The State of Modern Rune Scollarship

It has become apparent to me that there are two schools of thought regarding the Runes.

                Those who feel that the best understanding comes from isolating their studies to the fragmentary, and largely recorded by innately hostile chroniclers, original source material and those who see the Runes as a living magical/divinatory system that evolves with the times and takes on new aspects growing from a traditional foundation but indeed growing.

                I am of this later school, but have no trouble respecting the former seeing its informed practice as the foundation rock that my practice grows from.

                The only issue is when members of the former school behave like Skoll and Hati, one who mocks and one who hates, the wolves that sought to devour the sun and moon. Accomplishing nothing themselves while actively seeking to block the light of other’s achievements and misinform people regarding the works of persons who have worked to enhance modern metaphysical thought. Members of this ilk have even gone so far as to make false statements regarding persons thy do not know and who’s work they have not examined. In complete ignorance they have sought to make insulting remarks while falsely implying that they have some basis for such remarks when they have not even examined the work in question.

                Far from inviting open discussion, they try to silence other voices in an obvious attempt to aggrandize themselves by putting down others so that they can stand on the backs of their victims and declare, ‘I am great,’ while in fact contributing nothing to thought in the modern metaphysical field of study.

As such I will make mention of a few scholars from modern occultism that those interested in a practical updated study on mystical matters, such as the Runes, people may like to reference.

Raymond Buckland – One of the most accomplished applied mystics of the twentieth century with numerous books to his credit.

Tony Willis – Who’s Runic Workbook is the best practical application text for the runes as a divinatory/magical system I have come across in over 45 years as a student of metaphysics and over 35 years of working with the Runes.

Freya Aswynn – Leaves of Yeggdrasil, a surprisingly readable text on the Runes that touches on the larger tradition beyond.

Isaac Bonewits – Scholar and Druid, who’s book Real Magic lays out a set of principles overreaching in their implications for metaphysics, crossing all boundaries of tradition and looking at the universal foundations of magical practice.

A note on Wicca- Wicca occupies a position akin to Buddhism in so much as Wicca can be taken as a working system that can adhere to other philosophical/religious structures, or a faith onto itself. Most Pagan traditions have not weathered the oppression of the last thousand years intact and what Wicca can do is supply a framework that consolidates the tattered remains of folk tradition and the discoveries from arcology into a cohesive workable whole. One can take it or leave it, but it is not deserving of ridicule and/or belittlement.

 

I will now leave these truths to the wolves as I actually get some real work done.