Rune Might: The Secret Practices of the German Rune Magicians - Edred Thorsson 2018
Steads of Rune Might
Secret Practices
Some references have already been made in other chapters to the preferability of certain directional orientations when performing runic postures and to the importance of the runer’s relationship to the land under his or her feet when performing runic exercises. There is really a whole science, or body of lore, that has to do with earth magic, or geomancy, which corresponds to the German forms of rune magic. This was more or less taken into account by all the early twentieth-century German rune magicians, but F. B. Marby seems to have developed this branch of knowledge to its highest level.
In theory we must take several factors into consideration: (1) the orientation of the runer (what direction he or she will be facing); (2) the timing of the exercise; and (3) the actual place, or “stead,” in which the work will take place. This last element is further divided into two categories: (a) the point on the earth’s surface where the work is to take place, and (b) the spatial environment in which the runer will do the exercise.
There are some generally beneficial conditions that, if care is taken to ensure them, will greatly enhance the power and efficacy of any runic exercise. There are also other special environmental circumstances that are arranged for specific magical effects. To ensure maximal power, the runer should give some attention to some or all factors discussed in this chapter.
First, there is the question of the laying out of a magical circle. This may or may not normally be a part of a runer’s way of working. Some magicians like to set a definite boundary to the area in which they work, and some feel that such circles are necessary to keep out negative or distracting influences. This aspect of the work is discretionary, depending on one’s normal practice. A circle does aid in the regular performance of rune magic of this kind when it is necessary to determine exact points of the compass and other factors relating to the orientation of the runer on the surface of the earth and its electromagnetic sphere.
To construct a useful magical circle in the open air, you will need wooden pins or small stakes, some thread or twine, and a compass. Determine where you want the center of your circle to be and put a stake there. Set the compass on or right beside it. Determine magnetic north. Using the thread or twine to align it, put another stake seven to nine feet away from your center in the direction of magnetic north. The compass will also show you where true north is. Place another stake there and, using that as a point of orientation, determine the other three cardinal points or direction. Place stakes in these four compass points as well. The more traditional folk will also want to place similar stakes and lines at the cross-quarter points, halfway between each of the four cardinal points, so that the circle is divided into eight equal parts. However, the division of the circle into four parts is quite adequate for most purposes. If possible, it is good to have the runes drawn around the rim of the circle, so that for the Armenen tradition the runic circle might appear something like the one seen in the figure below.
In general it is suggested that the runer always orient him- or herself toward the north while doing rune exercises. This maximizes the harmonious flow of electromagnetic (or Od-magnetic) streams and currents, according to most rune magicians. Other directions are used only in specific types of operations or by those whose aims correspond to the kinds of modulations of the electromagnetic streams flowing through those lines. There is another powerful flow of force that is generally found to stream from the east to the west, or from the right to the left if one is facing north. That is why the flow of runic force is directed into the right side and out the left in many of the runic exercises in chapter 7. When facing east, there is a flow of electromagnetic force from the north to the south, or from the left to the right. The science of the magical use of the electromagnetic streams in the environment is very well developed in the tantric traditions of India, and it would be very helpful for most runers to become familiar with this system.
A runic magical circle
TIMING
Before delving further into the lore of using the spatial environment for rune-magic ends, it is necessary to talk about the place in time in which the exercises are to occur. In theory there are at least two factors taken into consideration here: (1) the time of the year (or phase of moon, astrological event, etc.) and (2) the time of day.
When considering the time of day, both symbolic and natural factors should be taken into account. In terms of symbolism (which for some may supersede any natural factors), the dawn is used for new beginnings; the noontide for victory of consciousness; twilight for transformational, or change-causing, work; and the midnight hour is for deep delvings into the unconscious and the unknown. F. B. Marby suggests using all four of these times, but to avoid facing south in the summer. The main natural factor to be considered, which Marby emphasizes, is the avoidance of high levels of ultraviolet rays. These are very disturbing and even destructive to the harmonious and healthy flow of runic streams in the terrestrial zones (zones 3 and 4). In fact, any time is fine for runic exercises. These suggestions are meant merely to indicate when the natural forces or symbolic factors are most likely to be beneficial.
