Those who want to begin to study the runes are immediately confronted with the deluge of books that have been written on these fascinating and mysterious symbols from the ancient Norse/Germanic world.
Since runes are a vital part of Northern European pre-Christian mythology, worldview and spiritual practice, I thought it would be appropriate and useful to provide some recommendations in this field. this list assumes no prior knowledge of the runes, just a willingness to understand them on their own terms.
You are reading: Best books on runes
Rune books, especially those of the practical guide variety, vary greatly in quality and in the approach they take to studying and working with runes. As with anything else in life, different approaches are appropriate for different people. this list reflects that necessary diversity and includes works from several different perspectives that have something to add to the modern study of runes and the practice of rune magic (last updated November 2018).
The works that make up this list should be seen as starting points on the journey of discovering and working with runes, rather than being representative of that journey in its entirety. while there is a core body of lore to master, the runes speak to everyone at least a little differently. what you learn about the runes directly, through experience and intuitive insight, is always more important than anything you read in a book. the books are really there to help you get to the point where you can learn and interact with the runes directly, without the mediation of any second-hand sources.
The books in this list are numbered according to their ease of use for beginners. #1 is the most accessible, while #10 is the least accessible, but #1 is not necessarily “better” than #10.
If you find this list helpful enough to decide to purchase one or more of the books listed here, the best way to say “thank you” is to purchase whatever you decide to purchase through the Amazon links provided at the bottom of the page. description of each book. When you do, I automatically earn a small commission on your purchase at no additional cost or hassle to you.
1. Norse Runes: Understanding, Casting, and Interpreting the Ancient Viking Oracle by Paul Rhys Mountfort
If you are looking for a unique and comprehensive book that will give you descriptions of the meanings of each rune, their role in Norse mythology, the cosmology that provided the context for ancient runic magic, advice to guide the reader through the contemporary practice of rune magic, and much more, the mountfort norse runes deliver all of these things extraordinarily well. it is also refreshingly non-ideological and encourages the reader to develop their own runic practice. if it has a weakness, it is that practical advice tends to focus on divination at the expense of many of the other uses to which rune magic can be put. Other than that qualm, I think overall this is the best single-volume introduction to runes and rune magic currently in existence. click here to view or buy nordic runes on amazon.
2. futhark: a manual of runic magic by edred thorsson
“edred thorsson” is the pseudonym of stephen flowers, a runic scholar with a Ph.D. in Germanic Studies from the University of Texas at Austin (for his dissertation, Runes and Magic, see #9 below). As you would expect from someone with such a background and such credentials, “futhark” is, of all the guides to rune magic, almost certainly the best informed on the historical practice of rune magic, both in the ancient Germanic world and In its first revival in the 19th-century German Romantic movement and the works of pioneers such as Guido von List. however, as with all books on runic magic, the book is also heavily colored by Flowers’ own insights gleaned from several years of experience practicing runic magic at first hand. that’s far from a bad thing, of course; Especially given how fragmentary the surviving primary sources on Germanic historical religion are, it is absolutely necessary to use intuition to fill in the gaps, and Thorsson’s intuition is exceptionally lucid.
futhark is extremely comprehensive and knowledgeable, and I highly recommend it. it will especially appeal to indigenists and traditionalists looking to avoid “new age fluff” and base their own practice on historical rune magic as completely as possible. click here to view or purchase futhark on amazon.
3. runelore: the magic, history and hidden codes of runes by edred thorsson
runelore: the magic, history and hidden codes of the runes by edred thorsson is something of a continuation of his earlier futhark: a manual of runic magic (#2 above). Earlier editions were published under the (in my opinion better) subtitle Manual of Esoteric Runology.
runelore is divided into two parts, both of which take up about half the book: “historical lore” and “occult lore”. the section on “historical lore” gives a history of the origins, development, and use of runes from before the Viking Age to the modern runic revival. this section draws heavily on the author’s excellent runes and magic, his Ph.D. thesis on runology published under his real name, Stephen Flowers (see #9 below). A particularly charming chapter in this section is “Rune Poems”, where Thorsson provides translations and discussions of the Rune Poems, one of the main primary sources for our knowledge of runes today.
