Unwrapping Ancient Gifts

A common thread among all the people who have studied the runes and learned how to work with them is that they all spend time in deep meditation with them in order to understand various aspects of them, how they work and what they represent.

Because the runes consist of abstract shapes formed by straight lines, it is hard for some people to relate to them. The primal shapes and signs cause the mind to delve deeper into the subconscious mind to find the essence of meanings associated with them.

In other words, the runes demand that you work hard to mine the gold they have to offer, but in return, the rewards are rich. The energies that flow from them are powerful. We can feel that energy by making the shapes of the runes with our bodies and bringing that flow of energy through ourselves.

Cards, by comparison are much easier to like and to work with because as soon as we start looking at the pictures, we can start associating stories with the images we see. When we find a deck with art that we really like, it is not hard to start thinking that a certain card reminds us of someone familiar or that the scene depicted is similar to an event that happened to us or someone we know. The art can also suggest beautiful places we might like to be in the future or or perhaps even have been in a past life or someplace we have visited in this life.

If you think that working with playing cards is more difficult because there is not a picture on every card, you are beginning to grasp the essence of mental activity you engage in a study of the runes. However, it is more than mental, because if you try the exercise I mention above where you make the rune shapes with your body and bring the energy through, you can feel it in a very primal way. So it becomes a body of knowledge, not just intellectual knowledge.

Referencing cards and runes, there is a thread that offers another insight: numbers. There is a significance to numbers, just as there is a significance to shapes and signs. From the time of the earliest people, numbers would have been integral to the process of barter. Imagine two people who do not speak a common language holding up their fingers to symbolize what they will and will not exchange. There was a breakthrough in communication.

So just like simple numbers facilitated barter in primitive tribes, so did simple signs that signified important concepts like home, mother, fire, water, defense, risk, justice or spirit.

Runes pack intense amounts of information in extremely concise signs. The process of unpacking them and savoring their secrets is a journey of immense proportions, an adventure for the seeker of deep wisdom and profound energy shifts.

Thousands of artists and authors have redesigned the tarot over the years, coming up with thousands of different interpretations and looks. But every artist does not try their hand at redesigning the runes. They have remained constant over the millenia. That gives us a very powerful hint about them, the mysteries and energies they contain. Are you interesting in unwrapping these gifts from the ancients?