Astrology can be brought into the timing of runic exercises as well. By keying runic exercises to the lunar cycle, the runer can work with expanding (electric) runes during the waxing and full moon (especially with the MAN-rune at the tide of the full moon) and with contracting (magnetic) runes during the waning and new moon. Correspondences between planetary and/or zodiacal forces and the runes have been suggested by many of the Armanic rune magicians. But since the astrological system inherited from the Middle East is not really part of the Germanic runic tradition, there is no agreement on how these correspondences are to be made. The most important investigator of Germanic skylore was Otto Sigfrid Reuter (1876—1945). Reuter at first studied to be a minister, but his studies led him to explore the original roots of Germanic religion, which he saw as being connected with the ancient Germanic peoples’ knowledge of the sky over their heads. Professionally, Reuter worked for the postal and telegraph system and retired from that work in 1924. He then embarked on a more intensive study of the Germanic peoples and their star- and skylore. He had already published a short monograph anonymously in 1909 titled Sigfrid oder Christus?! (Sigfrid or Christ?), which was characterized as a “wake-up call to the German peoples.” To demonstrate that the ancient Germans had great knowledge of astronomy, he researched and published Das Rätsel der Edda (The Riddle of the Edda) in two parts in 1921 and 1923. His theories met with scientific opposition and popular acclaim. In 1934 he published his major work, Die Germanische Himmelskunde (Ancient Germanic Astronomy). This was also summarized in his article “Der Himmel über den Germanen” (The Sky above the Germanic Peoples). In 1945, British bombs heavily damaged Reuter’s home, and he died of a heart attack not long afterward on April 5, 1945. We still await the full redevelopment of a Germanic skylore (astronomy) and starlore (astrology), for which pioneering work was done by Robert Zoller in the Rune-Gild.
One logical and reliable use of runes for timing of work throughout the year is provided by linking the 16 Old Norse mál (“times”) to the 16 runes of the Younger Futhark. This was done by Roland Dionys Jossé in his Die Tala der Raunen (1955), from which table 12.1 has been adapted. This table shows (1) when the mál ruling each of the 16 runes begins and (2) when the time of day similarly ruled by that rune begins. Jossé suggests that the day times be keyed to the Central European Time Zone, but this is optional. It would appear to be more traditional to use the day times locally, as these relate to the actual situation in which the runer finds him- or herself, rather than any universal or global measure of time. It can be seen that workings undertaken at 12:00 midnight between the dates of December 22 and January 12 would be heavily loaded with the power of fé (= FA in the Armanic row).
RUNE STEADS
The two factors to be taken into account here are intriguing topics. The first involves the actual determination of given places (points on the surface of the land) that are likely to be steads where great amounts of electromagnetic, Odic force converge and/or accumulate. It is not really necessary to believe in their efficiency in enhancing magical endeavors, to make use of some of the lore of power points in a symbolic way. Magicians sensitive to certain terrains or spatial environments know how a hill, or a rock, or other natural or artificial features can be evocative of certain powerful moods or be suggestive of things that lie beyond normal perception. To some extent the lore of the steads of rune might take advantage of this. The European practitioner has many advantages in that he or she can often find and practice in ancient sites where some related magic, if not rune magic itself, was worked on a regular basis in ages past. If such steads can be found, they should be used if possible.
However, the forces underlying the original choice of a given stead for magical activity are at work everywhere, not only in those places that were used for such work in ancient times. Power points can be found and used wherever you are in the world. There are many ways of finding such steads of might. Perhaps the most useful is the direct application of intuition. Simply walk around or hike in an area where you want to hunt such power points. Remain attentive to your purpose of finding such a stead, but be relaxed and patient in your search. It may take several trips to different areas to find one. When you do find places that seem to your eye to be likely candidates for such steads, perform the I-rune exercise on the spot and record your results. (Of course, those places that fit one of the five spatial configurations outlined below would be prime candidates for consideration.) If you feel a marked increase in rune might in a certain location, you are likely to have found a stead of might. Keep looking everywhere you go, and when you find a stead, mark it in some secret way so that you can return to it. In North America many such power points were long ago identified by the shamans for the earliest immigrants to the Western Hemisphere. For this reason local folklore can often be instructive on the locations of power points. However, in large measure contemporary individual runers are in the same situation as the ancient runers in Europe were—they must seek out and mark these steads for themselves.