the section on “occult tradition” is more philosophical and psychological. the content of this section is firmly rooted in the Germanic tradition, but goes much further. and that is inevitable in any good book on runes; Due to the paucity of information on runes in the primary sources, which are themselves quite fragmentary in nature, one has to supplement the available data with complementary intuition and explorations from other fields (while remaining faithful to the sources, of course). supposed). ) to (re)build something like a coherent and viable system of runic philosophy and/or magic. Although I don’t agree with everything in this section, it is one of the best attempts that have been made so far in this regard.
Any student of runes will get a lot out of runelore, either as a stand-alone book or in conjunction with futhark. click here to view or buy runelore on amazon.
4. runecaster handbook by edred thorsson
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edred thorsson’s rune caster’s handbook is the third and final installment in his trilogy on rune magic for the lay reader. (the first two installments are futhark, previous #2, and runelore, previous #3).
while runelore is the most philosophical, theoretical and scholarly of the trilogy, the runecaster manual is the most directly practical. however, to make sure you’re not aimlessly spinning your wheels or inadvertently doing counterproductive or even dangerous things in the operation of your runes, the runecaster manual still provides at least some basic theory.
however, the main focus of the runecaster’s manual is the practice of rune magic itself. the book includes numerous different methods and pre-arranged rituals for rune readings, rune divination, etc. it really takes you step by step through the entire process, from creating and uploading the necessary tools to what to expect from the results. click here to view or buy the runecaster manual on amazon.
5. helrunar: a manual of runic magic by jan fries
first, a disclaimer on what jan fries’s helrunar: a manual of runic magic is not:
helrunar is not as academically scrupulous as, say, stephen flowers/edred thorsson. there are several claims here that no scholar in this or any related field would take seriously. nor does it make any particular effort to be “Germanically correct” in the way that many traditionalists and purists demand. nor, at the other end of the spectrum from the expectations that people usually bring to runes, does it offer rituals, spells, etc. prepackaged.
In the words of the book, “I don’t believe in any tradition except ‘find it out for yourself!’…instead of asking you to believe my interpretations, I ask you to examine them critically. I don’t want you to adhere to my dogma… but explore with an open mind in the joy of self-discovery.”
fries’s book is a thoughtful, perhaps even “existential”, guide to the runes in the context of, in the book’s words, “pagan nature religion”. Nods to characters like Aleister Crowley abound. its main strengths are its psychological depth and its applicability to true self-transformation.
While helrunar may not be the most historically accurate book on runes out there, it is one of the most valid and useful from an experiential standpoint, and that alone makes it worthy of a high recommendation. click here to view or buy helrunar on amazon.
6. the rune handbook : a realistic guide to runes by sweyn plowright
sweyn plowright probably has little more than contempt for some of the books on this list. If you’ve found yourself having the same reaction and muttering disdainfully “just the facts please”, then the Rune Handbook: A Realistic Guide to Runes might be for you.
the rune manual is probably the only book on rune magic in which the author strives to separate factual information from the sources, on the one hand, and intuitive insights, on the other, and avoid the latter in favor of of the former as much as possible. he devotes a significant amount of space to criticizing some common “sacred cows” in the field of rune magic.
Personally, I think that part of the general idea of this book is quite simplistic and lacks philosophical nuances. this kind of “stick to the facts” approach is, in itself, just a sacred cow of modern positivism, and does not stand up to the litmus test of the world as we perceive and experience it. people who take concepts like “objectivity”, “subjectivity” and “bias” at face value often live in a world that is no less fantastical than the one the “new age” ones love (often rightly so) criticize.
However, the runebook makes many excellent points along the way, and the author’s critical rigor is highly commendable. while some aspects can be simplistic, it’s a refreshing antidote to some of the cringe-inducing nonsense and baseless wishful thinking that’s been written into runes, that is, a fairly large proportion of the field. click here to view or purchase the rune manual on amazon.
