they talk about runes and rune reading) contains runes that cannot be found in three of the rune poems, but only in the Old English Rune Poem (aka The Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem and I'll refer to it henceforth as the OERP)
So basically we are playing pick'n'mix a bit here. Using meanings from Norse and Icelandic Rune Poems (which have a rather different background and culture) when possible and the OERP when it isn't.
Why does this matter? Well, because the OERP has a very different way of doing things. Because it's background is different (really, really different I promise) and because it needs to build up stage by stage to our understanding. This particular rune is number 19 meaning we are already well over half way.
Now, by the time we reach this stage in our reading, we realise that the OERP works on several levels. You can read it for what it seems to be. And I think this was intentional. If we want to go no further, then here is a meaning. Not 'the' meaning, but 'a' meaning. If we want to go further of course then we should. And if we do, we find that the nobles/earls etc referred to in the poem are not 'nobles' as such, but an elite. And not a warrior elite (unless we want to go that way with the meaning) but a spiritual elite, and the horse is the vehicle of their journey. The Rad rune has a lot to say about this, too. And this is what I mean, that it is starting to build up an entire set of meanings, rune on rune.
That's a start, anyway!
Okay, here goes. The first big problem we have is that the Elder Futhark (which is what most people mean when they talk about runes and rune reading) contains runes that cannot be found in three of the rune poems, but only in the Old English Rune Poem (aka The Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem and I'll refer to it henceforth as the OERP)
So basically we are playing pick'n'mix a bit here. Using meanings from Norse and Icelandic Rune Poems (which have a rather different background and culture) when possible and the OERP when it isn't.
Why does this matter? Well, because the OERP has a very different way of doing things. Because it's background is different (really, really different I promise) and because it needs to build up stage by stage to our understanding. This particular rune is number 19 meaning we are already well over half way.
Now, by the time we reach this stage in our reading, we realise that the OERP works on several levels. You can read it for what it seems to be. And I think this was intentional. If we want to go no further, then here is a meaning. Not 'the' meaning, but 'a' meaning. If we want to go further of course then we should. And if we do, we find that the nobles/earls etc referred to in the poem are not 'nobles' as such, but an elite. And not a warrior elite (unless we want to go that way with the meaning) but a spiritual elite, and the horse is the vehicle of their journey. The Rad rune has a lot to say about this, too. And this is what I mean, that it is starting to build up an entire set of meanings, rune on rune.
That's a start, anyway!
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