{"id":5988,"date":"2011-11-01T01:10:10","date_gmt":"2011-11-01T06:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=6149"},"modified":"2011-10-16T18:57:12","modified_gmt":"2011-10-16T23:57:12","slug":"book-review-runecasters-handbook-by-edred-thorsson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2011\/11\/01\/book-review-runecasters-handbook-by-edred-thorsson\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Runecasters Handbook by Edred Thorsson"},"content":{"rendered":"

Runecasters Handbook <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n


\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

by\u00a0 Edred Thorsson <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2011\u00a0 Wesier Books <\/em><\/p>\n

ISBN:\u00a0 978-1-57863-136-0 <\/em><\/p>\n

Paperback\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 143 pages <\/em><\/p>\n

$14.95\u00a0 (U.S.) <\/em><\/p>\n

This book may, arguably, be considered a classic in the field of runic work.\u00a0 Originally copyrighted in 1988 (and originally published by Weiser in 1990) it is still in demand today.\u00a0 It is the final installment in a trio of books (with Futhark:\u00a0 A Handbook of Rune Magic<\/em> and Runelore:\u00a0 A Handbook of Esoteric Runology <\/em>) which is intended to provide a basis for understanding the Germanic runes, their history and interpretation, and their relevance in our\u00a0 modern world.<\/p>\n

Each entry contains a wealth of information.\u00a0 The standards are there \u2013 Phonetic value, the Germanic name, and the most common English name \u2013 but that is just the beginning.\u00a0 There are several sources for runic interpretation in the historical literature (\u201cOld English Rune Poem\u201d (OERP), \u201cOld Norwegian Rune Rhyme\u201d (ONRR), and \u201cOld Icelandic Rune Poem\u201d (OIRP)), and stanzas from each are examined for each of the Elder staves (symbols, in common usage).\u00a0 There is not universal agreement among these sources, covering as they do, a variety of times and locales, and this very disagreement offers insight into the cultures involved, and the understanding of runecasters through time.<\/p>\n

If you have had no previous exposure to the use of runes, it would definitely be advantageous to do some reading before starting into this book.\u00a0 Admittedly, my own runic experience is extremely limited, but I have had some exposure to, and use of, the runes and the culture(s) they developed in so I wasn’t floundering in the dark.<\/p>\n

Assuming the first two books display this level of commitment and dedication to expanding knowledge of runecraft (and I haven’t seen them, so I\u00a0 don’t KNOW that they do even if I do expect them to), this set needs to be a part of the training materials available to novices.\u00a0 Dr. Thorrson (doctorate in Germanic Languages and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas) has made every effort to be both comprehensive and easily understood in his presentation.<\/p>\n

Moving beyond the basic, though by no means simple, interpretation of the individual runes, he devotes time and space to various forms of layouts and what they can contribute to the understanding of the information and guidance which is provided.<\/p>\n

This is NOT a book about \u201cfortune telling\u201d, nor is it a book about \u201cgames\u201d which can be played with the runes.\u00a0 It is an attempt to help the reader attain a proper mind-set or consciousness which is susceptible to influences beyond the realm of normal sensory input, so that insight may be attained about what is occurring in the present and how that may influence what is yet to come.<\/p>\n

If you are interested in the subject of runes, and want\u00a0 more than a simple \u201cpop\u201d approach, I highly recommend this book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Runecasters Handbook by\u00a0 Edred Thorsson \u00a9 2011\u00a0 Wesier Books ISBN:\u00a0 978-1-57863-136-0 Paperback\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 143 pages $14.95\u00a0 (U.S.) This book may, arguably, be considered a classic in the field of runic work.\u00a0 Originally copyrighted in 1988 (and originally published by Weiser in 1990) it is still in demand today.\u00a0 It is the final installment in a trio of books (with Futhark:\u00a0 A Handbook of Rune Magic and Runelore:\u00a0 A Handbook of Esoteric Runology ) which is intended to provide a basis for understanding the Germanic runes, their history and interpretation, and their relevance in our\u00a0 modern world. Each entry contains a wealth of information.\u00a0 The standards are there \u2013 Phonetic value, the Germanic name, and the most common English name \u2013 but that is just the beginning.\u00a0 There are several sources for runic interpretation in the historical literature (\u201cOld English Rune Poem\u201d (OERP), \u201cOld Norwegian Rune Rhyme\u201d (ONRR), and \u201cOld Icelandic Rune Poem\u201d (OIRP)), and stanzas from each are examined for each of the Elder staves (symbols, in common usage).\u00a0 There is not universal agreement among these sources, covering as they do, a variety of times and locales, and this very disagreement offers insight into the cultures involved, and the understanding of runecasters through time. If you have had no previous exposure to the use of runes, it would definitely be advantageous to do some reading before starting into this book.\u00a0 Admittedly, my own runic experience is extremely limited, but I have had some exposure to, and use of, the runes and the culture(s) they developed in so I wasn’t floundering in the dark. Assuming the first two books display this level of commitment and dedication to expanding knowledge of runecraft (and I haven’t seen them, so I\u00a0 don’t KNOW that they do even if I do expect them to), this set needs to be a part of the training materials available to novices.\u00a0 Dr. Thorrson (doctorate in Germanic Languages and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas) has made every effort to be both comprehensive and easily understood in his presentation. Moving beyond the basic, though by no means simple, interpretation of the individual runes, he devotes time and space to various forms of layouts and what they can contribute to the understanding of the information and guidance which is provided. This is NOT a book about \u201cfortune telling\u201d, nor is it a book about \u201cgames\u201d which can be played with the runes.\u00a0 It is an attempt to help the reader attain a proper mind-set or consciousness which is susceptible to influences beyond the realm of normal sensory input, so that insight may be attained about what is occurring in the present and how that may influence what is yet to come. If you are interested in the subject of runes, and want\u00a0 more than a simple \u201cpop\u201d approach, I highly recommend this book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5988\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}