7. rudiments of runelore by stephen pollington
The last four books on this list are not guides to rune magic. rather, they are scholarly books on runes as historical phenomena.
The Rudiments of Runelore by independent scholar Stephen Pollington is a highly accessible, engaging, and accurate introduction to the study of runes. while rigorous and reliable, it is written with a lay audience in mind: the best of both worlds.
pollington discusses the origin of runic characters, their meanings and associations, their variations in the Germanic world, their linguistic properties, their historical uses, and more. Since Pollington is first and foremost a scholar of the Anglo-Saxon world, Old English runes receive much more treatment here than they normally would in an introductory work such as this. so if you’re especially interested in the Anglo-Saxon futhorc, as that runic alphabet is called, you’ll be especially pleased with this book. And if you’re looking for a pan-Germanic approach, you’ll certainly find that here too, even if Pollington doesn’t go into as much detail about the other areas of the Germanic world.
If you’re looking for a concise, accessible, one-volume introduction to the academic study of runes, rudiments of runelore is an excellent choice. click here to view or buy runelore rudiments on amazon.
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8. runes: reading the past by r.i. page
the runes of raymond ian page is one of the classic texts on runology, the academic study of runes. is probably the most widely read single-volume introduction in print on the subject, and with good reason.
While perhaps a bit drier than pollington’s runelore rudiments (#7 above), runes certainly isn’t a difficult read. another difference is that pollington’s book is clearly written for an audience interested in runes for spiritual/magical reasons, while page’s book is clearly written for a general academic audience who probably don’t have “esoteric” ambitions in mind.
some will find this to be a positive because runes might be perceived as more “unbiased” and therefore more trustworthy, while others might see it as a negative in that runes might not fuel your activities esoteric as directly as rudiments of runelore.
however, both are excellent and written to a high academic standard, even if pollington cannot claim to be one of the great luminaries of the field as page can. either way, you can’t lose. click here to view or buy runes: read the past on amazon.
9. runes and magic: magical elements formulated in the ancient runic tradition by stephen flowers
Stephen Flowers’ revised doctoral dissertation on historical rune magic is by far the best scholarly work on the ancient practice of rune magic in existence. Flowers (the author of Futhark, Runelore, and Runecaster’s Handbook under the pseudonym Edred Thorsson) discusses the role of runes in pre-Christian Germanic religion and mythology, laying a firm conceptual foundation for his later discussions of the details of the ancient runes and uses. medieval runes. he identifies patterns within the surviving rune-related source material, ultimately describing certain “formulas” or common structural elements within ancient runic magic.
This book should be required reading for anyone with a more traditionalist bent, and even those who aren’t of that persuasion will likely find it an inspiring and profitable read. after being out of stock for a long time, it is now finally available at a very reasonable price once again! click here to view or buy runes and magic on amazon.
10. trolldómr in early medieval scandinavia by catharina raudvere
this 100 page essay on viking age magic by professor catharina raudvere, one of three essays on witchcraft and magic in europe, volume iii: the middle ages, edited by bengt ankarloo and stuart clark, is the best single introduction to pre-Nordic/Germanic Christian magic (“trolldómr”) out there. While rune magic is only one type of magic among several covered, the philosophical insights in this essay about runes and pre-Christian Germanic magic in general make this text a formidable aid to anyone wishing to understand runes in a more comprehensive way. intellectual level as well as experiential.
this is definitely the most difficult text on this list, and i confess i’m not exactly a fan of raudvere’s writing style, but i still recommend this essay because of the quality of its ideas. Click here to view or purchase Witchcraft and Magic in Europe, Volume III: The Middle Ages on Amazon.
If you liked this list, you might also be interested in these other guides of mine:
• The 10 best Norse mythology books
• The 10 best advanced Norse mythology books
• The 10 best books about the Vikings
• resources to learn the Old Norse language
• The 10 best Celtic mythology books
• The 10 best Greek mythology books
• The 10 best Egyptian mythology books
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