Other methods may also be applied in the hunting of these steads. Practices such as dowsing, star-sighting, or ideas akin to those used in Chinese feng shui (involving, for example, the juxtaposition of natural landscape features such as streams, hillsides, and rock formations) are very useful in identifying steads of rune might.
The second factor to be considered regarding the use of space in rune magic is the choice of spatial environments in which to practice the exercises. Many runers will, of course, have to content themselves most often with practicing indoors. But it will be noticed that if you experiment with doing the exercises outdoors on the bare ground, the efficiency and power of the work will be greatly altered or enhanced. There are five types of spatial environments for runic experimentation that are identified by Marby. Each has its special function, but, as always, let your own experience be your most reliable guide. These environments were first described by Marby in his Marby-Runen-Bücherei (vol. 5/6, pp. 74—112) and later in his Der Weg zu den Müttern (The Way to the Mothers; 1957).*3 In theory the runer will be radiating a certain force during the exercises that, if given free room, will form a sphere around the physical body. The physical environment modulates and redirects this force in certain predictable ways, much as the body of a musical instrument modulates the sounds produced by its strings. This sphere of force can be modulated in five ways.
1. The runer stands on a level surface and the sphere of power is divided—half in zone 3, wave space, and half reaching down into zone 4, earth space. It might actually be best if the runer stands on a slight elevation of about three feet. The overall effect of the environment is balance between all realms—between the earthly streams and the cosmic ones. This is especially useful for operations emphasizing sober, balanced, everyday pursuits.
2. If the runer stands on an artificial tower or platform the field of activity in the wave space will be increased. There will be added an influx from that zone, and the effects of the exercise will be more direct in that zone. In ancient northern Germanic magical practice, it was often reported that magicians would perform magic from atop a platform called a seið-hjallr. Note that this arrangement largely separates, or insulates, the runer from the material earth space. Even from below, great amounts of energy present in the wave space are made available. This effect can also be partially achieved when exercises are done on any artificial flooring. Those positions in which the runer is separated from the earth streams, or where exposure to the atmospheric streams is maximized, lead to an influx of new ideas and access to visions of the future.
3. Another way of gaining an effect similar to the one obtained with the platform is to do the exercises from high atop a natural peak or steep hill. The difference is that the runer is still in contact with the material earth current, which is often intensified as it spirals up to a point through the conical structure of the raised earth. In this way, the impulses available from the free wave space are maximized and coupled with the intense focus of material earth streams. This combination is especially potent in work intended to convert spiritual visions or impulses into material reality.
4. Marby dedicated a large part of his book Der Weg zu den Müttern to the topic of runic exercises performed in artificial funnels that were dug into the ground with descending spiral terracing. He claimed to have found examples of these on the grounds of the Gertrudenberg near Osnabrück, Germany. (It is worth pointing out that the very name of the city of Osnabrück means “bridge of the gods.”) By performing runic exercises in such a place, the runer can increase the influx of earth streams and minimize the volume of atmospheric streams. Another way of gaining a similar effect is, of course, to do runic exercises in a natural valley or deep depression in the earth. As with the exercise making use of the conical uplift in number three above, the intense focus of atmospheric force may be increased as it spirals down into the depression. In this configuration the influx of new ideas is held to a minimum, while access to old experiences is sharpened and clarified, and old ideas are ripened and evolved. This is an ideal configuration for work on developing that which you already are—refining and making conscious the contents of the memory.
5. In this configuration the runer is totally enclosed within a subterranean space—a cave, artificial cell, passageway, or underground hall. Such structures are quite common in various parts of central and northern Europe, many of which date from the late Bronze Age. Guido von List describes in detail this kind of structure, which is found in his native Lower Austria, throughout his study Deutsch-mythologische Landschaftsbilder. In the environment of such spaces the inflow of earth streams is maximized and raised to its highest intensity. These streams, and the ancient (transpersonal) memories that they have stored, are channeled into the consciousness of the runer and made available in great quantities.