Revival of the Runes: The Modern Rediscovery and Reinvention of the Germanic Runes - Stephen E. Flowers Ph.D. 2021

Another Revival of The Runes in Sweden
The Rise of Contemporary Scientific Runology and the Re-Emergence of the Rune-Gild

Here we may consider another example of how the spirit of *Wōðanaz moves in the world in entirely mysterious ways. At the exact same moment in time that I was doing intense workings to reestablish the runes in North American culture, another wave of runic revival was taking place in Sweden. In that same summer of 1975, the association called Yggdrasil was founded by Mikael W. Gejel and Karin Norberg, and in 1976 they began to publish the periodical Gimle. Participants in this group also included Mikael Hedlund (Bodvar Bjarke), Jörgen I. Eriksson (Atrid Grimsson), and Marie Ericsson. The goal of the Yggdrasil group was the study of magical or esoteric dimensions of the Nordic tradition, which included seið, galdr, rune magic, and the practice of útiseti (sitting out), a sort of Norse version of a vision quest. Runelore was always important in the work of the Yggdrasil group and was first presented in a 1976 article in Gimle by Mikael Gejel titled “Talmystiken i den äldsta runraden” (The Number-Mysticism in the Oldest Rune Row). This text was subsequently adapted for a chapter in the Swedish book Seid (1985), collectively authored by various members of the Yggdrasil group, which included more material on rune magic. The esoteric model for much of the Swedish runic revivalism of the 1970s and 1980s was rooted in the discovery by a new generation of the work of the Swedish philologist Sigurd Agrell and his Uthark-theory (see chap. 7). This theory and the context of the ideas that Agrell presented in his books were tailor-made for a new generation schooled in the Kabbalah and the Western magical revival. Agrell’s original books were also readily available at the time in the antiquarian bookstores of Sweden. The Uthark-theory was generally accepted by every Swedish revivalist of the day. Other important contributions stemming from this group include Atrid Grimsson’s 1988 Runmagi och Shamanism (Rune Magic and Shamanism) and Bodvar Bjarke’s 1988 ᚱᚢᚾᚨ: En kortfattad introduktion till Runorakel & Runmagi (Runa: A Concise Introduction to Rune Divination and Rune Magic).

This map of the four directions amply demonstrates the breadth of the vison encompassed by the work of the Yggdrasil group.

Fig. 10.3. The Four-Directions Map of the Yggdrasil group

No discussion of the runic revival in the current climate can go without giving kudos to the Swedish scholar and esotericist Thomas Karlsson. He is the founder of a major magical order called the Dragon Rouge and the author of several books that touch on the runes, especially in a practical way in connection with the runology of Agrell. Thomas was a young guest during the early phase of the Yggdrasil group but was not a member of that organization. In 2002 he published the book Uthark—Nightside of the Runes. But Karlsson’s shining contribution lies in his scholarly work with the legacy of Johannes Bureus. A good primer of his contributions is provided by his composite book Nightside of the Runes (2019), which contains a complete translation of his 2005 book Adulrunan och den götiska kabbalan (Adulruna and the Gothic Kabbalah) on the work of Bureus. Karlsson received a Ph.D. from the University of Stockholm in 2010 with a dissertation titled Götisk kabbala och runisk alkemi (Gothic Kabbalah and Runic Alchemy).